So our memorial in Astorga is not the first, but it remains a special place to pause and reflect. (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. Miguel Angel Munoz, 41, ambushed and killed Thiem, giving her no chance to warn others or defend herself, a summary of the decision made by the jury in. woman Denise Pikka Thiem as she was walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in north-west Spain in 2015. But the Thiem family wasn’t ready to sign off on anything for some time, so plans for a memorial were laid aside. MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish man was found guilty on Wednesday of murdering U.S.

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. Last month, Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, wrote to Thiem’s parents, saying he “understands the pain of a family that does not know where their daughter is”, in a letter dated 24 August and seen by AFP.In loving memory of Denise Pikka Thiem, a beautiful soul.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists and Roman Catholic pilgrims hike the Camino de Santiago each year, staying at hostels along their way towards the city of Santiago de Compostela. Spanish police had previously questioned people Thiem had met while in Spain in an extensive operation involving around 200 people of 20 different nationalities, the minister said. “Pending an examination, it appears that the body is that of the American pilgrim,” it added, indicating that an autopsy would be carried out in a nearby town. “The suspect led the police to a body in an advanced state of decomposition hidden under branches,” it said. The man was arrested at a property not far from Astorga following an order from a judge at a local court, a statement said, without giving details of his identity. “A person has been arrested and the search has been suspended for the moment,” a police source told AFP, without giving further details. Police on Friday confirmed arresting a suspect a day after resuming their search for her near Astorga, deploying 300 officers backed by a helicopter and search dogs with a focus on local wells. The last time Thiem made contact with anyone was on 4 April, when she sent a message to a friend saying she was at a point on the trail near Astorga in Galicia. The remains “seem to correspond to those of Denise and the man arrested yesterday (Friday) could be the perpetrator”, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters.

Denisr pikka thiem