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

[ZaZara]

EX-PARTNER: HE IS AGGRESSIVE AND A LIAR; FATHER OF SUSPECT: HE IS TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO HAVE DONE THIS ALL ON HIS OWN


iLeon.com
http://www.ileon.com/actualidad/072...-padre-cobarde-para-cometer-el-solo-un-crimen


The ex partner of Miguel Ángel Muñoz, accused of murdering the American pilgrim Denise Pikka in April 2015 described him today as "aggressive and a liarl" and said she heard sexist and racist comments from his mouth. The woman, mother of a daughter not recognized by the alleged murderer, admitted that she was surprised by the long phone call he made the day after the disappearance of Denise because he only used to contact her two or three times a year.

For his part, the father of the accused, who like the woman gave a statement by videoconference, said he believes his son is too much of a "coward" to do what is attributed to him by himself alone. "He has a very quick temper, he has his moments of aggression, but he is a nobody when he is alone," the father declared in the trial that is held in the Audiencia Provincial de León.

The father, who lives in Madrid, has not seen his son since August 2015, when he spent a few days with him in the house that recently went up in flames. The man acknowledged that after the fact, when he was called by the police to question him, he informed his son of this circumstance, despite being told not to do so.

He declared that the alleged relationship of Miguel Angel with Latin American guerrillas seems to him an invention and defined as "a hell" his relationship of the accused with the stepmother, a Colombian woman fond of clairvoyance and other esoteric practices. He said, that she had a very negative influence on is three children, who lost their mother on a very young age.

ElProgreso
http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/noti...inar-denise-thiem-hostigando-otras-peregrinas

[The father] explained that the last time he saw his son was in August 2015 when he spent a few days in his house in the locality of Castrillo de los Polvazares, León. He also pointed out that he visited in July of that year when he found him "very suspicious" because he [the accused] said that "they wanted to shift the blame for the disappearance of a peregrina on him." However, he emphasized that he is not aware that his son is suffering from any mental or other illness.


BBM



Blame the woman .... why are you still married if it was all that bad?

 

[ZaZara]

FIRST LAWYER OF ACCUSED TESTIFIES THAT HE CONFESSED OF HIS OWN FREE WILL AND NEVER MENTIONED PRESSURE


LaVozDe Galicia
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...te-huida-detenido/00031490286592260873789.htm

Attorney Rosario Martínez Prieto, who officially attended Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas after his arrest as an accused of murdering American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem in April 2015, has ensured that the entire process was in compliance with the law, even "especially scrupulous."

The lawyer testified on Wednesday in the trial that is being held in the Audiencia de León against Muñoz Blas, 41, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office. The prosecution seeks to dismantle the thesis of the defense that the defendant confessed his guilt due to the pressure that he was under after being detained.

She explained that her services as an ex officio lawyer were required at 10:00 pm on September 11, 2011, shortly after Muñoz Blas was detained in the Asturian town of Grandas de Salime, and stated that her client proclaimed his innocence and refused to testify at the police station of Astorga (León).

The lawyer said that she was able to speak with the accused at various times and that he never told her that he had been subjected to pressure or ill-treatment by the agents who arrested him. "Had he done so, I would have taken the necessary measures to safeguard his rights," she added.

On Monday, September 14 of that year, Muñoz Blas testified in the court of Astorga before the magistrate who conducted the case and initially pleaded not guilty, although that same day while he was being examined by a medical examiner and a psychologist, he announced that he wanted to make a new statement, according to this witness.

The lawyer said that she asked the judge to delay the declaration until the following day because the accused had contracted the services of another lawyer to take charge of his defense.

"The judge dismissed my petition because she understood that he was correctly reprensented at the time and took his statement that same day, at 9:00 p.m.," recalled the lawyer who underlined that the judge asked the accused "if he wanted to confess freely and voluntarily," to which he nodded.

She also stressed that before testifying for the second time he was able to speak on the telephone with his new lawyer, and she explained that he pleaded guilty to the death of the pilgrim. "All the rights and procedural safeguards have been respected, and even especially scrupulously so given the nature of the facts," the witness said.

In her view, during the second statement in which he admitted his guilt "he appeared consistent" in his report of the facts. "Even though he was tired like everyone else on that day, I never saw any inconsistency," she said.

After this statement, months later the defendant again proclaimed his innocence and reported that he had confessed guilty due to the pressures he had subjested to after his arrest. This is why his defense claimed the nullity of the process, which was dismissed first by the Audiencia and later by the Superior Court of Justice of Castile and Leon (TSJCyL).

This morning, a local woman of Castrillo de los Polvazares (Leon) has also testified before the court that she saw twice how signs with fake arrows pointing to the Camino de Santiago "appeared and disappeared" that redirected to the vicinity of the defendant's home.

In addition, she indicated that she saw posts to spy on the pilgrims in the surroundings of the defendant's house camouflaged with oak branches.

She also recalled that she experienced a "very uncomfortable" situation when the defendant "stared" at her one day when he was cycling while she was walking.

Finally, the head of the albergue at Grandas de Salime, where the accused was staying when he was arrested, also testified. She explained that he registered like any pilgrim, and did so by showing his ID to complete the corresponding file, data that, according to the usual procedure, have to be transferred daily to the Guardia Civíl.

This witness had been called by the defense, who aims to make clear that Muñoz Blas left to hike the Camino de Santiago and was not running away from being onder pressure by the increase of the searches for the pilgrim in the area of Astorga.


BBM


If I remember well, there were stories how MAMB had been under 24/7 surveillance of the police, and still managed to move the remains of Denise and take the bus from Astorga up North.
The 24/7 surveillance hasn't made it to the trial yet.

 

[ZaZara]

DENISE THIEM'S BROTHER SAYS SHE "HAD PLANS FOR A FUTURE IN ART AND DESIGN"

LaNuevaCrónica.com
http://www.lanuevacronica.com/el-he...de-futuro-en-el-arte-y-el-diseno#!prettyPhoto

Cedric Thiem, the brother of the American pilgrim Denise murdered on the Camino de Santiago in León in April 2015, testified this Thursday by videoconference from the United States as a witness in the crime trial that is being held in the Provincial Court of León. Through an interpreter, Cedric, who acts as the private accusation in this case, explained how around 8 April 2015 - the crime allegedly was committed early in the afternoon of April 5 - he started to become impatient because he had not heard from his sister for too many days: "We had the last contact on April 1 or April 2, and we used to talk every two or three days."

On the 20th of that month, Cedric travelled from the United States to Astorga to report Denise's disappearance. There he spent two weeks with the intention of helping the investigation in every way he possibly could. He even participated in a number of the searches that were done in the area where the trail of the peregrina had been lost.

Asked by the prosecutor, the witness and brother of the victim explained that Denise always carried cash "on her body", "$ 500 or more" and a photocopy of her passport in case she was robbed or lost it. Cedric further explained that his sister had travelled more often alone and that she was not a trusting person, she was always on guard with strangers, the interpreter translated.

In the interrogation by her lawyers, the private prosecution, he said that Denise had decided to do the Camino de Santiago after watching the movie 'The way', 'she was very impressed and started reading and searching for information to make the trip, It seemed a good way to her to find herself because she had come to a point in her life in which a different future was beckoning."

This future, he would explain later, was that she had plans in art and design, "she was an artist," "she was looking forward to the future, she was happy," Cedric explained. Also, about the relationship he had with his sister, he said that they were very close, they were like best friends, they talked about everything and they were always together. At this moment, Denise's brother could not help but get emotional.

The defense of the alleged perpetrator of the murder did not ask the witness any questions. The lawyer only used his turn to ask the interpreter to transfer to Cedric "his condolences and those of his client for his loss", to which Cedric responded with a polite thank you and a smile with a glimmer of sarcasm.


BBM


:grouphug:

 

[ZaZara]

DENISE'S HEAD TRAUMA WAS CAUSED BY A BLOW WITH 'A BLUNT OBJECT LIKE A STICK' AND NOT BY A FALL

Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/27/traumatismo-craneal-denise-provocado-20170327111928.html

Experts of the Forensic Anatomic Institute affirm that the wound to the head "was incompatible with life" and they remark that there is no doubt that the hands were "amputated".


The trial for the crime of the pilgrim Denise Pikka begins its third week and does so with the presentation of expert evidence. Minutes before 9.00 am Miguel Ángel, the only accused, arrived at the premises of the Audiencia Provincial de León, where different experts from the Forensic Anatomy of Ponferrada were to give their testimony.

The doctors in charge of elaborating the anthropological analysis have testified that the head trauma that Denise presented on the right latera sidel was the consequence of a blow with a forceful object with a blunt surface - a blunt object -, possibly a cane, a stick or a baseball bat.

A wound that in any case, as they have remarked, is incompatible with a fall, as the defense of of the confessed murderer claims, given that in order to comply with that assumption, according to the experts, the body should have presented more fractures or injuries.

There is also no doubt, according to the doctors, that the hands of Denise were "amputated" with a sharp object, although they are not able to specify the weapon. What they could confirm was the impossibility that the cause of the disappearance of the hands was an animal or even the deterioration of the body over time.

A day in which it was also revealed that Denise suffered a wound incised in the neck, "characteristic of a wound of beheading that was performed from left to right," as well as various injuries to the ribs. The head trauma that she had suffered "was incompatible with life" because it would result in serious damage both to the brain and to the spinal cord."

Lastly, and something that all the doctors of the Ponferrada Forensic Anatomy concurred in, was to highlight the serious state of deterioration that the body of the American pilgrim presented, making it impossible to conduct a greater number of tests.

On Tuesday the forensics in charge of the autopsy of the body of Denise Pikka will testify.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

DENISE'S KILLER IS ACCOUNTABLE AND CHANGED AN UNLIKELY ACCOUNT FOR A CONFESSION RICH IN DETAILS


Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/28/asesino-denise-pikka-cambio-20170328102928.html


The forensic report determines that the pilgrim died of a cranioencephalic traunatismo of such gravity and with injuries so severe that they were incompatible with life.

There was no pressure on the confession of Miguel Ángel Muñoz, the confessed murderer of the pilgrim Denise Pikka. Neither police pressure nor coercion. Quite the opposite.

As forensic doctors reported on Tuesday, the confession was voluntary, fueled by a climate of comfort generated at a time when circumstances were important: an interview without a police presence and without being handcuffed.

[ The confession ] happened when the two female forensics officers made clear to him that his first story, in which he denied the crime, was false. This was, as they remarked, an "unbelievable" story because it is "impossible" for a person to keep the memory of a certain smell in that location and so many months later.

It was at that time, when Miguel Ángel decided to confess. "He did it voluntarily without pressure or any type of coercion," the forensic scientists said. They remarked that contrary to the first version, a short report, calculated and without details, in his confession Miguel Ángel offered a story "rich in details and in sensations " that he showed he had lived during those moments.

According to this statement, Miguel Ángel Muñoz gave an account of what happened voluntarily and that statement fitted with the reality of what happened on those dramatic days.

In the courtroom of the Provincial Court it has also been noted that according to the forensic report Denise died of a traumatic brain injury of such gravity and with injuries so severe that they were incompatible with life.

In addition, it was determined, according to the same report, that the death was a murderous violent death because the body was hidden, naked, in a forced position, with amputated hands, transferred to another place and with injuries incompatible with life.

Finally, the forensic investigators noted that it was very hard for Denise Pikka to defend herself or escape from her aggressor, given the disproportion in size (the woman barely reached 1.55 meters in height), the fact that she was carrying a backpack and her attacker was armed.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

FORENSIC EXPERTS DETERMINE THAT MIGUEL ÁNGEL KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING AND WANTED TO DO WHAT HE DID

They regret that the defense provides a diagnosis "on demand" claiming a disease in case of guilt

Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/28/forenses-determinan-miguel-angel-20170328145135.html

Miguel Ángel Muñoz, the confessed murderer of Denise Pikka, is a "psychologically normal" person. This has been testified on Tuesday in the Provincial Court of León by the female experts responsible for carrying out the imputability report of the man who stands accused today. They performed a personal interview and two personality tests "that bring objectivity."

Both forensics determined that he is a "methodical and planned" person, with a clear tendency to grandiosity and to exaggerate everything, although no traits of aggressiveness or limiting disorder were observed.

What's more, they continued, the reports determined that the parameters of intelligence and free will were "perfect" on the day of study - September 14, 2015 - in which forensics determined that he was well in a psychopathological sense.

They also pointed out that Miguel Ángel did not show any pattern related to Intermittent Explosive Disorder (TEI), noting that he was "perfectly normal" and therefore imputable "because he knew what he was doing and wanted to do what he did".

At this point, the forensic experts showed their discomfort by the attempt of the defense who try to discredit their work with a second report from which stems, as they pointed out, "a diagnosis on demand". It "indicates an illness only in the event that he is guilty. Either you have or you do not have the disease."


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE CONFESSED ASSASSIN STARES IMPASSIVELY AND COLDLY AT THE REMAINS OF DENISE

Miguel Ángel does not take his eyes off the images with which the forensic investigators support their account and determine that the cause of death was a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow with a blunt object
"Denise had great difficulty to escape or defend herself because she was carrying a backpack, her attacker was armed and the differrence in size between them was important"

Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/28/asesino-confeso-fija-impasible-20170328145418.html

Almost two years later, Miguel Ángel Muñoz returns to find himself with the image of the body of American pilgrim Denise Pikka. The same one that he, as he confessed in his day, buried in the vicinity of his house after ending her life.

He has done this on Tuesday in the Provincial Court of León, where he carefully and coldly kept his eyes on the images of the corpse that the forensic doctors use to support their explanation. The female forensics participated first in the exhumation of the body and later in the performance of autopsy.

During a detailed exposition, the forensic experts have indicated the advanced state of decomposition of the corpse, more specifically in the third phase of putrefaction. This prevented the determination of the date of death, therefore they specify only that the death had occurred "between one and eight months before".

The forensic experts testified that the body was free of pupae - a state of transition between larvae and adults - which showed that the place where it was located was not where it was first buried. In their judgment the first burial place must have been a small space given the forced posture of the body, which was found with the legs tucked up.

"For that reason the body was bent," the forensic experts remarked. They pointed out that already at the first ocular inspection that they carried out in the place where the body was located it became clear that at least one of the hands was missing.

The autopsy that was performed in the Ponferrada Forensic Anatomy allowed to determine that the body showed four direct impacts, two in the head, one in the jaw and one in the side, all of them vital, that is, they were performed when Denise was still alive. "Blood only coagulates in the living, not in the dead."

An autopsy that determined that Denise died as a result of a traumatic brain injury "so severe that it was incompatible with life" as a result of a blow "so violent that it barely left a margin for survival", that was caused by a blunt object - without edges, and that, in no case, is compatible with a fall or precipitation.

A fall, she continued, would have caused "at most" a linear fracture and precipitation would have caused major injuries to the victim's body. "It's completely impossible." At this point, they testified that the bone defect of the skull "was so great, so horrible" that it was incompatible with life.

As for the cut of the neck, the forensic investigators remarked that it was a superficial wound. It did not cause damages to the carotid or the jugular. It was done with a sharp object. Moreover, its linearity makes it impossible, in the expert opinion, that this occured while Denise was convulsing.

Therefore, the forensic investigators determined that this was a murderous violent death because the body was hidden, naked, without personal possessions, in a forced position and with amputated hands, to which they added the evidence of the removal of the corpse from a first to a second burial.

In addition, the autopsy showed the use of two types of weaponry, a bladed weapon, for the amputation of the hands, and a "weapon with a blunt surface" that caused the blows and, consequently, the participation "of a person who caused the impacts".

During her report, the forensic investigator also pointed out that Denise, who barely measured 1.55 meters and had a shoe size 35, would have had great difficulty to defend herself or to flee because she carried a significant weight, her attacker was armed and the difference in size and strength between the victim and the executioner was huge.

Finally, the experts recreated the report of the reconstruction of the facts in which Miguel Ángel remarked how after beating Denise with a stick, he dragged her, undressed her and buried her in a lair of wild boar that he made a little bigger.

At this point, where no cadaverous insects were found either, denoting that Denise was buried "quickly", the "dry leaf" was located which eventually ended up being part of a nail of Denise, although studies have not been able to determine if It was from the feet or the hands that have not yet been located.

Finally, they say that the serious condition of the body prevented them from determining if she had suffered a possible sexual assault. They pointed out that, due to the impossibility of extracting the toenails, they sent the five phalanges of the right foot as well as a piece of femur to be tested for DNA, a test that determined that the body found was that of Denise Pikka.


BBM

Shoe size 35 is is size 4 or 4.5 in USA. Tiny feet.

Just when you thought this would no longer be possible, this crime gets worse with the next turn.


Lest we forget, a remark from your translator:
The female version of Spanish words gets easily lost in (google) translation and as a consequence the women disappear too.
:gaah:

Miguel Ángel did not attack pilgrims, he specifically targeted peregrinas, female pilgrims.
The forensics experts who examined the remains of Denise are all women.
The members of the jury are all women too, except for one man.

 

[ZaZara]

MIGUEL ÁNGEL HID DETAILS OF HOW AND WHEN HE KILLED DENISE AND COULD HAVE ACTED ON A SEXUAL MOTIVE


A report by the Scientific Police states that an economic motivation did not incite the culprit to attack the pilgrim. The report points out how Miguel Ángel was "hesitant" in reporting the attack, contrasting with his detailed reconstruction of the rest of the facts
The absence of primary colonizing insects in the remains reveals that the body was protected and was not buried directly in the earth

Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/29/miguel-angel-oculto-detalles-20170329104359.html

The lack of economic motivation and previous incidents with other pilgrims with characteristics similar to Denise Pikka suggest that behind the death of the American pilgrim hides a possible sexual motive.

This is only one hypothesis that was the result of a report by the Scientific Police who participated in the reconstruction of the facts. During that reconstruction Miguel Ángel offers a narrative with "pertinent and coherent" details, expressing himself in a "realistic, credible" manner and showing himself "honest and sincere."

Except for one moment. The concrete description of the attack. It was at this point that Miguel Ángel hesitates, he is thoughtful and takes a longer time to respond. An attitude that indicates, according to the experts, that he conceals elements, elements that are predictably relevant to the case, because he understands that their public exposure may incriminate him even more.

Because in the end, how and when Miguel Ángel ended the life of Denise is only known from the mouth of the man who stands accused today, given that the serious state of decomposition of the body has not allowed to determine whether there was sexual assault or even the date of death.

A story that suggests that "he hides some information about the attack," the Chief Inspector of the National Police said on Wednesday in the Provincial Court of León. He also recalled how during the reconstruction Migue Angel explained that at no time he had violated Denise even though no one asked him for an explanation.

"He is making something explicit that goes through his mind and for him it is relevant to show that point," the witness said. This witness participated as an observer during the reconstruction of the events after which Miguel Ángel appeared "relieved", seeking permanently with his gaze the attention of those who accompanied him.

A confession that was not motivated, he said to questions from the defense, due to the possible fatigue or pressure suffered by Miguel Ángel after four days of detention because "the feeling of dejection, with a behavior that reflects a significant emotional impact, only occurs in specific key moments during the reconstruction."

"It presupposes the existence of anxiety and fear in the accused in the face of the seriousness of the facts, however, the accused was able to discern. Moreover, his story does not indicate any intellectual deficit, on the contrary. Miguel Ángel understood the situation in which he was and could perfectly choose which part of the story he told in one way, or another."

A day in the Court in which also the details about the burial of the body of Denise were put into question. Officials from the Museum of Natural Sciences, responsible for the entomological report, testified that the lack of primary colonizing insects (that appear when the body is fresh) is evidence that the body was protected [ somehow ].

In this way, they infer that it was not possible that the remains of Denise were buried directly in the ground as pointed out by Miguel Ángel. The report also states that it was not possible to determine the date of death since there were no data on the growth of the species that was located in the body of Denise, despite contacts with different experts in France and Poland.


BBM


And once again, it gets worse. By deciding not to testifiy, he will probably escape a lot of extra years in prison.

:maddening: :maddening:

 

[ZaZara]

THE CAMINO MURDERER KILED THE PILGRIM FOR SEX, NOT TO ROB HER

LaNuevaEspaña
http://www.lne.es/sucesos/2017/03/30/asesino-camino-mato-peregrina-sexo/2081490.html


Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas murdered pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem for sex, not to rob her. At least this is the conclusion reached by a psychological report prepared by the Scientific Police that was presented yesterday in the trial held in the Provincial Court of León, which is scheduled to end next week. The report ruled out that the motive of the crime was money. On the other hand, the officials who produced the entomological report of the corpse, who also testified yesterday, maintain that the body could have been kept somewhere before it was buried.

The National Police inspector who drafted the report explained to the court that the investigators consider that the economic motivation did not provoke the attack because previous incidents have been registered with other pilgrims with characteristics similar to Denise Pikka Thiem. Robbery discarded, the motive of the crime would be sexual in nature. This psychological report was made during the reconstruction of the facts, when the accused offered a story full of "pertinent and coherent" details. "He expressed himself realistically and credibly and at all times was honest and sincere," according to the expert.

However, doubts arose when he described the way in which he had killed the pilgrim, an attitude which, according to the experts, indicates that he concealed elements relevant to the case. The expert also explained that during the reconstruction of the crime, the accused was especially interested in clarifying that he had not raped the pilgrim without anyone asking. "Miguel Angel was relieved after confessing the crime, permanently seeking the attention of those who accompanied him," he said. [...]

In addition, the defendant's conduct during the reconstruction of the crime did not reflect any intellectual deficit, quite the contrary. "He understood the situation he was in and he could perfectly choose what part of the story he told in one form or another," the expert said.

Yesterday, officials at the Museum of Natural Sciences who were responsible for the entomological report also testified. They explained that the lack of primary colonizing insects (which appear when the body is fresh) in the remains of the pilgrim shows that the body was protected. To them it appears It was not possible that de body was buried directly in the ground, as the accused said, and that it had to be kept hidden somewhere for a while.


BBM


In a legal case, all is about the evidence that can be proven.
The suspect is on trial for assassination and robbery.
These are witnesses for the prosecution, and they hint at a crime that is worse than the assassination and robbery for which the prosecution demands 25 years.

IMHO what they are clearly indicating is that more evil was involved in this crime than what they can legally prove.
Robbery was not MAMB's main aim, and the money was a bycatch, but LE is confident that they can get him convicted for this, so that is what they do.

Meanwhile, Miguel Ángel keeps his mouth shut and does not answer any questions.

 

[ZaZara]

DEFENSE EXPERTS CANNOT SAY IF PILGRIM DENISE DIED VIOLENTLY OR ACCINDENTALLY

ElMundo
http://www.elmundo.es/sociedad/2017/03/30/58dcdcca268e3ed3388b45c8.html

An expert report presented on Thursday by two forensic doctors hired by the defense of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, the sole accused of murdering the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem in April 2015, states that it can not be determined with certainty if the death of the woman was a homiicide or an accident.

The two forensic doctors have testified at the trial held in the Provincial Court of Leon against Muñoz Blas, 41, and have pointed out that the cause of death can not be known nor that it had a homicidal origin. However, to questions from the prosecution, they have admitted that they did not get to see the corpse nor the crime scene and that they have prepared their report based on the documentation provided by the defense.

The two forensics have argued that the skull fracture of the pilgrim that according to the autopsy report was the cause of death, could have been be caused when she fell to the ground.

Confronted with this hypothesis, the coroner who carried out the autopsy said last Tuesday that that option was "simply impossible to derive from the research of the corpse and the terrain," and that in that case the victim "would have presented a linear fracture." Defense experts have explained that the heavy blow to the head of the body of Denise caused a trauma "in the form of a spider's web or polyphragmentary" with loss of bone as a result of a lateral impact.

Both experts have pointed out that the study of the remains shows that such a blow did not have to be produced obligatorily by the impact on the side of the skull of a blunt object.

Muñoz Blas initially confessed that he had killed the peregrina before the investigating judge of the case in Astorga (León), but he later changed his version and now claims that he invented it because he felt pressured by the police when he was arrested on September 11, 2015 In Grandas de Salime (Asturias).

On the first day of the trial, on March 14, Muñoz Blas made use of his right not to testify after having his lawyer defend his innocence minutes before.

The pilgrim disappeared on April 5, 2015, the day she sent an e-mail to a friend in whom she greeted "from Astorga", and announced her intention to follow her route to the town of El Ganso, both points of the Camino Jacobea in the province of Leon.

It was the last news that was had of her until, on September 11 of that year, hours after he had been arrested in Asturias, the accused led the pce to the place where the body was located, about 2.5 kilometers from his home, in a place of difficult access between the villages of Santa Catalina de Somoza and San Martin de Agostedo.


BBM


So the defense kept the family waiting for nothing ....

DiarioDe León 29 03 2017
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...rande-horrible-incompatible-vida_1149056.html
Until the body was repatriated to the United States in late January 2016, it was in the custody of the forensic experts who testified yesterday as experts. In particular, they pointed out that on November 4, 2015, "the remains might have been returned to the family", however, the request for a counter-autopsy by the defense, which "never took place", delayed the proceedings. "The defense experts have drawn their conclusions without seeing the body," the experts explained.

 

[ZaZara]

DEFENSE PSYCHIATRISTS CLAIM MAMB SUFFERS FROM A BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER

NoticiasDe Navarra
http://www.noticiasdenavarra.com/20...n-que-padece-trastorno-limite-de-personalidad

The two psychiatric experts hired by the defense of the alleged murderer of the pilgrim Denise Pikka have assured this Thursday before the Audiencia Provincial de León that Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas suffers from a borderline personality disorder and intermittent explosive disorder.

The first of the disorders that the experts have diagnosed in the man accused of killing Denise Pikka Thiem, personality limit disorder, causes the patient to have an altered ability to self-control, which leads him to have "non-reflexive behaviors". Although he "may have a normal appearance, his behavior is modified."

On the other hand, the intermittent explosive disorder causes Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas to "explode impulsively because of previous stimuli", something that psychiatric experts have been able to appreciate that has occured "throughout his life" and they have put together a life cycle of the aggressive experiences he has had with people close to him.

According to the experts, these "alterations in his capacity for self-control and his reactions" may cause Miguel Ángel to be "violent and irrepressible because of a fact that for anyone else would be imperceptible."

Psychiatric experts have developed two possible hypotheses based on the illnesses that the accused murderer of the American pilgrim allegedly suffers from. First, in case Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas would indeed be the author of the crime, "his mental disorders and tremendous injuries that were present on the body" could be the result of "a psychomotor explosion that unleashed a brutal aggressiveness that was impossible for him to stop."

The second hypothesis is totally opposite, namely that Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas is not the murderer of Denise Pikka, but "a narcissistic and egocentric mood" has led him to "plead guilty without being so" because "he was always considered a nobody and suddenly he becomes someone important."


BBM



:thinking:

IMHO, but I am not an expert, the second hypothesis would gain in credibility if they had also stressed his psychic abilities, because despite his innocence, he indicated both locations where Denise had been buried, plus the murder weapon and the cut to her throat.

 

[dotr]

"stressed his psychic abilities"
That comment, was not only amusing, but imo dead on, ZaZara!

 

[ZaZara]

"DENISE WAS A VERY PRUDENT WOMAN"

DiarioInformación
http://www.diarioinformacion.com/su...ado-matar-peregrina-denise-pikka/1877927.html


This morning Javier Pombo de la Serna also testified as a witness. He is a pilot by profession. At the end of March of 2015, he coincided with Denise in the Camino de Santiago and they walked several stages together.

He explained that he was doing the Camino with his daughter and three nephews and that the American peregrina approached them when she became aware that they spoke English.

"The fact that I traveled with children made her feel safer and encouraged her to approach us," the witness said.

"Denise was a very cautious woman, prudent, orderly and too suspicious, with a fantastic personality and full of interest for everything," the witness said. He was the one who advised her to visit the town of Castrillo de los Polvazares, in the León region of the Maragatería.

"I suggested it to her because I love the village that my great-grandmother, the writer Concha Espina, recreates in her novel 'La efigie maragata'," according to the witness, who appeared remorsful for have made that recommendation.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

"I DUG UP THE BODY AND PUT IT IN ANOTHER PLACE, ELSE YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE FOUND IT"


DiarioDeLeón
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...-lugar-si-no-no-encontrais-nunca_1149641.html

The trial for the murder of the American pilgrim Denise Thiem, held since March 13 at the Provincial Court of León, is nearing its final stretch with the presentation of the last documentary evidence. In yesterday's session, the video with the reconstruction of the events, made last September of 2015, after the arrest of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas as main suspect, was projected in the court room.

The accused, accompanied by a group of people including the judge of Astorga, who at that time was leading the case, the chief prosecutor of León, lawyers and investigators of the National Police, showed the spot where the events took place, in the vicinity of his house in Castrillo de los Polvazares, and narrated what happened in a relaxed tone, but with obvious signs of nervousness, that made him pass from laughter to sometimes almost bursting out in tears.

Muñoz Blas narrates in the recording, of almost half an hour long, how Denis called him from the road and he left his house. According to her story, the peregrina was lost and asked him to accompany her. "She almost did not speak Spanish," the accused tells. He said he accompanied her a while to indicate her the right way. "As we walked, she changed her attitude, and I did not understand why, it did not seem logical to me, and it changed my mindset, I had a bad day and it made me mad, then I picked up a stick and hit her. She fell to the ground and hit her head on a stone," the defendant says while he is showing the area of the road where the events allegedly occurred.

According to his statement, she was paralyzed, and then she began to convulse. "I saw that she was suffering and I cut her neck with a knife," explained Munoz Blas, who later got rid of the weapon without specifying where. "I stood their pondering for a while, she was bleeding. Then I took the backpack, the hat, the stick and the glasses from her and I lifted her up in my arms." The suspect reports that it took him two hours to move the body about 200 meters from the site. "A dead body weighs up to three times more than normal, also she was bleeding from the nose, neck and head," the accused says. He nonetheless clarifies that he did not stain himself with blood. In fact, in the reconstruction, he had trouble to reach the place where he buried her and he needed to visually locate his house tofind his way.

When he arrived at the spot, he tells that after digging a hole he put the body of the pilgrim into it, for which, after severing her hands with a kitchen axe as she could have traces of him under her nails, he had to bend her legs. "Before that I took off her clothes, because as everyone knows the body breaks down quicker," he explained coldly. After burying her, he made some landmarks with stones. To questions of the investigators he explained that he later burned the clothes, the backpack and all the equipment, although he did not specify where either. At that moment when he narrates all these details, Muñoz Blas collapses. "This is all very heavy, it's like a movie," he says almost on the verge of tears.

After recovering, Muñoz Blas boasts of his expertise in hiding the corpse. "If I had not wanted to, you would never have found it," he told investigators, to whom he also confessed that he did not understand how after many days of investigation, with helicopters flying over the area, and with police dogs prowling his farm, they found nothing. "I knew what was happening, I am not a fool, and the fact that after so many months you did not find the body gave me an advantage, I even went to Madrid to see my daughter."

Later, Muñoz Blas told about the day when he returned to the place where he buried the body. "I was not comfortable with myself, I just wanted you to find her." He said that one night, after two agents were at his house asking questions, he dressed all in black and waited until two in the morning to go to the spot and dig up the body. "There was no moon and almost no light, because I wanted to see the body as little as possible," the accused says. "It smelled really bad, I do not want anyone to smell anything like it," he explains in detail. In fact he says that he was vomiting for several days and that the smell did not leave his head. Once the body was in the open, he lifted it on his shoulder and walked for two hours to remove it as far as possible from his house. He placed it in the vicinity of the main road, under some bushes. It was there, after his arrest, on September 11, 2015, and thanks to his instructions, that the National Police found the remains of the pilgrim, five months after the murder.

The video concludes in the area where he supposedly buried her hands, hands that to this day have not been found.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE GERMAN PEREGRINA WHO WAS ASSAULTED POINTS AT THE MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING DENISE AS HER ATTACKER


DiarioDeLeón
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...enala-autor-acusado-matar-denise_1149788.html

Today the German peregrina Josefine Elisa Fischer pointed at Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, accused of murdering Denise Pikka Thiem in April 2015, as the person who assaulted her when she was on the Camino de Santiago near Astorga (León) in the summer of 2014.

Thus has testified today this German pilgrim in the trial held in the Provincial Court of Leon against Muñoz Blas, 41, in which she has given a statement from her country by videoconference.

She explained that she wanted to experience personally what it is to walk the Camino de Santiago and that with that objective she traveled to Spain in the summer of 2014.

She testified that she came in the vicinity of the defendant's house guided by fake arrows of the Jacobean Route and that she was attacked by a hooded man with a height of 1.70 meters and of thin build.

As she explained, she managed to defend herself and escape from her aggressor because she is a big woman, 1.73 meters. She quickly went to Astorga to report the events.

When she returned hours later with several policemen to the area of the attack she noticed that the false arrows that had deviated her from the Camino de Santiago had disappeared because, undoubtedly, "someone had moved them".

She also explained that the glasses she lost during the assault "were laying on the wall of the home of the accused".

Although she acknowledged that she could not recognize her attacker because he was hooded, she has not doubted that he was the one accused of Denise's death because his height and complexion matched.

"I cannot believe that this man who was living a few meters from where te attack on me took place, did not hear my screams," she reflected.

The man accused of killing the pilgrim ended up detained for these events for a few hours although he was released due to lack of evidence and the case was dismissed.

The oral hearing will conclude next Monday with the reading of the final remarks by the different parties.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

A WELL-AIMED KICK IN THE GENITALS SAVED A GERMAN WOMAN FROM THE ASSASSIN OF THE CAMINO

LaNuevaEspaña
http://www.lne.es/sucesos/2017/04/01/certera-patada-genitales-salvo-alemana/2082561.html

It was a kick in the genitals that kept the German peregrina Josefine Elisa Fischer from following the same fate as, a year later, peregrina Denise Pikka Thiem. Yesterday this woman could be heard - not seen, because that is prohibited by German law - in the trial that is continuing against Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas. Josefine had no doubts: it was he who attacked her on the Camino in the summer of 2014.

The witness, the last one of this trial, said she have wanted to expierence personally what it was to realize the Camino, so she traveled to Spain in the summer of 2014. She could never have imagined how severe the experience would be. Josefine arrived in the vicinity of the defendant's house guided by false arrows. She was then attacked by a thin man, 5'7 "tall. She said that, however, she managed to defend herself and escape: she is a big woman, 1.73. She did not hesitate and went quickly to Astorga to report. When hours later she returned with several police she noticed that the false arrows had disappeared. "Someone had moved them," she said. And there, leaning against the wall of the prefab house, were the glasses she had lost during the attack.

Josefine admitted that she could not recognize the attacker, but she did not doubt that it was him. "I can not believe that this man, who was living a few meters from where I was attacked, did not hear my screams," she said. Muñoz was then detained, but the judge decided that the evidence was insufficient. And the next year happened what happened.

After the statement of witnesses, the accusations and the defense will offer their final arguments on Monday. And on Tuesday, the jury will come together to decide.


BBM


Go Josie! Kudos to you! You did all the right things and they should sack that judge.

:drumroll:

 

[ZaZara]

..... when you finally find the perfect translation for a phrase that has been going round in circles in your mind and the button to correct it has already disappeared ....


:gaah::gaah::gaah::gaah:

 

[notmyshoephone]

Thank you so much for all your work in translating this for us. I care for Denise and want justice for her. You are making it possible for us all to see what's happening! :yourock:

 

[ZaZara]

Ay thank you so much, notmyshoephone! That is so kind!
I sometimes get carried away and I hate to be fooled by google. I know google does not do this on purpose, but still....

It is so good to see that ppl are still following this case. Big hug to all of you out there! And I want justice for Denise too. She walked into a trap that was widely known, but did anyone inform the pilgrims? No they did not, else Denise would be alive. The odd thing that I discovered along the way (Way!) is that many pilgrims apparently don't even want to know, there is no outrage, no call for action.
If anything, I have found that being victim-friendly is not the default choice everywhere, but here at WS we do care, and we care a lot.

Thanks for reminding me, notmyshoephone! :cheer:

 

[ZaZara]

THE SHADOWS HANGING OVER THE MURDER OF DENISE THIEM

DiarioDeLeón
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias/provincia/sombras-caso-thiem_1150180.html


A motive for murder. If the popular jury will find Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas guilty in the cming days - their deliberations are scheduled to begin on Tuesday - that will be the main shadow hanging over the crime of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem. According to the testimonies heard during the three weeks of the hearing, the accused pointed out that the attack occurred because she "cast him an angry look" and according to the hypothesis formulated in the psychological analysis of the accused, ruling out other reasons, it seems that the sexual motive is the most plausible thesis .

But only Muñoz Blas knows why he did it and the mistrust and even fear that Denise might have shown towards the inconvenient company that she was faced with at a time when she had gotten lost does not explain by itself a death with at least three deadly impacts on the skull -with a blunt object like baseball bat- on the right side, other blows to the face and chest, just opposite to those of the head, which caused the fracture of five ribs.

The force of the impact prohibited the forensic ones of Ponferrada and, later, those of the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences to reconstruct the damaged zone with the fragments of bone that they had available. Forensics explained that from the point of impact fractures radiate in all directions, indicating the force of the blow. All that force was due to the anger that was caused by an angry gaze?

Ricardo Magaz , professor of Criminal Phenomenology attributes the crime to the banalization of evil by the accused. And the sexual motive has gone lost with the decomposition of the body. The external genitalia were not recognizable when, five months after death, the autopsy was performed. Only the brutal use of an instrument might have been noticed.

When did Denise die? On April 5, 2015, her trail is lost and the accused's indictment reports it as such. Forensics have come to the conclusion that the state of the body is compatible with the date of the disappearance, but there is nothing that allows them greater concreteness. All that remains is to accept the testimony of the alleged murderer, who, according to the police, hides information about the attack that could harm him.

As far as the corpse is concerned, the absence of the insects that grow in bodies while they decompose, is striking. The flies did not have time to bite Denise and deposit their eggs that would become larvae and then, in pupae, from which new flies would emerge. Experts of the Scientific Police speak of circumstances in which this phenomenon could occur: a hermetic coffin, a physical barrier that prevents these animals from reaching the body or conditions, such as cold, that slow down their activity. All that is added are pure conjectures with no legal validity, but it leads one to wonder about the conditions of the original burial. Was the boar bed in which a fragment of the victim's nail places the body and where Muñoz Blas said that he deposited it from the beginning, indeed the first tomb? If so, was the body wrapped in plastic that protected it from insects? The earth that covered it is not sufficient to avoid the appearance of the fauna that helps to decompose the corpse.

And what about the hands? They remain hidden from the beginning behind the shadows of this case. It can be predicted with very little margin of error that they will never be found. Apparently, Muñoz Blas placed them in some holes that he marked with small stones after he amputated Denise's hands. If they had appeared after his arrest, it would have been difficult to find biological material of the attacker, although there is always the possibility that her hands might still hold fibers from his clothes if the woman managed to scratch him during the attack.

It can not go unnoticed that the weapons did not appear either. Neither the object with which he hit the American woman- a bat-type baseball bat - nor the knife with which he cut her neck have ended up in the hands of the investigation. One detail that shows the autopsy on the white weapon is that it did not produce a cut that would dissect the jugular and cause a mortal wound. The cut was superficial and Muñoz Blas stated that when he observed that the pilgrim was convuling he decided to end her agony by cutting her throat.

It is also unknown where the belongings of the pilgrim were burned and there were many of them. In his account of the facts, the unsociable local of Castrillo de los Polvazares stated that he incinerated the victim's clothes, the backpack and its contents. Only a pendant that was found with the body escaped the bonfire. But during the reconstruction, the defendant did not guide the investigators to the spot, despite their request. A pair of headphones that appeared in the hole underneath the floor of his home could not be identified as property of the victim because of the state they were in. Other electronic gadgets she might have had with her - the mobile phone, for example - have not been found either.

On the other hand, does it make sense in the investigation and oral hearing to call to the witness stand the owners of the shop where Muñoz Blas bought the painting he used to give a new appearance to his house? Obviously, there is no place in the case for the possible maintenance of the property that the defendant might decide to take that up or for other decorative considerations. But it does make sense given a possibility that the facade was stained with biological remains of Denise - for example, blood. A few coats of paint might hide the evidence.

In the same way as paint, the drugstore product for decomposition of organic matter in septic tanks has also been mentioned in the court room. Although there is no latitude here either for assumptions. This was not used on the body of the pilgrim. Nor does it seem relevant and this was mentioned in the court room, that he wanted to buy a pump for emptying the septic tank. He did not buy it on the recommendation of the seller, after a habitual prodding of Muñoz Blas to know the characteristics and possibilities for the septic tank of his house. Although this might be outside realm of the case and the attempted purchase might only coincide in time with the facts, it reveals the meticulous character of the accused and the planning with which he undertakes his work.


BBM


To this meticulous planning we might add the yellow arrows that he turned and the observation points that he installed. Plus the balaclava and the stun gun.