An American woman who was traveling in Hungary was killed in Budapest last week by a man she met on vacation. Her body was stuffed in a suitcase pictured in a crime scene photo. Photo courtesy of Budapest Police
An American woman who was traveling in Hungary was killed in Budapest last week by a man she met on vacation.
Mackenzie Michalski, a 31-year-old native of New York who went by Kenzie, went missing on Nov. 4 at around 10 p.m. local time after dining at the restaurant Barack et Szilva Etterem in the Jewish Quarter of Budapest, friends and family members said online. Advertisement
After leaving the restaurant, Michalski seemingly went to a nightclub called Szimpla Kert where she sent photos to her friends and family members before disappearing. She never returned to the Airbnb rental where she was staying.
Budapest Police said in a news release that investigators scoured surveillance cameras and found that Michalski had been in several nightclubs with a suspicious man who was found on Nov. 7 and arrested at an apartment he had rented.
The man’s identity was not provided by Budapest Police but he was described as a 37-year-old man from Ireland.
Michalski seemingly met the man in one of the nightclubs and agreed to go back to his apartment where they “had gotten intimate” before she was killed, police said. Advertisement
“The suspect then tried to remove the traces of the murder; he cleaned his apartment and hid her body in a wardrobe while he went to get a suitcase,” Budapest Police said in the news release.
“He then put the girl’s body in the suitcase, then rented a car and set off towards Lake Balaton with the suitcase in the trunk. He hid his victim in a wooded area on the outskirts of Szigliget, then drove back to Budapest, where he was arrested.”
Police later discovered that the man had searched online for terms including, “do pigs really eat dead bodies” and “removing rotting meat smell.”
The man allegedly confessed to the killing, but claimed her death was an accident, and can be seen leading police to the location of her body in video released by investigators.
“We are currently on our way to Budapest holding a light for our daughter Mackenzie,” her father posted on social media. “Words can’t express how grateful we are for the tremendous response to her cause and the countless people helping to find her.”
