NICOLE John, a young woman who made one wrong decision at the age of 17 and paid with her life, was no stranger to Phuket.

The beautiful and talented daughter of the US Ambassador to Thailand is pictured on the New York Post internet site today, arms spread wide, smiling broadly, with a Phuket beach underfoot.

Nicole John's life came to a tragic end when she fell from a ledge 25 storeys up on a New York skyscraper, and within hours the vultures of the modern media were descending, first piecing together the fragments of her fractured existence from the Internet, then tearing them apart.

On Phuket, there was a genuine sense of tragedy, not just among Americans but among everyone who read about her and the great promise she had shown growing up in Thailand.

"Oh New York City, how I've dreamt of you since I was little. One more month and you're all mine," she wrote earlier this summer after graduating from the International School in Bangkok.

John arrived in New York City a week ago to attend Parsons School for Design, where classes are set to begin Monday, the NY Post added.

But as the New York Daily News reported: ''The 5-foot-8 beauty with almond-shaped eyes died after a night of partying when she fell from the ledge of a midtown apartment.''

Both New York newspapers documented a life of privilege leading to a tragic end.

''Nights like that were nothing new for John,'' reported the Post, adding that she ''went to great lengths to document on a blog her rampant alcohol and drug abuse - destructive vices she picked up attending high school in Bangkok.''

Added the Daily News: ''She took limos to clubs and gallivanted on exotic beaches. The one constant, her blog reveals, was liquor.''

This summer, the newspaper said, she vacationed on Samui, and partied at swanky Manhattan clubs as she flitted between the two countries.

According to the Daily News, John's blog ''shows her to be a deep thinker and talented writer. She quotes poet Sylvia Plath and philosopher Thomas Hobbes.''

In a tragic foreshadowing of her death, John referenced a Kurt Vonnegut quote.

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over," she posted on her blog. "Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."

American organisations on Phuket, including the Phuket Navy League, which ensures US warships are warmly welcomed to the island, are in the process of sending heartfelt condolences to US Ambassador Eric John and his wife, Sophia.