In 2007, a pipe bomb was deployed on the Las Vegas Strip, killing a young man. Over the weekend, one of the men convicted in that bombing and serving a life sentence in prison escaped.
Porfirio Duarte-Herrara was found missing during a morning count on Tuesday at the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs, KSNV-TV reported.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said in a statement that Duarte-Herrara has actually been missing since the weekend, but it was not until Tuesday that the prison noticed. The state Department of Corrections confirmed that the prisoner “has been unaccounted for since approximately Friday evening.”
“This is unacceptable,” Sisolak said in his statement.
“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 governor continued.
“NDOC continues to work with law enforcement officials in the pursuit of this inmate. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the escaped inmate should immediately call 911.”
Sisolak has told the Department of Corrections to work as quickly as possible in the investigation into how Duarte-Herrara escaped and where he went, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Meanwhile, the local community has been put on alert.
“He is liable to get shot by somebody if he comes around here at night,” Anthony Lorenzo, a local resident, told KVVU-TV.
“This community is pretty tight-knit. Everybody knows who is supposed to be in here and not. … Almost everybody up here owns guns,” a local woman said.
Duarte-Herrara is reported to be about 5 feet, 4 inches tall, with no visible tattoos. He weighs around 135 pounds, KSNV reported.
Porfirio Duarte-Herrara, 42, was discovered missing about 7 a.m. today from the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs.https://t.co/bSyyz6Z7Ri
— Las Vegas Sun (@LasVegasSun) September 27, 2022
He had been serving a life sentence since Feb. 18, 2010, when he was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon, according to the Sun.
Duarte-Herrara and Omar Rueda-Denvers planted the pipe bomb that killed 24-year-old Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, a hot dog vendor, in May 2007.
During the trial, prosecutors said Reuda-Denvers wanted to take revenge on Dorantes Antonio since the hot dog vendor was dating Rueda-Denver’s former girlfriend. The Sun reported that the girlfriend, Caren Chali, was nearby when the bomb went off but was not injured.
According to prosecutors, Duarte-Herrara made the bomb and hid it inside a styrofoam coffee cup.
Rueda-Denvers is still in prison at a different corrections facility than Duarte-Herrara, according to NBC News.
