A friend of a young American woman whose body was found in a tree 10 metres off the ground at Randwick says she was the ''sweetest, nicest person'' and known for her hugs and infectious laughter.

Melissa Joy Dietzel, 22, was living in St Ives on Sydney's north shore on a work visa and had been employed as a live-in nanny.

Melissa Joy Dietzel ... was working as a nanny but had been let go.

Her decomposing body was found by a council worker 10 metres up a tree next to an apartment block in Prince Lane, a small residential lane in Randwick, on January 12.

Police, who discovered her identity through dental records, are not treating her death as suspicious. They added that she had not been living in the tree and was not homeless.