Man Serving Life Sentence for Las Vegas Bombing Escaped From Prison Four Days Before Guards Noticed He Was Gone
Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, who was sentenced to life for the 2007 bombing of 27-year-old hot dog stand employee Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, escaped from a Nevada prison last week. According to the New York Post, his absence went unnoticed for four days until guards did a headcount at 7 AM on Tuesday.
At the time of his escape, the 42-year-old inmate was serving his sentence at the Southern Desert Correctional Center, a medium-security prison in Indian Springs, northwest of Las Vegas.
A tweet from 8 News Now investigative reporter Vanessa Murphy claims that multiple sources have said Duarte-Herrera used a dummy to throw off the guards following his escape on Friday.
Authorities describe Duarte-Herrera as roughly 5-foot-4 and about 135 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department warns that anyone who spots Duarte-Herrera should refrain from approaching him as he is considered a threat to those around him and ask to call 911 instead.
According to Fox News, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has opened an investigation to find out how Duarte-Herrera’s escape went unnoticed for four days before prison guards found out he was missing.
“This is unacceptable,” Sisolak saind in a statement released on Tuesday. “My office has ordered NDOC to conduct and complete a thorough investigation into this event as quickly as possible. This kind of security lapse cannot be permitted and those responsible will be held accountable.”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the local Metropolitan Police Department has begun its search for Duarte-Herrera but there is currently no information on how the department is handling the search. “We are aware of it, and our officers are being vigilant,” said officer Larry Hadfield.
Alongside his accomplice Omar Rueda-Denvers, Duarte-Herrera conspired to kill Rueda-Denvers ex-girlfriend’s new lover, 27-year-old hot dog stand employee Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, by detonating a motion-activated bomb placed in a coffee cup on top of his car. Antonio picked up the cup, which set off the explosive and killed him.
Prosecutors originally pursued the death penalty but the Clark County jury spared them, reports AP. In 2010, both men were convicted of murder with a deadly weapon and attempted murder with a deadly weapon. The two men were then sent to different facilities, and authorities confirmed that Rueda-Denvers, who was granted a retrial in 2021, was still behind bars.
Another report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal reveals that Duarte-Herrera was also charged in connection with a Halloween 2006 bombing outside of Home Depot in Las Vegas.
