Warmth and beauty were two of Lauren Astley's top criteria in choosing a college.

"If I am in a beautiful place, I will learn," she once told her father, Malcolm Astley.

In the weeks since her death on July 4, warmth and beauty are just two of the many adjectives used by friends and family to describe Lauren. She would have arrived on campus this week as a member of the class of 2015.

Her body was found by a passing bicyclist at 7:30 a.m. in a marshy area off the road in her hometown of Wayland, Mass. She was originally reported missing by her father the night of July 3. First classified as suspicious, her death was soon labeled a homicide due to strangulation and an incision to the neck.

A classmate and former boyfriend, Nathaniel Fujita, was arrested the day her body was found. On Aug. 4, he was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery, according to the Metrowest Daily News.

A life cut short

Lauren was a fearless, independent- minded young woman on the brink of a bright future, planning to study business when she arrived at school. After playing on the soccer team her first three years of high school, she decided her senior year to pursue her interest in retail and fashion, working at local Shop344, instead of serving as co-captain of the team.

It wasn't necessarily the direction her father would have chosen. But, that was Lauren.

"She was a young woman of tremendous energy and purpose," Malcolm said. "She liked action, she steered away from her father's heavier thinking but also engaged in it as time went by. Her own sense of direction and purpose was emerging nicely."

But Lauren's interests ran much deeper than fashion. The varsity tennis player also sang in the a cappella group, Muses, and volunteered doing relief work in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

Her fearless nature could be seen, Malcolm said, in her fascination with sharks.

"It probably started with premature viewings of 'Jaws,' and all the sequels, eventually with nature movies of feeding sharks as a follow-up," Malcolm said at her July 16 memorial. "She urged me to be the shark regularly in swimming pools while she reenacted highly realistic versions of 'young person pulled under by sharks.'"

But it didn't stop there. As the years progressed, she studied the animals intently, developing knowledge about their life patterns and sympathy as she watched them being slaughtered in large numbers.

She had hoped to travel abroad to study and swim with the sharks. A campus reaction

Incoming freshman Lauren Bolusky would have been one of Lauren's seven suitemates in Colclough Hall this year. While Bolusky never got to know Lauren, she is one of the many students on Elon's campus working to ensure her presence in the Class of 2015 is not forgotten.

"It is pretty crazy to think that we all consider each other 'family members' even though most of us have never met, but it's the truth," Bolusky said. "No one sees her as a girl they never met, everyone sees her as a member of our Elon family."

SGA has finalized plans to distribute ribbons in Lauren's favorite color, coral, at freshman convocation. Ribbons will also be available on move-in day from SGA executives and placed on faculty seats at convocation.

"I think we all realize that life can be cut short in an instant and we have to make the most of our time here," Bolusky said. "Lauren has brought our class together and I know that none of us will ever forget her."

A legacy memorialized

Most of all, Malcolm said he wants a positive outcome to arise from the tragedy.

"I just hope so much that her death can support positive steps by kids to treasure what time they have and also to work at deeply delving into matters of respecting each other," he said. "There are forces that are pushing both kids and the whole world to be so competitive and work toward dominance instead of mutual cooperation."

Malcolm strove to instill these positive messages into Lauren while she was still with him. She referred to them as "Malcolm texts."

"They were always different and beautifully-worded 160 characters about seizing the day, always being proud of yourself and learning from your surroundings," said Hannah Blahut, one of Lauren's best friends. "Even though she would laugh, I know Lauren took most of the messages to heart."

Friendship was fiercely important to Lauren, an only child, and she came to view Blahut and other close friends as her sisters.

Close friend Chloe Jacques met Lauren at a young age when their families sat near one another at Luigi's, a local restaurant.

"As soon as we sat down, I saw her little head peep over the booth at me and smile," Jacques said. "It was the same bright, curious and enthusiastic smile I saw time and again throughout her life."

Ariel Chates, another best friend, said her mom, dad and brother came to be viewed as Lauren's "second family".

"I wish now more than ever that Lauren knew, she not only had a second family but an entire world of loved ones who miss her incredibly," she said. "It used to drive Lauren and me crazy when even our own parents couldn't tell us apart in pictures, but it comforts me now knowing that when anyone ever mixes us up again, I can simply say 'that's my sister,' the only true way to describe our bond."

At a memorial for Lauren July 16, Malcolm encouraged a focus on better informing young people about the "challenges of love's powerful influences on our lives."

In lieu of flowers, contributions could be made to do just that. The Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund will put energy and resources toward innovative programs that both support Lauren's interests of art and community service, but also educate people about healthy relationships and self-image.

"Her situation was extreme but not uncommon," he said. "There seems to be so much investment, almost overinvestment, of one's value in a relationship, as if it is the only thing that defines value."

But, more than that, Malcolm said he hopes this tragedy teachers others to live like "this is it."

"It's about creating our heaven on earth," he said. "I hope this is used as a taking-off for knowing how fragile and precious life is"