Early yesterday, the 17-year-old daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Thailand fell over 20 stories to her death in Midtown, after a night of partying. While it's unclear whether she was drinking (an autopsy is being performed), Nicole John apparently had a fake ID; on her Tumblr blog (now removed), she gave advice, "As long as the ID is pretty legit looking it should be okay. It’s also easier if you’re a girl, lol. I have a brazilian ID that was made here in NYC and it’s really good, it’s never been rejected."
John, daughter of Ambassador Eric John, had graduated from high school in Thailand and was about to start college at the New School. She had been out at the Meatpacking District club Tenjune until 2:15 a.m. Friday morning, when Ilan Nassimi, 25, invited her and her friends to his 25th floor apartment at the Herald Square Towers on West 34th Street. John apparently took off her shoes and climbed out "onto an 18-inch window ledge with a camera"; the NY Times reports, "Being unfamiliar with the apartment, she might also have believed there was a terrace outside the window."
The others didn't realize she had climbed outside the window, but a witness nearby called the police after seeing John fall; her body was found on the third-story ledge of the building. The building's super said, "I found her there. I looked at her and she was so young. It was not a pretty sight. She was just a baby."
Nassimi was arrested for misdemeanor charge of unlawfully dealing with a child last night; in court papers, he said he invited people for an afterparty, "During the party there was drinking and smoking." He also said he had no idea John was under 21. By the time police arrived, the apartment was cleaned up—Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "There was no alcohol, or no indication of a party going on"—but the Daily News reports, "Investigators discovered an empty bottle of Patron tequila on the windowsill inside the flat and empty bottles of Glenlivet scotch and Belvedere vodka on a living room shelf. A bottle of Skyy vodka was on ice in the freezer, prosecutors said." The Post's sources also say the cops will be interviewing Tenjune.
Her Tumblr postings and photographs suggested she regularly drank: "Whaaaaaat a f----n' EPIC weekend. Intoxication for about 40 hours straight," "Vodka/redbulls + long island ice teas + ambiens + xanax = om nom nom (delicious)," "I had a great night that consisted of a bottle of white wine and a pitcher of margarita :)" and:
I went to Washington DC for the weekend. Friday night went to a house party and played beer pong, etc, got shwasted/cross-faded. Saturdayyy went clubbing which was awesome getting VIP treatment, up until the part where I’m trying to hail a cab at 3 am, really really drunk, and these three ghetto black people passing snatch my new iPhone 4 out of my hand and ran away which happened to have the address of where I’m staying. Took me two fucking hours with the police to figure out where the house was where I was staying; I got SO lucky that a bouncer overheard my friend telling me my address earlier that night. Oh and the police found out that I wasn’t 21 but they didn’t care, haha. They were on my side. SO aside from getting robbed, it was a goooood weekend. Eventful, to say the least.
But it was also full of youthful wishes ("Oh New York City, how I've dreamt of you since I was little. One more month and you're all mine"_ and tidbits about herself (things she liked: "Lucid dreaming," "Really high heels"; and hated: "When people say'“irregardless.' IT’S NOT A WORD PEOPLE. IT’S JUST 'REGARDLESS,'" "Fake bitches," "Mushrooms"). The Post notes that she had the world at her fingertips: "John had a butler at her disposal. She traveled on a whim, and hobnobbed with the most influential people in the world with her diplomat dad and strikingly gorgeous Korean-born mother, a chef and linguist." She also quoted the Gossip Girl character Blair Waldorf, "Whoever said that money doesn't buy happiness didn't know where to shop."
Her aunt Betsy John Jennings told the NY Times, "Her father had just brought her over from Bangkok and moved her into her dorm. I just spoke to her Monday evening, and she was just so pleased and happy with her roommates and to be in the school."
