HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Instead of celebrating Mother's Day on Sunday, a South Florida family prepared to bury a mother of three who was shot and killed last Monday, one hour before she was scheduled to testify in an armed robbery case.

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The memory of 40-year-old Dorothy Jean McReynolds is all that's left for her three children and her husband.

"I want my wife to be remembered for the strong person that she was," said Ken McReynolds, the victim's husband. "To me this has been a complete and utter shock."

Dorothy McReynold's 19-year-old daughter, Kelly Burke was asleep on the couch during the shooting. She woke up to the commotion and was shot in the leg. Burke survived the attack.

NBC 6 has also learned that during the shooting, Dorothy's 8-month-old granddaughter was sleeping in a playpen nearby but was not hurt.

"She loved her grandbaby. Her grandbaby was it," Ken McReynolds said. "No matter what, she loved her children dearly. Her children were always number one in her life."

But he said his wife lived her life in fear after 29-year-old Billy James Lewis was released from prison. She was scheduled to testify against Lewis in a 2003 case where he allegedly held her at gunpoint at the check cashing store where she worked. The case was delayed 14 times over the next three years.

"I'm hurt. I'm lonely. Yeah, I'm mad," Ken McReynolds said. "I'm mad. Somebody dropped the ball and my wife had to pay for it."

Lewis was arrested one day after the shooting but he is not being named a suspect at this time. Meanwhile, the family is left with many questions.

"There's no mommy. That's how different it is. There's a big, wide, open hole," Ken McReynolds said.

He now reads messages from friends, offering their support in his time of need. He said he wishes he had one last chance to give this message to his wife: "I love you and I miss you, baby girl. I just feel so sad."