The family of the US pilgrim killed on the Camino donates masks

The family of Denise Pikka Thiem, the American pilgrim who was killed in 2015 when she was on the Camino de Santiago, has wanted to thank Spain for the treatment she received during the crime investigation and the work of the Police, and has donated 1,100 masks to our country.

According to sources close to the family, Efe has been a cousin of the victim, D.Y, a resident of Hong Kong, who has had the initiative and who went to work to get masks and send them to Spain.

With this gesture, Denise's close friend, whose family is of Chinese origin, wanted to thank how in Spain "they overturned" with them despite the tragedy and how the Police also "overturned" to solve the crime.

As soon as we were aware that the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading in Spain, D.Y. he decided to help in the only way he thought possible.

Thus, he got in contact with one of the people Denise had met on the Camino de Santiago and who inspired him more confidence because he was doing the pilgrim route with children.

Precisely, in one of the stages this person loaned Denise the mobile phone so that he could send some photos to his brother, so the family was able to contact that pilgrim when he learned of the disappearance of the American.

A contact that they had in Spain during the investigation and which Denise's cousin has now used to get masks to Spain, many of them FFP2 and other surgical ones.

It has not been easy because he has had to pay customs taxes and make several shipments, which have finally been collected at the Madrid airport and delivered to Civil Protection for the distribution that the authorities deem appropriate.

Denise Pikka Thiem was 41 years old when she was killed. She had traveled to Spain in March 2015 to do the Camino de Santiago impressed by the movie "The way" on the Jacobean Route directed by her compatriots Martin Sheen and Emilio Estévez.

On April 5, 2015, Denise deviated from the Jacobean Route and ended up in León, near the home of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, 41 years old. Her assailant tackled her, beat her to death with a stick, and cut off her hands to erase traces before burying her body.

Muñoz Blas was sentenced to 23 years in prison for this murder.