Some hard drives can be removed from the cases and accessed via one of these
33in USB 2.0 to IDE or Serial ATA Drive Adapter Cable - C2G
We have two of them at work and I have recovered several broken external hard drives. Also, have her check to see if it shows up in "Disk Manager" on the PC. Even if you cannot see it in Windows Explorer, you may be able to see it in disk manager and that would give you some sort of a sign of life.
Keep us posted, there are options, just have to figure out why the HD is not working, is it the HD itself, the connections, cable or something else.
EDIT: What does it do when you plug it in, for example is there a light at all that should come on, does it make any buzzing or beeping noises, etc?