Convicted bombmaker uses battery acid and dummy to escape prison, Nevada officials say

A convicted bombmaker serving life in prison in a 2007 explosion in Las Vegas has escaped a Nevada prison, officials say.

Authorities noticed Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, was not there during the morning head count Sept. 27 at Southern Desert Correctional Center near Las Vegas, according to a Department of Corrections news release..

But he may have escaped earlier than that, Gov. Steve Sisolak said.

He used battery acid to break down the window frame of his cell and made a dummy, according to FOX 5.

“My office was informed by the Nevada Department of Corrections that an inmate was reported as missing. My office later learned that upon further investigation by NDOC the inmate has been missing since early in the weekend. This is unacceptable,” Sisolak said in a Sept. 27 statement.

Duarte-Herrera of Nicaragua was convicted in 2010 of killing a hot dog stand vendor with a motion-activated bomb in a coffee cup on top of a car parked at the Luxor hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, according to the New York Post.

The person who died was the new boyfriend of Duarte-Herrera’s co-defendant, the New York Post reported.

This undated photo provided by the Nevada Department of Corrections shows Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, a convicted bombmaker who was discovered missing Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022, from Southern Desert Correctional Center outside Las Vegas. Duarte-Herrera is an undocumented immigrant from Nicaragua who was serving life in prison for a deadly 2007 explosion at a Las Vegas Strip parking structure. He was convicted of killing his co-defendant’s former girlfriend’s new boyfriend with a coffee cup bomb placed atop a car parked at the Luxor hotel-casino. (Nevada Department of Corrections via AP)

Duarte-Herrera is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighing around 135 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, according to the news release.

U.S. marshals are assisting in the search, and Las Vegas Metro police are aware of the escape, according to KTLA.

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