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Almost two decades have gone by since a Saturday morning changed Las Cruces forever, but a filmmaker is hoping a new documentary about the horrific crime will help bring new clues to solve the mystery behind what is known as the Bowling Alley Massacre.

Charlie Minn’s “A Nightmare in Las Cruces” revisits the events of Feb. 10, 1990, in which two unknown men in an apparent robbery of the Las Cruces Bowling Alley shot seven people “execution style,” resulting in four deaths and a scene of almost unimaginable carnage.

Steven Teran, an employee of the bowling alley who was pursuing a career in law enforcement, arrived at 8 a.m. with his two girls, 2-year-old Valerie and 6-year-old Paula Holguin. His plans were to drop off the girls at the bowling alley’s day care center under the supervision of 15-yearold Melissa Repass, daughter of the bowling alley’s manager Stephanie Senac, and 13-year-old Amy Houser, Melissa’s friend.

Senac, the teen girls and cook Ida Holguin already were are the bowling alley, but Teran and his

children apparently walked into a robbery in progress. One of the robbers met them at the door and brought them into an office where the four women were lying on the floor. They were ordered to also lay on the floor and the robbers began shooting them. The robbers started a fire in the bowling alley and fled.

Police believe Teran, Paula Holguin and Houser died instantly. Repass was able to call 911 and attempted to put out the fire. She, Ida Holguin and Senac would survive their injuries. Teran’s toddling daughter Valerie would die en route to the hospital.

The suspects, two Hispanic men, have never been caught.

Minn was a college student in Chicago when he first saw an “Unsolved Mysteries” episode about the massacre.

“I’ll never see the show the same way,” Minn said. “I was mesmerized. I was shocked and angered by the brutality – how they could shoot these kids and women. It’s haunted me ever since.”

After working in broadcasting, including a stint as a television reporter in Albuquerque, Minn said he realized his real love was making documentaries.

“This is my niche,” Minn said. “I love telling true stories and I’m fascinated by true crime.”

Minn never forgot the bowling alley massacre story. He would even periodically call the Las Cruces Police Department. Minn said it frustrated him that the case remained a mystery and the criminals responsible were never caught.

“It’s as if they walked out of the bowling alley and vanished,” Minn said. “The case had become ‘old and cold’ as they say.”

In July 2009, he began to seriously research the case with the intent to make a documentary. Through New Mexico State University’s Creative Media Institute, Minn found sophomore student Jacob Bayless, who agreed to help him make a film about the massacre. Also assisting the effort was fellow NMSU student Amer Jandali and many others from the Las Cruces community eager to be part of the project.

Production began in September 2009 and the 100-minute film is still being edited in New York City by Sara Vander Horn.

Shot in high-definition video, “A Nightmare in Las Cruces” will make its debut on Feb. 10 – which coincidentally is also a Saturday – at the Cineport 10 for a nine-day run.

Key to the production was the cooperation of Mark Myers, the Las Cruces lead detective on the case. Over the years, Las Cruces police detectives have pursued thousands of leads that have led nowhere. Especially frustrating to police, Minn said, was a Cuban woman who claimed to have sheltered the two men, but none of her tips panned out and detectives eventually concluded she was just seeking attention.

The film includes interviews with the detectives, the surviving victims – Senac died in 1999 – and their families. One of the original detectives – Homer Jackson who now lives in Farmington, N.M. – also is haunted by the case, Minn said. The film also includes a re-enactment of the crime and the actual 911 call made to police by Repass.

At the time of the crime, the older suspect was described as being in his late 30s to early 40s, 5-foot-5 inches tall, medium build and between 160 to 180 pounds. The younger suspect was estimated to be in his20s, 5-foot-6 inches to 5-foot-8 inches, medium build and about 190 pounds.

The two suspects did not wear masks or gloves, and were seen by many running across Amador Avenue and an alleyway. Before the crime, they were seen by another bowling alley employee outside the building. Las Cruces Police believe that someone may have sheltered them after the incident.

Minn said he and others involved with the documentary will be talking about the film and the crime at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore on the Mesilla Valley Mall.

Minn said he hopes the documentary will bring fresh leads to the case. Myers can be contacted by calling 528-4222, ext. 4101, and Minn said they can be assured that their identity will be kept safe. For those wanting even more assurance that their identity will be protected, they can call Crime Stoppers at 526-800 or 800-897-2746.

A few months back Charlie Minn gave an interview with an Albuquerque news station about the documentary.

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Filmmaker Charlie Minn, doing the “most emotional thing he’s ever had to do,” is opening up old wounds with his film “A Nightmare in Las Cruces.”

The documentary graphically tells the wrenching story of Feb. 10, 1990, when two men robbed and shot seven people at Las Cruces Bowl, killing four.

Though he was a college student in Chicago and his only connection to the crime before the film was viewing its feature on “Unsolved Mysteries,” Minn choked over his words at a forum Monday, Feb. 1, even as he explained the logistics of the documentary.

“You have to understand, I’ve been living this day and night since September, and it still haunts me to this day,” he said, pausing often. “Nothing would make me happier than to see these dirtbags caught.”

The other panelists at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Mesilla Valley Mall, however, have been living the nightmare day and night since the morning it happened. When Minn approached Ida Holguin, Audrey Teran and Gloria Woods about the film, there was more than mixed emotions.

“I was confused and numb,” said Holguin, one of two living survivors of the heinous crime. “I kept thinking, ‘Is all of this really going to help?’ But now I know it really is. There are a lot of things that I’ve gone through that nobody understands.When they see this movie, they’ll know that I’m going through a lot.”

Melissia Repass, who was 12 years old at the time, and her mother Stephanie Senac also survived the executionstyle shooting. But after suffering from extreme head injuries, Senac died nine years later.

Also suffering gun shot wounds to the head, Holguin spent several months recovering in the hospital.

“The Ida Holguin today is not the same Ida Holguin as before,” said her husband Raymond Holguin, who attended the forum. “It’s a whole totally different story. I remember that day like it was yesterday.”

He said Ida Holguin, who worked at the bowling alley, had taken the car that day, but was supposed to return to pick him up for his job. He started getting worried when she never came.

“I got ready for work and I thought, ‘It’s getting later and later,’” he said.

Because their phone was disconnected, Raymond Holguin walked to the bowling alley, which, by that time, was surrounded by ambulances, fire trucks and police cars.

“The police told me to get back, that there was a robbery,” he said. “I told them my wife worked there, and they asked me her name. They told me I needed to get to the hospital right away.”

He jumped in the car with Woods, whose 13-year-old daughter Amy Houser was also a victim of the shooting, and headed for the hospital.

“We didn’t know what was happening,” Raymond Holguin said. “When the doctor showed us the X-rays showing she was shot in the head, that’s when I lost it.

“She was in the hospital for three months and had to learn simple things all over again. She forgot how to cook, and when I brought her home, she didn’t recognize the place. Everything was brand new to her. When she walked up to a water fountain, she said, ‘I don’t remember how to work these things.’She couldn’t remember the simple things.

“She’s very lucky that she made it through, and it’s made her stronger. She lives through that nightmare every day, I guarantee that.”

Though Teran was not a victim of the shootings, she became a victim when she lost her entire family – her husband Steven Teran and her two daughters, 6-year-old Paula Holguin and 2-year-old Valerie Teran. When Minn approached her about the documentary, she said she saw it as a blessing.

“I knew it (the 20-year anniversary) would be big,” she said. “I think Charlie (Minn) is a blessing by helping us get this tragedy out. We’ve had leads on top of leads, and I know there’s someone who knows something, but maybe ifthey see it raw, how it really happened, something will change. He’s finally letting it out, and there are some things that my family doesn’t even know.”

Woods was afraid of the reopening the wound.

“At first I didn’t want to,” she said. “It was resurfacing a pain that is always there. I’m always gonna wonder why, but my children and husband encouraged me to participate. If me participating helps, that’s why I did it.”

In honor of the victims of the shooting and their families, Minn is releasing the film in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and “hopefully” El Paso on Wednesday, Feb. 10, the 20th anniversary. From there, he said he will work to get it released nationally and, eventually, globally.

Working with the case’s lead detective, Mike Myers of the Las Cruces Police Department, Minn was put in touch with the victims and their families. He said his documentary includes a re-enactment of the crime and actual footage of the crime scene and 911 call. The first hour of the film – which runs a little more than two hours – is extremely graphic, and the second half covers the investigation, which Myers said “is as thorough as it could possibly be.”

“I made this film to evoke emotion so someone out there will turn themselves in,” Minn said. “I firmly believe there is someone walking on Telshor and Lohman that knows what happens. They (the victims) have suffered enough.”

Though Woods, Ida Holguin and Teran said they have only returned to the bowling alley once since the incident occurred – Ida Holguin only because of the film – each of them plan to see the film when it is released, despite the gory details.

“I kinda know what I went through, and I saw Amy get shot,” Ida Holguin said. “It was graphic when I saw it happening, but this is how it happened.”

“They were my life,” Teran added, “and I’m going to keep on representing them.”

While Woods remained reserved, she too said she would see the film.

“I’m going to go,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean I won’t close my eyes to certain things.”

FYI - this is on Anderson Cooper tonight.

I missed the Anderson Cooper segment. Did anyone watch it?

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/20/ac360%C2%B0-cold-case-twenty-one-years-later-justice-eludes-victims-of-bowling-alley-slaying/

I saw this movie when it came to Albuquerque. Some parts were difficult to watch. A couple of people got up and left the theater and my husband teared up a bit.

If you ever get a chance to see it, please do. :(

Upon reading some articles on this case, I've discovered that it was even WORSE than UM portrayed it, if such is possible. Not only did the killers shoot everyone, including four children, but they set the desk in the office on fire before leaving. Amy, the 12-year-old and only child to survive, called 911 and tried to put out the fire. She's been shot in the head and an additional four times and still pulled through, miraculously.

I can attest to the documentary being very compelling and creepy in the tradition of UM.

The massacre happened 26 years ago today. Still no updates. :(

It looks like the documentary is available to rent on Amazon.

I got it on netflix some time ago. It was pretty graphic.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check that out this weekend. :)

Ironically, the case is on right now on Lifetime (west coast).