A body that resembles the American pilgrim that disappeared while hiking in April on a known trail has been found by the Spanish police and consequently resulted in the arrest of an alleged suspect, the interior minister announced on Saturday.
Forty-year-old Denise Pikka Thiem from Arizona was nowhere to be found in April after she hiked alone in the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James) trail located in the northwestern part of Spain.
The discovered body "seem to correspond to those of Denise and the man arrested yesterday (Friday) could be the perpetrator", Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said to reporters, according to the Guardian.
Thiem last contacted someone was April 4, when she told friend that she was already at a certain point on the pilgrim trail located near Astorga in Galicia.
A Spanish judge ordered that the suspect be put in custody without any bail. "He is charged with homicide. When questioned by the judge, he pleaded his innocence," according to a statement, Agency Presse France reported.
The 39-year-old suspect was identified as Miguel A. M. B. and was known to have lived only in a wooden hut in the last four years located in a land in Astorga. The man is not unknown to tourists since there were previous witnesses that told police that the man dons a balaclava at times and chases people while on his bike and threatens to rob them, according to the Inquisitor.
"[T]he suspect led the police to a body in an advanced state of decomposition hidden under branches. Pending an examination, it appears that the body is that of the American pilgrim," AFP added.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has already written to U.S. Senator John McCain to inform him that the suspect already confessed to the National Police regarding the location of Denise Pikka Thiem's body, Newsweek reported.
