A Spanish man has been found guilty of murdering American tourist Denise Pikka Thiem as she walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in north-west Spain.
Miguel Angel Muñoz , a 41-year-old farmer, ambushed and killed Ms Thiem, a summary of the decision made by the jury in the province of Leon concluded. He was also found guilty of stealing Ms Thiem’s personal belongings.
Prosecutors have called for him to serve up to 27 years in prison.
Ms Thiem, from Phoenix, Arizona, was 40 when she disappeared. She was last seen in the village of Castrillo de los Polvazares near Astorga in Leon in early April 2015.
Despite an extensive police search, Ms Thiem’s body was not found until September 2015, the same month officers arrested Muñoz.
It was alleged during his trial that Muñoz lured Ms Thiem onto his land, hit her over the head with a stick, and then cut off her hands after killing her so that she could not be identified.
The nine-member jury rejected Muñoz’s claim that he had been suffering from a serious psychiatric illness when he killed her. Its verdict was made public yesterday.
