Shuttle bus manager ‘afraid to just call’ police to report escaped killer

Audio released by the Metropolitan Police Department captured the moments an unsure shuttle bus manager discovered an escaped murderer attempting to flee the country.

“I’m not sure if I’m confused, but this guy that checked in with the name of Eric Martinez, it’s kind of similar to the guy in the picture,” Gabriel Delgadillo, 29, of Las Vegas Shuttles Corp., told police on Sept. 28.

Delgadillo called police at 9:28 p.m. that night after an employee sold a bus ticket to Porfirio Duarte-Herrera. Delgadillo told police he was at home watching the camera footage from inside the store.

Duarte-Herrera was attempting to board a 10 p.m. bus to Tijuana, five days after escaping the Southern Desert Correctional Center. He was sentenced to the prison in 2010 after a bomb planted inside the Luxor parking garage killed a man.

Delgadillo told police that officers came to his business at 1404 N. Eastern Ave. earlier on Sept. 28 asking Delgadillo to check his records for anyone matching Duarte-Herrera. The search was inconclusive, but the officers left flyers behind.

Delgadillo stayed on the phone with 911 for more than eight minutes, narrating to the call taker as police showed up at 9:24 p.m. and put Duarte-Herrera in handcuffs at 9:37 p.m. He told police he was not sure if this counted as an emergency worth calling 911 over, or if they had mistaken an identity.

“I was very afraid to just call,” Delgadillo told police.

Duarte-Herrera was found wearing new clothes and carrying a backpack. Authorities have not disclosed how he escaped, arrived in Las Vegas or acquired new clothes and money for a bus ticket. The tickets are sold for $97, according to the shuttle company’s website.

The escape prompted prison director Charles Daniels to resign following a letter to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak that the prisons were understaffed.

Delgadillo and his coworkers were expected to receive a $30,000 from the U.S. Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He told the Review-Journal the money would be split between all the people who helped capture the killer.

Duarte-Herrera was taken to Ely State Prison, a maximum security facility, after he was captured. He is serving a life sentence.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.