Posted on 04/07/2017 3:38:41 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Denise Thiem disappeared on the camino de Santiago on April 5th 2015. Photo issued by Thiem Family A farmer from northern Spain has been found guilty of the brutal murder of American Denise Thiem, who went missing as she walked the pilgrimage route to Santiago.
Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, 41, was convicted by a court in León on Wednesday of the murder of a 40-year-old woman whose body was discovered on his land five months after she disappeared while walking the Camino de Santiago.
Denise Pikka Thiem, from Arizona, was last seen on April 5th 2015 in a rural area of northwestern Spain's Leon province while following the French route of the Camino de Santiago, a popular pilgrimage also called the St. James Way.
Five months later, after a renewed appeal for information backed by US Senator John McCain, Spanish police arrested Muñoz and he led them to where he had hidden her body, after chopping off her hands, on his land.
Throughout the trial, Muñoz, who had originally given a full confession to police, had refused to answer questions.
"I will not make a statement. I won't answer any questions from prosecutors or my lawyer either," he said.
At the time of his arrest the accused claimed that Thiem appeared on his property "lost and asking for help to find her way back to the pilgrimage route," said his lawyer, Vicente Prieto at the time.
"He claims she asked him to show her the way, then got nervous and somehow, and this has not been made clear, it ended with him hitting her," his lawyer said.
Police said that they believe the perpetrator may have painted fake yellow arrows used to mark the pilgrimage route to divert unsuspecting pilgrims off the official track towards his house.
Prieto told the La Manaña programme that his client had hit his victim with a stick and when she fell to the ground was hit on the head with a stone.
"After determining that she had stopped breathing he then buried her in front of his house," said Prieto.
But Muñoz later dug her up and carried her to a more secluded area of farmland and reburied her. "She was naked, I am not sure why," said the lawyer. "He burned her clothes and her backpack."
Police investigators at the time said they believed the killer may have removed her hands in an attempt to hinder her identification and possible forensic traces of her attacker that may have been under her fingernails after the struggle.
DNA tests confirmed that the remains were those of Thiem and the post mortem report stated that Thiem had received a blow to the head that had most probably caused her death.
Muñoz was also accused of stealing more than €1,000 dollars that Thiem was carrying and that he exchanged for euros at a local bank days after she disappeared.
During the three week trial in which more than 100 witnesses were called, the jury heard testimony that several other women had been harassed by the accused as they walked the same route.
The public prosecutor is asking for 25 years of imprisonment for Muñoz, 20 years for homicide and 5 years for theft with violence.
A jury of eight women and one man returned a guilty verdict after a trial that lasted three weeks. Muñoz will be handed a sentence by the León provincial High Court within a few days.
Munoz is also accused of stealing more than €1,000 dollars that Thiem was carrying and that he allegedly exchanged for euros at a local bank days after she disappeared.
Devastating.
What woman elects to go on pilgrimage today, alone, separated from a group, in any country? Even small groups are in danger, man or woman, but this.. alone? In Spain?
There are always dreamers, but they are definitely getting themselves thinned out.
Great movie.
Lone female backpackers are common in Thailand. My wife has talked to several at Wororot Market in Chiang Mai. Speaking good English and Thai, of course, started conversations when my wife helped her niece at their clothes stall there.
I go around all by myself in Wyoming.
Of course I’m never actually alone. One of my best friends and his seven little hollow-point buddies are on my hip all the time just in case I meet a Spanish farmer.
(-:
There is nothing there.
I’m still not getting anything——not my night,I guess——but thanks anyway.
punch in “The Way” film into your search engine.
I had done that and found it on IMDB——and realized that I have seen the film——WIKI had no info at all that I could see.
A great movie,by the way,and thanks for your help.
A pilgrimage ends horribly.
“The Way” movie will never be the same.
We have two bicycle friends, husband and wife, DINKs. They take their bikes all over the world and have some pretty amazing adventures but neither one of them could fight off an attacker.
It’s a risk but the solo travelers seem to understand it. For that matter, just two have a certain risk. However, I’d go crazy in a group tour. Just taking one to Naples frustrated us so much, we haven’t tried them again.
“....What woman elects to go on pilgrimage today, alone, separated from a group, in any country? Even small groups are in danger, man or woman, but this.. alone? In Spain?
There are always dreamers, but they are definitely getting themselves thinned out.....”
I am a 68 year old man. Last year I did the Camino by myself (no friends, or family). I saw many women doing it alone. Each year over a quarter million people do the Camino. The Camino Francis is the major route. On that route the trail is within 100 feet of the road for much of the trail. One is hardly ever not within sight of other pilgrims. Sometimes, yes, but not often and then you are often in sight of passing cars/trucks. I was all alone and not in sight of other for maybe 5 to 10 minutes at most just a few times.
Most hiker/pilgrims enjoy the company of walking with fellow pilgrims. This is sometimes called a Camino family if it last for more than a few days. Most people travel in groups, even if they have just met.
One of the issues on this case, and such cases along the Camino are very rare, is that Dennise had a lot of money on her over $1000 and rural Spain is a very poor country.
Another issue was that the farmer had painted fake Camino markers to lead a pilgrim off the “trail” or Camino or Way to his house. Outside of his killing her we do not fully know what his motivation besides money was.
My suspicion was that he tried to sell pilgrims that came to his house food, water or something and when she flashed a large amount of money, he killed her. I don't know this as a fact, but I do know that rural Spain is quite poor.
I want to walk the Camino de Santiago...
“The public prosecutor is asking for 25 years of imprisonment for Muñoz, 20 years for homicide and 5 years for theft with violence.”
20 years for homicide.
Europe is sick.
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