In 2014, Two Young Women Traveled To Panama And Vanished After Going On A Hike: Their Cell Phones And Camera Were Later Found, Revealing Disturbing Images
On March 14, 2014, two students in their early twenties– Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon– left the Netherlands and traveled to Panama. There, they planned to embark on a service trip and vacation– helping out local communities, volunteering to work with children and learning Spanish while relaxing.
Although, there was reportedly a miscommunication that resulted in the young women arriving in Boquete before their program actually began. According to a diary entry written by Kris on April 1, she and Lisanne were disappointed.
“Tomorrow, they will try and get ahold of the [head teacher]. This was a real disappointment,” the entry read.
In spite of the confusion, Kris and Lisanne still intended to explore Boquete as much as they could. They hired a tour guide for the next day, April 2, 2014.
But, on April 1, the two young women decided to traverse the surrounding area of Barú Volcano by themselves.
So, at 11:00 a.m. that day, Kris and Lisanne waved goodbye to their host family– with whom they had been staying– and headed on the Pianista Trail into the forest. The pair simply brought one backpack and their host family’s dog, named Blue.
By the evening of April 1, though, the girls’ host family realized something had gone wrong. Their pup, Blue, had returned unharmed but also unaccompanied. Moreover, the girls had not been seen or heard from since that morning.
This pushed the host family to begin searching the area surrounding their home. But, after they found nothing, the family opted to wait until the morning before contacting authorities.
Come April 2, Kris and Lisanne never showed up to their appointment with the local tour guide– with whom they were supposed to take a private walking tour. This news prompted the girls’ host family to finally get in touch with the police.
Facebook – pictured above are Kris and Lisanne in one of the last photos they took before going missing
In the days after the students were reported missing, authorities launched both foot searches in the village as well as aerial searches in the forest.
By April 6, however, Kris and Lisanne still had not been found. So, their families flew to Panama and even brought in detectives from the Netherlands.
Once there, the Netherlands detectives, local police, and dog units combed the forests for 10 whole days. On April 14, the search was scaled down. However, with no answers, the hunt for Kis and Lisanne continued for 10 weeks.
And just as police began to reign in their search, a local woman discovered a blue backpack that she claimed to have found in a rice paddy. Inside the bag, there was $83 in cash, two pairs of sunglasses, two bras, a water bottle, and Lisanne’s passport.
Additionally, the backpack also held both Kris and Lisanne’s cell phones, as well as Lisanne’s camera.
Authorities immediately began combing through the camera and phones and ultimately uncovered unsettling evidence.
The phones both reportedly stayed in service for nearly 10 days after Kris and Lisanne disappeared. But, in the span of four days, the girls had made 77 different attempts to contact the police. These attempts used both 911, the emergency line in Panama, as well as 112, the emergency line in the Netherlands.
So, equipped with these phone records, authorities were able to piece together an outline of the girls’ time spent in the forest.
They found that the first two emergency calls made by the girls were made mere hours after Kris and Lisanne started their hike. But, due to the jungle’s density, neither of these calls went through.
Sadly, this was the reality for nearly all of their emergency call attempts. Only one actually got through– but the connection was lost after only two seconds.
Authorities also learned how on April 6, there had been numerous unsuccessful attempts to unlock Kris’ phone using the wrong PIN number. Following these attempts, the phone was never unlocked successfully again. And on April 11, both phones died.
After making these discoveries on the student’s cell phones, the police then investigated the camera– which also contained disturbing evidence.
The first images were taken when Kris and Lisanne left for their hike on the morning of April 1. They showed the young women walking on a trail located near the Continental Divide and were not cause for concern.
Although, a second set of pictures taken on April 8 between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. were much more concerning.
The photos showed all of the girls’ belongings spread out over rocks with candy wrappers and plastic bags. There was also a mirror, strangely piled mounds of dirt, and the back of Kris’ head. In the images, her temple was leaking blood.
This pushed authorities to return to the area where the backpack had been discovered, and there, they found Kris’ clothing. It had been nearly folded and placed along the river’s edge.
Two months afterward, a pelvic bone and a foot– which was still inside of a boot– were also discovered in the same region.
Shortly after this discovery, investigators ultimately found the bones of both Kris and Lisanne. Although, the state of their remains strangely differed.
Lisanne’s bones appeared as though they had undergone natural decomposition since there were still some remnants of flesh. Kris’ bones, however, were reportedly stark white– suggesting that they had been bleached.
This led investigators to question everyone from locals and tour guides to other hikers who had been in the same region at the time. Unfortunately, though, they uncovered little evidence.
It did come to light that Kris and Lisanne had met up with two Dutchmen for brunch on their last day prior to their disappearance. But no other information about these two men was ever tied to the case.
So, left without answers, authorities ultimately ruled the women’s death an accident in March 2015. Investigators believed that Lisanne had fallen, which was supported by the breaks in her ankle and foot.
Still, many people criticized how the Panamanian authorities handled the students’ case. Adela Corita, a journalist for La Estrella, alleged that there had been no chain of custody for the recovered evidence or remains. She also claimed that the 30 fingerprints found on the backpack had never been identified.
A lawyer who worked with the Kremers family, Enrique Arrocha, agreed that the evidence had been mishandled– claiming there was no forensic investigation conducted at the crime scene.
Due to this, there have been rumors of conspiracy theories and cover-ups. Some believe that the deaths were the work of organ traffickers; meanwhile, others point to the cartels.
In spite of these rumors, though, authorities have remained quiet. And according to Adela Coriat, this is because they want to preserve tourism.
“It’s a sad fact, but serious investigation was never done. Everything had to be hushed up to protect tourism. I want tourists to come to Panama, too, but the government must still do its job,” Coriat told The Daily Beast in 2017.
“The victims deserve justice, and the families deserve to know what really happened.”
Between 2009 and 2017, an additional 24 tourists also went missing or died in the same region. This fact, coupled with the students’ case being revisited in 2017, suggested that Kris and Lisanne’s death may have been linked to a serial killer.
However, this has not been confirmed, and many continue searching for answers regarding what truly happened to Kris and Lisanne.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe
Why Do People Fall Out Of Love, And Is There Anything You Can Do To Prevent This?
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:True Crime