← Going West: True Crime
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- [00:14]
Heath
What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host, Teeth.
- [00:17]
Daphne
And I'm your host, Daphne.
- [00:19]
Heath
And you're listening to Going West.
- [00:21]
Daphne
Hello, everybody. Hope you guys had a great holiday week last week if you're here in the US and again, thank you for allowing us to take Friday off so we can spend time with our family. Now, we are back at it today, and we have two cases that occurred to women who worked in the same workplace and they were killed just a month apart. And this is. It's a very devastating conjoined case. But I will say right now that they are not connected. But it is just so shocking that this happened to them and that they were in the same general circle. You know what I mean? Because we got recommendations for both cases separately, and then when we realized that they worked at the same place, we knew that we had to put them together because if it's too weird.
- [01:05]
Heath
Yeah. I mean, what are the odds of something like this happening to two people who worked at the same place in the same city?
- [01:12]
Daphne
Seriously, so big. Thank you to Taylor, Mary Kate, Marissa, Jaden, and Paul who sent these cases over on our email. Thank you to anybody who sent it over on our socials. But yeah, without further ado, let's dive into this one today. Heath.
- [01:27]
Heath
All right, guys, this is episode 458 of Going West. So let's get into it.
- [01:49]
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- [03:43]
Daphne
In a strange and eerie coincidence, in autumn of 2024, two young nurses working at the same hospital in Portland, Oregon were murdered by different men in separate parts of the world. A 32 year old woman was murdered in her Beaverton apartment in an act that has been described as deliberately cruel. Then just two months later, her 31 year old colleague was murdered while on vacation in Hungary. When police discovered her body, they also came upon disturbing Google searches from her suspected killer, including how reliable are the police in Budapest? And what does a corpse smell like after it decomposes? These are the stories of Melissa Jubain and Mackenzie Michalski in this episode we're calling the killings of two Portland nurses. Melissa Dubane was born on April 6, 1992 to parents Susannah and Valentin and grew up alongside a brother named Maverick. Melissa was born in beautiful Monterey, California, but because they were an army family, they moved around pretty frequently during her childhood, eventually settling in Bremerton, Washington, which is a suburb of Seattle when she was 11 years old. Her family had a proud history of military service with her grandfather, dad, brother and eventually even her husband, all having served. After graduating from high school in Bremerton, Melissa attended the University of Washington, Seattle and later enrolled in nursing school in Portland, Oregon. But while spending some time in Hawaii focused on her education, Melissa happened to meet Brian Yanto right there in Hawaii. Now, Brian, who was from Kalihi, which is a neighborhood of Honolulu, met Melissa on Mokulea beach when she was in her early 20s, and the two went on to date for about a decade, tying the knot this year in 2024, right off the bat, Brian's family adored Melissa. His mom described quote, she is very humble, she is very pretty, she is smart, she is very intelligent and very respectful. She is like a daughter to me. She is very close to me. So naturally, Hawaii became a deeply special place for them. They got engaged on Oahu in 2023 and were then married there on August 24, 2024 in an intimate ceremony. And then the following day they celebrated in Waimea Valley with all their friends and family. But for a while, their relationship was actually long distance because Brian, who was in the Navy like I mentioned, was stationed near Melissa's hometown in Washington and lived with Melissa's parents. But Melissa, who was working at the Providence St. Vincent Medical center in Portland, Oregon, lived in Beaverton, Oregon, which is just outside of Portland and only about a 10 minute commute from the hospital, but about a 3 hour drive from Bryant. And remember, he was in the Seattle area. Seattle and Portland are actually pretty close, so, you know, close enough to be able to see each other fairly frequently. Not obviously on a daily basis, but not, not terribly long distance.
- [07:20]
Heath
No, no, not that far.
- [07:22]
Daphne
Yeah, it's just a really easy drive up or down the I5 freeway for those who don't know. So anyway. Melissa has been described by friends as the sweetest and most gentle soul and known by her family as pure goodness. Written in her obituary is to have known Melissa was to love her. She was proud of her Filipino culture, but loved exploring and experiencing other cultures as well. Now, at work, she was known for her professionalism, her compassion, and had a particular knack for making her patients feel comfortable. Like she's the perfect person to be a nurse. Her family wrote of her later, quote, she adored her work family and cherished the privilege she had to care for members of her community. Her former coworker Olivia remembered, quote, she was the kind of nurse that you'd get to the unit to start your shift and you'd see she's on the schedule and you just exhale and you'd be like, we're gonna be okay. Now, despite how much she loved her coworkers and the hospital she worked at, Melissa was looking to move closer to her family in Washington. Of course, in order to be near Brian's job and start their married life together. But for the time being, she and her dog Rocky, who was her baby boy, and her husband, were going back and forth between her parents and Bremerton and her apartment in Beaverton until she could make that move to Washington work.
- [08:47]
Heath
Now, after the wedding festivities, the couple flew back to Washington from Hawaii on August 31, 2024, landing on the mainland early on the morning of September 1. They enjoyed their Labor Day together. And then on Tuesday, September 2, they both returned to work. Brian in Washington and Melissa in Oregon. On the morning of Wednesday, September 4, 2024, Melissa chatted with her husband around 6am and then got ready for work at 6:30am she left her apartment, locking the door behind her with either an app on her phone or possibly her key fob, heading to her shift, which started at 7am but strangely, she never even made it down to her car. And by the way, this was only her second day back at work since her wedding. But being the responsible person that Melissa was, she was readily back into the swing of things with her job. So when Melissa didn't make it to work, her co workers, knowing that this was wholly abnormal for her, were concerned immediately. I mean this was so abnormal that they even had a welfare check performed on her that morning at 10:18am When a few of her co workers contacted the police to head to her unit at the Baseline 158 apartment complex in Beaverton.
- [10:08]
Daphne
And we will post photos in case you guys want to see. I mean it's a nice new apartment. Her unit was an 800 square foot one bed, one bath with a balcony. And the building has a lot of great amenities like an outdoor pool, spa and barbecue area. A collective like indoor hangout game room area with a billiards table and big tables and couches. Like it looks like a fun building to live in. And I also imagine a ton of young people live here because it's right across the street from the Nike headquarters which is a major employer in Oregon. As you guys can imagine, that is where Nike was founded. And also to talk size, the building has five stories with a private parking garage and 209 units total. So yeah, just keep this in mind visually.
- [10:57]
Heath
Yeah. And I imagine if you, if you had to use a key fob or an app on your phone to lock your front door, probably a nice apartment complex.
- [11:04]
Daphne
Yeah, it's updated for sure.
- [11:06]
Heath
Yeah. And also that's a really good thing to point out so that everybody knows this was, you know, a nice building with a lot of people in it. So when police arrived that morning to check on Melissa, the inside of her apartment was undisturbed, as was her car which was in the parking garage. But there was still no sign of Melissa. Her phone was either dead or turned off at that point and there had been no activity on her credit or debit cards. Police even did a cursory search of the building guided by the property management, but to no avail.
- [11:40]
Daphne
Which is all just so strange on its face. Like we know she locked her apartment door at about 6:30am to head to work. But not only is she not in her apartment with no suspicious signs like you're saying, but she didn't take her car. So it truly seemed at this point like she vanished into thin air.
- [11:58]
Heath
Which is why with still no sign of her throughout the day, 32 year old Melissa was officially filed as a missing person at 3:12pm, nine hours after she locked her apartment door. Immediately, her friends, family and coworkers began to congregate at her apartment, scouring the halls and walking the perimeter of the property. Investigators went door to door knocking at each apartment to ask for information and even brought in tracking dogs to search the surrounding areas. The Beaverton community actually was very active in this search as well, and hundreds of volunteers turned up to assist in the search efforts. And then over the course of the next two days, hundreds of volunteers searched the area surrounding Melissa's apartment. In shock, former coworker Samantha said, you hear about it and you see about it all around different areas, all around the world about missing people. And when it's someone that you really care about and you're really close to, it just doesn't feel real. It's like you don't want it to be real. Allegedly, though it has not yet been confirmed by police, Melissa's bag and keys were missing. Though this did not seem to be a disappearance motivated by robbery and police seem to suspect foul play immediately.
- [13:21]
Daphne
Then three days later, on Saturday, September 7th, around 3am, those searching for Melissa received the news that they had feared. The Beaverton Police Department announced that they had discovered Melissa's body and had arrested 27 year old Bryce Schubert, who was her neighbor, for this crime. So this news totally rocked the usually safe community of Beaverton, which by the way hosts around 95,000 people and it's known for its urban suburban mix. Again, it is just outside of Portland and more on that. Actually a friend of Melissa's who assisted in the search efforts, his name is Oscar, said, quote, she was so happy and just so, like, I don't know, just glowing and it's just really heartbreaking to kind of see it happen, especially here. I feel like this area of town is so quiet and so calm and so safe. So it's just shocking that something like this would happen here. Law enforcement have not yet announced how they connected Bryce to the murder, nor how or where they found Melissa's body, but the details that have come out have been troublesome. Now before I get into that, I just want to note that according to a lot of conversation online, the building does not have security footage inside or surveillance cameras inside and they do not allow residents to have like personal security cameras like a ring doorbell or anything like that. So unfortunately that is not, that is not of help here.
- [14:55]
Heath
Yeah, we don't have any security footage.
- [14:57]
Daphne
Yeah, because if, obviously if somebody had a ring doorbell camera on her floor or something like that, that would be of huge help, but that did not aid in the search here. 27 year old Bryce Schubert, so he is five years younger than Melissa, was arrested and charged with second degree murder, first degree kidnapping and second degree abuse of a corpse. So this was alarming in and of itself. But then the charges were upgraded from second degree murder to first degree murder Just days later, in a horrifying update, the court announced to the community that this was a particularly gruesome and heinous crime, Though they chose not to offer details just yet. Court documents express that Melissa's murder was, quote, deliberately cruel to the victim, that a weapon was used in the crime, and that future efforts to rehabilitate the defendant would not be successful. Which is terrifying to hear because that just means that whatever he did to Melissa was monstrous.
- [16:03]
Heath
Yeah, I mean, that's pretty bold of them to say that. You know, because of this horrendous crime, this person has no ability to be rehabilitated.
- [16:13]
Daphne
Yeah, seriously. And since that is how they felt, Bryce seemed to pose an imminent threat of violence to the community and those around him and was held without bail. Two days after the arrest, on September 9, 2024, Bryce appeared in court for the first time via video conference. The following day, he appeared again, this time in person, seated next to his attorney in an orange jumpsuit. His attorney threw a kind of protective arm around him while they spoke in hushed tones. And he blocked Bryce from the camera's view during this conversation. And both police and prosecutors have remained very tight lipped about the case and the details therein. The same day as Bryce's first court appearance, the Washington county prosecutor sealed the probable cause affidavit and would not reveal why. But that same day, which, again, was September 9th, a memorial was held in Melissa's honor that drew hundreds of mourners.
- [17:15]
Heath
Now, aside from being Melissa's neighbor, Bryce Schubert, who was a white blonde man, was surprisingly, also a nurse, Though they did not work together, and there's no indication that they knew each other, aside from having been neighbors. There are some rumors kind of flying around that they used to work together, but it seems as if Bryce actually worked at the Providence Medical center, not the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. So that's kind of an easy mess up here. He was employed there from September of 2022 to October of 2023, and it's not clear yet to the public why he left. So, yeah, there's no evidence yet that their paths ever crossed professionally. According to online chatter, his live in girlfriend and mother are also nurses who work at one of the hospitals in the area, but this has not been confirmed by family either. Speculation has run rampant that Bryce was obsessed with Melissa and that he was stalking her or following her around the apartment building. Or that perhaps this was a workplace conflict gone too far. But as far as the public knows, they did not know each other or at least not very well, which just.
- [18:23]
Daphne
Brings up so many questions, like did he grab her or lure her into his apartment when she was walking by? Obviously the crime occurring in his apartment makes sense because there was not a crime scene in her apartment. So was this random or did he know Melissa? Was he expecting her to walk by? Like, did he know her? General schedule, and I won't say the unit numbers that they lived in, but they were only seven units off, so they did live on the same floor. And you know how apartments usually are. Like, one side is odd, one side is even, or at least you're going every other. Right?
- [18:57]
Heath
Yeah.
- [18:57]
Daphne
So if they were only seven units off, they were probably just a couple doors away from each other or so.
- [19:03]
Heath
Yeah, exactly. Pretty close. And you know, that brings up the question of was Bryce getting up to go to work at the same exact time as her and saw an opportunity to kind of strike? It's pretty early in the morning, right?
- [19:15]
Daphne
Yeah. 6:30, right.
- [19:16]
Heath
So the sun was about to rise. Was there that opportunity of like, well, it's still dark out, nobody can really see what's going on. I can just snag her right now. Like, we don't know.
- [19:25]
Daphne
Yeah, so many questions.
- [19:28]
Heath
Well, on September 16th, Bryce Schubert pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. But court documents related to the case reveal that prosecutors are eager to pursue a jury trial. In mid September, a grand jury heard from over a dozen witnesses to rule whether or not there was sufficient evidence to indict Bryce for the murder of Melissa Dubain. And in the immediate aftermath, Bryce and the woman who he lived with, who has not been publicly identified but is believed to be his girlfriend, were officially evicted from their apartment building. The lawsuit against Bryce and the woman that he lived with was filed by the Property Management Fund Sentinel Real Estate and list the couple's grievances as, quote, personal injury, substantial property damage, and an extremely outrageous act.
- [20:19]
Daphne
That eviction lawsuit was filed on October 15, and Bryce, who was in police custody, and his 24 year old companion were ordered to vacate the apartment within 24 hours. When Bryce failed to appear to defend himself in Washington County Circuit Court, Obviously he is in jail at this time. The judge sided with the landlord and the eviction motion was approved. Now, the reactions on social media to Bryce's arrest were pretty mixed. Some claimed to know him or have worked with Bryce and said that they were shocked, claiming that he was always kind and a generous person and a good nurse. But many others were not so favorable. Multiple women came forward to attest that he had a history of degrading and even abusing women and making women feel uncomfortable in the workplace. But either way, the shocking loss of such a beloved young nurse prompted an emotional and angry response among those in her community and, of course, especially fellow Filipinos in her area. The local Filipino advocacy group, Gabriella Portland, that is what it's called, has gathered outside the courthouse to demand justice for Melissa multiple times. Christiane May Carrillo, who is a member of Gabriella Portland, told reporters, quote, we're trying to show that we're watching this case because we don't want to let another case of violence against women to be swept under the rug by the justice system. As it stands, investigative documents in Melissa's case will remain sealed and his trial will not take place until September 9, 2025. So once the trial is underway and you know, this information is finally released, we will definitely do an update episode. So watch out for that next fall. Now, both the state of Oregon and Bryce's defense team have agreed to keep the document sealed until then in order to maintain the utmost integrity for the investigation. And Bryce is due back in court this month, December, for a status hearing. Melissa's bereft family issued a statement that read, quote, we are extremely grateful for the detectives and other staff working diligently on this case for the love and support we are receiving from the entire nation, especially from the city of Beaverton, the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, her work family at Providence, St. Vincent, and the Yontero family. And for all the prayers. I know we are all gearing up to do some shopping for the most wonderful time of the year, but why not get cash back while you do it? Rakuten is the best way to save lots of money this holiday season because you can stack holiday sales and deals on top of cash back to maximize your savings at over 3,500 stores. Here's how it works. Your favorite stores like Sephora, wine.com, best Buy, Chewy, you name it. Pay Rakuten to send them shoppers and Rakuten passes on part of that money to members via PayPal or check.
- [23:47]
Heath
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- [24:00]
Daphne
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- [24:32]
Heath
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- [24:41]
Daphne
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- [25:09]
Heath
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- [25:18]
Daphne
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- [26:07]
Heath
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- [26:23]
Daphne
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- [26:36]
Heath
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- [26:41]
Daphne
Shopify.com going west as you guys know, Heath and I personally love to put on our sleuthing caps and we know you do too.
- [26:51]
Heath
Yeah, you guys are true crime listeners and you love a good mystery, especially.
- [26:55]
Daphne
When they have a ton of twists and turns. That is why you guys are going to love June's Journey. Step into the role of June Parker and search for hidden clues to uncover the mystery of her sister's murder. Engage your observation skills to quickly uncover key pieces of information that lead to chapters of mystery, danger and romance. I mean, it really has it all and that's why Heath and I love to play after a long day where we can just do something fun and solve a fictional mystery.
- [27:24]
Heath
One of my favorite parts is that I get to customize my own luxurious estate island. Just let your imagination run wild when you're decorating it.
- [27:32]
Daphne
Also, you can chat and play with or against other players by joining a detective club. How cool is that?
- [27:38]
Heath
How sharp are your observations skills? Put them to the test in June's Journey Download for free today on iOS and Android. In an unsettling coincidence, exactly two months after 32 year old Melissa Dubain was murdered, another Portland nurse employed by Providence St. Vincent would fall victim to a heinous act of violence at the hands of a man that she did not know. Mackenzie or Kenzie Michalski was born on January 18, 1993 to Jill and Bill Michalski. Kenzie grew up alongside a brother named Nicholas in Fredonia, New York, which is southwest of Buffalo near the shores of Lake Erie. Friends and family have nothing but glowing remembrances of Kenzie. She's described as joyful and kind, a lover of nature, animals and the outdoors. She's a free spirit. She was a seasoned traveler who's known for her bravery and sense of adventure. Kenzie was a sensitive soul who cared deeply about others, which naturally led her to set her sights on becoming a nurse, her family wrote after her passing. To understand Kenzie's spirit is to wholeheartedly embrace the vast joy and wonder of life. Her wish for the fully embrace the present moment, be your authentic self, practice kindness, and always walk in the light. After graduating from high school, she attended Damen University for nursing school, graduating in 2016. Then she moved about an hour northeast of Buffalo and began working as an ICU medical practitioner at Buffalo General Medical center about three years ago. She set her sights on the west coast, though, and settled into beautiful Portland, Oregon. She was hired as a neurosurgery nurse practitioner at Providence St. Vincent Medical center, which is the very same hospital where Melissa worked. And though her job was a demanding one, her natural inclination towards empathy lent itself well to nursing and her kindness was undeterred. Her family also said of Kenzie, quote, as a nurse practitioner, Kenzie used her humor positivity and limitless empathy to help heal her patients and encourage her family and friends alike.
- [30:15]
Daphne
Kenzie also refused to allow the long hours in her very demanding position to take away her ability to express explore the world. And she continued to travel as much as she could. So in October and November of this year, 2024, she headed out on a European jaunt with friends, set to conclude in Budapest, Hungary, which is a city that she had visited multiple times before and which she called her happy place. She and a friend named Gretchen Tower headed there from Austria and would spend a few days, except exploring the city, celebrating Gretchen's birthday before Gretchen would head out on November 4th. So after Gretchen left, 31 year old Kenzie's departing flight from Budapest was the next day. So that meant that she had one night to head out on the town by herself. And I, I'm assuming the reason for this is because they were going home to different places. You know, obviously Kenzie would be going back to Oregon, but Gretchen lives in New York, so they were not going to be on the same flight anyway. Although we did also read that Gretchen was going to Italy after this. Now, when asked about Kenzie, Gretchen described her good friend and travel partner as outgoing, incredibly, incredibly bright. Oh, God, an old soul. I mean, she was 31 going on 50. I'm old enough to be her mother and we were travel companions. She was kind, loving, bright, articulate, responsible. On the Evening of Monday, November 4, 2024, Kenzie headed out to enjoy her final night in Budapest and wound up in a nightclub. She was spotted in Budapest's Jewish quarter on the Pest side of the city, known for its lively nightlife and tourism. She was seen at a beautiful and slightly upscale Hungarian restaurant. And shortly after this, texted photos to some friends from inside the nightclub Simpla Kairt, which is described as, quote, a huge pub with old mismatched items, music, food, market and a garden. And obviously this is in the middle of the city, so the garden is like a, it's like a patio. You know, it, it looks like a fun place to be. It looks like a kind of an eccentric place. So the next morning she was set to check out of her Airbnb and fly home to the United States, but she missed her flight. Now, this was very unlike Kenzie, who was an experienced solo traveler. And although Gretchen had left the day before, she continued to attempt to reach Kenzie and was growing anxious that Kenzie had stopped answering her phone. When their Airbnb host reached out to tell Gretchen that Kenzie had not checked out fear really set in, especially because Kenzie had been silent since the text updates to her friends from the club late the evening prior. As hours passed and Kenzie failed to get in touch with anyone nor returned to her rental for her belongings, her family and friends began to panic. Gretchen, who is actually also a nurse, then called the American Embassy in Budapest to report missing 31 year old Mackenzie Michalski on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. And this really began a grassroots effort to find Kenzie. Even from across the ocean, locals reported on social media that they were volunteering to get the word out and just circulating missing posters in both English and Hungarian. A Facebook group was established. There was also a GoFundMe established to help with, you know, potential costs incurred by impending travel expenses and search effort.
- [33:58]
Heath
As her family and friends panicked back home, her parents planned a frantic pursuit of their missing daughter and raced to Budapest from upstate New York. And tragically, on their way there, they received the news that their daughter had been murdered. As Kenzie's death was confirmed by Hungarian authorities and the news made its way around the world, her family and friends issued a joint statement thanking both the US and the Hungarian authorities for their consideration and their diligent investigation of Kenzie's disappear appearance. They also thanked the locals for taking Kenzie's case under their wing when so many of her loved ones were across an ocean, saying, we are deeply appreciative of our Hungarian friends and locals for raising awareness on social media, distributing flyers, offering translation services, and mobilizing a boots on the ground mission to find Kenzie. Though Hungarian officials have remained pretty quiet on the details of their investigation, they announced on November 7, 2024, so two days after she was supposed to fly home, that they had arrested an Irish citizen who was either living in Budapest at the time or like Kenzie, was a tourist.
- [35:12]
Daphne
And that's another weird thing about both of these cases is they both had an arrest within days.
- [35:18]
Heath
Yeah, it just happened so quickly. Though they have not chosen to release much information, they did share that the Irish man, whom they addressed simply as ltm, was apprehended after closed caption. Television caught him leaving the club with Kenzie in the early morning hours of November 5th. The two were then seen in the elevator of his apartment building holding hands just before 4am, which kind of tells us that they likely hit it off at the club and were continuing their evening back at his place. Thankfully, the investigation was fairly quick and clean, with security camera footage leading them to the man's apartment to question him directly. Now, when they did question him, his cagey avoidance reeked of guilt. And more eerily, his search history gave him away. The searches allegedly included. And this is insane. So he was searching up, do pigs really eat dead bodies? Texas woman killed by wild boar. Appearance of wild boar in the settlements along Lake Balatin. What does a dead body smell like after it decomposes? Removing rotting meat smell. Budapest webcams. What happens after reporting a missing person? How do the police handle missing person cases? And how reliable is the police in Budapest?
- [36:42]
Daphne
I mean, that's a journey, you know, that's a lot of different disturbing thoughts.
- [36:47]
Heath
It's just so fucking incriminating. Like, are you kidding me?
- [36:51]
Daphne
As if they're not gonna see that, you know. Well, the perpetrator remains unidentified or, sorry, identified only by the initials that Heath gave us, which, again, are ltm. And his face is blurred in the pictures and videos released by the authorities. We will post the available footage on our socials anyway, though, so you guys can see what. What is to be seen. I mean, really, all you can tell is that he is a tall, slender, white, brunette man. And then, of course, we know that he is 37 years old and from Ireland. Hungarian police apparently adhere to very strict protocol not to mess up the investigation by publicly identifying their suspects, you know, before a proper investigation has been conducted. So that's why he has not been named and his face has not been shown just yet. So then, obviously, with that, you know, anybody that knows him hasn't come forward and said, oh, yeah, this is typical, or this is really strange. Kind of like what happened with Bryce, right? Because we didn't. We don't know who he is. And actually, by Hungarian law, perpetrators are not even required to be named publicly at all, even after they have been convicted of a crime. But the details that authorities have shared are horrifying. Now, according to ltm, her killer, he brought Kenzie back to his apartment after they had hit it off at the club, like Heath, you know, had discussed and theorized. And as they were becoming intimate, he claims that Kenzie asked him to tie her up and cause her pain, according to one publication. Now, this is what he is saying, or allegedly saying, so we can't confirm whether or not that's true, but the Hungarian press is describing it as an act of initially consensual BDSM that went wrong when she was strangled to death by accident. Obviously, this could very much be a fake story that he gave police in an attempt not to be charged as harshly. So it's. It's really hard to know what we can trust, But I will say that her parents have stated that they do not believe that this was the case, calling it a deliberate and violent murder. However, until more information is revealed, her family is forced to wait pending court proceedings. And this happened just under a month of when this episode is coming out. So it's still very early. But what we do know is that after realizing what he had done, LTM panicked, stashed Kenzie's body in his wardrobe or his closet, and meticulously cleaned his apartment. He then went out shopping for a suitcase, returned to his apartment, and folded her body into the suitcase that he had purchased along with her purse. Renting a car, he placed the suitcase in the trunk and drove out to Siglaguet, which is a village situated on the shores of the popular vacation destination Lake Balaton, which is what he looked up in his searches online. Right now, Siglaguet is just over two hours southwest of Budapest, so this was a bit of a drive. And LTM apparently discarded the suitcase in the dense thickets and brush alongside the water. Then, upon LTM's return to the city, law enforcement was waiting to speak with him. In recently released police footage, ltm, who is handcuffed with his face blurred, can be seen leading authorities to the place where her body had been discovered. And that is part of the video that we are going to post on our social. So you guys can see.
- [40:38]
Heath
As Kenzie's family reached the city where their daughter died in a senseless act of violence, they claimed that they were greeted with dignity and empathy by both Hungarian police and the American embassy. And they've praised both entities for the investigation that they conducted. On Saturday, November 8, 2024, a candlelight vigil was held outside the American embassy, welcoming her parents and memorializing Kenzie's life. Her dad, Bill, admits that he was, of course, still overcome with emotion about Kenzie's sudden and shocking murder, adding, quote, I'm still trying to wrap my arms around what happened. I don't know that I ever will. Back in her hometown, another candlelight vigil was being held in remembrance of Kenzie. And just like Melissa's case, Kenzie's murder garnered a significant amount of press and attention, and especially in Kinsey's case, on an international scale. Upon their return to the United States, Jill and Bill Michalski released the following statement. They said, we are relieved to be back in the United States and have Kenzie home with us, although not in the manner that we had hoped. Thank you from the bottom of our broken hearts for the worldwide outpouring of love, support, prayers, kind words and gestures you have all bestowed on our family at this unimaginable time. You have lifted us up. Please continue. We have been completely supported and cared for by the US Embassy, the FBI, Ontea International funeral Home, many translators, as well as countless people who reached out to offer services and love. The Hungarian police have worked tirelessly to find Kenzie and arrest her murderer and still continue their diligent investigation. The head of homicide met with us several times to keep us informed. We were treated with kindness and compassion during our eight day stay in Budapest. One important point needs to be clarified. Based on all the available evidence reviewed during consultation with the Hungarian police, Our daughter's death was in no way accidental. Despite claims to the contrary, it was a deliberate and violent murder. After our encouraging interactions with the Hungarian police and other authorities, we remain hopeful that Kenzie's killer will be held responsible for his crimes to the fullest extent of the law.
- [43:16]
Daphne
Thank you so much, everybody for listening to this episode. Episode of Going West.
- [43:21]
Heath
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. We will keep you guys updated on the trials that are about to come up. One of them is coming up in fall of 2025.
- [43:31]
Daphne
September 9th. Yeah.
- [43:32]
Heath
Yeah. And then was there a date for this one?
- [43:35]
Daphne
No, we don't know yet. But we will definitely keep you guys updated. Obviously there will be so much more information to come that at that point we will just do separate episodes. But wanted to group these together because of, you know, the lack of information. With both, it kind of made a perfectly sized single episode. And just the weird connection with their work.
- [43:55]
Heath
Yeah, the weird coincidence that these two young women who worked at the same place were both murdered.
- [44:03]
Daphne
Obviously hospitals are very large. I could not find any concrete information, you know, regarding if they were friends or if they knew each other. At this point, it doesn't really seem like they did. I am very sure, though, that Kenzie would have known about what happened to Melissa since that was two months earlier. So I don't know. Just the fact that this happened to both of them is so devastating.
- [44:24]
Heath
It's incredibly tragic. And we just hope that their families get the closure that they need and the justice that they deserve.
- [44:31]
Daphne
Absolutely. So thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you to everybody again who recommended both of these cases to us. And we will see you on Friday.
- [44:39]
Heath
All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the.
- [44:41]
Daphne
World, don't be a stranger.
- [45:21]
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