MADRID — A body found on a rural property in northwest Spain is most likely that of an American woman who went missing while walking along a pilgrimage route, Spanish officials said Saturday.
Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said evidence pointed to the remains being those of Denise Thiem. He said there were "well-founded suspicions" that the 39-year-old prime suspect arrested over her disappearance was responsible for her death.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wrote to John McCain, the U.S. senator for Arizona, to inform him of developments.
"The main suspect was arrested by the National Police and he confessed to them where Denise's body was to be found," Rajoy said in a letter made available to The Associated Press. "I want to convey the sorrow of the Spanish people for this tragic outcome."
A ministry spokesman had earlier said Miguel Angel Munoz had led investigators to his small farm near the Camino de Santiago, also called the St. James Way, after being arrested Friday in Asturias, 124 miles to the north.
Thiem, 41, of Arizona, was last seen April 5 walking along the route at the town of Astorga, 6 miles east of Santa Catalina de Somoza, the town closest to Munoz's farm, the ministry said.