Luxor bomb witness testifies

The key witness in a fatal pipe bomb explosion inside the Luxor's parking garage faces deportation now that she has given her testimony in the case in a videotaped proceeding.

On May 7, Caren Chali saw her boyfriend killed by the bomb that police said was likely planted by the father of her child.

Chali was taken into federal custody shortly afterward when it was discovered she was in the country illegally, having traveled to Las Vegas from Guatemala in 2006.

Clark County prosecutors had detained Chali on a material witness warrant pending the opportunity to question her in court. Now that her version of events has been videotaped, she and her 3-year-old daughter await deportation to Guatemala.

Attorneys recorded Chali's testimony Friday afternoon in District Judge Michael Villani's courtroom. The tape will be used at the May murder trial of the two suspects.

Chali, 28, is expected to be transferred to federal custody, either in North Las Vegas or St. George, Utah.

Before she was questioned, Chali cried and told the courtroom bailiff through an interpreter that she had seen her daughter just once since her incarceration.

"I'm sure the child will be back with her," prosecutor Neil Keenan said.

Defendant Omar Rueda-Denvers, the 32-year-old father of Chali's daughter, and co-defendant Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, 27, were at the hearing with their lawyers and listened through interpreters as Chali was questioned.

Chali did not know or recognize Duarte-Herrera, who is accused of helping make and place the pipe bomb that killed 24-year-old Willebaldo Dorantes Antonio.

She met Rueda-Denvers, known to her then as Alexander Perez, at San Carlos University in Guatemala. She started dating him in 2001 and became pregnant with his child.

The relationship continued until 2006. By then, both had arrived in the United States.

She had borrowed $5,000 from a bank, travelling with her daughter by bus into the county to be with Rueda-Denvers. But he soon told her to move out.

"He told me he had somebody else," Chali said.

Chali said she had no friends or family in the country, was upset and jealous, but moved on and began dating Dorantes Antonio. Both worked at the Nathan's Famous hot dog restaurant in the Luxor food court.

In August 2006, Chali said Rueda-Denvers -- a name authorities believe is an alias and actually belongs to an acquaintance of the suspect -- began coming to her workplace and asking her to come back to him.

That same month, Chali said she met Rueda-Denvers at a park so he could see their child. He then followed her home and tried to hit Chali.

"He just pushed me," Chali said.

According to a Las Vegas police report, Dorantes Antonio was getting threats at work because of his relationship with Chali.

Rueda-Denvers' attorney, Chris Oram, emphasized in his questioning that his client had never "stalked" Chali and that Chali had never told him the identity of her new boyfriend.

On the morning of the explosion, Chali and Dorantes Antonio had just finished eight-hour shifts at Nathan's. He was going to take Chali home.

As they approached his car, Dorantes Antonio noticed that someone had left a coffee cup on top of his 1995 Dodge.

Chali was standing by Dorantes Antonio, near the driver's side door when he told to her to get in the vehicle.

As Chali walked to the passenger's side she heard a loud bang.

"I turned around to where Willebaldo was, and I saw that he wasn't there anymore," Chali said.

Chali testified that she ran around the car and found Dorantes Antonio unconscious on the ground.

"I only remember that he didn't have his fingers," she said.

Contact reporter K.C. Howard at khoward@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-1039.