Mackenzie Michalski: Irish man reportedly admits killing American nurse in Budapest flat and dumping body by lake, police say | World news

On November 10, 2024By Pranco

An Irish man is accused of killing a 31-year-old American nurse during an “intimate encounter” at his Budapest flat before dumping her body in the woods, police said.

Hungarian police said Mackenzie Michalski, from Portland, USA Oregonwas murdered after meeting the 37-year-old man at a nightclub while she was on holiday in the city.

Officers identified the suspect by the initials LTM and said he had cleared out his rented apartment in the Hungarian capital and put Ms Michalski’s body in a wardrobe and then a suitcase.

He allegedly rented a car and drove 150 kilometers to Lake Balaton, where he disposed of the body in a wooded area near the village of Szigliget.

Police footage shows how the suspect guided them to the place where he left the body.

Officers said he had also searched online for ways to dispose of a body, and the competency of the Budapest police. Police said he also conducted online searches on procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs eat dead bodies and whether there are wild boars around Lake Balaton.

He was arrested on November 7 but claimed the killing was an accident, police said.

Ms Michalski had been reported missing two days earlier and the suspect was identified after CCTV showed the pair together at a nightclub, where police said they danced and left for his flat.

Crime scene photos show a rolling suitcase, items of clothing and a handbag, next to a credit card with Ms Michalski’s name on it.

The victim’s family flew to Hungary to help find her, but along the way she discovered that she had been murdered.

“There was no reason for this to happen,” her father Bill Michalski said at a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Saturday evening.

“I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened… I don’t know if that will ever happen.”

Wearing a cap she had given him, Mr Michalski said his daughter had been to Budapest before and called it her “happy place”.

“The history… she just loved it and she was so relaxed here,” he said.

A Facebook group set up last week to find Ms Michalski said she was known as “Kenzie” and worked as a nurse.

It said she would “forever be remembered as a beautiful and compassionate young woman”.