KEY POINTS:
Catherine Alice Marlow
28 July 1978 - 13 January 2007
Surviving the traffic chaos under the Arc de Triomphe, rubbing shoulders with the Pope in Rome, the "awesome blue" beaches of Greece - Cathy Marlow lived and travelled as if there were no tomorrow.
Since moving to London in April 2004, she had also eaten a plate of snails in Paris, ridden camels in the Sahara desert, visited landmarks - the Leaning Tower of Pisa, she reported, was definitely on a lean - and discovered Italian pizza to be a tad better than those offered at the Eagle Boys at home.
She never let the chilly climes of Eastern Europe nor the sweltering heat of the Middle East deter her. Every destination seemed to better the previous ones.
"I honestly think it was one of my best trips," she writes of a beach trip to Mykonos last September, having already expressed similar affection for Rome, Paris and Budapest.
Marlow's emails to her friends and colleagues paint a vivid portrait of her jetsetting life - and of her vivacious personality. They are full of exclamation marks and exude the enthusiasm of a vibrant young woman who breathed fresh air into everything she encountered.
Marlow was awed everywhere she went in Europe and seemed almost overwhelmed by London, including the shopping-monolith Harrods, where she was hesitant even to touch any of the elite produce.
Barely a week into her OE, she writes of a trip to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben: "I had my mouth open most of the way."
And she wasted precious little time, launching herself into a Kontiki trip that she described as the best time of her life.
She immediately thought Rome an unmissable destination. "The best part was the Sistine Chapel, takes your breath away," she says, adding that the Pope looked "frail and old".
In Venice she met an Irish couple "who asked if New Zealand was a tropical rainforest".
Even last May, more than two years after she touched down in Heathrow with her life in a suitcase, she had lost none of her shine. "We went to Morocco for a couple of weeks recently, which was absolutely amazing - God I love travelling!"
Yet among the emails there is the occasional hint of unease in an unfamiliar setting, such as the security guards and lack of toilets - they apparently make good places to leave bombs - around London's Parliament Buildings.
An email last July has a touch of tragic irony: "Still shocked about the 7/7 London bombing - I catch the overland train, still scary though, it is half a mile up the road! Changing jobs in a week and a half ... best part - only 10-minute walk from my house so no more travelling at all at rush hour! Now that's got to make you feel safer!"
Marlow's body was found a week ago in the showers of her office block in south London. The cause of death was asphyxiation, but the 28-year-old was reportedly the victim of a savage beating that left her unrecognisable, lying in a pool of her own blood.
The many unanswered questions around the horrific circumstances have devastated her family and friends, even those who knew her only briefly.
"We've had contact with ex-employees from all over, some who barely knew Cathy, saying how they remember her and how mortified they are," says Peter Hensman, co-director of the accounting firm where Marlow worked before heading to Britain.
"She was just one of those few people you meet in your life that really stand out, such a warm, friendly person."
The immediate family - mother, father, brother and sister - are understandably distraught. "With the circumstances surrounding Catherine's death, as a family we are struggling to comprehend what has happened ... there is no doubt it is a family's worst nightmare."
Many parents can empathise with the nervousness that comes with watching beloved children leave the safe haven of home in favour of the buzzing gateway to Europe. Most return unscathed.
Marlow's path to Europe is not unfamiliar. She worked for three years to save up and was, at the time she left, a young professional on the rise.
She had showed academic promise at Naenae College, and then at Taradale High School after she moved to Hawkes Bay in 1993.
Former Taradale classmate Deanna MacLeod, who Marlow helped pass fifth-form accounting, said she was clever, but not in an arrogant or condescending way.
Marlow's report cards show all-round promise, excelling in typing. She was also active, playing netball, badminton, tennis and hockey.
Her end-of-year fifth-form report card said: "A tremendous effort to date - do keep this up."
Says MacLeod, "She was sweet, loving and good for a laugh. She could say the simplest things but it would always put a smile on your face."
Marlow was also a social bunny and a regular at school balls and concerts, says Jane, one of her best high school friends who often stayed the night at Marlow's - "she had a later curfew than me.We definitely weren't the bad girls at school but we liked to have lots of fun on the weekends.
"You'd be hard pushed to find anyone from high school that she didn't get along with."
Despite average grades in School Certificate, Marlow stood out as someone determined to make something of herself. But because of illness she missed much of sixth form and she never caught up, leaving school in June 1995 to work as a typist for Coopers & Lybrand.
"The fact that she left to a job was really good because kids couldn't just leave for jobs in those days," says her computer studies teacher, Janet Akhurst, who remembers Marlow as resourceful.
When Marlow left Coopers & Lybrand she was given a bonus in recognition of her "excellent attitude to the job".
She then worked in reception for Creditwatch NZ, then for Napier accounting firm Gardiner Reaney while also working part-time at two pubs.
Job references from Gardiner Reaney laud her maturity, bubbly personality and great relationship with clients and staff.
Senior accountant Heather Plested rates her a 9 out of 10 - "a top notch kid" who "left our employ as there was no challenge left here for her".
Marlow stayed 20 months at her next job, with Hastings accountants Coffey Davidson, where it didn't go unnoticed that on her resume she included "socialising" among her interests.
"And she did it beautifully," says co-worker Kay Begley.
Initially employed as a typist and receptionist, Marlow joined an accounting team halfway through her stint. "It was a pretty gutsy thing to do, to move out of a relatively comfortable job at reception into accounting," says Michele Smith, one of her managers.
Although the work was complicated, Marlow accepted the challenge with her signature good humour.
"She could laugh at herself when she made a mistake," Smith says. "She didn't get upset."
Marlow was a regular at the Friday-night pub crawl, and often to be found on the dancefloor. At her 21st birthday bash, her boyfriend, Mark - an older man who had young children - proposed to her.
"I remember her just being over the moon and just about bursting out of her skin," Smith says.
The relationship ended before Marlow went to London, but Smith, four years her senior, said Marlow was never short of male attention. "She was popular with everyone."
Marlow was also showing a talent for accounting and began part-time study at the Eastern Institute of Technology.
In 2000, she left Coffey Davidson to do her business studies diploma full time and, says Begley, proved herself wrong after first saying, "I don't think I'm brainy enough to do accounting".
She graduated as one of the top students, with three A+ grades, three As and three B+s.
Despite her academic prowess, Marlow wasn't one to keep her head in her books, recalls lecturer Michael Fowler. She often had the class in fits of laughter and once, while having computer problems, said: "It's me or the computer, but I think it's me."
Fowler says: "You could almost say she had too much personality for accounting, but that was the profession's gain."
Marlow joined Hastings firm Atkinson Shepherd Hensman in April 2001 and stayed there until going overseas.
As well as bringing energy to the workplace, she had the distinction of being partly responsible for the firm's only fire. The more senior members of the firm had wanted to show the younger staff - including Marlow and a good friend, Michelle Roberts - the joys of fondue.
"We had the meths burning underneath but we ran out, so we sent Cathy and Michelle to get more," Hensman says. "They came back, and as they were pouring the meths in dropped the bottle. It must have splashed because the flames leapt up. They dropped the bottle to the floor and it spread, and we had our first office fire.
"First of all it was hilarious laughter, then once we realised the fire was actually burning and starting to take over, the laughter turned to screaming. We've still got the scorch marks in the kitchen."
Lynda Norris, who sat next to Marlow for three years, said Marlow had a special giggle and a radiant smile.
Marlow used to lower her colleague's chair so Norris plummeted to the floor whenever she sat down. And she was responsible for the scrunched-up paper balls that flew over cubicle walls.
Hensman says Marlow soon climbed the ladder as an accounting technician. "Every review she always asked for more challenges. She always wanted to do something new to keep her mind active. She was very bright."
Marlow and Roberts also represented the company in the newspaper when they completed a duathlon more than half an hour behind the rest of the field - they were the only ones that decided to walk the last leg.
The stunt left an impression, as Marlow herself left an impression with all who knew her.
As one of her best friends, Hayley, who moved to London three months after Marlow, wrote in a newspaper this week: "Such a true blessing and honour to have smiled, laughed, loved and to have enjoyed your true friendship for 14 years. Cathy, you will be loved and missed - every memory cherished forever."
