BATON ROUGE- Co-workers of a woman who was savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat remember her for her contagious smile and loving personality.

Johnson worked at Remington College for the past 13 years in the admissions department. Taryla Mack saw her last Thursday.

"She was always ready for work, and always came in nicely dressed," Taryla Mack said.

According to investigators, Johnson's estranged husband beat her to death with the baseball bat and left the scene. They said her 18-year old son was also attacked and suffered a broken arm. The attack happened shortly after a party to celebrate his entrance into college.

"The coward fled," Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley said. "He beat his wife to death with a bat, and then he ran out the back door and fled."

Those who knew Monica also knew her husband and the pair never led on that there were problems at home.

"He would come in and get pedicures when we would have free services and stuff like that," Mack said.

Those who knew the pair said the husband's mindset changed last year. As they try to come to grips with this tragedy, it's hard making sense out of it.

"I pray that his mind is stabilized, and he lives with what he did," Mack said.

Johnson filed a restraining order against her husband last month. He was caught in West Baton Rouge Parish, and faces murder charges and a charge for violating a protective order.