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

[ZaZara]

THE CASE OF DENISE CALLS FOR REVISION OF SAFETY PROTOCOLS ON THE CAMINO

LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...evisar-los-Protocolos-De-Segu-vn184496-vst469

The case of Denise Pikka Thiem, the pilgrim murdered on the Camino de Santiago as it passes through León, leaves a "permanent mark"on this route. "This is an isolated case," both responsibles from government and hospitaleros have assured.

And indeed, the Camino has never experienced a situation like this, but even if it is an isolated case that does not mean it is a case to forget.

On the contrary, the Galician regional government has already announced that on their stretch new safety measures will be introduced. Thus Santiago Villanueva, the government delegate in that community, has announced. He has already made known that the security in the various routes of the Camino de Santiago will be reinforced.

He also announced that "we will strengthen a number of agreements with the regional government" so that there is more presence on the Camino of "both the Guardia Civil and the National Police Corps."

"In any case the safety is guaranteed by the permanent presence of both the Guardia Civil and the National Police, and pilgrims and other visitors who come together in Galicia can be safe," he said.

The Castilla and León region already has an active security plan that was launched precisely in the weeks following this case.

This is the 'Safety Plan for the Camino de Santiago' whose aim was to "ensure the freedom and safety of all pilgrims on foot, bicycle or other means of transport".

This plan will end on September 30 but it is possible that could be extended over time. Units of Public Safety and the Traffic Department of the Guardia Civil have been mainly responsible for the implementation of the Road Safety Plan in these weeks.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE DETAINEE CLAIMS TO HAVE BURIED THE HANDS AT 400 METERS FROM THE BODY

Diario de León.es
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...nterrado-manos-400-metros-cuerpo_1009354.html

Sources from the investigation reported according to Efe, that the detainee told that he buried hands of Denise Thiem at a quarter mile from where the pilgrim's body was found. However, the same sources have pointed out that these remains have not yet appeared and have raised the possibility that they will never do, given the presence of wild animals in the area.

However, the finding may be essential for the defense of the perpetrator, because it depends on this find if he can demonstrate or not that the woman died of an accidental blow during a fight.
While the search continues, the Scientific Police works with DNA samples submitted by the family of the pilgrim to check if they match the biological remains found on a saw found at the home of the murder suspect.


BBM


If indeed he buried the remains of Denise at his farm before leaving them in the area where they were found in September, the presence of wildlife there would have been one of the factors contributing to a quicker decay of the remains. Even more so because he only covered the remains with branches.

Local sources point out that in order to transport the remains, he would have had to cross the main road between the two villages with his wheelbarrow or bag, and they are of the opinion that this is unlikely due to the risks of meeting with passers-by. They suspect he killed her near where she was found.

Still, it is nice to read that HE might need the evidence in order to prove his story. This is a nice change from what his lawyer has been telling. I still wonder how a tiny person might receive an accidental mortal blow to the lower part of the back of the skull during a fight with a taller man.

 

[ZaZara]

"WHAT AN AMAZING WAY TO START MY CAMINO"

LeónNoticias, Diario de Navarra
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...My-Camino--en-Memoria-De-Deni-vn184585-vst469

Journalist Ana López from Pamplona describes her accidental meeting with Denise Thiem, the pilgrim killed on the Camino de Santiago, in an article published by Diario de Navarra. In newspaper she remembers how she happened to meet with the pilgrim who later died.

On 5 March this year we went to pick up my sister at Noáin Airport. She was returning from a transatlantic trip with a stopover in Madrid. While she was waiting for her backpack top come out on the belt, she asked if we could take an American girl, with whom she had exchanged a brief conversation before boarding at Barajas Airport, to her hotel.

That's how I met Denise Thiem. A smiling girl with Asian features, she would measure about one meter sixty. She had long dark hair and was wearing big sunglasses. She carried a backpack that was not very big, with turquoise colored parts. She was wearing clothes and boots for hiking and carried a small paper with the name of the hotel: AC Ciudad de Pamplona.

We did not share much time together. A few minutes at the airport waiting for the luggage of my sister to appear, about why she had not checked in, she had been traveling for several months already with a small backpack; and how long the ride to the hotel would take. But for the time that we had, we talked a lot.

I found her a talkative and friendly girl. She told us that she had left her corporate job in Arizona and spent several months traveling through Southeast Asia and the last days she had spent in Paris. She wanted to do the Camino de Santiago before returning to America and start a new life full of projects.

They had spoken well of Pamplona to her, she knew something about the University of Navarra and its campus. She liked what she saw from the airplane window while flying over the city, green, open spaces ... she had chosen Pamplona as the starting point because days earlier she had read in the press that the snowfall in the Pyrenees at that time had hindered the journey of some pilgrims, and how one even had lost his way. She intendeded to do things quietly and safely.

I remember I commented that perhaps she found it hard to find people to speak English with in many of the places she was passing on the Camino, but we reassured her saying that with the universal language of gestures they would understand. And at no time she asked us if we spoke were English. She simply started the conversation in that language and we continued like that.

Denise had plans for the future. She had not made them definite them at all, but she wanted to turn around her career. She told us that she pondered the possibility of traveling to Lisbon and settle there as a teacher of technical English, or as Assistant for export matters to companies, where the paperwork is usually in a technical English.

She asked us if Pamplona was a town where it was easy to walk to the places of interest, "walkable" she said, she wanted to explore the town a bit before starting the route. She was looking forward to that, she looked happy, happy.

When we said goodbye I gave her my phone number and my email, in case she needed anything during her trip through Spain. She thanked us for bringing her to the hotel, we said goodbye and she told us it was a great way to start the Camino. When she had arrived at the hotel she sent me an email of thanks and wrote again the words that keep ringing in my head since I heard of her death: "What an amazing way to start my Camino."



BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE PRAYER OF DENISE'S MOTHER, READ AT THE CATHEDRAL SERVICE

Denise's mother's prayer

Almighty and Gracious God,

I come to you on bended knees and with a broken heart. My spirit is weak, and I am distraught that such an evil person took my dear Denise’s life. I feel the forces of evil closing in on me and am exhausted with pain and bitterness. I am tormented that when my beloved daughter needed me most, I was not there to protect her.

I know you are a good and gracious God. I know the power and comfort of your word, but tonight I beg to feel your presence. As I loosen my arms from around my precious child and release her to your care, I beg you to hold her lovingly in your arms, to take her into your bosom and to welcome her as the angel she is.

Lord, help me to understand the power of your love to overcome the power of death and to know that our precious daughter is in your eternal care. I pray for your merciful understanding and that your Spirit may now grant our beloved Denise the same mercy and grace in Heaven that sustained and encouraged her on Earth.

O God, help me to always remember the great joys that Denise brought to the life of our family and in these sad moments remember her grace, the elegance of her spirit, her goodness and the depth of her love for us. I pray that my dear daughter, Denise, will forgive me for not being there to protect her as I did when she was as a child and youth.

Amen


:rose:



more info at the link, scroll for a description of the beautiful service, written by FW who read the prayer for the mother

 

[ZaZara]

THE CAMINO DIGESTS ITS DARK HISTORY. MANY INCIDENTS HAVE MADE IT ONLY INTO THE LOCAL PAPERS

ElPais
http://politica.elpais.com/politica...ink&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

When he was finally arrested in 2013, he was baptized "the rapist of the pilgrims" because he confessed that in different towns of the Camino Francés, between Palencia and León, he had attacked a Korean and a German woman, both 36, and a woman from the US, aged 26. But this man from Valladolid, sentenced to prison, has not been the only sex offender who has accosted women in the last five years, the vast majority foreign, along those Jacobean routes across Spain. These trails return life to agonizing villages, that were doomed in the ninties and heading to extinction. In the press libraries about 15 cases are counted that often did not extend beyond the local news and that never had, even remotely, the impact of the violent death of pilgrim Denise Thiem. In 2014, a Pakistani national was sentenced to 10 years for robbing, beating and forcing a Swedish peregrina to perform fellatio on him in Deba (Camino del Norte, Gipuzkoa). The same year, the Guardia Civil arrested an Irish pilgrim in Portomarín (Lugo) as alleged rapist of a German the night before in a pension.

In 2011, a man of 20 years from Pontevedra was stopped for another attack on a young Estonian woman who crossed the Galician city on the Camino Portugués. When police found him, the boy's eyes were still irritated from the paralyzing spray that she had used, with no luck, trying to defend herself. In 2010, in Santoña (Camino del Norte, Cantabria), they arrested another man for attempting to rape of a 25-year Korean woman. The most recent aggressor who was captured this month, had preference for the German women. The man, an asturiano from Villaviciosa, 73 years old, had been accused of molestation and abuse of three pilgrims between 23 and 30 years. When the Guardia Civil stopped him, he was approaching a fourth woman.

The list of aggression is longer, there is even a case of continued violation (three times, of a Canadian woman), but much longer is that of robberies and assaults. Operation Santiago de la Policía Foral of Navarra ended in 2011 with the arrest of two Moroccans who entered shelters at night and ransacked the pilgrims asleep. In total, they committed more than 30 robberies. In September 2014, a local of León was caught red-handed in Boadilla del Camino, who had already accumulated 20 robberies. The same month, thieves got away with a loot of several thousand euros after spraying with pepper gas the dorms of the albergue in O Cebreiro (Lugo).

Robberies and thefts of backpacks and bikes, the assailants and false pilgrims have been repeating themselves since the Camino is Camino. And before the death of Denise, at turn of the century there have been registered two other disappearances: in the Pyrenees, a Brazilian and a French pilgrim, who were later found dead. But authorities never tire of repeating these days that the crime rate risk on the roads leading to one of the most visited tombs of the planet is "below average". That is how the Compostela Church defends it ("safety is almost complete or complete," said the dean of the cathedral, Segundo Pérez), and the same is said by politicians. "There is no unsafety," says Nava Castro, director of the official Tourism Agency. Another spokesman for the department of the regional government recalls that, at least in Galicia, the roads are guarded by "mounted police, plainclothes officers and Guardia Civíl", although a commander of this body in Lugo described in summer to this newspaper the reduction of agents on in the Jacobean routes, who were transferred to tourist resorts on the coast.

On Thursday, the government delegate in Galicia, Santiago Villanueva, countered the upheaval: "The pilgrims have their safety guaranteed", but at the same time he promised to "strengthen safety measures."

A few days earlier, South Korean Ambassador Park Hee-kwon, had made some controversial statements in which he questioned the safety of the route. After a meeting with the head of Tourism of the Xunta de Galicia, they were quick to clarify and attribute this to an error of "interpretation". According to the official letter of rectification, Hee-kwon "has no doubt" that the Camino is a "safe place" and his "concern" can only be explained by the "marked increase in Korean visitors in Spain" (on the Camino, they come ninth among foreigners, with 3,842 in 2014). However, after the disappearance of the American woman near Castrillo de los Polvazares, the president of the Korean Association of Friends of the Camino, Diego Yoon, said at a conference that the fear had settled among his countrymen, especially among the women for cases of alleged sexual abuse.

The truth is that the Caminos to Santiago represent a population in motion equivalent to a city of over 200,000 inhabitants. Last year the Pilgrim Office recorded the arrival of 237,810, more than half of them foreigners from 109 countries (mostly Italian, German, Portuguese and American), and in 2015 a new record will be set, because this week the number of 215,000 pilgrims will be exceeded. But these are only official figures. According to several hoteliers we consulted, the actual number might be, "at least 20% higher", as many never collect the Compostela, the certificate that the Church gives at the arrival and that serves as basis for counting the number of the walkers. Faced with such a volume of boots walking relentlessly towards the same goal, the manager of the public company Plan Xacobeo, Rafael Sanchez Bargiela, has always maintained that "crime" in these villages saved from abandonment by the massification of the phenomenon "is lower than the average."

Meanwhile, Conchi Alonso, owner of the hostel where Denise Thiem spent her last night, says that pilgrims come to an Astorga that is shocked by the murder, before they start on the section now shielded by the police, totally ignorant of the event. "They do not know anything. The road is a bubble. They keep leaving for Castrillo at five o'clock in the morning, many of them alone."


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE WIND AND THE SILENCE

A culmination of fatal happenings made Denise Thiem the perfect victim of Miguel Angel Munoz, a man who despite having 37,000 euros onder the floor of his house assaulted pilgrim and stole tomatoes


LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend/leonoticias/El-Viento-Y-El-Silencio-vn184639-vst469


The wind, and the silence. Between Castrillo de los Polvazares and Santa Catalina de Somoza, in the middle of the Camino de Santiago, the trail moves between oaks and poplars. Dozens of pilgrims set foot on a gravel pathway. And always in the midst of a terrible silence that invites reflection.

"El Camino, when you really experience it, is when you go it alone," some hospitaleros say, because they maintain that this way the soul is found and the mind is relieved.

From there the interest came of Denise Pikka Thiem, an American woman of 41 years, to walk along this route. The Camino had always fascinated her, her brother Cedric told. Denise, cautious, deliberate, no friend of follies, had decided to take a year off from her hectic professional life to get to know the world.

El Camino, the same on which she died, was the last challenge before returning to her home in Arizona. In her emails she had already pointed out that she wanted to return, to be together with her family, to talk about her experiences.

From Pamplona, her starting point until Castrillo de los Polvazares, Denise, smiling, inseparable from her cap and backpack, alternated between walking with company or alone. She had traveled more than 400 kilometers of the Camino. Ahead she still had 280 more to go until she could embrace the Apostle, because that was her goal.

The traces of this woman born in Hong Kong were gone, like the wind, in the maragatería. All this was a culmination of misfortunes, of unfortunate coincidences that resulted in barbarism and death.

Denise arrived in Astorga on April 4 and toured the maragata capital, its streets, its attractions. Always she did that, at every stage, and in her emails and in conversations on Skype she was used to narrating the details of each of the places she visited.

She liked to chat with other pilgrims, because her character was cheerful and merry. She would speak of the journey up to that moment, and what was left of in this Camino in which mysticism and tourism sometimes simply shake hands. In the maragata capital she asked about the next stretch and on her mind was the aim to reach el Ganso, a place where, as she had been told, there were "a few good albergues".

Denise, believer, with her faith out in the open, also wanted to go to Mass before leaving Astorga. Earlier in the day of April 4, she had presented herself at the albergue of San Javier, a classic of the Camino for its proximity to the cathedral.

The inn of San Javier is reached by a narrow street, through which the sun filters early in the day and late in the afternoon. At the entrance to the property, to the right of the second door and after passing a gate, the figure of a pilgrim awaited her. A wooden carving that many travelers have photographed. On the left, a bulletin board, the same on which ten days later would appear her picture with the striking caption 'missing'. The floor, stone united with cement, and inside, a large room with a kitchen in the background, a fireplace, a massage table, a quiet courtyard, and spacious rooms with bunk beds on the first floor.

Denise was the pilgrim 'number 14' on that day. She spent the night with 72 other companions and early on Easter Sunday had breakfast in the cafeteria Gaudí. There she spoke with another couple of pilgrims, who lost track of her in the church of Santa Marta. They talked about simple things, related to the Camino and the plans of each of them, according to the Italian pilgrim Giorgio Candoni, who had joined in the small gathering.

The life of the American pilgrim went nearing its end as she moved away from Astorga, passed Murias de Rechivaldo and Castrillo de los Polvazares, flat, open country, at the foot of a road usually dotted with vehilces. A path of wind and loneliness.

Never could this woman have imagined that the fact that she was walking alone, this time cut off from other pilgrims, without visual contact with any other partner, would turn her into the perfect victim for a madman.

Miguel Angel Muñoz was living in a mobile home since more than two years ago. Around this house, built on a farm with a loose fence and bad maintenance, the evil man led his life. He seemed obsessed by pilgrims, whom he watched with binoculars, and his name was associated with several "incidents" in the area. Also he had gotten the name of petty thief, a small rat, in the area.

Miguel Angel, sunburned, bearded and with little conversation was 'marked' for a couple of minor incidents with other pilgrims and because the locals suspected him of stealing tomatoes, apples and pears.

"First he came to see the greenhouse, asked if he could go in. But he went to see what was there. Then my tomatoes disappeared and I found out that he had sold them to a local restaurant as if they were his crops. He was like that, but I never thought he could kill a person," one of the locals said.

Miguel Angel presented himself as "married with a daughter whom he wanted to bring over here." He lived in a family farm under the roof of a prefab home of only 60 square meters and with half a dozen anexxes. The badly painted house was damp and leaking. To the surprise of the investigators of the case it was hiding 37,000 euros under the floor.

Why would a man with that much money harass pilgrims and steal tomatoes? "Because he is not sane," said another local whom he passed almost daily and never greeted. In his disturbed mind Miguel Angel Muñoz, who had arrived from Navarra, was spying pilgrims obsessively. He did that from the highest points that the countryside between Castrillo and Santa Catalina generously offers.

Binoculars in hand, he saw hikers in the distance, he observed if they were advancing alone or in groups, he saw whether it was a man or a woman. In reality, he cataloged potential victims. Police believe that Denise was the ideal target: female, far away, with no companion in sight and without anyone who was approaching the area at that time.

The investigation believes that it was the now-confessed murderer who went after her, even though Miguel Angel Muñoz said in the reconstruction of the events that the pilgrim was lost in the Camino, and came to his home to ask for help.

Whether one way or another, the outcome was the worst imaginable. Denise agonized on the ground after receiving a fatal blow and her assailant, cold and insane, pulled her along until hiding her in a lair of wild boars.

The investigation also believes that the woman tried to defend herself and that was why the man who ended her dreams, cut off hands, a vile act by itself of a heartless man.

Everything played against Denise, even in death, because she was not carrying a mobile and the report of her disappearance was not made until her alarmed family landed at Adolfo Suárez Airport. "More than ten days were lost, which have been decisive in the investigation," it is said.

That time eliminated traces and left almost forgotten the tracks of those who had met her on the Camino. However, it is true that the police effort was titanic. During the investigation, the records of all the hostels through which she had passed, were compared, they tried to locate those who had met with the woman, more than 200 interviews inside and outside of Spain were conducted and the area was scoured with the conviction that the earth could not have swallowed this woman.

All this happened with eyes on Miguel Angel Muñoz, because he was always the suspect number 1. But the man did not make mistakes, and continued his routine. All while he was being followed, he never stepped out of the pattern.

That is, until he made his one and only mistake. The great mistake of the suspect was to go to the bank with the loot of his violent act. He, who had more than 37,000 euros in a safe place, went to change thousand euros [dollars!] that Denise had in her backpack. The employee of the branch photocopied some banknotes and informed the police. They managed to compare that money with the banknotes taken from an ATM by the peregrina in her country months earlier. These were the banknotes of Denise, was the conclusion.

From that moment on the case took another turn. Police focused the investigation on the figure of the now-confessed murderer, they even pondered whether to put cameras inside his home. With the pressure from the American government on the Spanish government the start of a massive search and tracking operation was ordered. Miguel Angel Muñoz, the man who stole tomatoes on his bike, was certainly to blame for this event.

The events came cascading. Five months after the disappearance, 300 troops from different forces walked every inch of land in search of Denise in a mega-operatión never seen before in the entire nation. The body however could only be found when the suspect confessed. This happened at the time of his arrest in Asturias, to where he had gone in order to escape the crime scene. Ludicrous as it may seem, he was looking for anonymity on the Camino de Santiago itself.

"I did it," he told the agents.
His confession brings a terrible story to an end that leaves behind, in the wind and the silence surrounding the Caminio, the permanent memory of the peregrina Denise Pikka Thiem.



BBM

 

[quietwun]

Thanks for this. I am both emotional and speechless.

 

[ZaZara]

THE MURDERER OF DENISE: GUERRILLERO AND ANTI-SYSTEM


LaRazón.es
http://www.larazon.es/sociedad/el-a...ero-y-antisistema-LD10759130#.Ttt1Ax8BA7UxQl3

Diving in the past of Miguel Angel Blas Muñoz feels like a difficult task. A distant echo of his life can still be heard in Navalquejigo an "occupied" village close to El Escorial, in the Sierra de Madrid. At first all deny knowing him. "About 40 years old, bald, with unkempt brown beard, 1.70 tall." They shake their heads from side to side when they hear the description. They smell problems. Here everyone goes about their own business without disturbing the neighbors. Questions are disturbing. So much that the few people who poke their heads outside, quickly hide behind the doors of their homes. Finally, La Razón meets a person who remembers that he passed through the village and although he is taciturn, accepts to start a brief conversation. "What has he done?" He asks, unable to avoid curiosity. There are no televisions here nor kiosks to buy the newspaper. Nobody knows that Miguel Angel has confessed to killing Denise Pikka Thiem, the pilgrim who disappeared in the middle of one of the stages of the Camino de Santiago in April this year.

"He lived here for a while in a caravan. He was an unsociable, mistrustful, a liar and when someone argued with him, he sometimes became violent. He loved to smoke marijuana. He was arrested during the demonstrations against the G-8 in Italy. He was one of anti-globalization activists. " There is no hint of criticism in the voice of the person speaking. More of praise. "He also told that he had been in Colombia contacting the guerrillas and in Mexico with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation." A neighbor carrying planks in his hands notes our small meeting and shoots a glance of reproach. The loose lipped witness shuts up and leaves without even saying goodbye.

"He told me he had a wife and a daughter in Navarra and that they would soon to come to live with him," says a pilgrim who left the Camino de Santiago deceived by a turned signal and ran into him. "I was almost suffocating. It was very hot and I was drenched in sweat. I walked, lost. I found him near his house, I know it from the pictures I've seen on television. He gave me water. Then he walked me back to the Camino. On the way, he told me about his life and told me he had a farm that was self-sufficient, it was not the first time that pilgrims were lost and had already helped several," recalls Claudia, who made the pilgimage in 2014.

She was lucky because that same year, two women reported how, in the vicinity of the home of Miguel Angel they were accosted by a hooded individual who assaulted them. La Razón had access to their complaints. The first assault occurred on May 27 around one o'clock on mid-day. A girl of 23 years of Chinese origin told police: "I was walking alone and suddenly I was assaulted by a man in the middle of the road. He jumped from behind a tree and started yelling in Spanish. I did not understand anything. His head was covered with a black balaclava. In his hands he was wielding a stick. He hit me hard on the legs and knees to make me fall. He lunged at me and tried to take my backpack. I resisted. I did not want him to rob me. I defended myself. I kicked him to keep him away. Also punched him. I managed to get away a little. I reached down, picked up several stones from the ground and began to throw them with all my strength. To my surprise, he ran off scared. I was very scared." she acknowledged to the officer who took her complaint. "Can you describe your assailant?" the policeman asked. "A man, I'd say about twenty, maybe around thirty height of 1.75."

Four months later, although the episode is more like the bandits from the Middle Ages, a similar incident was repeated. The sun climbed toward its zenith on 20 September at the half past ten in the morning. The victim, a German woman of 25, had begun her etapa not long before that: "When I reached a crossroads. I got lost. Later I learned that the sign was not in place and that someone had turned it. I was walking alone. I did not meet with anyone on the way. When I was going up a steep slope, a man came out from behind some bushes. He wore black binoculars in his hand, he put them down. I do not speak Spanish, but I understand a little. He told me to come towards where he was. That this was the Camino, that I was not mistaken. I stood still, alert, because he wore a black hood covering his head. He approached me, grabbed me strongly by my hair and threw me to the ground. In one hand he held a stun gun. When I was lying on the ground, he put it to my neck. He fired, but there was no discharge. I gave him a blow and tried to get loose. He shot me another time, in the leg. We struggled and and I broke my glasses. At the end I could grab a banknote of 50 euros. I offered it to him to calm down. He took it in his hands and I grabbed the opportunity to flee to where I had come from. He chased me shouting "No Police! No Police!" After a some meters I turned to see if he pursued me, but he had already disappeared. He is wearing a green polo with a written logo on left chest and black shorts." The description she gave of her assailant had a disturbing similarity to the one given by the young Chinese woman. About 45 years old and 1.70 tall. Two policemen went to the spot and located on the ground evidence of the struggle. At a stone's throw they saw the prefabricated wooden house of Miguel Angel. The officers knocked on the door. The now-confessed murderer opened it. His appearance, 1.70 high and 39, tallied in the description. He was nervous, and contradicted himself. He refused to submit to a DNA test and ended up arrested.

When Denise disappeared April 5, Miguel Angel became immediately one of the main suspects. The episodes occurred in front of his house and the fact that he changed a significant amount of dollars in a bank made him stand out as a suspect. The testimony given by his neighbors completed his placement in the center of attention. "After that thing of the pilgrim, he shaved his beard, he began to wash more and straightened his tangled hair. He changed his appearance and began to wear branded clothes. We discussed it among ourselves in the village," a local acknowledges. Now, after the arrest, some put on a brave face and say "I knew it all along."


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Thanks for this. I am both emotional and speechless.

Same here, quietwun.

I took some time to think things over. Keep seeing Denise walking confidently towards the end of her life.
She was deliberate and careful, she wuld have made diferent choices if she had been aware of the risks.

It is shocking beyond belief that this man could go on after not one but two of these attacks on female pilgrims.
They knew who he was, they knew where he lived, they knew what he did.
And what did they do?

They waited for the next disaster to come. No warning sign was put up, no message in the albergues.
All villagers were suspicious of the man - did they warn the pilgrims?

The complete lack of any, of even the slightest sense of urgency is deeply troubling.

 

[ZaZara]

THE GUARDIA CIVÍL LOCATED THE MURDERER IN APRIL BUT THE POLICE KICKED THEM OFF THE CASE



Público.es
http://www.publico.es/sociedad/guardia-civil-tenia-localizado-abril.html

Only 23 days had passed after the disappearance of American woman Denise Pikka Thiem, 40, while she was on the Camino to Santiago as it passes through Astorga (León), when Benny marked the property of the man now arrested for the murder of the pilgrim. Benny is one of the dogs of the dog expert group of the Guardia Civil Zone XII, tracking and rescue specialists. His mission: to follow with his nose the scent of Denise while she was still alive. And he succeeded.

On April 27 when the investigation had begun following the report of the 4th of April, Benny led the agents of the Benemérita to the farmland of one hectare of Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, a man who had arrived in the area only three years earlier just when for the first time foreign female tourists began to report about a man who was trying to rob them and scare them in that area. A man who sleeps in prison since one day. The police records of Miguel Angel, who to turned around the stones of the Camino to scare the pilgrims and adding to that that the conflicts with his neighbors, offer the profile of a sinister man.

Therefore the search for the body of Denise was a priority. There was little chance of finding her alive, but it was essential to find the body in the best state to collect the most evidence about her murderer. At this moment, sources of the police investigation transferred to Astorga explain, "the corpse is completely decomposed after five months, so it will be very unlikely if we ever find out if Muñoz committed a sexual assault her. We have been busy since a week collecting evidence, but it will not be easy to make a chronology of events."

Although Astorga in León is a town of about 10,000 inhabitants, it belongs to the demarcation and competence of the police. "The greens [Guardia Civíl] were only asked for help to scour in their areas, but to stay out of the investigation," police sources say. However, sources of the Guardia Civíl explained to Público that "the work is done in parallel, you study the case of the disappearance and begin the search also based on the background information you have and in this case it was known that this person had a history and an unusual behavior. But the bottom line was that the dog put us on the track."

However, the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) denounces, "when the dog expert group of the Guardia Civíl Zone XII, search and rescue specialists, were tracking with her dogs in the vicinity of the property where later the remains of the woman were found, the Commissioner of the National Police of Astorga, present in the area, asked the dog leader the reason for his presence there, informing him that this was a demarcation of the National Police, and not the Guardia Civíl."

A spokesman for the AUGC explains that "the police commander told the officer to leave because it was his demarcation and the policeman tried to explain that the dog had followed the trail of the scent of Denise up to that point and that he remained restless, so wouldnt it be best to finalize the search regardless of to which police group the area corresponded? " But the commissioner did not relent in his efforts, and though the officers brought the matters to the attention of their superiors, "the Civil Guards had to withdraw from the area to avoid further conflict. As a result of this circumstance, the next day the rescue service (SIR), patrols and dog expert group of the Guardia Civíl changed their search area, moving 20 kilometers beyond Astorga, not because there were no suspicions, but because they were being limited to search in the demarcation of the Guardia Civíl."

According to sources from the Guardia Civil, "after Benny marked the Camino, given that he is an expert in the search of persons, they should have brought in another dog, a specialist in detecting corpses. But the police not only kicked us out, they did not even continue the work where we had to leave it, they did not bring in their own specialist dog. At that time they would had gotten more evidence in the case and we would not have had to go through the embarrassment of the US Senator John McCain offering the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, the services FBI, as he noticed that the case was not being solved."

Clashes between the Police and Guardia Civíl are common, although unions of both bodies often go together in search of their unification. But in this case it seems that they do not agree. According to José María Benito, of the Federal Union of Police (UFP), "the police investigation in this case has been impeccable. They took months following the alleged murderer, in the file feature phone conversations and all kinds of inquiries about his environment, so we did not need the FBI and the president's response was the right one."

But the UFP acknowledges that "it is true that we must work on the unification of the information and the means that are used for the work, but that should not make us find certain faults with each other that don't do anything to help the job."


BBM


Note: here it is said that police dog Benny followed the scent of Denise towards the area where her remains were found much later. He did not pick up her scent of the tracks near the house of Miguel Ángel, but on the Camino itself. It is assumed that Denise never lost her way, and that the story that she did, is a fabrication of her murderer.


:sleuth:


Local source says that Denise's brother Cedric brought a T-shirt of hers from the US so the dog could pick up her scent.

That is one of those things I wasn't aware of before: if you are part of this city of 200.000 people in motion and if you and your backpack go missing, everything of you goes missing. Not only it takes time before anyone becomes aware that you are no longer where you should be, but it will be extremely difficult to search for you with dogs, no matter how good they may be.

~.~

 

[ZaZara]

"THE HANDS MAY NOT TURN UP"


LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...or-De-Bo-vn184828-vst469#.VgFDK9LXI3Y.twitter

While the accused for the murder of Denis continues his process of adaptation to life in prison, the National Police continues the search from the hands of the pilgrim.

For the investigation is important to locate the limbs of the women because from their analysis it may become clear if there was a struggle and aggression before the death of the pilgrim.

In the reconstruction of the crime the defendant indicated a search area for the hands of Denise, an area of "twelve meters long and two meters wide," according to his first defense attorney.

"About the body he was very precise but he said he could not be as precise about the hands and pointed to a spot of twelve meters length," the lawyer said.

In addition Miguel Angel Muñoz has warned the investigators that hands were hidden "in a lair" so it is possible that they were removed by animals. "The hands may not turn up" according to the defendant.

"I have come to the personal conclusion that whatever is being sought, is not in the property of Miguel Angel Muñoz", the first defendant's lawyer, Rosario Martin, has also cautioned.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

'THAT WOMAN HAS ALREADY BEEN BURIED' THE CONFESSION OF THE MURDERER OF THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

El Mundo, Crónica
http://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2015/09/20/55fd47c7ca474182128b456f.html


The news had just broken that a peregrina from the US had gone missing on the Camino de Santiago.
In the center of Astorga, León, the town where Denise Pikka Thiem had been seen for the last time, Miguel Angel Muñoz entered the shop where he used to repair his bike. In the shop, they were speculating about what might have happened to the woman, and Miguel, who was looking for a a new hubcap for one of the wheels, far from from shunning the talk, joined the circle and gave his opinion: "That woman has already been buried." The words went unnoticed at the time but those who participated in the talk now rewind them ceremoniously "He said 'that woman has already been buried,' " they repeat in a tone of suspense and with a wide-eyed look of astonishment last Thursday at noon in that store of bikes and motorcycles.

A similar expression was etched on the face of Juan José Muñoz a few hours later, when Crónica visited him at his home in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid) and we told him about the gloomy description that locals of Leon's Maragatería give of his son who was arrested Friday September 11 on suspicion of the death of Denise: "eccentric", "unsociable", "sinister", "asocial", "chased away anyone who approached his farm", "harassed and assaulted female pilgrims "...
"My son is not like that. He has always been an ordinary person ... " the father denied, astonished by the name-calling, before offering a very different profile.

Let's start with the portrait of Miguel Angel depicted by his family before passing to the perception that the town of Castrillo de Polvazare has of him, the village where the young man moved to a property in the mountains, three years ago coming in October.

Juan José Muñoz, 69, his father, lives in a house with a well kept garden, has a Mercedes parked at the entrance and has many apartment homes in the village, properties that present him as someone who is financially well off. The furniture in the room is decorated with frames holding photographs of the entire family. In one of them Miguel smiles as a child - he cannot be much older than seven - together with his brother Josete. Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, born on April 26, 1976, is the youngest of three children: two boys and a girl. He was three when his mother, Adela, suddenly died of a heart attack. His brother Josete suffered a serious traffic accident at the age of 23. He never fully recovered and is living in a special center for people with disabilities. "And now this.." The father laments the third blow that life delivers him.

On the coffee table Juan José has the documentation that the Caixa has just delivered "to prove" that his son "is not a criminal." He refers to the 37,000 euros in cash that the police have found on the property of Miguel, money that, it is suggested, may have originated from assaults on pilgrims.

My son has never liked having money in the bank, he said that banks were all thieves. He's a bit anti-system... I convinced him to tuck the money he had saved along with mine [300,000 euros in total] in subordinated bonds, but when the scandal of the preferred shares broke out, he feared losing everything, he asked me to give him his share and I gave it, in cash, hence the money.

- And from what did he have that amount?

- From his work. Miguel started working with me at 14 years in the meat company that I had, he distributed the products when he got his driving license or he branded the pigs ... When he came back from the army, I sent him to the slaughterhouse and he got tired of doing one hundred and something kilometers every day there and back. He said he wanted another job. You know how young people are today, unwilling to do many sacrifices and he's always been a little rebellious ...

Juan José continues peeling off the layers of the professional curriculum of his child. He tells that he also spent time in a shop selling churros, the shop was also owned by the family. But where he gathered the amount that was found by police was in a company that produced reinforced iron during the construction boom. "He came to earn 3,000 euros per month," he says. When the housing bubble burst, he lost his succulent salary, for a few months he claimed unemployment benefits and worked a chain of several odd jobs: he was laborer in the business of a friend's father, maintenance worker in the Aquopolis water park and picked up stray animals for an organization of animal protection.

- And three years ago he decided to leave Madrid and moved to Castrillo ...

- Yes. He said he was going to find a place to have a garden and some sheep. He has always loved animals a lot. Here he had dogs, hens and chickens. He went there because it was close to Valdemanzanas, the village where his mother was from and where we still have family.

A report for assault on a German pilgrim gave him a record. The neighbors knew that he stole their vegetables

- When he left, he had just become a father, he had a daughter of nine months, is it not it a little strange that he left, leaving her here?

(Miguel has a partner in Madrid, a young woman who prefers to remain anonymous and who works as a house cleaner. Together they have a three year old daughter)

- The idea was that he would go first to find a definite place and when he was installed she would go live with him. In how much time? I do not know, because she was placed very well here. Relations were very good. When he came to Madrid, he stayed with her and their daughter. The last time my son was here, in late July, we were eating together and everything was normal. (At that time it was already three months ago that Denise had disappeared, and her trail was lost in Astorga on April 5.)

The first news of the presence of Miguel in the municipality of Castrillo de los Polvazares - a beautiful town with cobbled streets with about 70 registered inhabitants who live off tourism - came from the mouth of a local who used to walk through the bush and saw him on the farm, the farm that is now the focus now dozens of cameras. This local was the one who christened him "the Anchorite," [Hermit] a nickname by which everyone knows him. "An anchorite has arrived!" he announced the scoop to the village.

The Camino de Santiago is full of hermits and ascetics, so it was not surprising that Castrillo had the presence of one more, but the more curious of the locals went to see the novelty soon. "He told us he came from a cooperative in Lakabe" says one of the people who visited him more frequently, referring to the cell in Navarra of Lakabe, occupied since 1980 and converted into an ecovillage, where 30 people live. "He said he had left there because to enter the community they required him first to practice in another town and that he was tired of so many laws."

This source also remembers that Miguel first installed himself in the open under an oak plot, protected only by sheets of plastic "It was one of the harshest winters that we remember, it snowed a lot, we thought he might not survive ...". There were neighbors who helped him settle, filliing the water tanks that he had placed for the the time being, but later he dug a well and piped up the water from there. "He has always been stingy," his father says. "To think that he had all that money from the subordinated bonds, but he asked me for 200 euros to make that well and I gave them."

The anchorite fenced off the terrain and it ended up taking shape if a habitable home when he let a truck transfer his prefab home from Madrid. To tell the incredible story of this house on wheels, we have to return again to the story of the father of Miguel. Juan José Muñoz explains that his son was one of the 195 homeowners who bought a plot with a prefabricated house in the complex of Mirador de Gredos, located in Villanueva de Perales, in Madrid, 13 kilometers from the parental residence. The promoters did not have the necessary licenses - the terrain was in the green belt - and they ended up being sued while the enclosure was sealed. "My son was living there for four years. The house cost me 48,000 euros and 20,000 for the plot. I gave it to him so he could set up a business of his own account and I'd have him nearby, but they cut off the water and electricity and he had to return," the father recalls. "It's a beautiful little house, like a dolls house, with three bedrooms, sitting room, air conditioning, oven ... I loved it," said Ada, the woman with whom Juan José rebuilt his life after being widowed and who accompanies him on his meeting with Crónica.

He was good baker

During the first year of his residence on his farm in Castrillo it was not that Miguel Angel had a deep relationship with his neighbors but the treatment was cordial. Many knew that the vegetables he offered for sale in the village, he had stolen from the orchards in the area, but these were not very important thefts and, after all, he was the anchorite. He kept repeating that his wife and daughter would soon be reunited with him. In the meantime, he was selling loaves of bread to the catering business, that he prepared with his own hands in the stone oven he had constructed next to his mobile home. He was good baker, say those who tasted his bread.

Miguel Angel moved in the triangle of Santa Catalina de Somoza, Castrillo de los Polvazares and Astorga, distances he covered on a black and red mountain bike. He came often in the Mercadona Supermarket in Astorga and the Official Language School of the same locality, where he went every evening to an adult class preparing for the exam for the degree of ESO [secondary education]. In the center they were very surprised about the arrest. The confirmed to Crónica that he has been registered throughout the year and has been a dutiful student despite not passing the exam organized by the Junta de Castilla y León on September 3.

We said that during the first year Miguel Angel seemed on his way to blend into the environment but, for reasons they cannot explain in Castrillo, he took the opposite direction and was slowly turning away, he became wary, aloof, isolated. He began to say that he had seen a municipal architect photographing his house, that he was waiting to see if they were going to take it away from him, how he was alone, that he had to defend himself, that he would disguise himself and scare away people ... It was said that he put wooden planks with nails in the vicinity of his farm to puncture the tires of vehicles as they dared approach him and he even called the attention of Bienvenido Merino. Merino is a historian the Camino: he appears in the film The Way (2010) about the pilgrimage route that Emilio Estevez directed and that starred Martin Sheen. He also boasts that his house was on the cover of The Pilgrim (1997), by Paulo Coelho.

We meet Bienvenido, an octogenarian, 500 meters beyond the property of Miguel, near Santa Catalina de Somoza. He is sitting under a tree between Astorga and el Ganso, the stretch that Denise Pikka Thiem wanted go that day. She never arrived to the point where the old man is waiting for the pilgrims, he shows them the way and invites them to stop at the restaurant of a family member.
Bienvenido tells how a few months ago, the anchorite called him and warned him not walk his roads. "To me, I've been walking there all my lifetime ...". He knows this countryland by heart and he was the person to whom the police appealed for showing them the wells in the vicinity to see if the body of Denise was hidden in one of them.

A German pilgrim was attacked in the same area in the summer of 2014 by a man with balaclava - a piece of clothing that Miguel used, according to his neighbors. It put him immediately in the focus of the police, but suspicion fell on him definitively when the cashier of a bank in Astorga warned that he had come to her office to change $ 1,000.

Some 340 kilometers away, his father saw the news on television and said: "Look, something has happened where Miguel is!" Until one day the police came to his house. His son was missing and they wanted to know where he was. "Doing the Camino de Santiago," Juan Jose said. On September 11, Miguel Angel was arrested in Grandas de Salime, Asturias, while hiking the northern route with a group of pilgrims from Oviedo. "I hit her with a stick and when she fell, she hit a stone," he confessed before leading the agents to the body.

"That woman has already been buried," he had said at the bike shop.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE BLUNDERING STATEMENT OF THE MURDERE OF THE PEREGRINA


La República
http://www.republica.com/en-el-anden/2015/09/22/la-torpe-declaracion-del-asesino-de-la-peregrina/


The murder of the American pilgrim Denise Thiem has shocked hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have traveled once the Camino de Santiago or plan to do so soon. In the United States they have followed the disappearance, arrest the murderer and the discovery of the body with an abundance of cover on television and newspapers. In Spain, El Pais on Sunday told how the Camino is digesting it's dark chronicle of crime, and provided data about other killings of pilgrims, unknown by many.

It is worthwhile to take a second look at the statement of the arrested & confessed murderer of Denise Thiem, and I do this, as always, at the hands of criminal expert psychologist Jorge Jimenez. Probably before being advised by counsel Vincent Prieto, the detainee, Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, born in Astorga, made a statement before the judge that experts describe as typical of the detainee who finds himself in a dead end.

Muñoz Blas initially confessed to the crime and said that he was at that time in a state of "obfuscation" a term very handy sometimes to some legal experts, which lacks any support in the psychological or psiquátrico field and that ends up turning against the person who uses it as the criminal procedure advances.

The detainee, recognizing that Denise Thiem was lost and appeared on his property, said that he guided and accompanied her. The he added without interruption that at one point the pilgrim became nervous and he hit her with a rock, with the misfortune that she fell on a stone. He did not explain, of course, the reason that led to Denise to become nervous to the point that he felt forced to strike her, nor why his "obfuscation" or temporary insanity lasted only for the time of the blow, showing himself perfectly lucid in the previous and later moments

In the opinion of Professor Jorge Jimenez, "lawyers should read a little more about psychopathology and understand that in certain type of personality, there are attacks of violence or explosive impulsive aggressive reactions, but it is not possible to generate a disorder that influence their cognitive and volitional conditions land that lasts only a few minutes. And, moreover, the behaviors that happen afterwards are incompatible with a mentally unbalanced person, given that they are clearly compatible with a typical criminal planning of someone who has done something wrong and wants to hide it. "

These explanations of the expert Jorge Jimenez fit with the fact that Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas indicated to the judge that once the peregrina died, he carried her body for more than two hours to bury her. In view of the conditions of the area it he gives as evidence that he did the transport over a forest road by carrying personally the body of Denise Thiem, weighing 53 kilos and measuring 1.63.
In an article on behaviors of concealment of corpses, Professor Jimenez explains how these are usually done, "and in no way they support the statement made by Muñoz Blas. I invite anyone with stress and anxiety of having killed a woman to take up a weight of 53 kilos and a volume corresponding to a person of 1.63 centimeters, put her on your shoulder and walk through the fields for more than two hours. I assume that the place provides enough privacy to be able to carry a corpse without meeting anyone, something that is unlikely too" Exactly.

The obfuscation to which the detainee referred did not prevent him carrying out other behaviors that are conspicuous from a strictly criminal view. He undressed the victim, decided to burn their clothes and backpack and sever her hands. This also implies that he had acces to, or was carrying, a cutting tool and the material to burn a body. According to Professor Jorge Jimenez, "it is possible stripping her clothes and cutting off her hands are behaviors that are due to an attempt to erase forensic clues, however the possibility of a sexual connotation in the crime has be ruled out. Also, the amputation of hands as a the trophy gives the casse a much more complex and aberrant criminal aspect. If hands appear near a place where he has easy access, such as his home, the second hypothesis is very plausible."

According to Jorge Jimenez, of this part of the crime there must be burial remains, fire, blood ... "In any case, Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas at that time, shows more of a criminal profile than of an upset or dazed person. He has, what I call "forensic awareness" and emotional and psychological composure to do what he is doing."

Repentance as a criminal strategy appears at the moment when tells how he dug her up from that place as he became aware no one found her and takes her to the place where she was finally found. A place that was more visible for him, but not enough, because it took months to find the body after an intense search. Jorge Jimenez believes that this he could have put this repentance into operation in a more effective way, but clearly he was not that sorry. The episode of the $ 1,000 that he says he found by chance, and not in the backpack of women is another drop of a statement that does not hold."

According to legal sources familiar with the investigation, the defense strategy does not seem to be the most wise and facing the hearing and the expert opinions that will be done, the detainee will not have it easy. Police sources believe that they have solved the case in sofar police work is concerned, "but the courts still have to take steps."

The dark chronilce of the Camino de Santiago has enough in it to make a movie. This is not to frighten, but to recommend to the pilgrims and especially the peregrinas, to take precautions. And that is what they are doing several embassies of the countries that account for the major flow of pilgrims. The murder of Denise has opened the eyes of many and the industry that built itself on a religious belief is concerned about the international impact of the crime.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

"I CUT HER THROAT. I DID IT TO STOP HER SUFFERING"

Diario de León
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...golpe-cabeza-dejo-convulsionando_1010423.html

Miguel Angel Muñoz cut the throat of Denise after giving a blow to the head that left her convulsing.

"I did to stop her suffering. I dragged her away one hundred meters into a hole and buried her. I spent three days vomiting and remembering what I had done," he confessed to the forensics.

Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, confessed murderer of the pilgrim Denise Thiem, told forensics who made his report of accountability how he committed the crime. "I met Denise on the Camino. She was lost in front of my house and I offered to guide her. I gave her a blow on the head, she began to convulse. I cut her neck to stop her suffering, dragged one hundred meters into a hole and buried her. I spent three days vomiting and remembering what I had done," he said.

Vicente Prieto, counsel for the confessed murderer, is of the opinion that the statement is not valid for legal purposes because it was made without the assistance of a counsel.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

THE MURDER OF DENISE THIEM 'GROWS IN CRUELTY' AS THE INVESTIGATION ADVANCES

LeónNoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/frontend...ura-Que-Tambien-Le-Corto-El-C-vn184923-vst469



(... ) the investigation remains open in order to connect all open ends that came with this crime.

It is now known that the victim, who was attacked for a robbery according to the police version and who, according to the version of the accused, appeared at his house to ask for help after she lost her way on one of the paths of the Camino, was assaulted repeatedly by Miguel Angel Muñoz.

According to the statement of the accused, he hit Denise after she would have appeared "nervous" and that, as a result of one of those blows, she ended up lying on the ground and convulsing.

Moreover, to this is added today, that in his account of what happened that day during the reconstruction of the events and to the forensics the man of 39 grabbed his victim and cut her throat. According to his version "so that she would no longer suffer."

After that, he put the woman's body into a lair of wild boar and later he went on to cut off her hands, that are still being searched by the police.

Miguel Angel Muñoz controlled his victims with binoculars for 3.4 kilometers from one of the highest areas between Castrillo and Santa Catalina and would have placed false arrows to divert them towards a secondary road.

"I met Denise on the Camino. She passed in front of my house. She was lost. I offered to show her the way," the murderer said in his confession.

According to the story, along the stretch, Denise gets verbally violent with him so he feels slighted and grabs a stick. "I gave her a blow on the right side of the head. She fell on the ground. She hit her head on some stones. She began to convulse."
It is at that moment when he realizes the barbarity that he has done and that there is no turning back.

"I cut her throat to stop her suffering. I dragged her one hundred meters into an open hole. I took off her clothes and cut off her hands," he said in his statement, released on Wednesday by Tele5.

After hiding the body, Muñoz buried the hands elsewhere. Four months later he dug up the body and took it to the point where it was located. "I spent three days vomiting and remembering what he had done," he says to the Guardia Civíl.


BBM

 

[Lumberjill]

I'm confused. Can anyone sort out whether Denise was first dragged and buried 100 meters or carried for 2 hours from the place she was killed? Or was this the first and the second burial? And earlier we heard about a wheelbarrow being used, no?
And regarding cutting her neck, unless he totally missed veins and arteries there would have been lots of blood. Like, when the police first went to his house soon afterward to question him, they should have seen blood or a hole where he'd dug up all the bloodied dirt on the trail. I'm presuming it wasn't a paved road from which he could have washed the blood.

 

[ZaZara]

I'm confused. Can anyone sort out whether Denise was first dragged and buried 100 meters or carried for 2 hours from the place she was killed? Or was this the first and the second burial? And earlier we heard about a wheelbarrow being used, no?
And regarding cutting her neck, unless he totally missed veins and arteries there would have been lots of blood. Like, when the police first went to his house soon afterward to question him, they should have seen blood or a hole where he'd dug up all the bloodied dirt on the trail. I'm presuming it wasn't a paved road from which he could have washed the blood.

Hi Lumberjill,

The story that Denise got lost and went to his house to ask for help is probably a fabrication of the murderer. It follows that the rest of his story is equally confused.

The common Camino track goes from Astorga to Murias de Rechivaldo and then on to Santa Catalina de Somoza.

IF Denise had taken the detour via Castrillo de los Polvazares and IF she had gotten lost at the crossing after the village, she would have ended in the mountains and she would have been obliged to take the same way back.

However, Denise had shown no interest in visiting Castrillo de los Polvazares. Her feet were hurting and she was walking slowly. (I'll post the info about this later.)

In April, the Guardia Civíl was seen with their dog handler and police dog Benny near Murias de Rechivaldo. From there Benny followed the trail of Denise along the usual Camino (with no detour) to almost near Santa Catalina de Somoza. Months later, the body of Denise was found there. At that time in April, the Guards and their dog were stopped by the police.

This happened 23 days after Denise had gone missing and BEFORE Miguel Angel says he moved her remains to the spot where they were found. IMHO it is very likely that Benny would have found her on that same spot in April, had he been given the opportunity.


Conclusion: Denise was walking on the Camino along the LE-142, the main road and was attacked there. He then hid her body further away, on the spot where it was found.





Map, drawn by local source, with many thanks:

Green circles: Murias de Rechivaldo
Blue cross: area where the murderer lived, near Castrillo de los Polvazares
Purple line: the Camino
Red Arrow: pointing towards where the remains of Denise were found.

Astorga is not on the map, but it would be on the right hand side, on the other side of the Motorway (Autovía)

 

[ZaZara]

"MI VIENE DI RIPROVERAMI PER NON AVER CAMMINATO CON LEI QUELLA MALEDETTA MATTINA"

LAST HIKER KNOWN TO HAVE SEEN DENISE THIEM BREAKS HIS SILENCE

AZCentral
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...antiago-denise-thiem-giorgio-cadoni/72620188/


I arrived at Astorga the afternoon of April 4 from Leon, where I had gone to an incredible celebration for Good Friday.

I checked in to the San Javier hostel, where I had stayed before. In the courtyard, there were a few washers and I took my laundry. An Asian woman (Denise Thiem) soothed the pain in her feet in a basin with warm water and salt.
We introduced ourselves, as often happens in the Camino. She is American and my English is absolutely limited. I excuse myself, but she calms me down by excusing herself for her nonexistent Italian.
I ask her about her feet and blisters. I urge her to get food ready for the next day, on Easter Sunday, in case the shops are closed (actually now everything is open, even on holidays).

I hang my laundry to dry while she continues to treat her feet, enjoying what little sunlight filters in the hostel’s courtyard. I then leave to go out on the town, but before, we make plans to meet for dinner.

We ordered the cod and mushrooms. The tiredness from the day lightens up and we begin a challenging conversation: I, with my limited English, struggled terribly to find the right words. Denise, attentively, strained to understand my horrible pronunciation.

We were able to talk about the days spent walking. Denise told me about her international origins (Philippines, Hong Kong, U.S.). I spoke of my family in Italy: my recently married daughter, my wife and our 40th wedding anniversary recently celebrated with a trip to Barcelona.
I remember Denise’s amazement as she asked how it was possible to stay 40 years with the same person. It was hard to come up with a response with my English. It was even difficult when she asked me to tell her why I was at the Camino, and for the second time.
The dinner was not short — not because of the food, which we finished quickly, but because of the difficulty of conversation, as well as the pleasure of her company.

I said I was going to Easter Mass on the morning of (April) 5. I am Catholic. She asked to come with me but doesn’t allow me to ask her what her religion is. We agreed to meet for breakfast at the coffee shop next to the restaurant the next morning, then we go back to San Javier and fall asleep right away.

In the morning I find Denise at the coffee shop with the two pilgrims (women) we met the night before in the square. One of them is North European but speaks excellent Italian. ...

The girls said they plan on continuing the pilgrimage after breakfast. Denise said she will make a short stop to El Ganso. I tell her after Mass I will head over to Rabanal. I recall a beautiful stretch of the road that goes through the village of Castrillo de Polvazares. It’s a quaint village, antique, completely renovated back to the traditional appearance of other Spanish villages from the early 1900s. I had visited on a previous trip with my wife. But none of them (the other pilgrims) seemed interested.

After Mass in the Church of Santa Marta, we see the end of the Easter procession entering the cathedral.
For a few steps I fix my backpack, give a warm greeting to my companion, a hug and then I walk off quickly. ...
Denise walks slowly in my same direction, she says she does not want to strain her feet and that she needs to gather her thoughts. After about 100 meters, turning from Leopoldo Panero Street, I do not see her anymore.

On April 14, I returned to Italy from my second journey through the Camino.

The night of April 28 I received a phone call from my daughter, who told me that I had almost 1,200 contacts in her blog where she had published a brief note about my pilgrimage along with photos. All those contacts were looking for the Italian pilgrim who had seen Denise on April 4 and on Easter Sunday.
I recognized Denise from the photo on the Spanish police website. That same night I called the Spanish and the Italian police.

I feel like scolding myself for not having walked with her that damned (cursed) morning. Maybe she would not have gotten lost, maybe nothing would have happened to her. I reproach myself for having spoken about Castrillo de Polvazares during breakfast.

I do not know what religion Denise adhered to, or her family. Whichever it is I hope that their faith will help them to find peace and overcome, if it’s ever possible, the pain of Denise’s shortened path.


BBM


The letter of pilgrim Giorgio Cadoni is included in a lengthy report at the link.
The letter itself is longer. If you click on the text in Italian, this will lead you to the original, in Italian too.

"That morning, the sun shone brightly, and I stopped after some hours at a bar in Santa Catalina de Somoza, to rest a bit and to have a drink. Around that time, problaby, Denise met her brutal murderer at a distance of only a few kilometers."


:rose:


Peace and strength to you, Giorgio Cadoni. Thank you for this letter.

 

[ZaZara]

DNA CONFIRMED


Policía Nacional ‏@policia

Gracias al análisis del ADN, expertos de Policía Científica confirman que los restos hallados en #Astorga corresponden a Denise Pikka Thiem

Policía Nacional ‏@policia (verfied account)

Thanks to DNA analysis, experts of the Scientific Police confirm that the human remains found in #Astorga belong to Denise Pikka Thiem



BBM


:rose:

 

[ZaZara]

DNA CONFIRMS BODY FOUND IN SPAIN IS THAT OF MISSING ARIZONA WOMAN

AZCentral
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...y-found-spain-missing-arizona-woman/72816526/

DNA tests have confirmed a body found in Spain is that of Denise Thiem, a Litchfield Park woman missing since April.

Thiem's family received confirmation from Spanish authorities on Wednesday, said Phil Thompson, a family friend.

The U.S. Department of State also confirmed the death Friday.



BBM


:rose: