D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
April
2008
Unsolved Murders
Page: 3It was during this autopsy, which took place in Albuquerque, that for unknown reasons, her hands were cut off and given to a Luna County deputy to return to Deming as evidence. The deputy made it, but Mason's severed hands did not. Numerous inquiries to those who perform autopsies revealed that these experts had never heard of such a thing, suggesting that Mason's hands might have belatedly pointed to the identity of her killer.
Several weeks after the killing, Apodaca was arrested in Arizona and brought back to Luna County and charged with first-degree murder. The case became entangled in red tape, because at the time, there was a challenge to the state's mandatory death penalty law for murder cases.
Moreover, one of Apodaca's attorneys, Glenn Neumeyer, had filed a motion to suppress the testimony of Dr. Tyler Payton, a psychotherapist with the Veteran's Administration. The court ordered that Payton could not testify in court about any conversations with Apodaca because these discussions were privileged by doctor-patient confidentiality. Without the testimony of Payton, District Attorney Serna said the state did not have probable cause to pursue its prosecution.
Apodaca had been out on $50,000 bond. The case against him was "dismissed without prejudice" in May of 1976. Wash now lives in the Las Cruces area.
No one else was ever charged in the murder of Catherine Susan Mason. Her sister, Lori Smith, who lives in Seattle, says that their mother, right up until her death, would call the Luna County sheriff's office every year on or around the anniversary of Cathy Mason's death to inquire about any progress in the case.
About three-quarters of the unsolved recent murders listed by NMSOH occurred in Albuquerque. Of the four Las Cruces murders listed, three stem from a single incident that remains one of the area's most notorious unsolved cases. Four people actually lost their lives: Steven S. Teran, Valerie Teran, Paula Holguin and Amy Houser.
It has been dubbed the "Bowling Alley Massacre," and took place one morning in February 1990. An article on the NMSOH site by Renee Green describes what happened: "Steven worked at Las Cruces Bowling Alley and his wife was attending classes. This Saturday was no different for the family with Steven heading off to work around 8 a.m., taking his two little girls along because the bowling alley had a daycare center the little girls could stay in while he worked and their mother attended her Saturday class.
"Already inside the bowling alley were the cook, Ida Holguin (no relation); Stephanie Senac, the owner's daughter and manager; Stephanie's daughter, Melissa Repass, who was about 15 at the time; and Melissa's friend, Amy Houser, who was 13. The two young girls were there to supervise the daycare that day. Unknown to Steven, he was walking right into a massacre that would scar the very souls of families for years to come.
"Steven walked through the door with his two little girls right into the middle of a supposed 'robbery' in progress. One of the two robbers met them as they walked in and led them in the office where the other four women were lying on the floor. They were ordered on the floor and within minutes the two robbers shot all seven people execution style, started a fire on the desk, then fled leaving all seven people for dead."
Steven Teran, Paula Holguin and young Amy Houser died instantly, and Teran's daughter Valerie died on the way to the hospital. Melissa Repass — who, despite having been shot, got up and called 911 and then tried to put out the fire — survived, along with fellow shooting victims Stephanie Senac and Ida Holguin.
Efforts to put out the fire also destroyed some of the evidence at the crime scene. Despite a monumental effort by Las Cruces police, no one was ever charged in the shootings. It's thought that the perpetrators may have fled to Mexico.
The "Bowling Alley Massacre" has been covered on "Unsolved Mysteries," "America's Most Wanted" and even Montel Williams' TV talk show. A sketch artist now with the Houston police department, Lois Gibson, has done a rendition of two suspects in the case. Steven Teran's brother continues to seek a resolution to the case.
The other Las Cruces case listed by NMSOH is that of Shawn Allen Tise, who disappeared on Jan. 6, 1995. His body was later found by a family hiking in the Robledo Mountains, and authorities have never determined exactly what happened to Tise.
Not all unsolved murders in the state are listed on the NMSOH site. A more recent case is the Dec. 30, 2005, ranch slaying of John Timothy Edwards near Silver City. According to police, Allen Snyder told them that his son Michael James Snyder confessed to the murder. But the younger Snyder subsequently recanted his confession and the case — despite being featured on TV's "America's Most Wanted" — remains open.
A bit farther afield, in Lincoln County, NM, there's the McKnight mystery. In November 1984, the bodies of Thomas "Cotton" McKnight and his wife Judy McKnight were found in the kitchen of their ranch home. According to the New Mexico State Police Cold Case Web site (www.dps.state.nm.us/lawEnforcement/coldCase), the couple was "last seen alive on Nov. 13, 1984. It was determined that they died from gunshot wounds. There was no sign of forced entry to the residence and evidence at the scene supports that the McKnights either knew their assailant(s) and/or were comfortable with their being in the residence.
"The case was initially investigated by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department with assistance from the New Mexico State Police. In December 1984, the New Mexico State Police terminated their assistance in the investigation, which was continued by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department. In August 1985, the Twelfth Judicial District Attorney's Office in Lincoln County convened an Investigative Grand Jury into the McKnight murders. The Grand Jury did not return any indictments and recommended that the investigation continue. In September 1985, the New Mexico Attorney General and the New Mexico State Police conducted a joint investigation into the McKnight murders.
"As of this date, no viable suspect(s) have been identified in this case."
The list goes on and on. And that's without even looking just over the border to Juarez, where the number of unsolved killings makes those in New Mexico pale in comparison. At least 300 women have perished in the continued femicide that has gripped the city for a dozen years, and just this year alone, over 100 people have been murdered in Juarez — most, apparently, in drug-related incidents.
Solutions? Probably none. Gun-control efforts in the US have actually regressed in recent years, and certainly guns alone aren't the problem. Murder can be done with almost anything — back in 1982, a friend of mine was murdered with a broken wine glass.
People are the problem, as they have been since long before the killing of Esteban the Moor. Since "civilization" began, we've yet to learn to resist the temptation that led Cain to tackle his problems with brother Abel by resorting to homicide. And despite the advances in criminology dramatized on shows like "CSI:," countless latterday Cains continue to evade punishment, their crimes filed away as "cold cases."
"Every unpunished murder," said Daniel Webster, "takes away something from the security of every man's life."
Looking at New Mexico's many murder mysteries, it's hard to dispute that.