Man accused of killing American tourist in Budapest, putting her body in suitcase: Police

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

The suspect, identified by the initials L.T.M., was taken into custody by Budapest Police at his rented apartment Wednesday evening and "confessed to killing the woman, but claimed it was an accident," Budapest Police Headquarters said in a translated post on Facebook Saturday.

Police said the victim, Mackenzie Michalski, 31, who had arrived in 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 gotten intimate, and he killed her in the process." Security footage obtained by the police from all CCTV cameras in the neighborhood showed Michalski and the suspect together at several nightclubs before she vanished on Tuesday. Police said they were able to track down the suspect to his rented apartment using the CCTV footage.

Authorities initially searched for Michalski as a missing person, but "suspicious circumstances in connection with her disappearance" led investigators to believe the possibility of her becoming 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 wardrobe cabinet before going out to buy 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, around 90 miles southwest of Budapest, and "then drove 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 he led detectives to where he had dumped the body after his interrogation. Budapest police also shared a video of the suspect taking police to the wooded area where he had hidden the body.

'How reliable is the police in Budapest': Incriminating Internet search history

The investigation also revealed that the suspect searched the internet for information on wild boar sightings in Lake Balaton coastal towns, if pigs eat dead bodies, what corpses smell like after decomposition, Budapest webcams and how effective local police is in searching for missing persons.

"After the murder, the Irish man who is charged with killing the American girl, searched on the internet for many things: for example, "how reliable is the police in Budapest," police said in their post. "This is how reliable we are. We caught him within 24 hours."

Victim worked as nurse practitioner in Portland

Police said they met with the victim's parents, and "it was very traumatic" for them, adding all details were shared after consulting with them.

Michalski, who went by "Kenzie," worked as a neurosurgery nurse practitioner in Portland, Oregon, according to KOIN-TV.

Her father, who was en route to Budapest, when he found out that his daughter had been killed, told the Associated Press at a candlelight vigil in Budapest that he was "still overcome with emotion."

"There was no reason for this to happen," he told AP. "I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened. … I don’t know that I ever will."

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

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