Las Cruces bowling alley massacre

Las Cruces bowling alley massacre
Location Las Cruces, New Mexico
Coordinates 32°18′37″N 106°46′01″W / 32.3102°N 106.7669°W / 32.3102; -106.7669Coordinates: 32°18′37″N 106°46′01″W / 32.3102°N 106.7669°W / 32.3102; -106.7669
Date February 10, 1990
Attack type
 Mass murder, robbery, arson
Weapons .22 caliber pistol
Deaths 4
Non-fatal injuries
 3
Perpetrators Unknown
No. of participants
 2
Motive Robbery/Unknown

The Las Cruces bowling alley massacre occurred in Las Cruces, New Mexico on February 10, 1990. Seven people were shot, four fatally, by two unidentified robbers at the Las Cruces Bowl at 1201 East Amador Avenue before burning down a portion of the building prior to leaving. The case is currently unsolved.

Shooting

On the morning of February 10, 1990, the bowling alley's manager, 34-year-old Stephanie C. Senac, was in her office preparing to open the business with her 12-year-old daughter Melissia Repass and her 13-year-old friend Amy Houser, who were planning to supervise the alley's day care. The alley's cook, Ida Holguin, was in the kitchen when two men entered through an unlocked door. One pulled a .22 caliber pistol on Holguin and ordered her into Senac's office, where she, Repass, and Houser were already being held by the other gunman.

The gunmen ordered the women to lie down while taking approximately $4,000 to $5,000 from the bowling alley's safe. The men then shot each victim several times. Soon after, Steve Teran, the alley's 26-year-old mechanic, entered, having been unable to find a babysitter for his two daughters, two-year-old Valerie Teran and six-year-old Paula Holguin (no relation to Ida), intending to drop them at the alley's day care. Not seeing anyone in the alley, however, Teran entered Senac's office and stumbled onto the crime scene. The gunmen overpowered him before shooting him and his two daughters. They then set the office on fire by igniting some papers before leaving the alley.

Houser, Teran, and his two daughters were killed. Repass, despite being shot five times, called 9-1-1 on the office phone, allowing emergency services to respond immediately and saving her life along with her mother's and Holguin's. However, Senac died in 1999 due to complications from her injuries.[1]

The event is currently a cold case.[2]

26 years later after the shooting, a brother of victim Steven Teran (who died in the shooting) Anthony Teran was included in a 2016 issue of the Las Cruces Sun newspaper and one of his remarks was noted "In this day and age, things like this don’t go unsolved. How did we not get these guys? That’s the question I ask myself every day. Numerous people saw these gunmen, so someone out there knows something, and they need to come forward.”[3]

Movies

A full-length documentary film called A Nightmare in Las Cruces[4] was released on the 20th anniversary of the massacre. It uses actual crime scene video, pictures and interviews with family members.[5] Filmmaker Charlie Minn hopes it will "move someone to come forward with fresh information and break the case".[6] Since its release, more tips have been reported to the local police.[7]

The event is also referenced in Odd Thomas (2013) and Cabin Fever (2016).

Reviews

Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times said:

Nightmare tries its best to illuminate the vanished murderers' possible motive, theories on which range from random robbery to drug-related hit, but that continues to be the most mysterious piece of this horrific puzzle.[8]

The Los Angeles Weekly stated:

From the start, however, as the viewer listens to the entire 911 call made after the gunmen fled, and as graphic crime-scene photos fill the screen, a sense of dread sets in that what's about to unfold is exploitation tricked up in moral outrage. As the film unfolds, it proves to be just that...But Minn, a mediocre interviewer, tips his hand by not only repeatedly showing bloody crime scene photos and videos but in staging reunions of survivors who haven't seen each other in more than a decade so his camera can capture tears. He also includes self-aggrandizing news footage of himself being interviewed about making the film. The cause? Noble. The crusader? Not so much.[9]

Andrew Barker of Variety reported:

Heavy research and the best of intentions are somewhat scuttled by a muddy constitution and an unclear sense of purpose in Charlie Minn's 'A Nightmare in Las Cruces,' which investigates a horrific unsolved massacre that took place in a New Mexico bowling alley. This at-times wrenching docu should hit hard for New Mexicans and others who remember the 20-year-old tragedy, though its budgetary constraints may limit appeal elsewhere.[10]

Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic wrote:

Minn's heart is in the right place, and his interviews with the survivors nearly 20 years later (he made the film in 2009) are often effective and always moving. Unfortunately, he's made a movie that plays basically as an extended episode of Unsolved Mysteries and other shows of that type. While spending more time with survivors, detectives and friends and family than a TV show could allow, Minn doesn't draw many conclusions but is instead content to simply lay out the facts.[11]

TV crime informational series

This case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries two and a half months after the murders, and on America's Most Wanted twice, once in November 2004 and again in March 2010.[12]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2016/02/09/bowl-alley-massacre-case-remains-unsolved-26-years-later/80089278/
  2. ↑ "New Mexico murders still a mystery after 21 years". Fox News. Associated Press. February 7, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  3. ↑ https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2016/02/09/bowl-alley-massacre-case-remains-unsolved-26-years-later/80089278/
  4. ↑ "Documentary Examines Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre". KFOX-TV. El Paso, Texas. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ Anthony Garcia (February 10, 2011). "Las Cruces Bowling Alley Massacre Remembered". KTSM-TV. El Paso, Texas. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Bowling alley massacre movie in ABQ". KRQE-TV. Albuquerque, New Mexico. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ Ashley Meeks (February 24, 2010). "Bowling alley massacre that rocked Las Cruces 20 years ago remains a mystery". El Paso Times. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
  8. ↑ Gary Goldstein (May 13, 2010). "Review: 'Nightmare in Las Cruces'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ Movie Reviews: Trash Humpers, A Nightmare in Las Cruces, Letters to Juliet
  10. ↑ Andrew Barker. "A Nightmare in Las Cruces". Variety. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "'A Nightmare in Las Cruces'". Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Crime". KRQE News 13. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
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