The suspect who killed a 31-year-old American tourist in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, was arrested

BUDAPEST, Hungary — A 31-year-old American tourist was killed while on vacation in the Hungarian capital and a 37-year-old Irish suspect was arrested, Hungarian police said Saturday.

The victim, Mackenzie Michalski of Portland, Oregon, was reported missing on November 5 after being last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. Police launched a missing person investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs; where he observed Michalski at several clubs the night she disappeared with a man later identified as a suspect.

Police detained the man, an Irish citizen, on the evening of November 7. Investigators said Michalski and the suspect met and danced at a nightclub before going to the man’s rented apartment. Police said the man killed Michalski during a “close encounter.”

The suspect, identified by the police with the initials LTM, later confessed to the murder but said it was an accident. Police said the suspect tried to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and hiding Michalski’s body in a closet, buying a suitcase and placing her body inside.

He then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, about 150 kilometers southwest of Budapest, where he dumped the body in a wooden field outside the town of Szigliget.

In the video released by the police, the suspect is seen directing the authorities to the place where he left the body. Police said that before being caught, the suspect searched the Internet for topics such as how to dispose of a body, police procedures in missing persons cases, whether pigs actually eat corpses and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area.

He also conducted an internet search investigating the competence of the Budapest police.

Police told The Associated Press that Michalski’s parents are currently in Budapest.

Michalski, who went by the name “Kenzie,” was a nurse practitioner who “will forever be remembered as a beautiful and caring nurse,” according to a post by the administrator of the “Find Mackenzie Michalski” Facebook group created on Nov. 7. young woman.”