Dana MacArthur was a young witch who was killed by the vampire Edward out of revenge for the death of his wife Natasha who was killed by the Nast Cabal. Dana's father is Randy MacArthur, who works for the Cortez Cabal and due to his job in the Cabal, traveled a lot, and being a divorcee Dana and her sister Gillian lived with their mother. Eventually their mother got involved with a man who had no care for children, their mother become so infatuated with him that she pretty much allowed him to chase Dana out of her mother's house.
Dana was forced to live on the streets and found her way to Atlanta, where Edward managed to hunt her down and kill her. Being an apprentice witch and the fact that her mother didn't bother teaching her daughters spells, Dana was more then easy pickings.
After she was buried her father took custody of her sister Gillian and asked Paige Winterbourne to teach Gillian how to cast spells in order to defend herself.