Irish man sentenced 14 years for tourist murder in Budapest

An Irish national has been sentenced to 14 years in prison without parole for the murder of American tourist Mackenzie Elizabeth Michalski in Budapest in 2024. The Budapest-Capital Regional Court found the man, identified only by the initials LTM due to Hungarian anonymity laws, guilty of homicide on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

Michalski, a 31-year-old nurse from Portland, Oregon, was on holiday in Hungary when she was reported missing on November 5, 2024, after failing to check out of her accommodation and missing her flight home. An investigation led police to review security footage from Budapest nightclubs, which showed her leaving the Szimpla Kert venue with a man later identified as LTM on the night of November 4.

According to the court, the pair met at the club and later went to the man's rented apartment for consensual sexual activity. The court concluded that the defendant then assaulted Michalski at least 40 times and strangled her for approximately two to three minutes, causing her death. An autopsy confirmed she died from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head.

After the killing, the defendant cleaned his apartment and concealed Michalski's body in a wardrobe....