A convicted Las Vegas bombmaker who escaped from prison with the help of a cardboard dummy was captured by police on Wednesday after five days on the lam, officials said.
Las Vegas police said they apprehended Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, on Wednesday night after receiving information that a person matching the escaped inmate’s description was seen near the downtown area.
Officers took the man into custody, confirmed his identity and arrested him near the intersection of Owens and Eastern avenues at around 10 p.m., the department said in a statement.
A US Marshal told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Duarte-Herrera had purchased a bus ticket and was on his way to Mexico when he was collared by the police.
Duarte-Herrera was serving a life sentence for a deadly 2007 blast on the Las Vegas Strip when he broke out of the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs on Friday night — but his absence was not discovered until Tuesday morning.
The convicted murderer reportedly used battery acid to erode the seal on his cell window, allowing him to escape.
Before staging his prison break, Duarte-Herrera left a cardboard dummy in his cell to fool the guards and delay the discovery of his absence, 8NewsNow.com
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak had earlier ordered an investigation into the escape after he said late Tuesday his office learned the fugitive had been missing from the medium-security prison for days.
“This kind of security lapse cannot be permitted and those responsible will be held accountable,” Sisolak said in a statement.
Duarte-Herrera, an undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua, was convicted in 2010 of killing Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio, a 27-year-old hot dog stand vendor, using a motion-activated bomb hidden inside a coffee cup placed atop a car parked at the Luxor hotel-casino.
Records show his co-defendant, Omar Rueda-Denvers, remained in custody. The 47-year-old from Guatemala is serving a life sentence at a different Nevada prison for murder, attempted murder, explosives and other charges.
Prosecutors said Rueda-Denvers masterminded the targeted attack as part of a revenge plot against Donarntes Antonio, who was dating his ex-girlfriend.
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