Fanni's disappearance
Fanni Novozánszki was a 24-year-old Budapest woman who had previously appeared on the Hungarian reality program Való Világ. On November 20, 2017, she disappeared from the apartment where she was living. Friends and relatives became concerned after she could no longer be reached and her dogs were left behind.
Security-camera footage became central to the case. Hungarian reporting on the later judgments described footage showing B. László carrying an apparently incapacitated Fanni from the residential complex and placing her into a vehicle. The prosecution also relied on physical and digital evidence developed after her disappearance.
The investigation without a recovered body
Fanni's remains were never found. That made the prosecution unusually difficult: investigators and later judges had to determine not only who was responsible but whether the evidence proved death and homicide beyond reasonable doubt without a body.
According to the first-instance and appellate accounts, investigators traced B. László's movements, examined CCTV, vehicle evidence and digital searches, and recovered biological traces linked to Fanni. The defendant maintained that he had not killed her and offered alternative explanations for why he had carried her from the building.
The prosecution theory
The prosecution alleged that B. László learned that Fanni kept substantial savings in her apartment and decided to obtain the money even if violence was required. The courts ultimately accepted that the motive was financial and classified the offense as homicide committed for gain.
Reporting on the judgments states that Fanni was assaulted and removed from her apartment while helpless. The prosecution further alleged that her body was later disposed of in the Danube area near Szalkszentmárton. Because the remains have never been recovered, this page does not present an exact disposal location as independently verified physical fact beyond the findings adopted in the criminal case.
Evidence considered by the courts
The Metropolitan Court of Budapest emphasized the combination of circumstantial evidence rather than any single item. CCTV captured the defendant moving Fanni from the building. Investigators found her blood and DNA in a rented vehicle associated with him. Digital evidence also included internet searches concerning sedating substances before the meeting and later searches concerning deaths in water, extradition and travel.
The defense denied murder and argued that Fanni might still have been alive when she was taken away. The courts rejected those explanations as inconsistent with the evidence. The appellate court later stated that the evidentiary record established beyond reasonable doubt that B. László killed Fanni.
First-instance conviction
On July 13, 2022, the Metropolitan Court of Budapest found B. László guilty of homicide for financial gain. The court imposed life imprisonment and set the earliest parole eligibility at 25 years. The judgment was not final because both sides appealed.
Contemporary coverage noted the legal importance of obtaining a homicide conviction in a case where no body had been recovered. The conviction did not rest on declaring Fanni legally missing forever; it rested on the court's assessment that the total evidence proved that she was dead and that the defendant caused her death.
The final appellate judgment
On May 17, 2023, the Budapest Court of Appeal upheld the finding of guilt but changed the punishment. It replaced the life sentence with a fixed term of 20 years in prison. Hungarian reports quoting the appellate court state that the judges considered life imprisonment excessively severe in light of the defendant's prior clean record, while leaving the murder conviction and financial-motive classification intact.
The appellate judgment was final. The court said B. László could become eligible for conditional release after serving the legally specified portion of the 20-year term. A later extraordinary review mechanism could be sought under Hungarian procedure, but the existence of such a mechanism does not make the final appellate conviction provisional.
What remains unresolved
The criminal responsibility is adjudicated, but one major factual question remains: Fanni's remains have never been recovered. Her family has therefore been denied the certainty and burial that the recovery of a body could provide. Later media reports have repeatedly revisited possible search areas, but none has established a recovery.
The archive does not treat rumors about accomplices, trafficking or alternative disappearance theories as established. Those claims appeared in public discussion and in aspects of the defense narrative, but the final judgment found B. László responsible for Fanni's killing.
Timeline
November 20, 2017: Fanni Novozánszki disappears from her Budapest residence.
Late 2017: CCTV, vehicle, biological and digital evidence focus the investigation on B. László.
2019: prosecutors formally charge B. László with aggravated homicide.
July 13, 2022: the Metropolitan Court of Budapest convicts him and imposes life imprisonment, with parole eligibility after 25 years.
May 17, 2023: the Budapest Court of Appeal makes the murder conviction final but reduces the sentence to a fixed 20-year term.
As of September 2026: Fanni's remains have still not been publicly reported recovered.
Current status
The case is classified Solved / Adjudicated. B. László was finally convicted of murdering Fanni Novozánszki for financial gain and received a 20-year prison sentence. The classification refers to criminal responsibility; it does not imply that every physical question has been answered, because Fanni's remains remain missing.