Hungarian justice announced today that it has ordered the detention of an Irish suspect after the body of a 31-year-old American tourist was found in a forest after she was murdered in Budapest and her body was brought there in a suitcase.
Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, a nurse from the state of Oregon, went missing on Tuesday night after being seen in the night club district of the Hungarian capital.
After being alerted by her relatives, investigators came up with the scenario of her murder after analyzing CCTV footage.
Arrested on Thursday, the 37-year-old man confessed to the crime, claiming it was an accident, police said.
“At this time it is not possible to determine the cause of death,” the Budapest court said in a press release.
According to initial evidence, the suspect met the victim in a bar before taking her to his apartment where he killed her “during sexual intercourse.”
He then put her body in a suitcase and drove it in his vehicle to Lake Balaton, just over 2 hours from the Hungarian capital, where he hid her body “in the woods”.
Investigators found traces of Internet searches left by the suspect after the crime, and related to the decomposition of corpses, the presence of wild boars in the area or even the degree of jurisdiction of the local police.
The 37-year-old Irish national, who arrived in Budapest at the end of October, has no criminal record in the central European country.
Speaking to AFP, Ireland’s foreign minister said he was “aware of the case and providing consular assistance”, without commenting further.
In the face of news of her disappearance, the young woman’s parents flew to Budapest, hoping to bring her back home, but learned of her death during their trip.
On Saturday they attended a vigil in her memory near the US embassy, thanking all those who mobilized to find their daughter.
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