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American Mackenzie Michalski killed in Budapest; Irish accused

The victim, Mackenzie Michalski, met the suspect at a nightclub in Budapest and the two went to other nightclubs before going to the man's apartment, police said.

A 37-year-old Irish man has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of an American tourist who went missing in Budapest on November 5, local police said.

The suspect, identified by the initials LTM, was arrested by Budapest police in his rented apartment on Wednesday evening and “confessed to killing the woman but claimed it was an accident,” Budapest police headquarters said in a translated post on Saturday Facebook with.

Police said the victim, Mackenzie Michalski, 31, who had come to Hungary as a tourist, met the suspect at a nightclub in Budapest, after which the two visited another nightclub, danced and later went to the man's apartment, where ” they had come there”. intimate, and he killed her in the process. Security footage taken by police from all CCTV cameras in the neighborhood showed Michalski and the suspect together at several nightclubs before she disappeared on Tuesday. Police said they were able to trace the suspect to his rented apartment using the CCTV footage.

Authorities initially searched for Michalski as a missing person, but “suspicious circumstances surrounding her disappearance” led investigators to believe she may have been the victim of a crime.

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Suspect put woman's body in suitcase; claimed death was an accident: police

Police said the suspect allegedly “tried to cover up the murder” by cleaning the apartment and hiding the victim's body in the closet before buying a suitcase.

“He then put the victim's body in the suitcase, rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton with the suitcase in the trunk,” police said in their post, dumped the body in a wooded area about 90 miles southwest of Budapest, and “drove then back to Budapest, where he was captured and arrested.

While the suspect allegedly confessed to killing the woman, he also claimed it was an accident, police said, adding that he led investigators to where he dumped the body after his interrogation. Budapest police also shared a video of the suspect leading police to the forested area where he hid the body.

“How reliable are the police in Budapest”: Incriminating internet search history

The investigation also revealed that the suspect searched the Internet for information about wild boar sightings in coastal towns on Lake Balaton, whether pigs eat corpses, what corpses smell like after decomposing, Budapest webcams and how effective local police are in finding missing people.

“After the murder, the Irishman accused of killing the American girl searched the Internet for many things: For example: “How reliable are the police in Budapest,” the police wrote in their post. “That’s how reliable we are.” Are. We caught him within 24 hours.

The victim worked as a nurse in Portland

Police said they met with the victim's parents and it was “very traumatic” for them. All details were provided after consultation with them.

Michalski, who called himself “Kenzie,” worked as a neurosurgery nurse in Portland, Oregon, according to KOIN-TV.

Her father, who was on his way to Budapest, told the Associated Press at a candlelight vigil in Budapest when he learned his daughter had been killed that he was “still overcome with emotion.”

“There was no reason for it,” he told the AP. “I'm still trying to come to terms with what happened. … I don’t know if I ever will.”

A GoFundMe set up to help Michalski's family with travel and funeral costs and to seek justice for her has raised more than $40,000, surpassing its goal of $35,000 as of Monday morning.

Saman Shafiq is a featured news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.

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