Missing on Camino de Santiago: Last hiker known to have seen Denise Thiem breaks his silence
Italian
traveler Giorgio Cadoni met Arizona's Denise Thiem as she walked across
Spain. Now, with an arrest made in her case, he talks for the first
time — telling azcentral.com about the day she disappeared.
Originally published Sept. 22, 2015:
An
Italian man who was the last known traveler to have seen an Arizona
woman before she went missing in April on the Camino de Santiago in
Spain has broken his silence. Giorgio Cadoni, an Italian pilgrim,
met and befriended Denise Thiem on the Camino on April 4 in the town of
Astorga, where they happened to be staying at the same inn.
Thiem, 41, grew up in Phoenix and lived with her family in Litchfield Park before starting her journey.
Cadoni, 64, is an Italian who was making his second trip along Spain's famous walk.
He would become one of the last people known to see her.
Thiem disappeared April 5, Easter Sunday. When
a search effort was launched, Cadoni shared what he knew with Thiem’s
family and police — but then went silent for months, declining all
requests for media interviews.
Thiem's relatives and friends struggled to find out what happened to her after she left Astorga.
On Sept. 11, after a four-month search, came a break in the case: Spanish police arrested a Spanish man who lived near the town of Castrillo de Polvazares.
The
arrested man, whom the Associated Press identified as Miguel Angel
Munoz, is suspected in her disappearance. Later that day, they
discovered a body on the man’s property. Though Spanish media outlets
have reported definitively that the body belongs to Thiem, the Arizona
woman’s family members say they are still awaiting results of DNA tests
that would confirm the identify of the remains.
This week, Cadoni broke his silence in a letter to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com.
His
heart is heavy, he says, after hearing of the latest developments in
Thiem’s case. In great detail, he speaks about his two days with
Thiem and of his regret for not walking with her when they both departed
Astorga on Easter Sunday.
Although there is no independent
corroboration of Cadoni's account, Thiem's relatives sought him out
early on, and his story aligns with what is already known about her
trip.
Excerpts from his letter have been translated into English with minor edits for grammar and clarity. Here, his story for the first time:
I arrived at Astorga the afternoon of April 4 from Leon, where I had gone to an incredible celebration for Good Friday. I
checked in to the San Javier hostel, where I had stayed before. In the
courtyard, there were a few washers and I took my laundry. An Asian
woman (Denise Thiem) soothed the pain in her feet in a basin with warm
water and salt. We introduced ourselves, as often
happens in the Camino. She is American and my English is absolutely
limited. I excuse myself, but she calms me down by excusing herself for
her nonexistent Italian. I ask her about her feet and
blisters. I urge her to get food ready for the next day, on Easter
Sunday, in case the shops are closed (actually now everything is open,
even on holidays).
I hang my laundry to dry while she
continues to treat her feet, enjoying what little sunlight filters in
the hostel’s courtyard. I then leave to go out on the town, but before,
we make plans to meet for dinner.
Camino
travelers are often referred to as pilgrims, and it is not uncommon for
those on the Camino to share meals and walk parts of the route
together. According to dozens of accounts on message boards and travel
sites, the Camino experience typically is one of solitude and reflection
as well as an easy camaraderie among travelers who are otherwise
strangers.
According
to Cadoni, other pilgrims who had walked part of the way with Thiem
joined them, too. There, the group chatted and exchanged stories and
memories of their travels. Thiem’s acquaintances had other dinner plans,
Cadoni says, so he and Thiemdecided to grab dinner at
the nearby Restaurant Gaudi. They sat at a round table by the window,
with only a few other guests in the dining room. Cadoni recalls the evening:
We
ordered the cod and mushrooms. The tiredness from the day lightens up
and we begin a challenging conversation: I, with my limited English,
struggled terribly to find the right words. Denise, attentively,
strained to understand my horrible pronunciation. We were
able to talk about the days spent walking. Denise told me about her
international origins (Philippines, Hong Kong, U.S.). I spoke of my
family in Italy: my recently married daughter, my wife and our 40th
wedding anniversary recently celebrated with a trip to Barcelona. I
remember Denise’s amazement as she asked how it was possible to stay 40
years with the same person. It was hard to come up with a response with
my English. It was even difficult when she asked me to tell her why I
was at the Camino, and for the second time. The dinner
was not short — not because of the food, which we finished quickly, but
because of the difficulty of conversation, as well as the pleasure of
her company. I said I was going to Easter Mass on the
morning of (April) 5. I am Catholic. She asked to come with me but
doesn’t allow me to ask her what her religion is. We agreed to meet for
breakfast at the coffee shop next to the restaurant the next morning,
then we go back to San Javier and fall asleep right away.
Cedric
Thiem, Denise’s brother, had access to her e-mail account, so he knew
that on April 4 she had e-mailed a British woman she had met earlier on
the route, saying she had arrived in the town of Astorga and planned to
attend Mass the next day, then continue walking. Cadoni describes that final morning:
In
the morning I find Denise at the coffee shop with the two pilgrims
(women) we met the night before in the square. One of them is North
European but speaks excellent Italian. ... The
girls said they plan on continuing the pilgrimage after breakfast.
Denise said she will make a short stop to El Ganso. I tell her after
Mass I will head over to Rabanal. I recall a beautiful stretch of the
road that goes through the village of Castrillo de Polvazares. It’s a
quaint village, antique, completely renovated back to the traditional
appearance of other Spanish villages from the early 1900s. I had visited
on a previous trip with my wife. But none of them (the other pilgrims)
seemed interested. After Mass in the Church of Santa Marta, we see the end of the Easter procession entering the cathedral. For a few steps I fix my backpack, give a warm greeting to my companion, a hug and then I walk off quickly. ... Denise
walks slowly in my same direction, she says she does not want to strain
her feet and that she needs to gather her thoughts. After about 100
meters, turning from Leopoldo Panero Street, I do not see her anymore.
Heading
west from Astorga, the Camino passes through — or near to — several
tiny villages. The route to Castrillo de Polvazares, the idyllic hamlet
Cadoni had recalled that morning, takes a slight detour to the north off
the main route, then rejoins the main Camino path after about 3
kilometers. Cadoni is not sure if Thiem had planned to visit Castrillo
de Polvazares. It's a thought that still haunts him, he says.
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That
morning, Cadoni simply continued walking ahead toward Rabanal, later
stopping briefly in Santa Catalina to rest. He never saw Thiem again, he
writes — that is, until he returned home to Italy:
On April 14, I returned to Italy from my second journey through the Camino. The
night of April 28 I received a phone call from my daughter, who told me
that I had almost 1,200 contacts in her blog where she had published a
brief note about my pilgrimage along with photos. All those contacts
were looking for the Italian pilgrim who had seen Denise on April 4 and
on Easter Sunday. I recognized Denise from the photo on the Spanish police website. That same night I called the Spanish and the Italian police.
According
to several reports, the arrested man lived not far from the village of
Castrillo de Polvazares. He is suspected of harassing other pilgrims
and, while in police custody, allegedly has confessed to killing Thiem,
according to the Spanish national newspaper El Pais.
Cadoni
says he has read all those reports. He has thought about what might
have happened to Thiem, about whom she might have encountered after they
parted ways on April 5.
It is difficult, he wrote, to imagine anything so odious taking place on a day the sun shone so brightly:
I
feel like scolding myself for not having walked with her that damned
(cursed) morning. Maybe she would not have gotten lost, maybe nothing
would have happened to her. I reproach myself for having spoken about
Castrillo de Polvazares during breakfast. I do
not know what religion Denise adhered to, or her family. Whichever it is
I hope that their faith will help them to find peace and overcome, if
it’s ever possible, the pain of Denise’s shortened path.
Giorgio Cadoni, an Italian pilgrim,
met and befriended Denise Thiem on the Camino on April 4 in the town of
Astorga, where they happened to be staying at the same inn.
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