An Irish man is suspected of murdering a 31-year-old American nurse during an “intimate encounter” at his Budapest apartment before dumping her body in the woods, police said.

Hungarian police said Mackenzie Michalski, of Portland, in the US state Oregonwas killed after meeting the 37-year-old at a nightclub while she was on holiday in the city.

Officers identified the suspect by the initials LTM and said he cleaned out his rented apartment in the Hungarian capital and put Ms Michalski’s body in a wardrobe and then in a suitcase.

He allegedly rented a car and drove 90 miles (150 km) to Lake Balaton, where he is said to have dumped the body in a wooded area near the village of Szigliget.

Police video showed the suspect directing them to where he left the body.

Officers said he also looked online about how to dispose of a body and the competence of the Budapest police. Police said they also conducted online searches about procedures in missing persons cases, whether pigs eat corpses and whether there are wild boars around Lake Balaton.

He was arrested on November 7 but claimed the killing was an accident, police said.

Ms Michalski had been reported missing two days earlier and the suspect was identified after CCTV showed the pair together in a nightclub, where police said they danced and left for his flat.

Photos from the crime scene show a rolling suitcase, items of clothing and a handbag next to a credit card with Ms Michalski’s name written on it.

The victim’s family flew to Hungary to help find her, but found out on the way that she had been killed.

“There was no reason for this to happen,” her father Bill Michalski said at a candlelight vigil in Budapest on Saturday night.

“I’m still trying to wrap my arms around what happened … I don’t know that I ever will.”

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Wearing a cap he had given her, Mr Michalski said his daughter had been to Budapest before and called it her “happy place”.

“History … she absolutely loved it and was so relaxed here,” he said.

A Facebook group set up last week to find Ms Michalski said she was known as “Kenzie” and worked as a nurse.

She was said to be “always remembered as a beautiful and compassionate young woman”.