American woman killed in Budapest allegedly by man she met on vacation
Nov. 10 (UPI) - An American woman who was traveling in Hungary was killed in Budapest last week allegedly by a man she met on vacation, police said.
Mackenzie Michalski, a 31-year-old native of New York who went by Kenzie, went missing Nov. 4 about 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.
After leaving the restaurant, Michalski went to a nightclub called Szimpla Kert, from which she sent photos to her friends and family members before disappearing. She never returned to the Airbnb rental at which 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 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 from Ireland.
Michalski apparently 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.
"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," police said in the news release.
"He then put the girl's body in the suitcase, then rented a car and set off toward 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 said they 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."
