On February tenth, nineteen ninety two, men with guns stormed a bowling alley in Los Crusis, New Mexico. They gathered the employees and two young girls inside, forced them into the main office, stole some cash, and opened fired on all seven victims before setting the room ablades and escaping out the back door. This is the brutal and unsolved story of the Los Crusus Bowling Alley massacre.
My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast.
The following podcast material intended for a mature audience.
Listener discretion advised.
It's up Happy Friday, Happy Friday.
This story took me a long time to type out because my wrist is fucked Yeah.
Yeah, fucked up your wrists. Perfect timing, I.
Know, right, I had. I've got a little bit of like ten nights going on the last few months, and I went and played some ball hockey the other day, and yeah, it hurts a lot more now since then.
Yeah, so it doesn't last too long.
I don't think so. I mean, I've got a brace on my hand right now to keep my wrist nice and straight. And took an heal and it's doing better.
You're old. I know you're getting old. I know, I know you will play ball hockey once a week and you get injured.
Yeah, that's pretty much it right there. But the freeze is coming, so it's gonna be like ice hockey pretty quick here. So yeah, I can be outside playing some ice hockey and uh yeah, good times. Got a little winter.
Really taking this enjoying hockey to the next level. You're not just watching it, you're playing it.
Yeah, thirty six years old and I'm starting to play hockey for the first time. So yeah, should have started when I was younger. I could have gotten too the NHL. Who knows, I know we would have been rich too late for that. Now.
Ah, that's okay. Our life is still pretty good.
Is it okay though?
Yeah?
H is it okay though? Yeah, we could have been rich.
Oh my goodness. Do you know the percentage it's probably very low of what like kiddos actually make it into the NHL.
Oh no, it's it's minimal. Any any sort of like kid going into sports. It's like a fraction of a fraction of a fraction will make it into the pro leagues. Yeah, are you talking like NBA, NFL, NHL, like all of them.
It's good to be a professional athlete. I think is pretty hard.
Oh definitely. The Well I was going to say it's super competitive, but I mean it is sports, so but yeah, no, it's I think for a lot of people though, it isn't getting into there. It's just enjoying the things in the daily lives, right, which is exactly why I'm starting to play hockey now at the age that I am, is because it's not about like, oh, I'm gonna go and be super competitive.
It's just like we're fun.
I just want to play hockey. That's all it is, you know. Yeah, So yeah, do what you love is the moral of this story. Yeah, just don't hurt yourself.
Well, I know. I mean when we're young, we're just like invincible or you feel so much quicker, and then when you're old, you're just well, we're not that we're old. We're not old. We're middle aged, right, we're middle aged. Yes, we're not even middle aged yet technically you don't think we are.
No, I don't think so, because I think middle age quote unquote it's like around forty, isn't it. We're not technically forty, yet we're thirty.
Six, so humhm fun okay, because.
Middle age is like the middle of your life, the middle of your life span, right, middle aged, And technically I think our lifespan is around forty or sorry, around eight. Oh man, wow, so middle age should be around forty. So I guess I mean, if you're going either end of forty, we're we're middle aged.
Yeah, yeah, we're getting there.
Yeah, gotta love life. Anyways, we digressed. I don't know why we talked about this this morning, but we we did. Hopefully you guys are having a good morning, better than my wrist, and hopefully you guys are not going to pay attention to the uh Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight. I'm going to. It's just I don't don't. I don't want to feed that kid any more attention than he already has. But I'm gonna watch, but you're going I'm going to. I just really hope he gets his face punched and he is old.
Ben, this is like taking okay, this is taking a turn here, let's.
Go Okay, let's get on the case. We're just rambling this morning, so we are talking about it. I am just rambling this morning. I haven't had coffee yet. Maybe that's the thing. Maybe I need a coffee to settle me down.
So maybe the tea didn't cut it, Egy, No it didn't.
But yeah, this is the Lost Crusis Bowling Alley massacre. So on the Saturday of February tenth, nineteen ninety, the day began like any other weekend for the family run Los Crusis Bowl. It's east of Amatur Avenue in Los Crusis, New Mexico, and the bowling alley planned to open at
nine am this day. They were going to be welcoming a youth bowling league which has had around forty young bowlers ages four to twelve, and they're going to be participating in this you know, loose youth bowling league day or whatever it was, right, So it was quite a big event day with a lot of little kids.
Okay.
Employees arrived early to make sure everything was all set up. As events like this there's there's always a lot to prepare. Stephanie Senek was the thirty four year old men and came in at around eight am that morning. She brought along with her her twelve year old daughter Melissa Ripass and Melissa's friend Amy Hauser, who was thirteen. The girls were there to help with the day care service for
the day. You know, being as young as they were didn't stop them from being a part of learning the family business that it was and being involved and getting those work time the work time in right, that's awesome. The day was beginning with Stephanie heading to the office. She's going to sort out receipts in the previous night, while Melissa and Amy you know, kind of explored and
played together throughout the bowling alley. So it's not like the kids are being put to work right away, but it's like, hey, you gotta do some help out for now. Go explore it, Go play. I got a little bit of paperwork to do.
That's kind of fun. Hey, as a kid, just to get to explore, like an empty bowling out right, that sounds super fun.
That would be. So as the kids were doing this and Stephanie's in the back starting to tackle some of the paperwork, meanwhile, there was a woman, a woman by the name of Ida Holgan. She's a thirty three year old individual who is a cook for the establishment. So she's in the kitchen already busy with the morning preparations and prep work is often the most labor intensive part of cooking for events. You know, you've got a lot to prepare for. You got a lot of meals that
like need to be happening as these are going. Even if you're gonna go like fast food stuff, you got prep work to do. If someone's going to order, say, for example, you go through a drive in just on any sort of fast food restaurant you can think of. If someone say says, I want eight cheeseburgers, well you got to fly those eight cheeseburgers out, So you need to make sure you have the buns, the condiments, the patties, all the stuff that goes on it ready to go.
Yeah, there's a lot to it.
Yeah, So that's what she's doing, is making sure everything's ready to go for this like forty plus.
Right, So then it makes their life.
Easier later, Yeah, with all these people coming in. So that's what she's doing in the kitchen, hard at work, and so far it's a regular morning, but that is until the two young girls, Melissa and Amy, walk towards the vending machine in the building just before eight twenty am. It was then that they noticed two men approaching them coming inside the building. The girls politely asked if the men needed any help or what they were looking for. They're like, you know, what's up. But this was when
things took a turn for the worse. The two men, one being significantly older than the other, each drew a twenty two caliber handgun and pointed it directly at the girls. Man, leave these little girls alone, I know, right, And it's the first ones that they see and the first ones they go for.
And here they're just like, how can we help you? Like the bowling alley's close about what can we do for you?
Right?
And I like how the girls are like, you know, they're starting to work in this establishment, ha bit, and so they're almost like the customer service kicks in. But the girls were unfortunately in a bad spot and they were immediately terrified and frozen in fear. But they were quickly forced to move and were made to go into the office where Stephanie was already reviewing the paper. Right,
so they're all forced into this back room. The men continued to brandish their guns at their new captors, you know, Sephanie and the two girls, and they got them all to kneel and lay down on the floor. They were left with no other choice but us to do what they were told, So they all got down to their knees and then laid face down, and one of the gunmen would leave the room briefly in search of the building in case there's anyone else left around. And this
is when Ida was spotted cooking in the kitchen. Now, according to reports from the Las Crucis Sun News, the man aimed his gun directly at her and shouted, quote, this is a hold up, could be important, jeez. So once he had Ida under control, he led her to the office where Stephanie, Melissa and Amy were already on
the floor and the men meant business. And to prove this, the one leading Ida struck her repeatedly on the back of the head with the gun in his hand, forcing her into the office and onto the floor only shit. Ida was ordered to sit with her head down. So she's on her knees with her head down, and one of the men then direct did Stephanie to open the safe. Stephanie,
doing as she was told, moves slowly. She's trying to ensure that she didn't startle anyone, you know, make any moves that could cause a trigger to be pulled or someone to get hurt. Right, So she's moving cautiously and slowly and did as she was told and opened the safe. Once the men had access, they grabbed around five thousand dollars of cash from inside the safe. But this is where something interesting happens. They didn't grab all of the money.
They did leave some behind still sitting in the safe. Now. Ida later recounted that the police or sorry to the police, that at this point the men seemed agitated. They began rummaging frantically through the office cabinets and drawers, as if they were almost searching for something, something more than just cash, almost like there was something specific that they were in search of and looking for.
Hmmm, okay, and it's very odd that they didn't just take all the money.
It is.
That doesn't make any sense.
Yeah, okay, So there's a few question marks on a lot of this, Like, as I mentioned, when the one gunman already went to Ida in the kitchen and had had her at gunpoint, he said, this is a hold up. What does this as a hold up mean?
Yeah, I don't even know.
That's usually mean it's a robbery. This is a robbery. This is a hold up. This is a stick up. It's all like in terms of like I'm pointing a gun at you, You're gonna give me what I want?
Okay yeeah.
So if this is a hold up.
They would have nothing to be looking for other than valuables.
Yeah, they're looking for to looking to steal, but they didn't even steal all the money, and then it's reported that they seemed like they were looking for something else. So, now as this is going on, the Bowling Alley mechanic Stephen Tarn, who is twenty six, was just arriving at the building Damn and with Stephen were his two young daughters.
Oh Manka, six year old Paula and two year old Valerie.
As he entered the building, the two gunmen spotted Stephen and his kids, and the men didn't hesitate and forced them into the now crowded office as well and ordered everyone to kneel with their heads down. It's unsure why, but what happened next was unexpected. Once everyone was in the office kneeling on the floor with their heads down as directed, the two men began firing at their victims. Though some sources report all victims were shot in the
head execution style. A Las Cruces Police Department captain clarified that while five were indeed shot in the head, others suffered wounds to their shoulders, hands in other areas. Now, this next part is a bit of a spoiler, but for story's sake, it is the best time to mention it. So we're going to go with the spoiler right now.
You'll figure it out here shortly. Anyways, so Ida, who survived the shooting, later told investigators and the media that the gunman appeared visibly anxious as they were firing their guns. Often as they were shooting at her, they missed, and they needed to shoot several times before hitting her accurately.
Okay, almost like they weren't wanting to or they were kind of doing this against their.
Will of sorts, or yeah, or maybe it was the first time doing it, or they were nervous, or who knows what. But you have someone point blank range and you're missing. Yeah, that's significant.
Because it wouldn't necessarily take a lot of skill to hit that aim. No, right, No, I have no experience. Have I fired a gun oh maybe, I guess actually, like like target shooting for hunting or whatever. Right, yeah, but I'm a hunter. But I think you've shot a twenty once in my whole life. Yeah, it's not rifles or air guns you've shot. But but yeah, this is close range handgun. It should be relatively easy to hit a body at least. Yeah.
Yeah, but they were missing and Ida was able to look directly at their shooters as they were shooting at her and not hitting her. But they kept shooting and eventually did. Now, after the men had shot all the victims and believed they were all dead, the gunman then took some papers and some that were sitting on the desk and lit them on fire before slipping out the back door and making their escape. Now I mentioned that
Ida survived the shooting. We already know that that was the spoiler alert part, and I also mentioned that the men believed they had killed everyone. Well, at eight thirty three am, the nine to one one dispatch would receive a call from that office, and it was from someone else who was still alive.
Okay, I was like, please have some other people surviving this.
The call came in from twelve year old Melissa against all odds, and despite being shot, she managed to reach for the office phone and dialed nine to one. One.
My gosh, bless her little heart.
I have that night.
Oh God, of course you do. Of course you do.
Here we go, please.
Tell oh well, show down, show down, We are shot. Hold up? Okay, where are you at?
One?
Stam the door US's ball? Yes, okay, and there were there were shots fired.
Yes, o huh Oliver.
I think I'm the other one conscience. All of you were hurt. Okay, we'll get a name of the rolling please okay, what's your NAMESA repas? Please hurry, say Melissa, we've got him dispatched. Did you see who did it?
No?
They told before to get down.
They shot me five times.
Okay, we'll get him rolling, Melissa, just hang on. Take a deeper patrol unit in around. How many people are hurt? One, twoday, four, five, seven, seven?
People are hurts? I think I hurt?
Okay, okay, Melissa, it hurts, it hurts. Okay, Melissa.
I've got any ambulance and I've got the police officers in round.
They'll be with you just shortly.
Okay.
You didn't see what any.
Of the men they wear over money. You didn't see what any kind of the men were wearing or anything. Nothing. They just walked in.
Do you know if they were black men.
White men, black mesa two black men? Yeah, okay, No, they've left two black mele.
Okay, Okay, it's okay, Melissa.
They's a fire too.
There's a fire. They are the men still there? I don't know.
You don't know.
I don't know if they put it in the office. They put you in the office. Yes, I need a fire too.
Too, Okay, Melissa.
She said they locked them in the office. He doesn't know if they're still there or not. The door's opening.
The fire yet.
You smell smoke, militia, Yes, I could see it. Okay.
Can I get the fire apartment?
Yes, because she smells smoking.
Let the building on fire?
No, it is on fire, is on fire?
Okay, Melissa.
Can I go and buy utility one?
Okay, Melissa. We've got him coming home. We've got him coming.
If somebody Okay, Melissa, there's a police officer there now, Okay, there is, Yes, there is. He's gonna try and find you office.
I have thirty three traffic.
God okay for the old Melissa. We've got the ambulance coming.
They're just down the street.
Huh. She still advises all seven or they're injured, they're.
In the office.
Where's the office at?
And then you take it right and we're right in the ld.
Okay, since you go in the.
First, let's take a right and you're right there.
At the office.
Okay. I'm giving the directions on how to get to you to the police.
Officers that are there. My God, you're helping you, Melissa. We've got them rolling.
Okay. You gotta be brave, gotta be strong now.
Okay, God, it's gonna burn our flight.
Now, Okay, can you see flames? Yeah?
Okay, okay, Oh, I got bullet in my fe.
Okay, the bullet in my head. You both the bullets in your head? To go ahead. I hear the officers telling you to get out. Was at the police officer. Okay now.
During the call, Melissa described the attackers as two black men. However, detectors soon Detectives soon clarified that the men were most likely Hispanic, possibly Cuban or Cuban American, rather than African American. So I did want to clarify that before we move any further. But that was a tough call to get through.
Holy shit, that was one of the worst things I've ever heard.
So, yeah, she's how old is she twelve or third? I think I'm going to go back on my notes here and check her age. Boy, Yeah, she's twelve years old.
She had been shot five times, and she's laying in the office with the other six individuals, all unconscious, and she managed to communicate to officers not only what happened, no kidding, also gave them direction on how to get inside to find them in the office, and she stayed on the line to the very last moment where officers were directing you to get out of the building, despite that room still being a blaze.
My heart just like listening to that was just oh, it just shattered.
Melissa is one hundred and ten percent the badass of the pay today.
And I guess she wasn't aware then that Ida was still alive.
Hey, she said unconscious.
Everyone else is on commage, okay, So she wasn't aware that they were all like dead or what or exactly what was like just hurt kind of thing.
Yeah, everyone else, as far as she knows, she used the word unconscious too. Twelve year old in that moment, they're all unconscious, not even like panicking, they're all dead, they're all knocked out, they're all black like who knows she's with it, which.
Is so exacting because just the scene that she would be witnessing there right with all the shots and stuff in people's bodies, like.
Oh man, well, and she even said there's like I don't believe she was shot in the head. So I believe she says, bullet in my hands.
Okay, yes, yeah, that's what I thought she had said.
So yeah, but the dispatch was question, there's bullets in your head? And so I do want to clarify. I'm pretty I'm this is me and my interpretation. I'm almost certain she says bullets in my hand.
Well, the dispatcher did a real good job too, Oh definitely. Oh, I just I don't know. Those are just like heroes too, because imagine just I mean, you're having to console her and then also get people there like as quickly as possible, so you're kind of like, you know, being in two places at once, really well.
Everyone involved, because you also have first.
Responders that have to go in there.
Yet went in there and hauled these people out of the building as it's burning.
Gosh, that's just terrible.
Yeah. So when first responders arrived, they quickly worked to extinguish the flames and also carrying the victims outside. As I mentioned, sadly, they discovered that Stephen Terren, his daughter Paula, and Melissa's friend Amy had not survived. The remaining victims were all transported to the hospital in critical in critical condition, but Steven's two year old daughter Valerie also succumbed to her injuries just forty five minutes later, so he.
And his two daughters died.
Correct.
Oh boy.
Only three survived the attack, Melissa, her mother, Stephanie and Ida.
Wow okay, I mean it's amazing that they survived, like you wouldn't think anyone would, but brutal.
Yeah, it's I can't I don't know. I don't even know what to say. I'm just going to keep going on here. Police immediately launched a full on investigation, canvassing the area around the Bowling Alley for any possible witnesses to see two men approaching or leaving the scene. They also spoke to Stephanie's brother, who will call Brian. Brian recounted that he had stopped by the Bowling Alley that morning to retrieve a backpack that he had left the
previous night. Now, as he entered, he had noticed the doors to the building were unlocked, and he told Stephanie before leaving to make sure that she locks him before they actually open.
Oh okay, and here she was probably just like busy working. Didn't kind of get there yet. Mostly still like even if the doors were locked, they might have still found a way in. Mostly, you know, if there's a will, there's a way.
Right now, as Brian left, he said he noticed two Hispanic men moving from the back of the building towards the entrance. The older man handed a small case to the younger one, then crouched down and made direct eye contact with Brian. Sorry, I think I might have said old man. He's older. He's not old per se. But yeah. So this encounter allowed Brian to actually get a very clear view of their faces, and he would later work with police to create two composite sketches, which were released
to the public in hopes of identified the attackers. Now. Other witnesses in the area also described seeing two men driving a van or utility vehicle, though the colors varied a little bit. It was either green or tan, and this was near the scene around the time of the shooting. With all these descriptions that they now had in hand, law enforcements set up ten roadblocks on all highways out of Los Cruises, screening every single vehicle that entered and
left the city for the rest of the day. The US SORRY, the Army, the US Customs and Border Patrol also joined in the search, employing helicopters up in the air planes as well, all in an attempt to locate this vehicle they were searching for. But despite these extensive efforts, no match was found for this vehicle. Back at the Bowling Alley, the Lost Cruises Police Department began proceeding with the crime scene. However, by the time the investigators arrived,
firefighters had already used hoses to extinguish the flames. And while it's an important thing that needs to happen to extinguish the flame, this initial firefighting response is always something that inadvertently causes damage to a crime scene.
Evidence.
Yeah, it makes it really complicated to gather any sort of evidence whatsoever, But I mean the alternative is to let it burn down.
Anything get rid of all the evidence exactly.
So it's you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.
Yeah.
So the firefighters, of course they're going to put out the fire. It just leaves a contaminated crime scene, unfortunately, and it's something that investigators always struggle with when a fire occurs at a scene, and in this case, not surprisingly,
it became a significant hurdle for the investigation. The Lost Cruses police requested assistance from the New Mexico State Police to try and gather the evidence that they could from the scene, but despite their combined efforts, they were unable to gather enough evidence to complete and create a DNA
profile of either of the assailants. They did, however, recover fingerprints and shoe prints, but as this is a public bowling alley, presence of multiple sets of prints and tracks made a challenging to determine which were relevant to the crime and not simply public patrons of the facility.
Dang, yeah, yeah, I didn't even think of that. There would be like fingerprints and footprints and stuff all everywhere.
Yeah.
Oh shit, yeah, I mean right away, I was like, Wow, they got to work, but they have a damn hard job.
Yeah, this is not one that is going to come easy for sure.
Yeah.
Now, In the following days, the survivors of the attack were they were able to provide details and descriptions of the gunmen. The older man was described as around fifty with salt and pepper hair, a dark complexion, standing at about five foot seven inches tall and weighing it around one hundred and forty pounds or so. He spoke with a slight accent. Now, the younger man appeared to be around thirty years of age with dark, wavy hair and
light colored eyes. He stood around five foot ten and weighed around one hundred and seventy pounds, speaking without any discernible accent, and both men were fluent in both English and Spanish, which in all honesty I don't think is super uncommon for the area by any means. So, based on these accounts, police artists, sorry police artists, created composite sketches of the suspects with these descriptions, and of course these were quickly distributed to the public in hopes of
identifying them as well. Detectives soon found themselves following over one hundred tips. As the investigation unfolded, some witnesses reported seeing two men fleeing the scene, running across Amador Avenue towards the Interstate immediately after the massacre had taken place. Others suggested that the crime could be linked to a local gang living just two streets from the Bowling Alley.
Among the many leads was a claim from a woman at a nearby bar who told police that she allowed the gunmen to stay with her after the attack.
Okay, and she's basically admitting this later on kind of thing.
Yeah, So it's like a couple of days go by and she's like, oh, well, actually not even I think it's the day after. Maybe I'm not certain exactly, okay, but yeah, she's like, oh yeah I let them stay with me.
Did Okay? I have so many questions regarding that, but okay.
Well you may not have as many questions once I tell you a bit more. Yeah, okay, because the officers, of course, did interview this woman and right away she appeared to be under the influence of drugs and she was reported to be high at the time, which casts a lot of doubt on her reliability.
Mm.
Yeah, does answer some of your questions?
Well, yeah, because I was like, did she know what they had just done, Like, yeah, well but maybe not, or maybe it didn't even happen, who knows.
Maybe. But now here's the thing, because, according to her initial account, the gunman had targeted the Bowling Alley because they believed it was a front for a large drug stash. She claimed that they hitted her place when they heard the helicopters searching for them. Now, despite her current state being all high and these outlandish claims, she agreed to
take a polygraph test and she passed it. Okay, Now those aren't always super reliable, but it is impressive still at the very least to say she passed this.
Well, yeah, because what was she holding or helping them against her will? Or was she freely helping them?
I don't know, I'm not too certain now. However, after she sobered up, she apparently recanted her entire story, admitting that she fabricated it in hopes of gaining some status in the community and potentially receiving free drugs. So she's like, I could be famous and maybe get some drugs out of this.
Shit.
That is one of the most crazy reasons I've heard to do anything, right, Wow, I know, Okay, So yeah, that's I feel like, if anything, that's just going to make you have the most terrible status right now.
There was a witness report that claimed they actually saw the gunman at the Las Crucis Bowl the night before the shooting had actually happened. So they're there at the actual facility, you know, bowling or enjoying their time however it was. But according to this account, one of the men had tried to flirt with the manager, Stephanie on
that night, but she rejected his advances. Now, this led to speculation that the shooting might have been some sort of active retaliation, you know, like, well you're gonna reject me, No one rejects me, or something like that.
Right, we've had cases like that before.
We certainly have Junco Feruda being one of them. Forty hell right. Yeah. So though this theory, like many others, they couldn't prove it. There was nothing that they could find. It was just that a theory. So after reviewing the evidence and tips, detectives developed several different theories along with
that one about the motive specifically behind the massacre. One theory was that it had been a robbery that had gone wrong, and another considered the possibility of a bounched hit could have been maybe against Stephanie or maybe someone else who knows, but a botched hit was another possible ability. Now, the robbery theory left several unanswered questions. Why had the gunmen left some money in the safe if it was
a robbery, which we kind of already talked about. And why didn't they disguise themselves if it was a robbery, right, because you think of a robbery typically you got like guys and scheme asks or whatever, you know, covering their identities and no one can identify them.
But it doesn't seem like they're very concerned about that at all exactly, especially see the guy I can't remember his name who had left the bowling alley and okay, yes, got to even look them in the eye right.
Now.
Most disturbingly, the biggest question was why would they kill the kids if it's just a robbery, you.
Know, right?
So?
Yeah, because the kids, you know, I don't well, especially like the little ones, they probably wouldn't be able to like recount or remember too much necessarily.
Do you have a two year old that you killed?
Yeah?
So, Now, these unanswered questions led some investigators to suspect that the attack might have been more than just a robbery because it didn't quite make sense, and maybe it was, you know, a hit on someone that we already mentioned and it went horribly awry. But this theory raises another critical question. Why would someone want to target an employee of a bowling alley for a fucking hit? Would it be because you know, like we said, hey, you don't
deny my advances, or is there something further? Is there someone else in here?
I'm almost wondering if it's potentially something to do with Ida, because how they were like missing her, you know, if that was like planned to like not kill her per se. I don't know.
I I mean, I don't, I don't see it. I see what you're saying, but I disagree.
Okay, they were just that bad, so it wasn't necessarily trying to save her, It was just that they suck.
Well, I mean, that account came from Ida herself, So why would if she was, you know, supposed to be saved from this and make it like she was one of the victims as well?
Well, maybe she didn't. She knows who was like behind all this though, but doesn't know right, like she maybe didn't have anything to do with it, but the person behind it was like, make sure you don't kill her.
I mean I don't maybe, I don't know. It still seems far fetched to me. Okay, there's some other ones that, well we'll touch on right here now that's not quite as far fetched though. Yeah, anyway, we'll just get into it. So this this theory raised another critical question though, of course, why target Bowling Alley employee. But to explore this angle, detectives met with Ron Senek, the owner of the Bowling
Alley and the father of victim Stephanie Senek. So when I asked if anyone might hold a grudge against him, Ron simply said no. He insisted that you know, it's like this is clearly a robbery, like they stole my money and stuff, right m hm. And he even explained that the Bowling Alley had been targeted for robberies multiple times since opening in nineteen eighty four, so he's like, robbery have happened here before, that's most likely what it
is now. However, Stephen Arn, his brother, suggested that investigators or sorry, two investigators, that Ron's lifestyle was a little bit questionable at the time of the attack. So reportedly, Ron lived in the Bowling Alley and had been visited by several unusual individuals in the months leading up to this attack. Not to mention, Ron was reportedly in deep financial trouble, owing one point five million dollars due to poor business decisions.
O dang.
In fact, his debt was so severe that he had to reopen the Bowling Alley less than a week after this tragedy took place try and keep his finances afloat. Yeah. Yeah, whoa.
So I'm surprised that would even necessarily been allowed like that that you know, it's a crime scene, that they would be done.
With it, I know, right, I don't even know, like even.
If I thought it was like kind of on fire, well yeah.
That's the thing. It's like even if well, I mean like they started with the desk, right, so like the desk is on fire. Maybe the structure's fine, but you still got like smoke damage, you got to clean Like how can you clean a crime scene and then clean your building and get it open less than a week later? Like holy shit, there was some hustle in that well, and.
You imagine or you think, like would people actually want to be going there. I mean, there'd be some that would want to definitely check it out, but a lot wouldn't.
I don't know, there's a lot of people with morbid curiosities that might want to go.
Yeah, and I'm sure his daughter wanted nothing to do with it.
I highly doubt that. Yeah, it's not only his daughter, it's also his granddaughter who is a part of this.
Yeah. True.
So, Now, when Ron learned that the detectives were scrutinizing him as a potential suspect, he immediately was uncooperative. He shut down and yeah, he was refusing to communicate or answer any other questions, which of course only heightens his suspicion.
Yeah, but also I don't know. I mean, yeah, his daughter and granddaughter were there. I think that he would be behind this, but maybe the people he's you know, hanging out with. Yeah, that's that's more okay, Okay.
Now, Despite this, though, detectives found no concrete evidence linking him to the crime.
Hmm.
Now. Another theory involved a rumor that Ron's son, RJ, who also worked at the Bowling Alley, was involved in this somehow So, according to the rumors, RJ was allegedly dependent on cocaine, it might have been using the Bowling Alley as a location for drug deals. Now, this theory, if true, could explain why the gunmen seemed intent on searching the office and cabinets, possibly looking for something else,
maybe drugs or more stashes of money. Right now, this could also tie the story from that woman who was high and said that the men were out targeting this place because they figured it was some sort of front for drugs. Right that Also that all of a sudden makes it this account makes sense, it does bit yes, So despite sorry, detective speculated that if RJ had been buying drugs at the Bowling Alley, the gunman might have
known about it targeted him specifically. But when detectives interviewed RJ, he showed no emotion and only answered direct questions, offered no new information, and ultimately investigators could not determine whether RJ was in the intended target of this hit or not.
But even with that, regardless of not finding drugs and stuff, I just feel as though people like that would still go about taking all the money that was available, right So that just that's weird unless they were just owed a certain amount.
But even still, if they're owed a certain amount, if they're owed five grand, say.
Right, they would take more interest, you know.
Exactly, they'd take more interest. And even if they got the amount that they needed, why are they shooting all these seven people?
Yeah? Well they all were witnesses.
Though not if you fucking wore sche masks.
Yeah, and they should have just done one simple thing to make them not as simple.
And a two year old's not a fucking witness.
Oh wow, Okay, yeah, this is this is a weird case.
And don't get me wrong, Like when you start dealing with individuals like in the mob and shit like that, they have they have fucking standards. They're not going to just pop a two year old.
No, you might own still not going to miss missing and stuff.
Because guys like that, they're they're not quote unquote gang members, they're quote businessmen. Right, So if you owe them money and shit you're not paying, it's going to get personal. They're going to go after your family. But they're not going to pop an innocent two year old because you owe them five fucking grand or something.
Mm hmm.
That doesn't make sense because that two year old wasn't even his granddaughter.
Well, no, they were just people that worked there. Yeah, well, and and kids of people that work there. So there's no way someone of that businessman's status or mentality would pop an innocent two year old that has nothing to do with this, and yet Stephanie and her daughter survives.
No.
Yeah, oh man, this one's really got me thinking. This is wild.
So, despite the extensive efforts, detectives were unable to conclusively prove any of the theories they were working with, whether it was a botched hit, or robbery gone wrong, or something else entirely, they just didn't know. Over the next decade, they left no stone unturned, investigating over a thousand potential suspects and even turning to unconventional methods, including psychics and hypnosis.
They also sought public help with multiple television programs airing In March of nineteen ninety, Unsolved Mysteries filmed a segment on the case, and the episode generated a wave of tips, though no none led to a breakthrough of any sort. Five years later, a MA Because Most Wanted aired a feature on the massacre, bringing a flood of new tips in but once again failed to produce any anything conclusive. While detectives pursued leads. The survivors, Ida, Melissa, and Stephanie
grappled with the lifelong impact of the attack. Ida endured debilitating panic attacks, headaches, and PTSD, compounded by brain injuries that made everyday tasks difficult for her because she was shot in the head. And that's especially like, that's what really brings us more into like what your theory was like really hard to believe and really far fetched, because it's like she was actually shot in the head. It's like not like she was just shot and like, oh
my arm. It's like no, she was fucking shot.
So like has life long I mean the trauma, but also you.
Know, yeah, she's she'd had brain injuries.
F yeah, exactly.
Now. Melissa and Stephanie also suffered from PTSD, and Stephanie faced lasting physical injuries. Unfortunately, tragically, Stephanie would pass away in nineteen ninety nine due to complications stemming from her injuries from really. Yes, ah, so the shooting did claim five lives, yes for sure, ough by the early two thousands,
investigators were still determined to solve the case. In two thousand and five, the updated the composite sketches of the gunmen, reflecting about a fifteen years of aging that would have occurred, But this effort did not yield any significant new leads. Entering into the twenty tens, the case remained active and detectives continuing to follow every possible promising tip. In twenty eleven,
the detectives sorry. A detective shared with CNN his belief that the murders were likely the work of experienced criminals who likely intended to leave no witnesses. To quote him, it was easy for them to kill, but you couple that with their knowledge of what they were going to gain out of hitting this particular place, and it tells you that this was probably wasn't their first crime. Sorry, I kind of fumbled that last sence, but this was probably Sorry, this probably wasn't their first crime.
There we go, But it does seem like they did things wrong though, so that okay, it's I don't.
Know, it's hard to say. I'm not sure if I fully agree with that officer or investigator or detective. There we go, but I do see what he's saying. I guess because it was like they fucking shot a two year old, right, Maybe they were still having trouble dealing with pulling the trigger with someone so close. Maybe they're battling with it. They still fucking did it, you know, Yeah, I'm sure they.
Could if they were say, part of like a gang or something. It could be like really new ones, right, because maybe they send potentially, yeah, people that are pretty new to the I don't know, organization or whatever the hell you want to call it, to do shit like this. Yeah, it was for what five grand I'm just sitting here just like shocked.
Well, there was clearly something else, right, they were in search of something else, whether it was more money, whether it was drugs. Maybe who knows there was something else. Now. This detective also emphasized the importance of someone coming forward, saying, quote, there's someone out there who knows what happened. They need to speak up so the victims and their families can finally have answers. And that's the thing. There's definitely individuals
out there who know what fucking happened. Oh yeah, more than just the two who would have committed it. For sure. Now decades later, here we are today, and the case remains completely unsolved. The community, victims, loved ones, they're all searching for closures, still Melissa Repass, one of the survivors of the Las Crusus Bowling Alley massacre, spoke out in her thirties about the enduring things that she faced after
the attack. She said that she needed the killers to be caught so she could finally stop living in fear. To quote her, then I will be able to go out in public and feel safe. I won't constantly look over my shoulder. I won't fear for my children for their safety. I won't have fear in my own home that they're going to come back and try and finish what they tried to do twenty one years ago. And just so you know, that is the same Melissa that dialed nine went one when.
She was oh yeah, gosh, okay. That gave me goosebumps for sure, that is. And she's gone ahead and had her own kids say she has I mean good for her.
So By February of twenty twenty two, thirty two years after the horrific crime, the Lost Crusis Police Department renewed efforts to solve the case by offering a twenty five thousand dollars reward for any information leading to suspects. Additionally, Charles Minn, the filmmaker behind the documentary called A Nightmare in Los Crusius, contributed another seven thousand dollars to the reward,
bringing the total up to thirty two thousand dollars. Despite this renewed push, no significant breakthroughs have been reported and no new updates have come out since twenty twenty two. The Lost Cruci's police department continued to search for the two men responsible for the attack on that fateful day. And that's the story of the Los Crusis Bowling Alley massacre.
I like freaking hate these unsolved ones. It's such a bummer when they're just when you don't get that closure, it's such a bummer.
It is, it really is. And this is because we covered a case of this not too long ago where it was a department store and an individual came in through the back door. Yeah, the same sort of thing, seemed to almost be looking for something and killed them and fled and didn't find them. Now, thankfully in this case that there were survivors. The other one, the nine one one call came in from someone who ultimately wouldn't survive.
But yeah, well just thinking back to that one too. That's why I was a bit surprised that the Bowling Alley was able to get was open within a week, because that one the store closed for like a year and then was like done done, Yes.
But I think honestly, with this one though, it was like there was the fire, so there was so much like there was not much that they could do. Everything was contaminated, everything was just done. It's like, okay, well it's it's botched. We can't really use it as a crime. There'sn't much of one left.
Because the other one was the chain too, so maybe they'd made the decision that they don't want that store anymore.
You know, well that store did close well yeah, yeah.
So they weren't like in any rush to get it open and stuff.
Yeah, who knows.
Oh boy, that is sad, isn't it.
That nine to one call. When I first heard it, it it struck a fucking chord. I can tell you that.
Well, yeah, that was the only thing I knew about this case because earlier You're like, I have a nine one call for this one too. What did I say? I was like, cool, yeap, yeah, thanks for that, basically cool.
Sorry. I think those nine and one calls are are one of the best in sites to any sort of crime, to really see if you can put yourself in those shoes, because that's that's in the heat of the moment. That's from the people who were there, victims often who have passed away, and it's the only real sense of what it could have been like there at that scene at that time.
Yeah, I lots of times I'm surprised that they even are out there though.
The nine one calls. Yeah, yeah, like.
It's surprising that those get released.
To me, Well, I will be honest, lots of times when I find nine one one calls, it's not because I find the nine one one call. It's because I find another creator who found the nine one one call and they used it. And I don't know where the fuck they're getting these calls from. But this creator that I got it from, let me see what's his He's on YouTube. His name is Derek Levsuer and he is uh, he used to be a detective or something like that. But yeah, he had the entire call in his his video.
And honestly shout out to him because his video was a great resource for me in researching this one. So thank you very much Derek for that I really appreciate it, but yeah, I don't know where people do find these calls from. Once in a while I'll find a call, yeah, but typically I find it through other individuals.
Okay, interesting, I mean the bigger case is I feel like there are lots of times out there a bit more. But yeah, well done, thank you, as per usual. But again, it's like, frick. For the rest of my mind or day, I'm going to be like, who the fuck did it? Who the fuck did it? Who the fuck did it?
Well, I can tell you there is one person who needs to do something, and it's you need to do a case. We're getting a lot of messages and stuff coming up here that Nicole needs to do another case.
Yeah.
I know.
The problem is that I'm drowning and editing, true, literally drowning.
True.
But I did say I would do one in November, and I still am planning to.
Well we're halfway through November.
I know where the shit does time go out? The fucking it still should be August in my opinion, September. Okay, September, oh boy.
Yeah, okay, so that was for that. Yeah, you're welcome. That was the rough ones, particularly with that nine on one call. But I'm glad you guys made it through it, and shout out to Melissa for being our badass today because you one percent solely are. We are so impressed with how you got through that.
So yeah, for sure, that's unreal.
Yeah, if you guys want to check out any of our social links or anything, it's in the description of this podcast. If you want to give us a rating appropriate to what you think we deserve, we appreciate that too. But if I may suggest a five star, I will suggest it. But again, you do you. We appreciate you being here regardless. It means the world. We are independent creators. There's no one who owns our show. It's just us, not just us, it is it is us. It is us.
I didn't even notice that this time.
Nicole gave me shit for that before, but it is Nicole and I. We produce, we record, we write, it's it's us. There's no one else who oversees it that. It's us too, and you guys. Without you, guys, we wouldn't have a show. So thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Thank you. Should we go get you that coffee?
Yeah, let's go get a coffee. And let's walk these dogs. There you go, all right, Well, thank you for being here, and until next time, stay wicked.