Is she an empath and is that the reason she became vulnerable to manipulation?

She indeed is highly empathic and that is the reason for her vulnerability to begin with. Her exceptional intuitive abilities, coupled with her empathic nature, have kept up an ongoing survey and canvassing of all around her during her entire life. While this is very good, her particular conscious intentions in the moment will be responding to the various demands of life to require much focused conscious attention on prosaic needs from education, for example, and career involvements, but her mind at times does roam quite freely and she is truly a seeker and a seer. This has tremendous potential for good when focused in appropriate ways, and with a little coaching she can be a highly effective healer. There will always be some extra demands on her part to avoid the pitfalls of being an empath. When engaging with dark beings and dark subject matter, if she keeps her curiosity reined in to avoid it becoming up close and personal, so to speak, she will do splendidly. Her intuitive ability is there. When she does want to know some specifics, it will be easy for her to gain this knowledge and then step back through discipline and practice, allowing the work she intends to happen be done by the divine realm and not have to experience it in parallel or draw the darkness within her own being in order to do healing. That would be quite dangerous and debilitating. We see a great future ahead for her as she gets her bearings and learns the ropes in how to manage her sensing capability and keep at the same time a high barrier to exclude danger from entering her energy.