Pending an examination, it appears that the body is that of the American pilgrim.”

The suspect led the police to a body in an advanced state of decomposition hidden under branches. “A person has been arrested and the search has been suspended for the moment. James Way, where he had buried Thiem’s body. Miguel Angel Munoz, 39, took investigators to his farm near the Camino de Santiago, also called St. On Saturday, the more than 200 people of 20 different nationalities hoping to locate Denise Pikka Thiem ended their search after the Spanish government announced that a body had been found, and an arrest had been made. “I really feel that she got into a bad situation.” On April 14, Cedric, who was taking care of his aging parents in Phoenix, flew to Spain to help search for his sister, in vain. According to Thiem’s brother, Cedric, after church, she was seen having breakfast with an Italian tourist.Ĭedric, who stayed in touch with his sister on a daily basis, contacted the authorities the day after she went missing.

More about the El Camino de Santiago below:Įl Camino de Santiago, in English “The Way of Saint James,” is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, where legend has it that the remains of Jesus’s apostle Saint James the Elder lie.Throughout pilgrimages-to Jerusalem, to Rome, and to Santiago de Compostela, a person could be freed from the penance due for sins.ĭenise Pikka Thiem, who had traveled to Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam prior to her trip to Europe, vanished on Easter Sunday after attending mass in a church in the small town of Astorga. So our memorial in Astorga is not the first, but it remains a special place to pause and reflect.On April 5, Denise Pikka Thiem, a 40-year-old woman from Arizona flew to Spain to walk in the famous Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, which has existed for 1,000 years. (NOTE: Since writing, I have been informed that a group of Argentine pilgrims set a memorial plaque for Denise along the Camino earlier on. If you would like to support our ongoing efforts to ‘Do Good on the Holy Way’, you can donate by visiting our website Please pause at the park to reflect when you pass Astorga. It sits at the foot of a red maple tree, planted especially for Denise, and hung with pilgrim scallop shells, There’s an epitaph written by Denise’s brother, Cedric, with Denise’s favourite flowers planted nearby. So, after another summer, two American friends and I carried a plaque of Yorkshire stone over to Astorga, mixed some concrete, and set the Denise Pikka Thiem stone in place. I again gently asked Denise’s family: “Would you like a Camino memorial?” This time they agreed. The Bishop of Astorga blessed the site in the spring of 2016 and, in 2017, we installed and blessed our first memorial plaque, for Ron Duke, an Australian pilgrim who died in León ( see article in Camino Chronicle #23 December 2017). The people of Astorga agreed with the idea – even to supplying the trees and mowing the grass. This park even had a small chapel, where memorial services or Mass could be held. I contacted some well-connected people in Astorga, to discuss a little park alongside the Camino path. But the Thiem family wasn’t ready to sign off on anything for some time, so plans for a memorial were laid aside. In the months following Denise’s murder, the culprit was caught, judged, and sentenced to 26 years of jail time. We did not want the park to be a dark spot or a memorial: rather, a place to stop and reflect, to honour fellow pilgrims, and remember how short our lives are. Planting a tree and placing a plaque could be a way for friends and family to share a reminder of their loved one along the trail they loved. Here’s how Peaceable Projects began and the work that they are doing.Īfter Denise’s death, we conceived the idea of a small park along the path, dedicated to pilgrims who die while on their Camino journey. Peaceable Projects Inc, a US non- profit organisation, started in October 2015, has established a memorial park out- side Astorga to remember Denise and other pilgrims who lose their life on the Camino. Castrillo de los Polvazaresĭenise Pikka Thiem, an American pilgrim, was killed outside Astorga in the spring of 2015. In loving memory of Denise Pikka Thiem, a beautiful soul.

Denisr pikka thiem