Katharina Buczek
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.
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