An Irish man has been charged with the November 2024 murder of US tourist Mackenzie 'Kenzie' Michalski in Budapest, Hungary, authorities announced today, Monday, November 3.
The Irish man - who has not been named by Hungarian authorities except for his initials of LTM - has been in custody since his arrest nearly a year ago.
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor's Office said on Monday that, according to the indictment, the Irish man, who traveled a lot for work, arrived in Budapest on October 28, 2024, while Michalski, a tourist from the US, arrived in the city on October 313.
The two met at a nightclub in Budapest's District VII on the evening of November 4 and, at dawn, Michalski went to the Irish man's rented apartment in District VII for"intercourse," the Prosecutor's Office said.
"During the intercourse, the man tied up the victim, then began to abuse her, and finally strangled her," the Prosecutor's Office said.
"The next afternoon, the accused bought a large suitcase, put the body in it, then took it in a rented car to the Balaton area, to a forested area near Antal Hill, and hid it there.
"The man traveled back to Budapest, where the capital's police took him into custody the next day."
Last year, police published footage of the Irish man being taken into custody. The clip also shows the Irish man, whose face is blurred out, leading police to where he buried Michalski's body, hidden in a suitcase, in a forest near Szigliget.
Budapesti emberölés nyomozásKedves Követőink! Ezen a videón láthatjátok az elkövetőt, illetve azt a helyszínt is, ahol elrejtette a holttestet. Dear Followers! This is a video of the perpetrator and the place where he hid the body.
Posted by B>BRFK Budapesti Rendőr-főkapitányság on Saturday, November 9, 2024
During his interrogation, the Irish man admitted to killing Michalski, but claimed it was an accident.
Investigators also later found that the Irish man had searched for information about 'how the Budapest police handle missing persons cases, where there are surveillance cameras in the capital, and whether wild boars eat bodies in a forest.'
In September, investigators completed the necessary procedural actions and sent files to the Prosecutor's Office with a proposal to file charges.
The Irish man was under arrest throughout the criminal proceedings. Following forensic psychiatric and psychological examinations, experts did not establish any grounds for excluding criminal liability.
The Budapest Chief Prosecutor's Office has now charged the Irish man with the crime of murder in the indictment submitted to the Budapest Metropolitan Court.
The Attorney General's Office has filed a motion for the court to sentence the man to a prison sentence to be enforced and to rule that he cannot be released on parole.
