A Hungarian judge has refused to temporarily release under house arrest an Irish man who admitted killing an American woman in Budapest in 2024.
The Dublin man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, previously admitted to killing Mackenzie Michalski (31) in November 2024 during a sexual encounter and hiding her body. He pleaded not guilty to murder, insisting her death was the result of an accident during consensual sex.
The 38-year-old man’s lawyer made an application at a court hearing on February 13th to have his client released with an electronic tag until the end of his trial, having spent the past 16 months in custody.
The court heard that the man’s parents had purchased a flat in the Hungarian capital for this purpose and were willing to put up more than €50,000 for bail.
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The man gave a lengthy testimony behind closed doors about the graphic circumstances and the aftermath of Michalski’s death. Her family was present in the Budapest courtroom.
Police previously alleged the man had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment he rented and concealing the woman’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, about 145km southwest of Budapest, where he is said to have disposed of the body in a wooded area outside the town of Szigliget, before returning to Budapest.
Michalski, a nurse, was reported missing by friends on November 5th, 2024.
The accused was detained two days later, after police reviewed CCTV footage of the area where she was last seen, and showed the police where he hid the body. He has been in custody since.
During the February 13th hearing at the metropolitan court of Budapest, the Dublin man said he had been travelling around Europe and was in the process of setting up an online business. He arrived in Budapest less than a week before the incident and met Michalski at Szimpla Kert, a popular bar in Budapest frequented by tourists, on November 4th, 2024.
The accused said he did not take any drugs on the night of Michalski’s death, but admitted he drank a substantial amount of alcohol.
Michalski, originally from Fredonia, New York, did not seem drunk when they started talking, he said. She did not have any trace of drugs in her system, according to a toxicology report presented by Judge Szabolcs Fehér at the hearing.
The man and his victim had drinks at Szimpla and at a nightclub also popular among tourists, before going to the man’s apartment.
Michalski died there in the early hours of November 5th, 2024.
The trial continues in April at the metropolitan court of Budapest.
