Bakery workers learning to live in a world without murdered co-worker

June 26, 2014 at 7:45 PM EDT - Updated July 25 at 6:20 PM

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The search continues for three men wanted for questioning in the murder of Kelly Hunnewell, a bakery employee and mother of four small children.

Police have received tips, but leads have reached a dead end. They're certain someone saw these three men caught on surveillance video. All were wearing hoodies and jeans in 70 degree weather around 3:30 a.m. Monday near Beltline Boulevard and Tommy Circle.

It's obvious Hunnewell was more than a baker for Carolina Cafe.

"She was family, you know," said Lauren Schuleter, Carolina Cafe's owner. "When you see somebody every day, it's very hard for them to not be there."

"I would always pause at the cookie case that we have up front and I would just stare at the chocolate chip cookies because she did such a good job baking them," said co-worker Hillary Daly. "I always wanted one, but she left a note on there for us that said, 'Employees, do not eat these cookies,' because they were very popular. The customers love them."

"We have a problem, it's a serious problem, she would bake extra, I think, because of it," said co-worker Anthony Cespedes.

"It was the cookies and just little things," said co-worker Emilie Dawson. "If something got done wrong, she would stick a little note up so no one did it again, so we would remember, trying to make us a little better at our jobs.

Even at work, Hunnewell was thinking and talking about her kids.

"Her oldest daughter took a babysitting course so she could help out with the children and she was real proud of that," said Schuleter. "She did so well on the test, and she would tell me when Victor, one of her sons, would do really well on a test at school."

"I can't think of a conversation that we had that didn't involve her children, she loved them more than anything in the world," said Daly.

"Every time she talked about them, she called them her little brats, but it was never meant as a derogatory term obviously," said co-worker MG Greenway. "She always had that sparkle in her eye when she said that. She was just kidding around and it was just it was really cute and you could tell she loved them a lot."

"She was a really important part of everything that we do around here and it will take some getting used to, she was involved with all of us for the most part," said Cespedes.

"We are in the process of moving the bakery to another location with a store front and she was actually going to manage that and run it, so it's really difficult to thin about she won't be a big part of that," said Schuleter.

"We can find someone to do the job, but it's the person that will be gone," said Greenway.

Someone they know they'll never replace.

Hunnewell's visitation service will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 5 at Thompson Funeral Home in Orangeburg. The funeral, meanwhile, is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday.