Marlene is a good friend of the Bartel family. She probably lives nearby, although not in the immediate neighbourhood. Marlene went to college with Michael. In fact, she used to be his girlfriends before he married Clare. In spite of this, Clare is OK with Marlene still being friends with Michael. Marlene works as a realestate agent. She was the 1st one to discover the secret about Peyton being Dr. Mott's window. Marlene however meets her untimely death when she unknowingly walks into Clare's greenhouse which Peyton has booby-trapped and gets impaled by shards of glass!