GUILTY Spain - Denise Thiem, 40, U.S. traveler, Astorga, 4 April 2015

[ZaZara]

THE MURDERER CUT OFF HIS VICTIM'S HANDS. 37.000 EUROS DISCOVERED AT HIS HOME.

The murderer cut off his victim's hands and transported her in a wheelbarrow.
Police found 37,000 euros at the home of confessed murderer, who had a monthly allowance of 400 euros as a long-term unemployed.
He transported the body of his victim in a wheelbarrow from his home to the spot where it was discovered.

LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...-Victima-Y-La-Llevo-En-Una-Ca-vn184314-vst469


Evidence incriminating Miguel Angel Muñoz, that goes beyond his own admission, shows that without any doubt it was he who concocted at first a plot to attack pilgrims in order to get money in the first place

Although the sexual motive has been on the table, the investigators believe that the confessed murderer actually pursued money as a primary objective.

In that line of investigation fits the attack on the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, whom he attacked during the day of April 5, after she spent the night in the albergue of San Javier, in the maragata capital.

Denise had wanted to go to El Ganso, but her life was cut short by an recluse character who murdered her.

According to the testimony of the accused himself he hit Denise with a stick and she collapsed due to the blow. "Se died when she hit a stone," he told.

After taking her body to his prefab home located nearby Miguel Angel Munoz chose to cut off the hands of his victim with a saw, thinking that this would make the identification more problematic.

The police found traces of DNA on some tools located in a shed next to the main house.

In addition during the search of the house 37.000 euros were located, an amount that supposedly corresponds mainly to the money made from different attacks on pilgrims and thefts in the area.

Miguel Angel Munoz received 400 euros as a long-term unemployed, an amount which not even remotely, would have allowed him to accumulate savings of that kind.


BBM

€37.000 = $ 41.884 (!!)

According to a local source, there were 3 excavators at the location and police still searching yesterday.


Picture of the house with the shed:

 

[ZaZara]

THE SPIDER'S WEB OF THE MURDERER


Miguel Angel Muñoz watched pilgrims with his binoculars, he estimated the time that separated one from the other and calculated if there was time to act. Denise was walking the 'traditional' Camino and was attacked there. Her body was transported in a wheelbarrow to the place which was located


LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend/leonoticias/La-telarana-Del-Asesino-vn184311-vst469

The world of Miguel Angel Muñoz, shy and elusive according to the residents of the village of Castrillo de los Polvazares, was limited to the Camino de Santiago. From that route, next to which he owned a family farm, he was 'taking his cut of the cake' to live on.

In fact, according to those same locals, the confessed murderer of American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem was a 'tiny rat', a petty thief that everyone knew in the area. Now and then he stole "apples and pears" and ever so often a petty theft was committed in the area that was attributed to him but no one reported it because the amount was so small.

Miguel Ángel, who only smiled when he escaped the area to walk surprisingly the Camino de Santiago passing before his very door, was regarded as a man incapable of committing misdeeds of any importance.

A businessman in the area was sure of this: "I do not think he's responsible for the death of the pilgrim. He is a person of unusual behavior but I do not see him capable of commiting a crime, although with the human mind you never know," he said just hours before the man was arrested by police.

No one in the area believed him capable of such atrocity, but the reality was quite different. For a long time, and no one knows exactly when he started to attack the pilgrims in the area, Miguel Ángel had begun to build a spider's web in which pilgrims were caught one after the other.

His plan was much more elaborate than it might seem. From the Castrillo de los Polvazares to Santa Catalina each pilgrim walks about 3.4 kilometers and needs for that track about 40 minutes of time. The more prepared walkers reduce this estimated time with five or ten minutes.

Miguel Ángel had set two monitoring points. One on the east and one on the west of his home, which coincides in the first third part of the road that separates the two villages. Moreover the confessed murderer of Denise Pikka Thiem had painted several false road signs (yellow arrows) trying to divert the pilgrims to a route at a distance of hundred meters from the main road.

During the search of his home binoculars were found with which he supposedly spotted pilgrims and followed them in that stretch of the Camino. If he saw the possibility, he would get into atction.

All fatal options coincided in the case of Denis Pikka Thiem. She was traveling solo, she did that in a moment in which no one crossed the road, she was not wearing mobile phone and was attacked in an area with scrubs next to the main road.

"I hit her with a stick and and when she fell, she hit her head on a stone," the perpetrator of the crime has confessed. Presumably he dragged the body of Denise from that point of the route to his home.

There he undressed Denise and examined her belongings. Police have located remains of DNA on various tools with which he allegedly dismembered the body before transfering "on wheelbarrow" to the area where the body was found in an advanced state of decomposition.

It was the widespread deployment of troops that led the murderer to leave the area and turn to the Camino de Santiago del Norte. So he hoped to avoid police action, confident that the remains of the body, buried at more than three kilometers from his home, made it untraceable.

Maybe that's why when the police found him on a terrace together with other pilgrims in the Asturian town of Grandas de Salime, he simply collapsed and confessed to the crime. More than five months had passed since the trace of Denise had evaporated from the Camino.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

"SHE WAS LOST AND ON PASSING HIS HOUSE CALLED HIM. HE GOT INTO A DAZE, KILLED CHER AND BURNED HER CLOTHES"


The lawyer of Miguel Angel Muñoz said that in the reconstruction of the case, the confessed murderer told he had "become obfuscate" because she "got nervous". He assures that the money found in the house comes from "the sale of an apartment of the family".

LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...r-Frente-A-La-Casa-Le-Llamo-E-vn184325-vst469

Vicente Prieto, the new attorney of confessed murderer of the American pilgrim, said Wednesday that his client killed Denise Pikka Thiem because "he became dazed."

Moreover, as he remarked during the reconstruction of the crime held on Tuesday in the presence of the judge in the case of Miguel Angel Muñoz, he has cautioned that in this case there is no sexual motive and not even an economic motive.

To investigators, the murderer said he did not step out his house at the passing of the pilgrim but that it was Denise who came to his house "because she was lost." "It is not disputed that she may have used that route because of false road signs or anything," the lawyer said.

After a request of Denise the man responsible for her death "went outside and gave her directions, and then offered to accompany her on the way to the right track".

It was on the route, as Miguel Angel Muñoz narrated, when the woman "got nervous" and he "became dazed and killed her."

"The preliminary report suggests that there could have been a temporary mental disorder[*]" said the lawyer during an interview in Telecinco.

"There has been no premeditation. He confesses that things went to his head, denies that there was sexual aggression or the intention to steal," he assured.

The lawyer also assures that crime was resolved "because he collapsed but there is no evidence, he burned her clothes and backpack and there is nothing. It is true, however, that the body is sufficient if it is proved that there are traces of my client."

Finally about the money found in the house, the lawyer says s that the 37,000 euros do not proceed from theft but from the sale of a family apartment.


BBM




[*] Temporary insanity is a legal concept that is used to determine "a profound change of the mind or of the inhibitory restraints, that appears suddenly and unexpectedly, momentarily overrides the ability of self-determination of the subject and then disappears without leaving sequelae [pathological conditions]"

 

[Beesknees]

I can understand the work of a lawyer, but I DESPISE these lawyers that knowingly and with all the evidence pointing these awful crime's culprits, defend them with lies that even themselves don't beleieve in. Disgusting!! :gaah:

 

[ZaZara]

"TO GUIDE HER THROUGH THE GATES OF GLORY UNTO THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD"


Catedral de Santiago
http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/noti...l-de-santiago-acoge-una-misa-por-denise-thiem

The Pilgrim's Mass that the Cathedral of Santiago will celebrate at 19.30 hours today on Wednesday will be dedicated "to the eternal rest of the pilgrim Denise Thiem", who died while doing the Camino. Canon Daniel Lorenzo will lead the celebration and it will include a small souvenir of the deceased pilgrim. Also, the prayers will be read by a group of American pilgrims.

The council expressed its condolences and closeness to the family and relatives of the deceased as well as the entire community of American pilgrims.

On Saturday, after the arrest of a man in connection with the search for the deceased, who later confessed to the judge, Archbishop Julian Barrio, at the end of the Mass of the Angels, said a prayer for the soul of the deceased woman. He also asked the apostle Santiago "to guide her through the Gates of Glory unto the presence of the Lord" and sent his affection and that of the whole Church to her family.



Camino Society Ireland
https://www.facebook.com/Camino-Society-Ireland-110131172387472/timeline/

In Memory of Denise Thiem
Father John Collins has instructed that the bells of St James's Church James St Dublin will ring out 3 minutes this evening at 6.30 pm our time to coincide with the start of Mass in the Cathedral in Santiago in memory of Denise Thiem who died, a Pilgrim on the road to Santiago de Compostela.
A book of condolences will open tomorrow in the Camino Information Centre at St James's Church.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam (*)


(*) May her faithful soul rest at God's right hand




Astorga
http://www.ileon.com/actualidad/055...iem?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

A wake for Denise Thiem.
An invitation distributed through the social networks calls for astorganos to remember the murdered pilgrim in a ceremony on the the Plaza del Palacio de Gaudí this Wednesday at 20.30 hrs.

The organisation invites everybody to bring a candle to say goodbye to the soul of Denise and console her family.

Astorga is expected to respond massively and demonstrate the welcoming nature of the astorganos with pilgrims, as the mayor, Arsenio Garcia said Monday, "we people from Astorga are educated from child-age on with respect for and I'd almost say with veneration for the pilgrims, and even with the nature we have, a bit reserved, every citizen of Astorga and its villages will always be at the service of pilgrims, we all grow up with that sense of responsibility and of help," therefore, the death of Denise hurts us all.



BBM



:candle:

 

[ZaZara]

THE MURDERER OF THE PILGRIM CUT OFF HER HANDS TO HINDER THE INVESTIGATION


El Pais
http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2015/09/16/actualidad/1442421357_656242.html


Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, the alleged murderer of Denise Pikka Thiem, the American pilgrim who disappeared last April 5 in Astorga (León), would have cut off her hands and an arm to hinder identification. Investigators are trying to locate the amputated limbs on the farm where they found the body last Friday, following the arrest of the main suspect, who has confessed to the crime and has been sent to prison yesterday after participating in the reconstruction of events.

According to investigative sources, the alleged murderer has not provided any information about the whereabouts of the hands and arm. Muñoz Blas allegedly carried the lifeless body of Thiem, for two hours through the bush after beating her to death until he buried her, according to his lawyer, Vicente Prieto. "Once he concluded that she was dead, he moved her through an inhospitable areae for more than two hours and buried her. That is an area with many holes due to the presence of wild boars," the lawyer told La Mañana de TVE .

This is the version that his client has given him and it is the story that he stuck with on Tuesday before the agents of the National Police who accompanied him on the reconstruction of the facts that the judge of Astorga on the case ordered. According to his version, the woman "passed by because she was lost, asked for help to find the Camino and he told her where the road was, but he asked her if he could accompany her. At one point she got nervous, to him this caused bewilderment or we do not know exactly what and he hit her on the head. "

The blow was "with a stick" and falling down Denise Thiem hit a rock with her head. "After the blow, he was trying to determine whether or not she was breathing. When he came to the conclusion that she was dead, that is when happened the rest of the episode," the lawyer told.

Muñoz Blas buried the body of the pilgrim on his farm, but later he dug it up and took it to a nearby farm that he does not own. There it was finally found by the police. The lawyer said that he "first" buried the body "in front of his house" and covered it and put "markings."

After a while, "it comes to a time when he repents the case entirely and as he sees that they do not find her, what he does is that one night he digs her up and moves her again in his arms to the point where she was found. He does not bury her, he leaves her in an area that he considers a pass-through zone so that they may find her."

The lawyer also confirmed that the detainee undressed her: "He undressed her the first time, and buried her naked. I do not know why. Also he burned her clothes and backpack." He also provides more information saying that "the body appears complete, except for the hands." "That is a subject on which I will not elaborate now. I'm waiting to analyzing this issue," he tones down

Investigators are working with the hypothesis that he cut her hands to hinder the research of the forensic experts and to eliminate potential biological remains of the murderer that might have been under the nails of the victim during a hypothetical fight. The autopsy performed on the corpse found in Leon on Friday revealed that it is indeed the US pilgrim, who showed a strong blow to the head, that could have caused her death.

On the state of his client, the lawyer said that the detainee has asked him to transfer his "deepest regrets" to the family of the victim. "He asks for their forgiveness because he never wanted to kill Denise. His repentance was spontaneous, he is extremely sorry and broken. He told me, 'Vicente, I've screwed up, I did not want to kill her," the lawyer said.

The lawyer considers "very credible" the account given by the detainee and argues that his client "has not changed his statement". He specifies that "the day of the medical examination to determine the accountability he admitted things that he had not done before." The police version is that after his arrest last Friday in Asturias, he said he had not killed the woman, but he found the body already lifeless in the bushes. He was alerted by the smell emerging from it.

This police report coincides with the first statement of Muñoz Blas before the Judge, because he pleaded not guilty. It was not until the evening when he asked to testify once again when he implicated himself in the death of the pilgrim. At this point the lawyer says that "the autopsy does not define which blow caused her death or if it was the concurrence of both."

About one thousand dollars that he changed in the branch of a bank weeks after the disappearance of the pilgrim, the lawyer denies that the stole these from his victim, but "he found them on the road, he has not clarified if they were in a purse or on the ground."

Muñoz Blas has several criminal records for theft, but the lawyer has argued that he has never been condemned for these. "The earlier allegations against him have never been successful. Photos of him have been shown to the complainants and they have not identified him."

Police sources have confirmed to Europa Press that investigators have found another important amount of money in euros that the detainee had hidden in his farm in Astorga. The lawyer explained that the origin of that money "comes from the sale of a family property and that was his share."

The lawyer pointed out that his client might not be of sound mind, "We are waiting to conduct some type of psychiatric testing, my client categorically denies sexual assault and that was discarded. Psychological testing needs to be done."

"When a person is not of sound mind, sometimes it is for some reason and other times because they may have some kind of psychiatric disorder, which is what we now have to analyze and assess," says the lawyer says, as he stresses that "his state of insanity was transient."

He adds that "surely he realized afterwards what he had done. Then he had two options: Or call the police or do what he did."
"I do not say that what he did was within the mental disorder, because at that time he acted in full awareness of what he was doing," the lawyer judges.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

IN MEMORY OF DENISE


LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend/leonoticias/En-Memoria-De-Denise-vn184402-vst469

The mother of the American pilgrim wrote a message to her daughter that was read during the homily celebrated in the cathedral of Santiago: "I am in shock to see that there can exist such an evil person for taking a life like that," she says. "I hope that Denise will forgive me for not having protected her as my child," the mother added in the statement. "I am full of sorrow", she also admits.

The spokeswoman for Denise's relatives explained that the mother could not attend because of the enormous suffering that she is going through and it has been a family friend who collected the pilgrim's credential of Denise as well as a medal of the last Holy Year and a candle to light up and "feel that Denise is alive"


BBM

Note: I have translated the message of Denise's mother from a Spanish text. The wording in the original English message may differ.

 

[ZaZara]

BONE FRAGMENTS OF THE AMPUTATED HANDS OF THE PILGRIM FOUND


LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...anos-Amputadas-A-La-Peregrina-vn184411-vst469


Psychologists have studied the personality of Miguel Angel Muñoz who confessed to the death of the pilgrim, and reveal that he is disturbed.

Even more so, according to the evidence of this crime, because he amputated some limbs of his victim.

Specifically the perpetrator cut the hands of the pilgrim with a hacksaw and together with them also amputated part of one arm.

According to the investigation, that action would be in line with an attempt to make identification of the body more difficult. The body was left lying on a farm that the man responsible for the crime owns at three kilometers from the point where he contacted Denise.

Now the National Police has found in the last hours a bone fragment that could belong to the pilgrim, although the DNA tests are pending.

It was not the only act that the confessed murderer performed in order to divert attention and to prevent the investigation made progress in location her. He also burned all the clothes of the pilgrim and her backpack.

According to the investigation Miguel Angel Munoz had the "fortune" of having more than ten days after Denise disappeared. A very valuable period of time to the criminal and it played against the investigation.


BBM


IMHO any person with common sense would agree that this man is not normal. That would not prevent him to hinder the course of justice the way he did. Even his lawyer who claims 'temporary insanity' admits that MAMB was acting rationally 'after he realized what he had done'.


:gaah:

 

[ZaZara]

FORENSIC SCIENCE UNIT ANALYZES DNA SAMPLES FROM RELATIVES OF THE PILGRIM


The Director General of Police, Ignacio Cosidó, has confirmed that the Scientific Police are analyzing DNA samples from relatives of the American pilgrim Denise Thiem, who disappeared last April when she walked the Camino de Santiago and who was found dead last week. Asked by reporters in Algeciras (Cádiz) on whether the families of the pilgrim travel to Spain to compare DNA samples, Cosidó has stated that "DNA samples are already in the hands of the Forensic Science Unit of the Police."

Read more:http://www.europapress.es/sociedad/...-adn-familiares-peregrina-20150917112230.html

 

[ZaZara]

WAKE IN ASTORGA

The Local.es
http://www.thelocal.es/20150917/killer-cut-off-the-hands-of-american-pilgrim-denise-thiem


"We will always be grateful to the people of León, and especially Astorga for all that you have done to help us in our effort to bring Denise home," said the message.

"We all wish we could have attended the beautiful memorial for her today. Thank you for the touching words and prayers. It has been very comforting to Denise's friends and family to see you celebrate her life together.

 

[Lumberjill]

ZaZara---
Thank you so much for staying on this case and especially for all the translations. We'd know nothing without you.
Now, how do we go about posting notices along the caminos to warn that troubles DO exist, and to travel in pairs or more? I don't enough about the caminos--not even where people typically start. But I'm willing to do something. Need help knowing what.

 

[ZaZara]

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE AUTOPSY SHOW THAT VICTIM RECEIVED TO BLOWS TO THE LOWER PART OF THE CRANIUM


AstorgaDigital
http://www.astorgadigital.com/caso-...s-de-huesos-de-una-mano-de-denise-thiem/68644

The National Police has found a bone fragment near the farm where the body of Denise Thiem was found on Friday that could belong to one of the hands of the murdered woman, although the results of the DNA test still need to be analyzed. Police believe the detainee amputated both hands in order to hinder the identification of the body if and when the police managed to find it.

Preliminary data from the autopsy performed on the body suggest that the victim received two devastating blows on the back of the head, one in the right occipital region and on the left [occipital region], the latter deadly. The report does not specify whether the contusions are due to the use of a blunt instrument or an accidental fall on a stone after being pushed and beaten, as the murderer confessed.

According to his reconstruction of events, Denise had lost her way on the pilgrimage route and was looking for help at the time when she passed the house of the detainee. He offered to accompany her but for reasons he does not know to explain, at one point there was a discussion, he lost his temper and beat her. The test of imputability says the detainee is in full possession of his mental faculties and is master of his actions, but also detects a certain aptitude for getting upset at specific moments.

In an attempt to obstruct the solution of the case, Miguel Angel Muñoz burned all the clothes of the pilgrim and her backpack. His story continues to ensure that he buried the body at first in the place where it fell and then transferred it in a sack by hand to the place where was located last week. The victim also has a superficial cut on the face and part of an arm has been cut off.


BBM


Wikipedia has some clear 3D-representations of the occipital bone.
Take a look here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occipital_bone#Additional_images
It makes one wonder how someone couls possibly hit a person on the head on one side of this area and make them hit a rock, falling to their death, on the other side of that area.

 

[Satchie]

ZaZara---
Thank you so much for staying on this case and especially for all the translations. We'd know nothing without you.
Now, how do we go about posting notices along the caminos to warn that troubles DO exist, and to travel in pairs or more? I don't enough about the caminos--not even where people typically start. But I'm willing to do something. Need help knowing what.

There is a forum for the caminos, which I imagine most people consult before and after their walk and I imagine safety and this man's actions will be much discussed. I don't think there is very good communication while people are walking, though. Since they're all walking in the same direction, it's pretty hard to pass information back down the line.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Thank you ZaZara, for not letting us forget Denise.

So sorry for you, beautiful Denise.

 

[ZaZara]

MIGUEL ANGEL SUFFERS FROM UNCONTROLLABLE VERTIGO


20minutos.es
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/255...ina/confeso-helicoptero-vertigo/denise-thiem/


The alleged perpetrator of the murder of American pilgrim suffers from an uncontrollable fear of heights.

Sources from the Ministry of Interior confirmed Thursday that during his transfer by helicopter his vertigo led him to confess to the crime.

Once safely on solid earth, Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas again changed his story and pleaded not guilty.

BBM


:hanging:

 

[ZaZara]

ZaZara---
Thank you so much for staying on this case and especially for all the translations. We'd know nothing without you.
Now, how do we go about posting notices along the caminos to warn that troubles DO exist, and to travel in pairs or more? I don't enough about the caminos--not even where people typically start. But I'm willing to do something. Need help knowing what.

Hi Lumberjill,

Thank you for your kind words! I hope this forum serves as a warning for those who might get carried away in the 'camino bubble'.

One of the friends of Denise assured me once again that Denise would have decided differently if she had been aware of the risks of walking alone at a quiet time. Denise was an experienced and responsible traveler. She prepared her journeys well and was no friend of risky undertakings. She would have paid attention to this information if it had been available to her. But it wasn't.

The mantra about the Camino is that it is SAFE, SAFE, SAFE, but by all appearances the man now arrested meant business. He was not incidental, and there is no guarantee that he is the only one along the trail.
Reading the forums and messages in the press, I was surprised that risks are being downplayed so often. Sometimes even aggressively so. The Camino is SAFE and if something does happen, well that is something that might have happened at home too ... as if that does not count or affects safety.

The Camino has grown so much in recent years. Unfortunately it has also attracted all kinds of predators.

In memory of Denise, I would like to see a website with safety tips and devices for women and a forum for peregrinas on the Camino. A map of locations and occurrences. An app to report these directly to the Police.

My working title would be "The Sensible Feminist Guide to Walking the Camino de Santiago"

 

[ZaZara]

VICENTE PRIETO: "I BELIEVE THE REPENTANCE OF MIGUEL ÁNGEL IS SINCERE"

Antena 3, Espejo Público
http://www.antena3.com/programas/es...repentimeinto-miguel-angel_2015091700146.html


Vicente Prieto is the lawyer of Miguel Angel Muñoz, the confessed murderer of American pilgrim Denise Thiem. "The repentance of my client, I believe it is sincere," he said in an interview on Espejo Público. "Clearly he did not want to kill her," he says.

"I know Miguel Angel and his father, but it was a long time since I last saw him," said Vicente Prieto, defense attorney of Miguel Angel Muñoz, the confessed murderer of the American pilgrim Denise Thiem. "The first thing he said to me was Vicente, I've screwed up. I did not want to kill her, it's madness. I'm sorry, tell this to her family."

About the fact that Miguel Angel reacted so violently with the pilgrim, the defendant said in his statement he had been drinking and was under the influence of drugs. "We will not be able to determine that, because it's been such a long time, but he told me that on that day he had drunk and had smoked hashish or marijuana or something," Prieto said.

According to the lawyer, Miguel Angel wanted the body to be found because he was not able to surrender to the police. As for the reasons that led Michelangelo to kill Denise, Vicente Prieto, he said "we do not know yet, but it is clear that he did not want to kill her."


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Santiago de Astorga y Comarca


http://www.caminosantiago.org/cpperegrino/comun/..\prensa\verprensa.asp?PrensaID=9805

The Association will celebrate tomorrow [today] Friday, September 18 hrs a funeral for the murdered pilgrim Denise Thiem.

The Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago, Astorga and the Astorga region wants to communicate the celebration of a Mass for the repose of the soul of the tragically deceased American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem.

Members and friends are invited, as well as all locals of the town and region wishing to attend. The Mass will be celebrated in the church of San Bartolomé (parish church of the neighborhood where the Albergue is located), on Friday, September 18, 2015 at 17:30 hrs.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

DEATH OF DENISE A "HOMICIDE" ACCORDING TO PUBLIC PROSECUTOR IN PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...micidio-La-Muerte-De-Denise-Y-vn184538-vst469


The Public Prosecutor labels as a "homicide" the death of Denise and believes that perpetrator wanted to rob her.
The investigation into the case is of the opinion that Miguel Angel Muñoz only wanted to obtain some money, despite having 37,000 euros under the floor of the house at on his farm.

In a preliminary definition of the offense, the prosecutor responsible for the case that has been opened for the crime of the pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, has determined that this a case of homicide and not of premeditated murder, but in the file there are still no definitive conclusions.

After the investigation and reconstruction by the author, who confessed, it is now believed that the circumstances surrounding the death of Denise were those of an attempted robbery that resulted in assault and death.

According to the Police, Miguel Angel committed such acts in order to get some money from the pilgrims. Behaviour that contrasts, however, with the fact that under the floor of his house he had hidden 37,000 euros, most of it allegedly from the sale of a family house.

This mitigating factor of circumstantial death was already mentioned by Vicente Prieto, the lawyer who is in charge of the representation. He said that "this has been a tragedy and a disgrace, he is not a murderer, he is a person with his peculiar way of life but nothing more. It's one of the issues I want to discuss, I want to talk with the father and with him but in the preliminary report that was made of him, it is suggested that there may have been a transient disorder."

During the reconstruction of the crime, Miguel Angel Muñoz confessed that he had suffered a moment of obfuscation, according to hs legal representative. "There has been no premeditation. He confesses that things went to his head, denies that there was sexual aggression and denies that he has wanted to rob her. It has not been confirmed that he would have changed the the markings [of the Camino]."

"Denise did not come from that part but from the opposite direction. She was lost. She called him to see if he could give her directions, he told where to go, asked her if he should accompany her, he walked her along the hill and at one point she became nervous and this brought about a great mental confusion in him and that went to his head. All this came to light because he collapsed but there are no evidences, he burned her clothes and backpack and there is nothing left. The body is sufficient if it is shown that there are traces of my client " the lawyer said in a recent interview.

Meanwhile the investigation has not been closed and other incidents on the Camino are still being investigated. These are incidents with other female pilgrims who were attacked at their time by a man "wearing a balaclava."

However some of these women, who failed to file a complaint but have now been located, did not manage to recognize the confessed author of the death of Denise Pikka Thiem.


BBM


Hmmm... the man was drunk and high on drugs, and she would have accepted his offer of company?
And that stick, whatever it was, where did it come from? Has it been found?

IMHO The Thiem family need a lawyer in Spain to represent their interests ASAP.

 

[ZaZara]

POLITICS: THE PSOE URGES THE PP TO TAKES STEPS AND WIPE CLEAN THE NEGATIVE IMAGE OF ATROGA AFTER THE CASE OF DENISE THIEM

AstorgaRedAcción
http://astorgaredaccion.com/not/958...egativa-de-astorga-tras-el-caso-denise-thiem/


The Socialist Group in the city of Astorga has requested an urgent meeting of the Tourism Commission in order to discuss the municipal policy regarding the Camino de Santiago, the actions that can foster improvement of care and safety along the municipality and actions to overcome the "difficult emotional time and the pubic image derived from the current events related to the pilgrimage, within the municipality of Astorga."

The request of PSOE stresses that the Camino de Santiago is "vital for the town of Astorga. It is vital today and will be even more so in the future," Councilman Tomás Alvarez argues, that is why the Socialists want to know what policy the municipal government has in this regard. In addition they want to go deeply into the resources for care of the pilgrims and jointly discuss the measures that have to implemented to improve care for the pilgrims and the safety of walkers.

The request has been filed in the face of the recent developments relating to the murder of Denise Pikka Thiem in which "the names of Astorga, Castrillo de los Polvazares and other surrounding villages have been all over the news daily and linked to an unfortunate event", which presumes a negative publicity, "given that the images and broadcast messages do not have spread the beauty, art and gastronomy, but instead they have broadcasted a police chronicle in which there was talk of attacks on pilgrims who get lost in almost deserted areas sometimes because of signage that has been tampered with, etc."


BBM