Nevada corrections officials are searching for a man convicted of a 2007 Las Vegas murder who escaped from a state prison.
Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 42, escaped from the Southern Desert Correctional Center in Indian Springs and was discovered missing during the 7 a.m. count Tuesday, according to the Nevada Corrections Department.
Search teams were looking for Duarte-Herrera, whom the department described as “medium-security inmate,” and a retake warrant has been issued for his capture.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said in a statement to NBC affiliate KSNV of Las Vegas that his office learned Tuesday that the inmate had been missing since “early in the weekend."
"This is unacceptable," Sisolak said in the statement.
He said he ordered the Corrections Department to complete a thorough investigation into the escape.
“This kind of security lapse cannot be permitted and those responsible will be held accountable,” he said in the statement.
Duarte-Herrera, who was serving a life sentence for murder with use of a deadly weapon, had arrived at the Corrections Department in February 2010 from Clark County.
He and Omar Rueda-Denvers were convicted of planting a pipe bomb that killed hot dog stand vendor Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio in a parking structure of the Luxor hotel-casino in 2007.
Prosecutors said at the time that the motive was revenge against Dorantes Antonio, 24, who was dating Rueda-Denvers’ ex-girlfriend.
Rueda-Denvers, 47, remained behind bars at a separate state prison, according to Corrections Department records.
