MADRID (AP) — 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, officials said Saturday. 
 
 Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said evidence pointed to the remains being those of Denise Thiem and there were "well-founded suspicions" that the 39-year-old prime suspect arrested over her disappearance was responsible for her death. 
 
 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, 200 kilometers (124 miles) to the north. 
 
 The remains found at the property "effectively appear to those of Denise," Fernandez Diaz told reporters. 
 
 The minister said Munoz had been arrested when a police operation found him in the town of Grandas de Salime in the province of Asturias where he had fled. 
 
 Thiem, 41, of Arizona, was last seen April 5 walking along the route at the town of Astorga, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Santa Catalina de Somoza, which is also on the St. James Way and is the town closest to Munoz's farm, the ministry said. 
 
 The suspect was described by the ministry as a man who "was little-known in his own neighborhood and did not relate much to society." 
 
 Fernandez Diaz said the FBI had cooperated in the search, which at one point involved 300 police and military personnel as well as helicopters. 
 
 The Camino de Santiago has for centuries led pilgrims and tourists to the city of Santiago de Compostela at Spain's northwestern tip, where the cathedral is believed to house the bones of St. James, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. ||||| A suspect in the disappearance of an American woman missing since April from a famed Christian pilgrimage route in northern Spain was arrested Friday and led authorities to the body of a woman, a Spanish security official said. 
 
 The arrest, and the discovery of the body, came after about 300 Spanish officers searched the area where Denise Thiem, 41, of Arizona was last seen April 5 in the town of Astorga. 
 
 Authorities were trying to determine whether the body was that of Thiem, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules preventing the official from being named. 
 
 The official provided no details about the suspect or where the body was found. 
 
 Astorga is on the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route, also called the St James Way, which ends at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Santiago de Compostela. 
 
 Spanish TV showed footage Friday of officers at a small apartment building taking away the suspect, a bearded man who appeared to be in his 30s. He was not identified. 
 
 The U.S. Embassy in Madrid declined comment about the arrest of the suspect, citing privacy laws that prevent the disclosure of information about the case. 
 
 Thiem's disappearance prompted safety concerns about the 470-mile (760-kilometer) series of pilgrimage routes, which tens of thousands of people walk annually. Some do it as a spiritual quest, while others go for a physical challenge or hike it for a vacation.
– The mysterious disappearance of an Arizona woman hiking a world-famous trail in Spain appears to have been solved, but in the worst possible way. Authorities there arrested a 39-year-old man and found a body on his property believed to be that of 41-year-old Denise Thiem, reports the AP. Tests to confirm are pending. Thiem went missing in April while walking the St. James Way, also known as the Camino de Santiago. The suspect, Miguel Angel Munoz, has a small farm in Asturias near the trail, which leads to a cathedral believed to house the remains of St. James the Apostle. Thousands of hikers from around the world make the pilgrimage each year, one that was popularized in the 2010 Martin Sheen movie The Way. Thiem, who was widely traveled, had quit her job working in PetSmart's corporate headquarters in Phoenix to make the hike herself, reports the Arizona Republic. She began in Pamplona in March and planned to finish in about 90 days. All was going well until she disappeared on Easter Sunday. Spain's interior minister says the remains "effectively appear to be those of Denise," adding that the suspect "was little-known in his own neighborhood and did not relate much to society." He reportedly led police to the body, reports ABC News.