An Irish citizen has been sentenced to 14 years in a Hungarian prison for strangling an American tourist to death in Budapest in 2024. The victim, 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was on holiday in Hungary and was reported missing on November 5, 2024, after last being seen in a nightclub.
Investigation and Arrest
Police launched a missing person investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs, where they observed Ms Michalski, who went by “Kenzie”, with a man later identified as the suspect in several clubs the night of her disappearance. The man, identified by the initials LTM and 37 at the time, was detained on November 7 and later confessed to the killing.
Investigators said Ms Michalski and the suspect met at a nightclub and danced before leaving for the man’s rented apartment. The man then beat and strangled Ms Michalski during an “intimate encounter,” police said.
Sentencing and Cover-Up
The Budapest Metropolitan Court on Thursday found the man guilty of murder and sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The 18 months he has already spent in detention will count toward his sentence, at the end of which the court ordered his deportation from Hungary. The man must also pay 2.5 million forints (£6,000) in court costs. His attorney has appealed against the verdict.
After his arrest in 2024, the man claimed Ms Michalski’s death had been an accident. But police said he had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and hiding Ms Michalski’s body in a wardrobe before purchasing a suitcase and placing her body inside. He then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, around 90 miles southwest of Budapest, where he disposed of the body in a wooded area outside the town of Szigliget.
Disturbing Internet Searches
Video released by police at the time showed the man guiding authorities to the location where he had left the body. Police said he had made internet searches before being apprehended on how to dispose of a body, police procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs really eat dead bodies, and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area. He also made an internet search inquiring on the competence of Budapest police.
