The Chilling Mystery of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers

Eerie photos found on a camera belonging to two missing hikers showed their last moments before they vanished in Panama’s jungle.

Kris Kremers, 21, and Lisanne Froon, 22, went for a hike near Baru volcano in Boquete but didn’t come back, according to The Sun.

The girls, both students from the Netherlands, had planned their dream trip to Panama for six months. They wanted to backpack, volunteer, and learn Spanish.

They had been hiking in the jungle for two weeks and were going to volunteer at a local school for another four weeks after staying with a host family.

But after they left for a walk on April 1, 2014, they never returned. Their disappearance and tragic deaths remain a mystery to this day.

This is a photo of Lisanne Froon, 22, taken on April 1, the day she went missing. Their backpack was found with cellphone data showing they tried to call 911 about 2 hours after this photo. But there was no signal. The last try to call 911 was made 10 days after they disappeared.

In a surprising theory, Dick Steffens, a former Detective from Amsterdam, suggested that Kris might still be alive. He believed she could have been taken into the sex trade by someone in the jungle.

While some think Kris and Lisanne might have had an accident, Steffens criticized the police investigation in Panama and said it should be done again.

There were also strange signs that someone tried to unlock Kris’ phone several times. Some people think Kris might have died, and Lisanne was trying to use the phone to get help.

The alarm was raised when the girls didn’t show up for a walking tour on April 2.

A big search was launched to find them, with rescue workers looking all over the jungle and nearby villages.

But by April 6, the girls still hadn’t been found.

Their families flew to Panama and brought Dutch detectives to help.

They searched the jungle for another ten days with the Dutch police, but they didn’t find any sign of the girls.

As they were about to give up the search, a local woman found a blue backpack in a rice paddy near the river and turned it in.

Kris Kremers, 21. This is a screenshot from a TV show; the actual photo wasn’t shared. It was taken around 2:30 pm on the day she disappeared.
Ninety more photos were found on the camera, all taken 10 days later, between 1 – 4 am. Most of these pictures, 87 out of 90, were completely dark, while the rest showed bits of branches and rocks. These pictures haven’t been shown to the public.

Harrowing find

Inside the backpack, there were two pairs of sunglasses, $83 in cash, two bras, a water bottle, and most importantly, Lisanne’s passport. Lisanne’s camera and both of their phones were also found inside.

A startling discovery was made when 90 photos were found on Lisanne’s camera. These photos were taken deep in the jungle during the early hours of April 8, between 1am and 4am. However, most of the pictures were very dark and unclear, making it difficult to see anything clearly. Some showed the girls’ belongings scattered on rocks, along with plastic bags, candy wrappers, mounds of dirt, and a mirror.

One particularly chilling image showed what appeared to be the back of Kris’ head with what some believe to be blood coming from her temple. Some people think the girls might have used the camera flash to light their way as they walked through the dark jungle. However, others suspect that someone else took the photos after harming the girls.

The person who took the photos remains unknown, adding to the mystery of the case. The phone records of the students also revealed that they had tried to call the police in a desperate attempt for help.

The backpack with cellphone, camera and other personal belongings.

A map of the area where the girls got lost. They were walking the “Pianist Trail” from Boquete.

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Remains found

In the span of four days, there were 77 attempts to call the police using emergency numbers from both the Netherlands and Panama. Sadly, only one call managed to connect, but it broke up after just two seconds because of poor reception. Despite this, the call logs helped authorities get an idea of how long the girls were missing.

Their phones finally died on April 11, ten days after they went missing. When police searched the area where the backpack was found, they discovered Kris’ clothes neatly folded along the riverbank. Two months later, a pelvic bone and a foot still inside a boot were found nearby. Soon after, the rest of their remains were discovered.

Lisanne’s bones seemed to have decomposed naturally, but Kris’ bones were oddly white, as if they had been bleached. This raised suspicions about whether someone else might have been involved in her death.

Locals discovered some remains. They found a shoe with a foot still inside it. The shoe was recognized as a type sold only in the Netherlands, confirming it belonged to Kris. Later, DNA tests confirmed that the remains belonged to Kris, while the pelvis was identified as belonging to Lisanne.

‘Accident’

The exact reasons behind Kris and Lisanne’s deaths have never been figured out. Their tragic passing remains a troubling puzzle.

Even though police questioned locals, tour guides, and other hikers, the only clues they had were the photos and call records.

But authors Marja West and Jürgen Snoeren believe they have solved the mystery in their book Lost in The Jungle. After closely examining all the evidence and traveling to Panama to conduct their own investigation, they concluded that the girls’ deaths were accidental.

The authors explained, “It actually came as a surprise to us too, but our conclusion had to be that it was an accident. It took us quite some time to get there.” Snoeren had realized that “With all that I’m reading now in the police file, it couldn’t be anything else … there was a certain sequence and timing to it, that had to be caused by the flash floods, typical to the region and season. “Those flash floods made staging scenes or strategically placing items impossible.”

Even with their conclusion, the mystery remains unsolved, and there is still little certainty surrounding the tragic deaths of the two Dutch students.