This unsolved case is a mix of intriguing, creepy and heart-breaking (and gives me some serious Blair-witch vibes). Just a warning, this case will leave you confused!
Kris Kremers, 21 and Lisanne Froon, 22 arrived in Boquete, Panama for a 6 week stay to learn Spanish and work with local children, where they stayed with a local host family.
1 April 2014, the girls went out to a hiking trail known as Sendero El Pianista (The Piano Player) with their host family’s dog. However, later that night, the dog returned home without the girls.
2 April, the girls missed an appointment with a local guide, who then called the police. Aerial searches were conducted by the police and the local residents helped to search for the girls.
The Search.
6 April, the girls parents arrive in Boquete along with police, dog units and detectives from the Netherlands to conduct a full scale, 10 day search of the jungle.
10 weeks later, a local tribal woman found Lisanne’s backpack by a riverbank near her village of Alto Romero. She handed it in to the police and stated it hadn’t been there the day before. Inside her bag was: Lisanne’s camera, two bras, the girls mobile phones, two pairs of sunglasses, 83 USD and a water bottle. All the contents were dry and in good condition (which is confusing for a few reasons, which I will mention later).
The calls.
There is a few pieces of this case that are just creepy, and the phone calls is one of them.
The girls dialled 112 and 911, 77 times in total, starting April 1. The calls didn’t go through due to lack of service, except one 911 call on April 3 that lasted just under 2 seconds before breaking up.
5 April, Lisanne’s battery died sometime after 5pm. No more calls were made from Kris’ phone, but it was turned on once. A false pin code was entered several times and the correct pin was not entered again.
11 April, the phone was turned on at 10:51am and turned off for the last time at 11:56am.
This means the girls could have been alive whilst people were searching for them, if it was them turning the mobile on and off.
The photos.
During the investigation, the Dutch Forensic Medical Institute retrieved pictures from the found camera. This is where I get some serious Blair-Witch vibes.
The pictures are almost put into two categories: the daytime photos and the night-time photos. The daytime photos show the girls seemingly enjoying their hike and show no signs of distress at all.
1 week after the women disappeared, 90 photos were taken between 1-4am. The first statement said only 3 of the photos were clear, with the others being too dark due to the forest. However, more photos were ‘leaked’ by the media. A picture taken showing the back of Kris’ head was released by the media and shown on a tv show called ‘Een Vandaag’ without the girls parents consent. The photo was strategically placed to cover Kris’ temple, which journalist Jeremy Kryt stated, showed blood. Despite this, the credibility of these photos have never been confirmed.
The Discovery.
Two Ngobe women from a search party found Kris’ jean shorts on top of a rock a few kilometres away from where Lisanne’s backpack was found. They were zipped up and folded neatly (which raises so many questions that I will talk about later).
The shorts prompted a new search along the Culebra river. Close to the location of the backpack a gruesome discovery was found. A hiking boot was found, with a foot, femur and tibia still attached. Alongside this, a part of a pelvis and a rib bone was found behind a tree.
DNA confirmed the bones belonged to the two missing girls. The boot and partial leg, with some skin still attached, belonged to Lisanne, and the pelvis and rib belonged to Kris. Here is another fact of the case that makes no sense. The pelvis and rib bone was bleached and pretty much squeaky clean, possibly due to sunlight or by phosphorus.
The cause of death was never determined, however official reports says the girls were dragged by the river, which explains why the bodies were so torn apart. However, the remains were found slightly upriver, so this theory is flawed.
SO MANY QUESTIONS!
There has been so many theories around what happened to these girls, from paranormal, to foul play. However, each theory has so many flaws, this case still remains a complete mystery.
The Remains.
The remains themselves raise so many questions and flaws in theories, which I will try to summarise for you. Kris’ pelvis was broken in half, a similar breakage seen from falling from a great height and would have been impossible for her to walk, yet local guides say there really was no where to fall from a great height on the path they were on. Therefore it is possible she received this injury after death.
It was reported very unlikely these injuries were caused by animals and this theory was ruled out.
There is a weird difference between the boot with some skin attached and the clean bleached bones. It is strange that there would be any flesh left on the partial leg, mainly due to animals and weather conditions. Also, old bones of local people which were discovered were not bleached, which diminishes the idea that the remains were bleached due to the sunlight or chemicals in the local soil.
The bleached bones were never fully explained, but one theory that backs the idea of foul play does make some sense. Lime or Lye, is said to help dissolve bodies and after some time it also dissolves bones. Several forensic scientists stated that the use of Lime or Lye could explain the absence of blood and absence of markings (which could reveal foul play) on the few bones that were found.
Foul Play?
I read a couple of theories around foul play and murder which do make sense, yet still have flaws and things that just do not add up! Firstly, the girls were seen with two guys who they had been speaking to and reportedly met up with, therefore there is theories around the men following them on the hike.
Foul play would make sense in regards to the remains, did someone try to dissolve their bodies in Lime? It would also explain how the backpack turned up on a rock, completely dry and undamaged despite it raining? This could also explain the wrong pin number being entered on the mobile several times. However this to me seems flawed as why would they allow the girls to keep their mobiles and camera? Why would they be turning their phones on and off and trying to call for help over 10 days?
Did They Wander Too Far?
Another theory which I think is the most possible is the fact that the girls got lost and/or injured. The 77 calls to the emergency services does show that they must have been in distress and needed help. It is possible that the 90 photos were taken by accident, as the girls used the camera screen for light, sometimes pressing too hard, setting off the flash (easily done whilst under great stress).
Maybe they took the photos to document where they were walking in hopes someone would find their location or hoping that someone would see the flash of the shutter.
Another theory around the photos was that they believed they were being followed or chased by someone or something and was hoping to capture a picture of it, or scare it away with the flash. Regardless of endless theories, these ‘night time photos’ remain an eerie mystery.
All the local tour guides stated that you would have to make a real effort to get lost as the path is very straightforward. The girls were not dressed suitably to go exploring, nor did they have the right equipment. Both girls parents stated they were too smart to wander off the path. So again, this theory has many flaws.
There is so many theories and so much detail surrounding this case, however I wanted to keep this blog as short as possible! It still remains unsolved and I can honestly say I do not know what could have happened to these girls. Regardless, we can know that something awful happened to these girls, and for at least 10 days, they were in distress.
What do you think happened?
Saffron Headech 