Friday 30 September 2022 07:29 AM Las Vegas bomber serving life sentence for killing casino hot dog vendor is ... trends now

A man responsible for killing a casino hot dog vendor, as part of a revenge plot more than a decade ago escaped from prison by using battery acid and a cardboard dummy to trick prison staff.  

Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, was on the run from September 23, but officers at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center only discovered he was missing the following Tuesday.

He was discovered trying to escape to Tijuana on a bus on Thursday after shuttle staff noticed something suspicious about one of their customers. 

The 42-year-old was convicted in 2010 after a jury found him and his co-defendant, Omar Rueda-Denvers, guilty of murdering Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, 24, with a homemade pipe bomb hidden in a coffee cup in 2007.

According to Fox 5, Duarte-Herrera had used battery acid to breakdown the window frame of his cell and created a dummy 'possibly out of cardboard' to trick prison staff into believing he was still there.

He then escaped the prison from the perimeter fence near a prison tower that should have spotted Duarte-Herrera but had been unmanned for a couple of years. 

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Duarte-Herrera was convicted of a 'cold blooded homicide' and he had concerns for the public, his staff and people involved in the crime he committed.

'He was serving a life sentence for murder after planting a pipe bomb in a coffee cup in 2007. It was an extremely calculated and cold blooded homicide,' he said.

'Because desperate people do desperate things we were concerned about threats to the public and the people involved in the initial case.

'We were also concerned about our officers stumbling upon him in their day to day activities.'

Federal authorities provided a hefty reward of $30,000 for anyone who was able to provide information leading to the suspect.

Las Vegas Shuttles told Fox 5 that police had come to pass out fliers of the escaped killer and to be on the lookout for him.

Within 24 hours, Duarte-Herrera, was caught attempting to flee to Tijuana, Mexico on a trip booked for 10pm on Thursday.

The dispatcher called authorities after an employee becoming suspicious of one of their customers and told the Shuttle Services General Manager, Gabriel Delgadillo, who quickly checked surveillance cameras to make sure it was him.

'I told her to play along, so everything as usual as possible, that I would take care of whatever comes after,' he told the local broadcaster.

'And that's how I explained the case to 911 and police do what they do but in the most discreet way possible not to alarm our passengers and cause any stress at all.'

In video footage of the arrest Duarte-Herrera can be seen wearing a red long sleeved shirt with blue sleeves and a dark colored hat covering his eyes.

An officer is heard asking the man to come and talk to him.

'Hey what's up man, hey can I talk to you? Do you have ID on you?' asks the officer.

A seemingly bewildered Duarte-Herrera tells the officer he has ID while another officer is seen ushering him away from the line onto the bus.

The second officer then begins to arrest Duarte-Herrera, taking his bag off his back and putting his arms behind his back.

The first officer is then heard saying 'don't be stupid' to Duarte-Herrera who is quickly handcuffed and put into a police car nearby.

The officer then asks accompanying officers to watch him and begins to probe Duarte-Herrera asking him 'who's idea' the escape was.

'Mine,' Duarte-Herrera answers with his arms handcuffed behind his back.

'I was going to go to Tijuana,' he said when asked where he was going.

The officer then proceeds to ask what is in his backpack questioning whether he has any weapons, Duarte-Herrera said he only had clothes.

'He was outside ready to get on a shuttle,' one officer can be heard saying at the end of the body worn footage.