Hungary court convicts Irish man in Portland nurse’s murder case

A Budapest court on Thursday convicted a 38-year-old Irish man of murdering Mackenzie Michalski, the 31-year-old nurse from Portland, Oregon who vanished after a night out in the Hungarian capital in November 2024. The court sentenced him to 14 years in prison without the possibility of parole, ordered his expulsion from Hungary for 20 years and imposed 2.5 million forints in court costs.

Michalski was last seen on Nov. 5, 2024, in Budapest’s nightlife district, where she met the man at a nightclub, danced with him and then left for his rented apartment. Police arrested the suspect two days later, on Nov. 7, and Hungarian legal restrictions have kept his public identification limited to his initials, L.T.M.

The pair had been drinking before returning to the apartment, where Michalski was assaulted and strangled during sex. The defense argued that her death was accidental and tied to consensual BDSM activity, but the Budapest Metropolitan Court rejected that account. The roughly 1.5 years L.T.M. has already spent in detention will count toward the sentence.

After the killing, L.T.M. cleaned the apartment, bought a suitcase, concealed the body, rented a car and drove about 150 kilometers southwest of Budapest to a wooded area near Szigliget, by Lake Balaton, where he hid the remains. Police also found internet searches tied to the case that included body disposal, missing-person procedures, whether pigs eat dead bodies and wild boars in the Lake Balaton area.

Michalski’s parents and brother traveled from the United States to attend proceedings in Budapest. A candlelight vigil was held after her death. The trial began in April 2026 and was delayed in June when the defense requested more time for closing arguments, pushing the final hearing to July 9.