Spain Police Make Arrest in Case of Missing US Woman

 

Spanish police investigating the disappearance of a US woman who went missing on a popular pilgrim trail made an arrest Friday, a source said.

Denise Pikka Thiem disappeared in April while hiking the Santiago pilgrim trail.

Police had resumed their search for her on Thursday near the northern town of Astorga where she was last seen.

Three hundred officers with dogs and a helicopter were deployed in the search, which focused on wells.

"A person has been arrested and the search has been suspended for the moment," a police source told AFP, without giving further details.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists and Roman Catholic pilgrims hike the Way of Saint James each year, staying at hostels on their way to the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela.

Thiem has not been heard from since April 4 when she sent a message to a friend saying she was at a point on the trail near Astorga.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wrote to Thiem's parents in Arizona, saying he "understands the pain of a family that does not know where their daughter is", in a letter dated August 24 and seen by AFP.

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