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.
Try that.
A friend did this pilgrimage. She said that getting to St. James Cathedral was like her view of heaven. When she arrived there was a mass going on. A wedding was taking place in a side chapel. It was a bit chaotic. As she moved around the church she ran into people that she had spent time with along the pilgrimage. Later other people she had meet arrived. Along the journey you meet people spend some time with them and then there passe is different then yours so you move to a different circle. A very interesting journey.
I go around all by myself in Wyoming.
I find that very difficult to believe. Considering the number of little one you have been blessed with. LOL
Robert, thank for your input on that. Amazing how close to the road the path turned out to be, according to your experience and familiarity, and in view of others pilgrims traveling along up in front and behind walkers. I’m sure the signs caused a problem, and apparently with no preventative safety patrolling going on, it was a mark for a bad guy. Just horrifying.
The world is not 1950 anymore, and over all, it seems people still think it is and are so galactically naive.
Amazing, isn’t it. Such a torturous death is so shocking that it is hard to accept, so I want to think how it could have been prevented. Broadly speaking safety is getting more and more scarce.
Amazing, isn’t it. Such a torturous death is so shocking that it is hard to accept, so I want to think how it could have been prevented. Broadly speaking safety is getting more and more scarce.
I walked it alone at 65 a couple of months after Denise’s’ disappearance. Pilgrims, especially the American, were very protective of each other. The Spanish people who run the small inns, stores and restaurants were also protective of us. I walked with others at times and at times alone and always had situational awareness and an escape plan. I walked my mind clear from work into retirement 500 miles on my own for over a month. One of the best experiences of my life. Buen Camino.
My 26 y.o. daughter went with me to Viet Nam in 07. She went off on her own and with a couple of young ladies she just met. She, having lived in Boston for 5 years, was totally impressed that she was safe anywhere she went. If she needed a ride she waited for a motorbike to stop and she would get agreement on price and off they went, always to exactly the place specified. And the bike rider just rode away. Things are changing a bit now. Two years ago I was with friends out getting ice cream at night when a cousin of my buddy stopped by with his daughter and asked us to escort her home for the same sort of reason that would pertain here. And it was not in a big city but in a small town.
Hahaah!! Trust me, I need to be by myself at least once a week or so...even if it’s just to go get some groceries!
“I need to be by myself at least once a week or so”
I can believe it. Good on ya for doing what few anymore are willing to do, at least at your level.
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