Mystery Story: Two Women Missing in the Panama Forest, Found Remains of Bone Remains Page all

KOMPAS.com – The intention to fulfill the desire to travel turned into a tragedy for two Dutch tourists, Kris Kremers (21 years old) and Lisanne Froon (22 years).

In 2014, the two traveled to Panama, vacationed while learning Spanish and volunteered for children in the local area.

But their plans have changed since making a hike near the Continental Divide of Panama, near Boquete, on April 1, 2014.

Their bodies were found months later under mysterious circumstances.

What really happened to the two women continues to be the subject of speculation even today.

The thing is, their sudden and mysterious departure leaves “disturbing” photographic evidence of their final hours. Meanwhile, the many questions that remain unanswered have led to a growing number of theories about how the two died.

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Arrival in Panama

The two friends made a trip to Latin America as one of the celebrations for their graduation title.

Lisanne recently graduated with a degree in Applied Sciences and Kris with a degree in socio-cultural education.

They left Amsterdam airport for Costa Rica on March 15, 2014. From there they traveled to Bocas del Toro in Panama.

Apart from spending some time on the beach, they also learn a little Spanish, and enjoy local food and beverages. They also met two Dutch men who were visiting the area.

On March 29, or two weeks after arriving in Panama, they moved to Boquete, a city on the west side of the country.

Kris and Lisanne originally planned to teach local children at a school. But their travel agent later said it could not carry out the activities as planned.

Disappointed by this, they decided to stay with a local family in the Alto Boquete area for a month or more.

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La Pianista Line

On April 1, 2014, they left Boquete in fine weather in the middle of the morning to hike the La Pianista trail. As the name implies, the contours of the path go up and down.

They plan to climb to the top about 8 km from the city. The taxi dropped them off at the start of the trail at noon, according to the driver. But evidence from the woman’s camera shows around 11 a.m.

It takes people who are fit enough to reach the top in 2.5-3 hours. So the total round trip is estimated at 5-6 hours.

They set out for a walk in light clothing (tank tops and shorts). The luggage in his backpack is quite light, only a passport, a water bottle, a Canon Powershot SX270 digital camera, some money (around 80 US dollars or Rp 1.2 million at this time) and a cell phone.

The area outside the trail is very steep, steep and dangerous. Conditions will be even more dangerous during the rainy season April to October. Even the native Ngobe were in that condition, having to tread carefully this route.

The line runs from Chiriquí state to Bocas del Toro province, crossing a steep river gorge to a depth of 70 feet (21.3 meters), which needs to be crossed using a cable bridge.

From the documentation on the camera, the two young women reached the peak around 1pm.

From the summit, tourists usually turn down the same route to climb (the La Pianista line) back to Boquete.

A number of signs are even now being placed in this area, warning people not to continue walking without a guide as the next terrain is very dangerous.

But apparently, the two travelers decided to continue their journey. Although neither of them brought food or survival equipment, it was possible to stay for a long time in the forest.

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Kris and Lisanne failed to return

It wasn’t until April 3 that the two were reported missing. Precisely after the family where they were staying and a local guide began to feel worried.

Authorities then combed the climbing area with a group of ground dogs and helicopters. But the initial search was fruitless, even with the help of local residents.

On April 6, their parents along with Dutch police flew to Panama, and began a larger search that lasted 10 days.

But the result is still nil. There was no sign of the two friends or their belongings.

The invention of the backpack

Traces of the two were only found ten weeks later. In June 2014, a local woman found their backpack in a rice field on the banks of the Culebra or Serpent rivers, near the village of Alta Romero.

The village is in a very remote area and it is difficult to reach by foot. The location is about 17 km from Boquete and 8 km and approximately 8 hours walk from the top of the La Pianista trail.

At the same time, jeans shorts Kris Kremers was found on a narrow strip of land, between two strong and fast flowing tributaries.

Ngobe’s people who found it said it was zipped closed on a high rock, high above the water.

Police from the Panamanian Justice Department initially assumed the objects had been washed away. In fact, the contents of the backpack were dry and undamaged.

The condition of the bag is in good condition even though it is assumed for weeks in the wild. This was despite the fact that the area had been subjected to heavy rain a few weeks earlier.

As a result, this finding led to the suspicion that the objects were placed there shortly before they were found.

Many different fingerprints and DNA sets were detected on the contents of the backpack. But none of these lead to clues that the police can take seriously.

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Image on Lisanne’s camera

When they were searched, the bags containing their passports, cellphones, sunglasses, cash and bras were in their backpacks when they were searched.

Lisanne’s Canon Powershot SX270 camera, which contains more than a hundred images on a digital memory card, is one of the key pieces of evidence in this case.

There are 133 photos found. The first photo on April 1 is a standard tourist shot. The two women looked happy in the middle of a bright day, immortalized in several selfies.

The IMG 508 image code is the last photo taken by Lisanne and Kris during the day. But there are two versions of photo # 508 according to metadata.

The first version was taken 8 seconds after photo 507. Another version of the same photo, showing the last photo of Kris looking back, was taken 50 seconds after he crossed the river.

No more daylight photos were made on April 1 after the last shot on river # 508. There is a photo missing.

Dutch specialists have tried to recover a photo that may have been lost, believed to have been deleted after viewing it on a computer.

Because if the victim’s photo is deleted via the camera, the next photo (aka; the photo of the first night) will automatically receive the photo code number 509. So, it is impossible for anyone to ever know that the data was deleted.

However, the experts failed to recover the lost photos.

Photo in the dark

The weirdest image on camera and perhaps the most interesting is the 90 photos taken on April 8 between 1am and 4am in the morning.

Many pictures are taken in total darkness when it rains. Some are taken with pauses of a few seconds, and others up to 15 minutes later.

The shot looked like it was taken on purpose because nothing was blurry. So it is suspected that the images were not taken under pressure.

At this point, the girls had been in the rainforest for a week.

Some have speculated that the victim tried to use the camera as a light source in complete darkness, or perhaps to signal rescuers, or even to scare away wild animals.

But photo analysis shows that the image is mostly taken under the leaves. So it’s not an open place that can attract attention.

A close-up single appears to show a wound on the right side of Kris’s head at the temple area, and blood in his hair. Lisanne allegedly used the camera as a clue to rescuers if she had to leave Kris due to injury.

Some of the shots appear to be directed upwards while others show ravines and canyons. There is also a man-made building which is most likely a Cable Bridge.

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Mobile phone data

Analysis of Kris’ iPhone call records shows he tried to dial the emergency service number 112 in the Netherlands at 4:39 pm on the day they went missing (April 1). This was followed by a call to the Panama emergency number 911.

Due to poor reception, their calls were not connected. They then turned off their cell phones and tried to make phone calls 14 hours later several times on April 2.

On April 6, 5 days after their hike was carried out, the Samsung Lisanne phone stopped working, possibly because the battery ran out.

Kris’s iPhone is shut down until April 11th. But it was activated again at 10:51 and lasted 1 hour 5 minutes. This is the last time the iPhone has been used.

On the 6th day, when the Samsung Lisanne battery broke, someone tried to access Kris’s iPhone but entered the wrong PIN (the code is 0556). It said 77 attempts were made to access the phone on April 7 and 10.

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Remnants of bone

Following the discovery of the backpack, a local guide with the help of six Ngobe natives found the remains of bones, jeans shorts and two different shoes along the Rio Culebra river, not long before 19 June 2014.

The jeans shorts were found 14 hours’ walk from the backpack discovery location on the rock across the river which is an 8 hour walk from Boquete.

It wasn’t until June 19 that the remains of bones were found behind a tree around the Alto Romero and away from the river. DNA tests confirmed a bone fit to Lisanne Froon’s left leg.

He was intact inside his Wildebeast boots, only the sole of his leg was broken. The cut was clean without any blood attached. There were no signs of cuts, tears, gunshots, teeth or claw marks.

At least 33 bones were found scattered along the banks of the same river, a few kilometers from a cable bridge and a rocky dry river, where investigators are suspected of being where the night photos were taken.

Very few bone remains were found. Some were found scattered about, sometimes a kilometer apart from each other. But all of them follow the direction of the river.

In contrast to Kris’ bones which were completely bleached and clean, the pathologist also found that the bone marrow in Lisanne’s femur and tibia was shown to be dry and non-rotting.

The bone marrow is intact and unchanged. The forensic pathologist thinks the fragment may have been “manipulated” by someone.

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Initially, neither the Dutch nor Panamanian forensic teams were able to provide a cause of death. The official theory from the Panamanian authorities is that the two women fell off the monkey bridge and were washed away.

The Netherlands also felt the possibility was an accident. But some Panamanian police believe the death could have been “an act of ignorance.”

The case was first officially declared a “murder” and “a crime against personal integrity,” by the Panamanian attorney general.

But then in October 2014, two forms from Panama State officials described the death as a kidnapping case.

When the forensics team failed to reach a definite and official conclusion, the case was closed and considered an accident as Lisanne and Kris decided to continue into the wild in the Continental Divide area.

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