An American nurse’s trip to her “happy place” turned to tragedy when she was killed this week by a man she met at a nightclub in Hungary, police said Friday.
A manhunt erupted when Kenzie Michalski, 31, from Portland, Oregon, vanished from the Budapest night scene on Nov. 5, and police immediately suspected she had been murdered, according to Budapest police.
Security footage from the area showed Michalski on the night of her disappearance bouncing between different clubs with a man, who was later identified as a suspect.
Kenzie Michalski was killed by a man she met at a Budapest nightclub, investigators said.
WKBW TVWhile in custody, the 37-year-old Irish man, only identified by the initials LTM, confessed to the killing and led police to her body.
LTM allegedly told cops the murder was an accident and occurred while they were engaged in an “intimate encounter.”
Michalski was killed on the final day of her trip through Europe.
WKBW TVLTM then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, around 90 miles southwest of Budapest, where he dumped the body in a wooden area outside the town of Szigliget.
His internet history was riddled with searches on how to dispose of a body, police procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs really eat dead bodies and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area — as well as the competence of Budapest police.
The stunning murder occurred just one day after Michalski and her friend had concluded a trip through Europe.
Michalski remained in Hungary for a final night while Gretchen Tower moved on to visit some friends in Italy, the grieving friend told WKBW.
The duo remained in communication until shortly after midnight Tuesday. Michalski then failed to check out of her Airbnb or make her flight back to the US — prompting Tower to call the US Embassy.
At a candlelight vigil in Budapest Saturday, Michalski’s father Bill said she had visited Budapest before, and called it her “happy place.”