LENEXA, Kan. — For nearly two decades, Lenexa Police Det. James Rader looked at a picture of Maria Morfin-Rojas on an almost daily basis.
"She had virtually no family here in the Kansas City area," Rader said. "She had an aunt and uncle here, but her children were gone. I didn’t feel like she had anyone really fighting for her."
Morfin-Rojas, who was 30 at the time, was stabbed to death sometime after leaving work on Sept. 9, 2005, inside her apartment near West 77th Street and Quivira Road.
Lenexa police quickly developed Angel Herrera as a suspect, but he'd already stolen Morfin-Rojas' car and fled to Mexico before her body was found.
"I kept her picture up — also a picture of Herrera — just to remind me that that case was still out there and to not forget about it," Rader said.
That dogged determination paid off last month when Rader traveled nearly 2,500 miles to bring Herrera back to Johnson County to face justice, bringing a measure of closure to one of the longest — and at times most frustrating — cases of his career.
"We knew that he had remained in Mexico for a period of time, then we'd received information that he had moved on and had gone to El Salvador," Rader said. "At that point, we did not have an extradition treaty with El Salvador, so there wasn’t a lot being done at that point."
Looking at that photo of Morfin-Rojas holding her daughter day after day, Rader never lost hope.
"All victims are important in these cases," Rader said. "It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your lifestyle is. A homicide is a homicide and they deserve someone to be fighting for them."
Rader is assigned full-time to FBI Kansas City Violent Crimes Task Force and KCPD’s Career Criminal Squad.
Working with federal partners in 2020, he successfully had a suspect extradited from Mexico.
"At that point, my supervisor had asked me if I had any other cases that were international," Rader said. "I told him about this case and he suggested we start moving forward and doing everything we could to locate (Herrera)."
Rader received an email in April 2023 that Herrera had been arrested in El Salvador, which had restarted extraditions to the U.S.
It took 18 months of paperwork — coordinating with the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office, FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice — but finally Rader was informed he could travel to San Salvador and take Herrera into custody.
"I’ve been doing this for 31 years and I’ve been a detective for 24, this is the first time I’ve ever left the country in my life, let alone gone to Central America to pick someone up," Rader said.
Morfin-Rojas' family was overjoyed to finally have a measure of justice.
"They were very emotional when I notified them of his arrest and then they were just extremely relieved when I called them last week to let them know he was back in Johnson County," Rader said.
Morfin-Rojas missed several shifts in a row at work before concerned coworkers went looking for her in mid-September 2005.
Police found her dead inside an apartment in the 11900 block of West 77th Terrace.
Her white Dodge van was missing and would later turn up near the U.S.-Mexico border after someone attempted to re-title it.
A then-23-year-old Herrera, of Shawnee, was charged on Sept. 17, 2005 with her Morfin-Rojas’ murder, but justice would have to wait.
Herrera is being held at the Johnson County Detention Center in Olathe.
He has been charged with first-degree murder; aggravated burglary; theft, less than $1,000; and criminal damage, less than $500.
Court documents allege that Herrera broke into Morfin-Rojas’ apartment, damaging the door frame to enter, then stabbed her to death and fled to Mexico after stealing her van.
Herrera is due in court Nov. 13 for a scheduling conference.
Bond initially was set at $1 million in 2005, but Herrera’s now being held without bond.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
