Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were Dutch students who disappeared on 1 April 2014, while hiking the ''El Pianista'' trail in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. After an extensive search, portions of their bodies were found a few months later. Their

cause of death In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. The cause of death is ...

could not be determined definitively; Dutch authorities working with forensic and search-rescue investigators initially thought it likely the students had accidentally fallen from a cliff after becoming lost. The circumstances and aftermath of their disappearance have resulted in much speculation about their final days. Although many theories have been presented as to what happened to Kremers and Froon, no official cause of death has been ruled. Panamanian authorities came under fire for allegedly mishandling the disappearance and aftermath. Further investigation into the case in 2017 raised questions about the initial investigation, as well as a possible link to murders in the area.

Background

Kris Kremers (age 21) and Lisanne Froon (age 22) both grew up in

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...

, Utrecht, in the Netherlands. Kremers was described as an open, creative, and responsible individual, while Froon was described as aspiring, optimistic, intelligent, and a passionate

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. Kremers had just completed her studies in cultural social education, specializing in art education at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

; from

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

, Froon had graduated with a degree in applied psychology. Only a few weeks prior to leaving for Panama, Froon had moved in with Kremers in a dorm room in Amersfoort, and they worked together at the café/restaurant called ''In den Kleinen Hap''. They both saved up money for six months and planned to go to Panama together on a special vacation, hoping to learn

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

and to do something of significance for the locals, particularly volunteering with children. The trip was also supposed to be a graduation present for Froon.

Disappearance

Kremers and Froon arrived in Panama on 15 March 2014. They toured the country for two weeks before arriving in

Boquete, Chiriquí Boquete is a small mountain town in Panama. It is located in the westernmost Province of Chiriquí, about from the border with Costa Rica, and lies on the Caldera River, in Panama's green mountain highlands. Because of its elevation, some abo ...

, on 29 March to live with a local family for a month while volunteering with children. On 1 April around 11:00, they went

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

near the clouded forests that surrounded the Baru volcano, on the ''El Pianista'' trail, not far from Boquete. Some sources say they took with them a dog that belonged to the owners of the ''Il Pianista'' restaurant. The women wrote on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

that they intended to walk around Boquete, and it was reported that they had been seen having

brunch Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of ''breakfast'' a ...

with two young Dutch men before embarking on the trail. Some sources claim the owners of the restaurant became alarmed when their dog returned home that night without Kremers and Froon. Froon's parents stopped receiving

text message Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/ laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...

s, which both women had been sending to their families daily. On the morning of 2 April, the women missed an appointment with a local guide. On 6 April, their parents arrived in Panama along with police, dog units, and detectives from the Netherlands to conduct a full-scale search of the forests for ten days. The parents offered a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

30,000 reward for any information leading to the whereabouts of Kremers and Froon.

Discovery of backpack

Ten weeks later, on 14 June, a local woman turned in Froon's blue backpack, which she reported finding by a riverbank, near her village of Alto Romero, in the

Bocas del Toro Province Bocas del Toro (; meaning "Mouth of the Bull") is a province of Panama. Its area is 4,643.9 square kilometers, comprising the mainland and nine main islands. The province consists of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Bahía Almirante (Almirante Bay ...

. The backpack contained two pairs of sunglasses, US$83 in cash, Froon's insurance card, a water bottle, Froon's camera, two bras, and the women's phonesin good condition. The women's phones showed that around six hours into their hike someone dialed

112 112 may refer to: *112 (number), the natural number following 111 and preceding 113 *112 (band), an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia **112 (album), ''112'' (album), album from the band of the same name *112 (emergency telephone number), t ...

(international emergency number in use in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

) and

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

(the emergency number in

). The first distress call attempt was made by Kremers'

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S. Following a number of notable leaks, the iPhone 4 was first unvei ...

at 16:39 (4:39 pm); shortly after that, another attempt was made from Froon's

Samsung Galaxy S III The Samsung Galaxy S III (or Galaxy S3) is an Android smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Launched in 2012, it had sold more than 80 million units overall, making it the most sold phone in the S series. I ...

at 16:51 (4:51 pm). None of the calls got through due to lack of reception in the area. None of the subsequent call attempts ever managed to go through. On 4 April, Froon's phone battery became exhausted after 05:00 and the phone was never used again. Kremers' iPhone would not make any more calls either but was intermittently turned on to search for reception. Between 5 and 11 April, the iPhone was turned on multiple times but without ever entering the correct

PIN code A personal identification number (PIN), or sometimes redundantly a PIN number or PIN code, is a numeric (sometimes alpha-numeric) passcode used in the process of authenticating a user accessing a system. The PIN has been the key to facilitati ...

again (either no PIN or a wrong PIN code was entered). On 11 April, the phone was turned on at 10:51h (10:51 am) and was turned off for the last time at 11:56h (11:56 am). Froon's

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

camera contained photos from 1 April suggesting that the women had taken a trail at the overlook of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

and wandered into some wilderness hours before their first attempt at making emergency calls but with no signs of anything unusual. On 8 April, ninety flash photos were taken between 01:00 and 04:00, apparently deep in the jungle and in near-complete darkness. A few photos show that they were possibly near a river or a ravine. Some show a twig with plastic bags on top of a rock; another shows what looks like a backpack strap and a mirror on another rock, and another shows the back of Kremers' head.

Discovery of remains

The discovery of the backpack led to new searches along the Culubre River. Kremers' denim shorts were found atop a rock on the opposite bank of the

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

, a few kilometres away from where Froon's backpack had been discovered. A rumour claimed that the shorts were found zipped and neatly folded; pictures of the shorts, published in 2021, disproved this information. Two months later, closer to where the backpack was discovered, a

pelvis The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...

and a boot with a foot inside were found. Soon, at least 33 widely scattered bones were discovered along the same river bank. DNA testing confirmed they belonged to Kremers and Froon. Froon's bones still had some skin attached to them, while Kremers' bones appeared to have been

bleached Bleached is an American pop band consisting of sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin, formerly of Mika Miko. The band plays a style of rock, pop, rock and roll, and indie rock. Bleached was established in Los Angeles in 2011. The group has releas ...

. A Panamanian

forensic anthropologist Forensic anthropology is the application of the anatomical science of anthropology and its various subfields, including forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy, in a legal setting. A forensic anthropologist can assist in the identification o ...

later claimed that under magnification "there are no discernible scratches of any kind on the bones, neither of natural nor cultural originthere are no marks on the bones at all".

References

External links