Instead she lies in a coffin waiting to be reunited for one final time with her heartbroken parents in Switzerland.

Her brutal killing has left an indelible mark on a city that prides itself on the warm welcome it offers visitors, especially young people.

Last week the local media mirrored the sense of anger and frustration that prevails across the city. The editorial of the Galway Advertiser branded Riedo's killer an evil bastard and claimed it is not just the Riedos who are hurting and that this killing is a vicious wound in the side of Galway. "If we cannot guarantee safe passage for the young and vulnerable who make up a good portion of our population, then what good is this as a place?" it asked.

All week a steady stream of Galwegians laid flowers close to the spot where Riedo's body was discovered on the makeshift pathway that links the mature Renmore suburb with the city centre.

The pathway is a dark place set between the shadows of the railway line above and Lough Atalia to the other side.

Locals use it during the day as a short cut to the Eyre Square area but it is a nogo area at night.

One Renmore resident, who has lived there for most of his life, explained: "I have walked that pathway for 30 years but I would never walk it alone at night.

It's crazy that it was never lit up as there's a power supply along the railway.

It would be so easy to put street lights on it."

Given its close proximity to the GalwayMayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Renmore has a large student population and Riedo's vicious killing has left an atmosphere of fear among the city's 20,000 students. GMIT students' union President Padraic Flesk explained, "The murder is the main topic of conversation among students here this week as a lot of our students walk along the path where the girl was killed.

"While there is not widespread panic among students, there is fear there. We would prefer if the students are cautious rather than thinking that it will not happen to them."

SU vice president, Patrick Bonner, added that instead of the union shop selling personal alarms they gave them out free to students last week to allay concerns. "We are also setting up a text service that will warn students not to walk home alone. We don't want to create panic and have girls freaking out as murder is not a common occurrence in Galway, but we do want students to be vigilant."

Hundreds of students also signed a book of condolence which was left on display in the meditation room in the college last week. For the past number of years local taxi firm Cara Cabs has had an arrangement with the students union in GMIT called the Safe Home Alone Campaign. The unique initiative allows students, who find themselves without money to pay for a taxi home at night, to give the taxi driver their student ID in lieu of payment. The students can then retrieve their student ID from the taxi firm's offices the following day when they pay for their previous night's fare.

Brendan Wallace, a director of Cara Cabs, explained, "Students have helped us build up our business so about five years ago we decided to give something back to them by starting this campaign. Instead of students, who have no money, trying to walk home alone we offer them a free lift home so we can guarantee their safety and they can pay us the next day. We were due to re-launch the initiative next week but we started it immediately after hearing of the terrible tragedy in Renmore. The bottom line is that there is a killer out there so if we can help to get students home safely then that is all that matters."

Wallace noticed a marked increase in the number of students availing of the Safe Home Alone campaign in recent days. "I know from talking to my drivers that there is a lot of fear among students and it can only be positive that there is an awareness of the danger of a killer being out there, " he claimed. Wallace also issued a plea to Iarnrod Eireann to install streetlighting and CCTV cameras along the barren walkway where Riedo was killed.

"There are so many muggings and attempted rapes there that are not even reported to the gardai that something should be done about that area immediately. This is an opportunity to help solve the problem and we cannot let it go as it could save lives and stop other attacks."

While Riedo's killing has left a vicious wound in the side of Galway the other 42 students who came to Galway with her and cut short their stay to return to Switzerland have been most affected by the murder. A number of them attended a packed memorial service in St Augustine's church on Thursday evening while others were too distraught to attend.

They were visibly shattered and some of them had to be helped to their seats when they got up to light candles in Manuela's honour. One of the most poignant aspects of the brief ceremony was the slow reading of Seamus Heaney's heart-breaking poem Mid-Term Break.

The poem about Heaney's struggle to cope with the death of his young brother had particular resonance with the grieving Swiss students.

Around 50 gardai are now engaged in the biggest murder hunt in Galway in over a decade. This weekend they are carrying out an extensive DNA crosscheck of sex offenders in Galway as they attempt to make a breakthrough.

An arrest in the manhunt for Manuela's killer would certainly mitigate the atmosphere of fear in Galway, but nothing will alleviate her parents' heartbreak.

In an interview this weekend her father Hans said, "She was our world, now that world is over." Her mother Arlette added, "We have no future, it is the end for us. She walked out of this house so full of life but she will not walk back in."