Inmate serving life sentence for murder escapes from Nevada prison

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Authorities in Nevada have launched a manhunt for a convicted felon who escaped from prison where he was serving a life sentence for murder.

The Nevada Department of Corrections said in a statement Tuesday that 42-year-old Porfirio Duarte-Herrera had escaped from the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs, located about 45 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The department said it learned that the medium-security inmate was missing following a 7 a.m. scheduled count. The prison then activated escape procedures about an hour later, it said.

Gov. Steve Sisolak revealed in a statement that an investigation by the Nevada Department of Corrections discovered that Duarte-Herrera had been missing "since early in the weekend."

"This is unacceptable," he said, adding that his office has ordered the department of corrections to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into Duarte-Herrera's escape. "This kind of security lapse cannot be permitted and those responsible will be held accountable."

Duarte-Herrera -- who is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing about 135 pounds -- was sentenced to life in prison in January of 2010 after a jury convicted him the August prior on charges of murder and other felonies for building and planting a pipe bomb on a car parked in a hotel garage in 2007.

Prosecutors said that Duarte-Herrera's friend Omar Rueda-Denvers had planned the attack with the target being his ex-girlfriend, Caren Chali, and her new partner, Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio.

Dorantes Antonio was killed in the blast while Chali was left unharmed.

Rueda-Denvers, 47, was also sentenced to life and prison and was behind bars at the High Desert State Prison, according to prison records.