KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man who spent more than a decade on the run from justice will spend over 50 years in prison for the 2005 stabbing murder of a woman in her Lenexa apartment.
A Johnson County judge sentenced Angel Herrera, 43, to the "Hard 50," which means he must spend at least 50 years in prison for his premeditated murder conviction before he's eligible for parole.
He will also serve a 34-month prison sentence for aggravated burglary.
Herrera stabbed Maria Morfin-Rojas to death inside her Lenexa apartment near West 77th Street and Quivira Road.
A story by KSHB 41 News reporter Tod Palmer in October 2024 stated it didn't take long for Lenexa police to identify Herrera as the suspected killer.
Herrera broke into her apartment and killed Rojas.
Palmer did a story on Lenexa Police Det. James Rader's decades-long investigation and pursuit of Herrera.
Rader said Rojas had almost no family in the area and told Palmer he didn’t feel like she had anyone really fighting for her.
After years of running down leads, Rader found out Herrera was in El Salvador. He was able to go to El Salvador and bring back Herrera to face a murder charge.
"I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and I’ve been a detective for 24," Rader told Palmer in 2024. "This is the first time I’ve ever left the country in my life, let alone gone to Central America to pick someone up."
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Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
