Police in Spain believe they have found the body of an American woman who went missing on one of the country’s most popular pilgrimage routes. The remains, discovered in north-west Spain on Friday, are thought to be those of Denise Thiem, who vanished while walking the Camino de Santiago last April.
A 39-year-old man, Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, has been arrested in connection with her murder. He is also being questioned about the attempted kidnapping of two other women on the Camino. According to police, the suspect led officers to a shack in Castrillo de los Polvazares in León where the suspected remains were found.
Thiem, 40, disappeared near Astorga in the province of León. Despite interviews with hundreds of people along the famous route, police found no clues at the time. Muñoz first attracted attention a few days after the disappearance when he exchanged about $1,000 (£650) into euros at a local bank. He was later identified from CCTV footage but then vanished from his shack. Police say Thiem's DNA has also been found on a saw belonging to Muñoz.
Thiem's family expressed gratitude to the Spanish police for their 'professionalism, skill and dedication' and thanked the Spanish people for their prayers and support. They said they hoped the body could be identified quickly so that 'their beloved Denise can be returned to the United States without delay' for a proper burial.
The Camino de Santiago has been a pilgrimage route since the early Middle Ages. Until the 1980s, only a few hundred people completed the 33-day trek from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela. Now about 200,000 people undertake all or part of the journey each year, including a growing number of Americans following the release of the 2010 film The Way.
