Family members of the 31-year-old American tourist died during the holidays in the capital of Hungary mourned the loss when the 37-year-old suspect was in custody there.
The victim, Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on November 5 after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. Police launched a missing persons investigation and reviewed security footage from a local nightclub where they saw Michalski with a man later identified as a suspect at several clubs on the night she disappeared.
The man was arrested on November 7 and questioned by the police, and later confessed to the murder. A Budapest court ordered him to remain in custody, he said Monday.
Before the statement, Michalski’s family and friends had begun efforts to find him, starting a Facebook group to collect tips on his whereabouts. His parents went to Hungary to help search, but on the way they learned he had died.
At a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Friday night, the victim’s father, Bill Michalski, told The Associated Press that he was “still overcome with emotion” over his daughter’s death.
Bela Szandelszky / AP
“There is no reason for this to happen,” he said. “I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened … I don’t know if I will.”
Police arrested the suspect, an Irish national, on the evening of November 7. Investigators​​​​ said Michalski and the suspect met at a nightclub and danced before going to an apartment the man was renting. The man killed Michalski while they were engaged in an “intimate encounter,” police said.
“Currently, it is not possible to determine exactly how the victim was killed and this is the subject of an ongoing investigation,” the court said Monday.
The suspect, identified by police by the initials LTM, confessed to the killing but said it was an accident. Police said he tried to cover up his crime by cleaning out the apartment and hiding Michalski’s body in a closet before buying a suitcase and putting the body inside.
He then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, about 90 miles southwest of Budapest, where he dumped the body in a wooded area outside the town of Szigliget.
A video released by police shows the suspect leading authorities to the location where he was abandoned. Police said the suspect had searched the internet before his arrest on how to dispose of dead bodies, police procedures in cases of missing persons, whether pigs really eat dead bodies, and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area.
He also made an internet search to question the competence of the Budapest police.
Crime scene photos released by police show a rolling suitcase, several items of clothing including fur-lined boots, and a small handbag next to a credit card with Michalski’s name on it.
Michalski’s sister told CBS affiliate KOIN-TV that her sister, who goes by “Kenzie,” loves Portland and made it home. She works as a neurosurgical nurse practitioner at Providence St. Vincent, the station reported, and the medical center said the community was “deeply saddened by the news” of his death.
“Those who worked with her and knew her best said Kenzie was kind and loving — a great friend and valued caregiver who carried Providence’s mission and values ​​into her daily life,” Providence added in a statement. “Losing a beloved member of the Providence family is very difficult, as it follows the death of Melissa Jubane in September.”
At a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Friday, Michalski’s father gave brief remarks to those gathered, wearing a baseball cap he said he had received as a gift from his daughter.
Michalski had visited Budapest before, and called it “a happy place,” his father told the AP.
“Historically, he’s very happy and he’s very relaxed here,” he said. “This is her town.”
GoFundMe
Ireland’s foreign ministry told AFP it was “aware of this case and providing consular assistance.”
“As with all cases, the department does not comment on the specific details of individual cases,” he added.
More than $40,000 has been raised on the GoFundMe site for Michalski who said the donation will be used “so that the family can bring Kenzie home and have expenses for travel and funeral along with related expenses to ensure justice for Kenzie.”
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
