LAS CRUCES - The killers were ruthless.

They showed up at the Las Cruces Bowl shortly before it was scheduled to open at 8 a.m. on a quiet Saturday.

After stepping through an unlocked door, the two men herded snack bar cook Ida Holguin; bowling alley manager Stephanie Senac; her 12-year-old daughter, Melissia Repass; and the girl's 13-year-old friend, Amy Hauser, into a corner office.

Making no effort to conceal their identities, they brandished a small-caliber pistol and grabbed as much as $5,000 from a safe.

Bowling alley mechanic Steve Teran reported for work and walked in on the crime, along with his 6-year-old daughter, Paula Holguin, and 2-year-old daughter, Valerie Teran, because he didn't have a babysitter that day. Repass and Hauser were there that morning to supervise the nursery.

The assailants lined up all seven victims on the floor in the cramped office, shooting each in the head multiple times at close range. Killed in the rampage were Hauser, Teran and both of his young girls.

The killers set fire to the office and fled.

It happened Feb. 10, 1990, a day that will always be remembered for what quickly became known as the Las Cruces bowling alley massacre, the worst mass murder in the history of this southern New Mexico city.

Despite intense efforts by authorities, the murderers' identities remain a mystery 21 years later.

"Some people just do all the right things before, during and after a crime to elude capture," said police Detective Mark

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Myers, who has worked the case since 2002. "Anytime you have a high-profile crime like this, believe me, everything you can imagine has been thrown at this case."

Repass and Senac survived the shooting, although Senac died a few years ago.

Survivor Ida Holguin, the cook, who is unrelated to Paula Holguin, told police the gunmen seemed startled by the number of people they encountered.

Police say they took $4,000 to $5,000 but, strangely, left behind an undisclosed amount of cash.

Frustrated investigators are still chasing leads, still working to keep the case in the headlines in a desperate hope that someone will come forward with a tip that breaks it open. It's an agonizingly long time for the victims' families to have no resolution.

"You wait and wait and wait," Audrey Teran, who lost her husband and daughters, told The Associated Press last week. "The first few years, maybe the first 12 years, there was always a lot of anxiety. I was always very antsy and wanting to know more. But after that, I had to put it aside and deal with my anxiety. We've gotten to a point where we just don't get any answers."

The survivors gave descriptions of the killers to police. Both were Hispanic, one about 30, with dark wavy hair, light-colored eyes and no accent in his speech. The other was about 45 to 50 with thinning salt-and-pepper hair, a dark complexion and a slight Spanish accent.

Myers said he thinks someone has information that could help, saying that person hasn't had the courage to come forward or perhaps believes a nagging suspicion couldn't be true.