Josh

So a relatively safe place to live.

And the total number of violent crimes was around 200.

There were a few murders by 1985, but the overall violent crime rate had only risen to 250, with the population just being over 49,000 people.

Las Cruces had become a safe place to raise your family and build a life.

That's why the events that took place on February 10th, 1990 seemed too horrific to be true.

That morning, 34-year-old Stephanie Sinek arrived to complete her opening duties at the popular, family-owned and operated Las Cruces bowling alley.

That day, she had brought along her 12-year-old daughter, Melissa Rapace, and Melissa's best friend, 13-year-old Amy Hauser.

The two young girls are going to be in charge of the bowling alley's childcare room for that day.

Another employee, the bowling alley's cook, Ida Holguin, was also starting her shift in the bowling alley's kitchen, where she was just cleaning and prepping food for the arrival of patrons when the bowling alley opened at 9 a.m.

As she began working, two strange men entered the building through an unlocked door around 8.20 a.m.

At first, I'd assume they were part of a maid service that sometimes came to clean the building.

The men separated upon entering the bowling alley, with one heading toward the front of the establishment and one lingering near Ida.

The man lingering in the kitchen suddenly pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and aimed it at her.

The man told her to come with him and that this was a holdup.

and then he hit her on the head several times with the gun before forcing Ida to walk to the front of the bowling alley and into Stephanie Sinek's office.

Upon entry, Ida quickly learned what the other mysterious man had been doing, intercepting Stephanie and the girls as they entered the building and forcing them into Stephanie's office where they were being held at gunpoint.

The gunman ordered the women and children to lie on the floor face down while they ransacked the bowling alley's office and safe, clearly looking for something.

One of the gunmen ordered Stephanie to open the office's safe.

And to this day, it's unclear exactly what they took from the office other than about $4,000 to $5,000 that the bowling alley's owner claimed was missing from the safe.

What was odd is that they didn't take all the money that was inside of that safe.