Vigil takes places for American tourist killed in Budapest

Friends and family members of a 31-year-old American tourist who was killed while on holiday in Hungary have held a vigil to remember her. mourned their loss while a 37-year-old suspect was in custody Saturday.

The victim, Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on 5 November after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest.

Police launched a missing persons investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs where they observed Michalski with a man later identified as the suspect in several of the clubs the night of her disappearance.

Police detained the man, a 37-year-old Irish citizen, on the evening of 7 November and during questioning he confessed to the killing.

Before the confession, Michalski’s family and friends had launched an effort to find her, starting a Facebook group to gather tips on her whereabouts.

Her parents travelled to Hungary to help with the search, but while en route learned that she had been killed.

Investigators said that Michalski and the suspect met at a nightclub and danced before leaving for the man’s rented apartment.

The man killed Michalski while they were engaged in an “intimate encounter”, police said.

The suspect, whom police identified by the initials L.T.M., admitted to the killing but said it had been an accident.

Police said that he had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and hiding 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 150 kilometres southwest of Budapest, where he disposed of the body in a wooden area outside the town of Szigliget.

Video released by police showed the suspect guiding authorities to the location where he had left the body.

Police said the suspect 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.

Crime scene photographs released by police showed a rolling suitcase, several articles of clothing including a pair of fleece-lined boots, and a small handbag next to a credit card bearing Michalski’s name.

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Michalski had visited Budapest before and called it her “happy place”, her father said. 

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

Hungarian police say the investigation is ongoing.