Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, 31, a nurse from Portland, Oregon, was reported missing while holidaying in Hungary in November 2024

Police said she last seen with a man identified only by his initials LTM, who invited her to his apt for sex after meeting in a Budapest nightclub

Prosecutors said LTM tied bound, battered and strangled Michalski before attempting to conceal the murder by hiding her body in his closet

He then cleaned the apt, stuffed her body into a freshly bought suitcase, drove about 90 miles in a rental to Lake Balaton where he stashed it in the woods

The Budapest-Capital Regional Court on July 8, convicted the 39-year-old suspect for murder and sentenced him to 14 years in prison without parole

Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, 31, a nurse from Portland, Oregon, vanished while holidaying in Hungary in Nov. 2024. She’d left a Budapest night club with a man. He then tortured and murdered her. Her mother testified that her daughter’s face was unrecognizable when she viewed the body

An 39-year-old Irishman must serve 14 years in prison for brutally killing an American tourist he met in Hungary during sex, two years ago. before driving nearly 100 miles to dump her body in the woods, in a bid to cover up the heinous act.
Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, 31, a nurse from Portland, Oregon, went missing while on holiday in Hungary in November 2024.
The defendant, identified only by his initials LTM due to Hungary’s anonymity laws, invited Michalski to his apartment for sex after meeting her in a Budapest nightclub.
Budapest Police launched an investigation and obtained surveillance video of Michalski dancing with a man at several nightclubs before heading to his rented apartment.
The investigation led to the arrest of a 37-year-old Irish man with the initials LTM at the apartment.
According to police, he confessed to killing Michalski and led officers to her body.

Michalski was reported missing on November 5, 2024, by traveling companions after she never checked out of their Airbnb and missed her flight back to the US

According to prosecutors LTM tied up his guest, battered and strangled her during intimacy – he told police it was an accident.
He allegedly hid her body in his closet while he went out to buy a suitcase.
He then cleaned the apartment, stuffed her body into a freshly bought suitcase and drove about 90 miles away in a rental to Lake Balaton in an area outside Szigliget, where he dumped it in nearby woods.
In the face of overwhelming evidence, the Budapest-Capital Regional Court on July 8, convicted the suspect for murder.
LTM was sentenced to 14 years in prison without parole.
The autopsy had determined that Michalski was choked for two to three minutes and also suffered blunt force trauma to her head.
Her mother told the court that Michalski’s face was unrecognizable when she saw it.
Police found disturbing video of Michalski’s body, naked and still tied up, on her killer’s phone.
‘The defendant did not attempt to resuscitate the deceased, nor did he call for help; according to the court’s findings, he intended the outcome of his actions, that is, the victim’s death,’ the court said in a statement.
They also seized a ‘spy pen’ he owned that, along with more twisted evidence of his crime, had footage of him approaching numerous women in Budapest.
Michalski was reported missing on November 5, 2024, by friends after she never checked out of their Airbnb and missed her flight back to the US.

The last time Mackenzie Michalski was seen alive she was in the elevator with LTM inside his apartment building after they left the nightclub together

Hungarian police investigating her disappearance soon found security footage of her leaving the Szimpla Kert nightclub with LTM.
Investigators said his internet search history included queries on whether pigs eat dead bodies, the presence of wild boars around Lake Balaton and the reliability of Budapest police.
They included ‘Do pigs really eat dead bodies?’ and ‘Texas woman killed by a wild boar’.
Other searches asked ‘what does a dead body smell like after it decomposes’ and how to ‘remove rotting meat smell’.
LTM also searched ‘how reliable is the police in Budapest’ and ‘how do the police handle missing person cases?’.

Michalski a frequent traveler chronicled her globe trotting, posting photos of her travels on social media

After his arrest in Budapest two days after the murder, he helped investigators locate Michalski’s body, but insisted her death was accidental.
Video released by police at the time showed LTM in handcuffs leading police to spot in the woods where the body was abandoned inside the suitcase.
Police dogs watched on as specialists in hazmat suits placed markers in the ground at the direction of the killer.
Evidence bags labeled ‘one’ and ‘two’ were collected, along with samples of grass and leaves, before the suspect was returned to the police cruiser.

Police shared photos of the evidence collected, including this suitcase. Michalski’s body was stuffed inside and later dumped in the woods where it was later recovered

Police released photographs of the evidence collected during their investigation. LTM’s defense argued at his trial that Michalski’s injuries were from consensual rough sex and she asked him to choke her, which accidentally killed her. The team petitioned the court to exhume her body for testing and to reopen her psychological and medical history, but this was denied by he court

LTM’s lawyers argued at his trial that Michalski’s injuries were from consensual rough sex and she asked him to choke her, which accidentally killed her.
His defense petitioned the court to exhume her body for testing and to reopen her psychological and medical history, but this was denied by the court.
‘Everything I did, I did because Kenzie asked me… I didn’t want to take her life,’ he told the court during her trial.
A lawyer on the defense team, György Magyar, likened Michalski’s death to a car accidentally sliding down a road and hitting a tree, killing its passenger.
Prosecutors rubbished LTM’s ‘rough sex’ defense as Michalski suffered from an old neck injury and had never shown any interest in BDSM.

Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski [right], and brother Nikk, [second right], with their parents Jill and Bill Michalski

Jill Michalski told the court her daughter’s killer ‘deserves the harshest penalty allowed by law’ for his ‘heinous crime’ when she delivered her victims impact statement at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
‘We will never be able to enjoy our only daughter’s birthday ever again,’ she said.
‘Since she was a child, Mackenzie dreamed of her wedding day and starting a family with her future husband. But now she’ll never be able to experience this.’
Jill raged against Hungarian laws that protected LTM’s identity while he was able to ‘besmirch’ his victim’s name in his defense.
Once LTM has completed his sentence in 2038, he will be deported back to Ireland.
The defense has already lodged an appeal against the verdict and sentence.

A Candle light vigil was held in honor of Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski back home in upstate New York, two days after her killer was arrested

Gallery of images of Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski, her family and friends was on display at the candlelight vigil held upstate New York where her family lives

Michalski dated Kenton Reichen in Portland for six years before her death, but they were on a break at the time and he pulled out of going on the trip to Europe.
Kenton flew to Budapest after hearing she was missing, and assisted Michalski’s parents in searching for her until her killer confessed.