Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were on a mission trip in Panama in April 2014 when they decided to go on a hike in the jungles around Baru volcano
Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were on a mission trip in Panama in April 2014 when they decided to go on a hike in the jungles around Baru volcano
On April 1, 2014, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon left their host family’s home to take the family’s dog on a walk through the scenic forests around the Baru volcano in Boquete, Panama.
Kremers and Froon were students from Amersfoort in the Netherlands. They had spent six months planning their trip to Panama, which was supposed to serve as part vacation, part service trip. They planned on spending some time hiking and touring while also volunteering with local children, teaching arts and crafts, and learning Spanish.
The two women had been hiking around the Panamanian jungle for the past two weeks as part of a backpacking mission trip and intended to stay for the next four weeks with their host family to volunteer at a local school.
However, after they waved goodbye to their family at 11:00 AM on April 1st, they were never seen again.
The women had written a Facebook post, in which they discussed their intentions to tour the local village. They also wrote that they had had brunch with two fellow Dutchmen before embarking on their hike.
On the night of April 1, the host family noticed something was wrong. Their dog had returned, safe and sound, but alone — the girls were nowhere to be found. The host family searched the area around their home but decided to wait until morning to alert the authorities.
On April 2, Kremers and Froon missed an appointment with a local tour guide who was supposed to take them on a private walking tour of Boquete, which prompted the host family to alert authorities. The next morning an aerial search of the forest was conducted as well as a search of the village and the lightly wooded areas by locals.
By April 6, the two women were still missing. Fearing the worst, the families of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon flew to Panama, bringing with them detectives from the Netherlands. Along with local police and dog units, they searched the forests for ten days.
Days turned into weeks, and after ten weeks there were still no signs of either Kremers or Froon.
Then, as police were slowing their search efforts, a local woman turned in a blue backpack, claiming to have found it in a rice paddy along the banks of the river. Inside the backpack were two pairs of sunglasses, $83 in cash, Lisanne Froon’s passport, a water bottle, and two bras.
Also inside, most importantly, was Froon’s camera and both of the women’s cell phones.
Police immediately investigated the camera and phones and came up with disturbing evidence.
The phones had remained in service for almost ten days after the women disappeared. Over just four days, 77 separate attempts had been made to call the police, both via 112, the emergency number in the Netherlands, and 911, the emergency number in Panama. Using the call logs, police were able to come up with an outline of the time the girls spent missing in the forests.
The first two emergency calls had been just hours after Kremers and Froon had begun their hike to the 112 emergency number. Due to the dense jungle, neither attempts went through.
In fact, out of all 77 calls, only one managed to make contact but broke up after just two seconds.
Police also discovered that on April 6, several unsuccessful attempts were made to unlock Kremers’ phone with an incorrect PIN number. It never received the correct number again. By April 11, both phones were dead.
Though the call log was disturbing, it was nothing compared to what was found on the camera.
The first photos on the camera were taken the morning of April 1 when the women had left for their hike. The photos showed Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon on a trail near the Continental Divide, though nothing about them led police to become suspicious.
However, the second set of photos was worrisome. Taken in the dead of night, between the hours of 1 and 4 AM on April 8, the photos showed the girls belongings spread out on rocks, plastic bags and candy wrappers, oddly piled mounds of dirt, a mirror, and — most concerning — the back of Kris Kremers’ head with blood leaking from her temple.
After investigating the area where the backpack had been found, police uncovered Kremers’ clothing, neatly folded along the edge of the river. Two months later, in the same area, a pelvic bone and a foot, still inside a boot, were found.
Soon after that, the bones of both women were discovered. Lisanne Froon’s bones looked as if they had decomposed naturally, as there were still bits of flesh attached to them.
Kris Kremers’ bones were stark white and looked as if they were bleached.
Police questioned the locals, tour guides, and other hikers who had been in the area at the time, but nothing besides the photos and call logs provided them with evidence as to what had happened. There wasn’t even enough evidence to determine the cause of death.
To this day, the disappearance and deaths of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon remain a harrowing mystery. continue reading
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