Arrest and Investigation: Hungarian police said they detained a 37-year-old Irishman suspected of slaying 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski, a nurse from Portland Oregon who was last seen Tuesday after an evening out in Budapest.
Police said CCTV led to the suspect’s identity from whom they obtained a confession claiming Michalski’s death as an accident although police said evidence suggested other motives of planned concealment.
Timeline and Evidence
According to the suspect, it was in a nightclub that he allegedly met Michalski where they danced together before proceeding to the suspect’s rented apartment. The police claim that the pair were involved in an “intimate encounter” before the death. After committing the murder, the suspect tried to conceal evidence of the crime.
He allegedly placed her body inside the wardrobe of his apartment as he cleaned up the flat in order to “clean” traces of the murder. He took her corpse and put it in a suitcase; he drove his car to a forest near a small village called Szigliget in western Hungary, where he hid the corpse. He left it there. There, they found her corpse.
At the time when Michalski is gone missing, the suspect performed internet queries: “What does a dead body smell like after it decomposes?)
How do police handle missing persons cases? He is also reportedly to have consulted literature on how bodies decompose, along with scouring the internet for reports of wild boar sightings on Lake Balaton, which may suggest other attempts to dispose of Michalski’s body in a place where animal activity could overwrite forensic traces in time.Community Response
Friends and supporters of the 22-year-old student met in front of the U.S. embassy in Budapest on Wednesday to stage a candlelight vigil for Michalski, nicknamed “Kenzie” among close family and friends.
There’s even been a Facebook page set up called “Find Mackenzie Michalski,” posting memories and updates from her family. The suspect has been remanded in custody pending further investigation. He has cooperated with police, even leading them to the location where he disposed of Michalski’s body.
Hungarian authorities are continuing their investigation, with forensic teams and sniffer dogs examining the wooded area near Szigliget for additional evidence. Further development in this matter awaits to complete as the Hungarian authorities filed a case against her and continued putting together the details surrounding her death, left the family of Michalski, and her friends in tears after this sad incident.