The case of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, two females who disappeared while trekking in Panama’s deep forests in April 2014, rocked the world.
What started off as an exciting journey swiftly devolved into a nightmare, and their tale still haunts anyone who hear it.
Wearing tank tops and shorts
Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, both from the Netherlands and in their 20s, left on a trekking excursion close to Boquete, Panama, on April 1, 2014.
As they depart the area, the Dutch friends are wearing tank tops and shorts.
Lisanne’s little bag, which contains their cell phones, a camera, and a water bottle, is all they have with them.
They only want to leave for a few hours.
Their trek is to reach Mirador, a mountaintop overlook.
They inform the woman who rented them the room, “We’ll be back before it gets dark.”
What followed is still unknown.
Savings for six months
The 21-year-old Kris Kremers and the 22-year-old Lisanne Froon had always wanted to see the world.
40 mini Kris Kremers was renowned for her inventiveness, open-mindedness, and strong sense of duty. In contrast, Lisanne Froon was a bright, aspirational, and aspirational young woman who had a strong love for volleyball.
Kremers had recently graduated from the University of Utrecht with a degree in cultural social education with a concentration in art education. Froon has just received his applied psychology degree from Deventer.
Lisanne Froon moved in with Kris Kremers in Amersfoort, where they both worked at a neighbourhood café, just a few weeks before leaving for Panama. They organised their trip to Panama as a unique vacation and Froon’s graduation present after saving for six months.
Their objectives were to volunteer with children, learn Spanish, and have a significant influence on the neighbourhood.
On March 15, 2014, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon landed in Panama. Following a two-week tour of the nation, they arrived in Boquete, Chiriquí, on March 29 to spend a month volunteering with youngsters and staying with a local family.
They hiked the El Pianista trail on April 1 at around 11:00 AM, close to the foggy woods that encircle the Baru volcano, which is located just outside of Boquete.
They set off to explore the neighbourhood with the dog of their host family. However, they vanished from view a few hours after bidding their host family farewell.
It wasn’t immediately apparent that they had vanished. When the dog came back without them that night, their host family became worried.
I located the camera.
The family waited till morning at first, but as the hours went by, it became evident that something was seriously amiss.
Authorities were notified on April 2 and a search was initiated. For days, the region was searched by locals, law enforcement, and even the relatives of Kremers and Froon, who had flown in from the Netherlands.
Weeks went by. Nothing. Then, almost two months after they vanished, there was a sort of breakthrough.
In a rice paddy along the river, a local woman found a blue backpack. A few personal belongings were found within, including two bras, cash, sunglasses, a water bottle, and Lisanne’s passport. However, all would change when the women’s phones and camera were found.
A terrifying reality
The phones told a terrifying tale.
The devices had made 77 attempts to contact emergency numbers in the days after their disappearance, even though they were out of service for the majority of that period.
Within hours of their trek, they heard the initial sounds, but they were unable to pass through the thick bush. The most unsettling aspect? One of the calls connected for a brief moment, but it ended after just two seconds.
The phones then made an unsuccessful attempt to unlock Kremers’ phone on April 6 by entering the incorrect PIN code, suggesting that someone, possibly Kremers herself, had made a last-ditch effort to get aid.
The proper PIN was never accepted by the phone.
Even more terrifying were the last minutes. By April 11, both phones had died.
The eerie pictures
The camera itself, however, was the real nightmare. The images it included provided a chilling glimpse into Kremers and Froon’s possible fate following their disappearance.
The women were photographed on their walk in the initial pictures, which were innocent enough. Their cheerful smiles and relaxed demeanours gave no indication of the horror that would soon be revealed.
However, it was the images captured between 1 and 4 AM on the evening of April 8 that made anybody who saw them shudder.
Items scattered on rocks, plastic bags and candy wrappers strangely stacked, piles of dirt organised in peculiar patterns, and a startling close-up of Kris Kremers’ skull were among the strange and unnerving pictures.
With the possible exception of one, the two girls are not shown in any of the nighttime pictures. The back of Kris Kremers’ head is probably visible in this close-up of her blond hair. According to certain interpretations, the artwork depicts blood in the lower right corner.
The final pictures of Kris were taken by Lisanne on April 1, 2014, at around 2:00 PM.
It has now been suggested that one of the pictures depicts the girls either sensing what was about to happen or that something had already occurred.
Kris looks to have her hands chained behind her back as she leans forward, her face displaying distress.
Many questions were raised by the nighttime photos.
Why, until the evening of April 8, were no photos taken over the whole week following their disappearance? For what reason was the three-hour photographic session so hectic? Why are none of the females’ faces visible in any of the photos? Given that they must have known they would probably perish in the forest, why did they not leave a note for their loved ones?
Human remains
A few months after the backpack was discovered, further terrifying findings were unearthed as investigators worked to solve the mystery.
Near the riverbank, Kremers’ clothes were found folded nicely. Two months later, the most horrifying discovery of all was discovered close to the same location: a foot still in a boot and a pelvic bone.
The remains were bleak. Bits of flesh were still attached to Lisanne Froon’s bones, which seemed to have broken down organically.
However, Kris Kremers’ bones were eerily white, as though they had been bleached—a normal process that can occur from exposure to sunlight, for example.
Only roughly 10% of Froon’s bones and 5% of Kremers’ bones were found in total.
Later, under magnification, a Panamanian forensic anthropologist said, “There are no marks on the bones at all — there are no discernible scratches of any kind on the bones, neither of natural nor cultural origin.”
The most perplexing question, however, remains unanswered in spite of thorough investigations: What happened to Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon?
No suspects, no eyewitnesses, and no conclusive cause of death.
More questions than answers were brought up by the images, the call logs, and the finding of their remains.
A terrible mishap?
The mystery surrounding the killings and disappearance of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers has not been resolved as of yet. Was it a matter of getting lost in the bush or a fatal accident? Or was there something more darker going on?
Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers’ precise cause of death is still unknown. At first, Dutch officials, along with forensic specialists and search and rescue teams, hypothesised that the two women might have unintentionally fallen from a cliff after becoming disoriented in the thick jungle. But even after a thorough study, no firm conclusion could be drawn.
Authorities in Panama, their relatives in the Netherlands, and innumerable others are still trying to put together the eerie details of their last moments. We all question whether we will ever fully understand the fate of the two young ladies who went on an expedition and never came back.