Police in Hungary have said a 37-year-old Irish man arrested over the death of an American tourist has confessed to her killing, after he tried to conceal her body in a suitcase in a wooded area.
The suspect was arrested on Thursday following the death of 31-year-old Mackenzie Michalski from Portland, Oregon.
A nurse, known to her friends as Kenzie, she was reported missing after she failed to return to her Airbnb in Budapest.
Police said the suspect claimed the killing had been an accident, but that he then tried to cover up the murder by cleaning his apartment and hiding the woman’s body in a wardrobe, while he went out to buy a suitcase.
Ms Michalski was first reported missing on 5 November and was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest.
In a detailed statement the Budapest Metropolitan Police said they had reviewed CCTV cameras from the neighbourhood from which she had disappeared.
This footage allegedly showed her meeting the Irish man in one nightclub before they went to another and then returned to his apartment where the police said they had been “intimate” before she was killed.
Police also said the suspect then put the victim’s body into a suitcase and drove in a rented car towards the Lake Balaton area which is more than an hour’s drive from the capital.
Her body was then disposed of in a wooded area outside the village of Szigliget.
The suspect was captured and arrested on his return to Budapest.
After questioning, police said he revealed where the woman’s body was hidden.
They added that the suspect had carried out internet searches which included wild boar sightings in the Lake Balaton area, as well as researching how reliable the police were in Budapest and how they handle missing person cases.
The police statement said the man had also researched: “Do pigs really eat dead bodies?” and “What does a corpse smell like after it decomposes”, as well as “Budapest webcams”.
The investigation is continuing.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has said it is aware of the case and that it is providing consular assistance.