An Irish man accused of killing American woman Mackenzie Michalski (31) in Hungary had arrived in the country about a week before the incident and now wants to apologise to the victim’s family, his lawyer has said.
József Pásztor has said his client arrived in Hungary just over one week before the killing and began working immediately in the marketing sector. He added the accused man is insisting Ms Michalski’s death was accidental, rather than murder.
“At the moment, we do not know what exactly caused the woman’s death. This can only be said after the autopsy,” Mr Pásztor told 24.hu. “My client said during his court hearing [on Sunday] that he was sorry for the woman and what happened. According to him, he definitely wants to apologise to her parents if he gets the chance.”
Police in Budapest have released a video which shows the 37-year-old Irish man in custody. The suspect is filmed leading officers to a wooded area at Lake Balaton, about 90 miles southwest of Budapest, where the 31-year-old victim’s remains were found.
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A GoFundMe campaign to raise money to repatriate the remains of Ms Michalski to the United States has raised more than $40,000 by Monday morning, from 65 donors.
Though the killing of Ms Michalski, originally from Fredonia, New York, was referred to as a murder case by the police in Budapest, other statements about the investigation referred to it as a manslaughter inquiry.
“Given the fact that following the arrest, additional evidence was discovered which supported the suspicion of manslaughter, the Department of Life Protection launched an investigation on suspicion of a manslaughter,” a statement has said.
It added the suspect was aged 37 years and was “interrogated by the investigators of the Life Protection Department as a suspect of the crime of manslaughter”. However, the killing was referred to as an alleged murder in other sections of the same statement.
The Irish man has, according to police statements, claimed Ms Michalski died in his apartment, but claimed her death was accidental. The Budapest police said the Irish suspect, who has not yet been identified by name, then led them to the wooded area to show where he had allegedly disposed of the body.
Police alleged he had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and concealing Ms Michalski’s body in a wardrobe before purchasing a suitcase and placing her body in it.
He then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, where he is alleged to have disposed of the body outside the town of Szigliget.
Ms Michalski was reported missing by friends on November 5th after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest. She had travelled from Portland, Oregon, in the US, and was last seen near Szimpla Kert, known as the party district in the city.
Police launched an investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs, in which they observed her with a man on the night of her disappearance, who was later identified as the suspect.
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