Less than two months after Jupiter resident Charla Las Casas witnessed her 21-year-old son's death over a $50 debt, nearly every day is what she calls a "bad Denny day."

A bad Denny day is when she can't shut the tears off - when she is haunted with memories of her son, Denny Rowland, who died the morning of Feb. 10 after a masked gunman entered their North Palm Beach Heights home, held the mother and son at gunpoint, then shot and left Mr. Rowland to die on the kitchen floor.

Now, all she can do is wait for his killers' trial.

On March 9, a grand jury indited Jupiter residents Rikardo Alvarenga and Zachary Taylor Zeman, both 20, charging them with one count of first degree murder with a firearm, one count of attempted robbery with firearm, one count of burglary with assault or battery with a firearm and one count of aggravated assault with a firearm.

Both are in Palm Beach County jail, waiting for a court date from the state attorney's office.

Mr. Zeman, who sustained a gunshot wound during the incident, spent nearly a month at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, police said.

However, because of medical privacy laws, the hospital would not release any information about the nature of his injuries.

Under procedural law from Florida's Division of Children and Families, Ms. Las Casas now has only supervised visitation rights with her 13-year-old son, who was sleeping in the home when the murder occurred. He now lives with his father in Palm Beach Gardens.

"They think I had something to do with the murder because there was violence, but I didn't know any of this stuff was going to happen," she said. "Anybody in their right mind knows that if I had anything to do with it, my son (Denny) would be here today. I would have called the cops and put a stop to it immediately."

Ms. Las Casas, who does not work and described herself as disabled, said she suffers from post-traumatic stress due to a 1996 incident when she was shot and robbed at work.

Now, she spends some nights at the Jupiter house, and others at her mother's house in Palm Beach Gardens. However, all of them are sleepless.

She said she is most affected by the smell of her son's favorite cologne: Acqua di Gio.

"I miss his smell, as he would walk in from work or get out of the shower," she said. "I always think of that song, 'So fresh and so clean' (by Outkast). He always smelled like fresh rain, and I just miss that."

She smiled as she recalled how her son would bounce on the balls of his feet when he was excited or in a hurry.

"He would never walk normally, and he was never down. He was always excited about something."

Meanwhile, her younger son is handling his brother's death "very quietly," Ms. Las Casas said.

"He hasn't wanted to talk about it, but yesterday, he grabbed me around the waist and said, 'Mom, everything is going to be OK,'" she said. "He said, 'Mom, that was my brother. Sometimes I felt like an only child because we were (eight years apart), but now I am one.'"

They laughed as they remembered how Denny would persuade his American bulldog, Smokey, to surprise his brother with playful "doggie kisses" each night as he got into bed, she said.

"(My younger son) would laugh so hard that he couldn't stop, and he would wind up with the hiccups," Ms. Las Casas said. "It's nice to remember the laughter, especially because Denny was hardly ever in a bad mood. He would go lift weights when he was (stressed out), instead of getting mad."

Mr. Rowland, who attended both Dwyer and Jupiter High Schools, was a well-known entrepreneur who ran his own event promotion company called On Target Entertainment.

More than 400 people showed up at his Feb. 17 funeral service, including old schoolmates, coworkers, Palm Beach and Martin County Fire-Rescue workers and even grocery store employees who knew him.

"He liked being around people, and everybody loved him back," Ms. Las Casas said. "He was always very charming and sincere, and never expected anything in return."

Though Denny had started work as a waiter at Ray's Italian Restaurant in Jupiter only three days before his death, restaurant officials even helped pay for his funeral expenses, she said.

Now, Ms. Las Casas, who keeps her son's ashes at her Jupiter home, is left to cope with a heart full of powerful memories.

"As I was walking out of Publix yesterday, three tall boys walked past, and one was wearing Denny's cologne," she said. "My head just turned.I would have known that smell anywhere."

However, in many ways, Denny's spirit will always be with her, she said.

"The other day I received a $2 bill in Walgreens as change, and Denny used to collect them," she said. "I said, 'Now I know you're with me, because I got a $2 bill.' It just made me feel warm inside, and my eyes filled with tears."

Through it all, however, she cannot forget her son's killers - and the morning that she unknowingly opened her front door and found a masked gunman, later identified as Mr. Zeman.

Ordering Ms. Las Casas to follow, he pushed Mr. Rowland toward his bedroom, and gunfire ensued, injuring Mr. Zeman and fatally wounding Mr. Rowland.

The shooting stemmed from a $50 debt - a detail that Ms. Las Casas based on previous conversations between her son and Mr. Alvarenga, she said.

"(Mr. Alvarenga) was just there on that Tuesday before, and I conversed with him," she said.

"He was just so anxious and greedy and jealous (about the $50). He lost control."

Authorities still don't know what the $50 was for.

"They'll get theirs," Ms. Las Casa continued. "I just want to know why - the real reason why."