BUDAPEST, Hungary — A Hungarian court handed down a 14-year prison sentence Thursday to an Irish national convicted of murdering an American tourist in the country’s capital last year.
The victim was 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski, a Portland, Oregon resident who had been traveling in Hungary for vacation. She was reported missing on November 5, 2024, after friends lost contact with her following a night out at a nightclub in central Budapest.
Authorities launched a missing persons investigation and combed through security camera footage from multiple nightclubs in the area. The footage showed Michalski — who went by the nickname “Kenzie” — spending time at several clubs that evening with a man who was later identified as the suspect.
Police detained the man, identified only by the initials L.T.M., on November 7, 2024. He was 37 years old at the time of the crime and ultimately confessed to killing Michalski.
According to investigators, the two met on the dance floor of a nightclub and later left together for the man’s rented apartment. Police said he beat and strangled Michalski during an “intimate encounter” at the residence.
The Budapest Metropolitan Court found him guilty of murder on Thursday and sentenced him to 14 years with no possibility of parole. Approximately one and a half years he has already served in detention will be credited toward his sentence. Upon his release, the court ordered that he be deported from Hungary.
In addition to prison time, the man was ordered to pay 2.5 million forints — roughly $7,995 — in court costs. His defense attorney has already filed an appeal of the conviction.
Following his arrest in 2024, the man claimed Michalski’s death was accidental. However, investigators said his actions told a different story. Police say he cleaned the apartment to remove evidence, concealed her body inside a wardrobe, then purchased a suitcase and placed her remains inside.
He then rented a vehicle and drove approximately 150 kilometers — about 90 miles — southwest of Budapest to Lake Balaton, where he disposed of Michalski’s body in a wooded area near the town of Szigliget.
Video footage released by police showed the man leading investigators to the location where he had left the body. Authorities also revealed that before his arrest, the man conducted internet searches on how to dispose of a body, what police do in missing persons cases, whether pigs consume human remains, and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton region. He also searched online to find out how capable Budapest police were at solving crimes.
