But one explanation which seems logical to many people from the area (but not for many Europeans/Americans, because they often look at this case with their own logic and cultural experience from their respective parts of the world) is that the phone calls could have easily been staged by a 3rd party. Look at it this way: on April 1st the girls took many photos of themselves throughout the day trip. Then suddenly, in the hours before 16:39 PM, they stop. Two call attempts are made. After that, not a single photo or video is ever made again that proves that they were there and that they in fact made those calls and nighttime photos on day 8. No more selfies, no pictures of their supposed predicament of being lost. They had plenty of battery life on the digital camera; they only had to save the battery of their phones. Yet nothing on that camera tells us definitely that they were lost or that they were alive after day one. Not even the google maps they downloaded on the morning of their disappearance was checked after 14:00 by Kris and Lisanne, despite that being possible while offline. Wouldn't that have been the more obvious thing to see in the phone logs, if they were lost? Every kid here knows about the old German fairytales and would have at some point considered leaving a trail behind from personal belongings, pieces of the 'SOS' paper material or sticks or stones for instance. But aside from the night photos on the camera, nothing was found. Many people have gone missing there, this is not Amsterdam or some quaint place in the States (although not wild west Mexico either..). One theory is that they ran into foul play and were either kidnapped or killed soon after. A 3rd party then used and staged emergency calls and some night photos for 11 days. Anyone known to that area knew there is no cell phone coverage beyond that Pianista summit. The calls were made at quite strange hours also, often mainly in the later morning and then again during the afternoon, often around 11:00 AM and 14:00 PM or 16:00 PM. Not at night, not in the evening. And never to family members or the host family. Only to 911 and 112. It could just as well have been someone who tried it for show in the tropical forest or in a basement even. "During their lunch break" is a comment I read on several comment boards. Because no connection was made, we cannot pinpoint those phones to any specific location, after all. Another sub-theory is that Kris and Lisanne could keep those phones, because a 3rd party knew full well that no connection could be made. But then we have to explain the complete lack of draft messages, text messages to loved ones or attempts to document their ordeal. Which makes little sense.
Hypothermia can be a real danger when out in tank tops and shorts. But considering their phone was last activated eleven days after their disappearance, we have to assume that at least one of them did not die from hypothermia during all that time. It also wasn't very cold during the nights of those first April weeks. And they may also have found shelter somewhere. But if that were the case, why were their remains found scattered all over the place alongside a river, instead of in or nearby said shelter? There were 30-something different fingerprints on the phones and camera and most of the girls' other belongings, but they were never checked up on or compared with the fingerprints of anyone joining (and not joining!) the search. The water bottle remnants were not successfully investigated, the finca huts in the vicinity weren't inspected for DNA, hairs or minute traces of blood from the girls. The finca from the tour guide wasn't inspected for these things either, despite the backpack being found near his place. The bleached state of Kris' bones and them containing phosphorus/phosphates have never been properly explained, with officials saying the local soil contained phosphates, but the lawyer of the Kremers family contradicting this. The very different state of decomposition of the few bones of the two friends has not been properly explained either by officials. And to be honest: Pittí's treatment of the various pathologists reports on the state of the bones is one of her great failures. As there is no explanation or thought put into why it is there are these contrasting pathology reports. Lisanne's autopsy report did not even make it into the case files. Bizarre... Just like Calderon's impressive and freely available study of the leg bones and skin was so savagely and ridiculously dismissed by Pittí. And these are just a couple of examples of the widespread issues with this entire investigation.
PITTÍ CALLS IT A DAY
In the end none of Kris and Lisanne's full bodies were found. And the bones that were found were so few and in such a strange state, that no cause of death could be established. After ten weeks one foot and one half of a pelvic bone were found and some of their belongings; this marked the end of the investigation, which had until then been officially called a homicide and kidnapping investigation. Anyone who wanted the investigations stopped, had in effect therefore only have to plant four meager body parts and an almost clean, hardly damaged backpack to make it look like an accident. And to stop the searches, for a fact. But nothing makes sense about the official theory of what happened to them, as delivered by the Panamanian Prosecution. The forensic evidence we do have in fact contradicts the official scenario of drowning in a river (as well as falling in a ravine, or being killed by wild animals). So it is probably best to keep all options open here.
There has been a lot of talk locally about a supposed youth gang and other suspicious deaths that have occurred within their ranks, one several days after the girls went missing (more on this in part 2 of this blog series). The taxi driver died a year later under suspicious circumstances Both drowned, but Osman not before his skull was smashed in. I tried to cover the main facts of this case until now, but of course it has become clear to everyone that I personally do not believe that Kris and Lisanne got lost or had an accident. I believe that they met foul play. In the next blog posts I will not only keep covering new case updates and technical analysis, but I will also more specifically focus on the available information and intel that points to Foul Play.
DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Of course, playing the devil's advocate, there are many illogicalities when it comes to a foul play scenario as well. Why would a 3rd party know about the 112 Dutch emergency number? (Perhaps the first emergency calls wére still made by the girls though). How would a 3rd party have received the PIN codes from both girls' phones, yet 'forgotten' it again after day five? (This could be a simple tactical move though, making it look like one of the girls succumbed to the elements). Isn't it too farfetched to assume a 3rd party is SO wrapped up in this whole cat and mouse game, that they even went out at night on day 8 to take the 99 nighttime photos? (Perhaps not if you fear being caught and going to jail, or love the game of deception) Or perhaps the girls themselves took them, and managed to escape. Shortly.. Then the 3rd party would have had to make the effort of placing the backpack and spreading the few small (selected) bone remnants around.. Instead of easily making everything disappear without a trace. (Which would make most people assume that cartels were involved in their disappearance, I think.. Or link this case to that other uncomfortable disappearance in Boquete, of Alex Humphrey) And then also leaving behind those 88 dollars... In the eyes of some people (admittedly mostly those from First World countries) that sounds like Agatha Christie on steroids. But no matter from what angle you look at this story; there are strange, non-logical elements to it. The backpack, to me, seems planted anyway, no matter the sub-theory.
A 3RD PARTY WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE BACKPACK
A much heard argument is that if a third party wanted to do anything, they would have made the backpack disappear. Or delete the data or destroy the phones. But would that be really be the most logical thing to do? Betzaida Pittí instantly cancelled any pending house searches and criminal investigations as soon as that bag was found, and ruled the deaths an accident. There you have one motive for (theoretically) planting that backpack. The backpack was a significant discovery to say the least. One that Pitti was eager to haul in and peer into its contents. This became newsworthy right away, as she leaked photos to the press the same day she checked out the content and manipulated the photos with a photoshop program. Charming.. And given the high profile status this case had achieved by then, anyone innocent taking items from the bag to meddle with them would be mad, considering it would implicate them as suspects at the very least, if found out. The only one seemingly having meddled with the photo originals it the head prosecutor herself. After declaring the case an accident and putting a stop to all searches into a possible criminal or kidnapper. So this backpack discovery had a lot of benefits for Pittí. It helped shift suspicions as to what happened. It helped turn the investigation and it helped in stopping the searches by the families and by Sinaproc in the area. Even though it may seem 'too much of a hassle' by some people to have been part of a planting plan, reality teaches us that it nevertheless was a simple and (proven) effective method to turn this case around.
A much heard argument is that if a third party wanted to do anything, they would have made the backpack disappear. Or delete the data or destroy the phones. But would that be really be the most logical thing to do? Betzaida Pittí instantly cancelled any pending house searches and criminal investigations as soon as that bag was found, and ruled the deaths an accident. There you have one motive for (theoretically) planting that backpack. The backpack was a significant discovery to say the least. One that Pitti was eager to haul in and peer into its contents. This became newsworthy right away, as she leaked photos to the press the same day she checked out the content and manipulated the photos with a photoshop program. Charming.. And given the high profile status this case had achieved by then, anyone innocent taking items from the bag to meddle with them would be mad, considering it would implicate them as suspects at the very least, if found out. The only one seemingly having meddled with the photo originals it the head prosecutor herself. After declaring the case an accident and putting a stop to all searches into a possible criminal or kidnapper. So this backpack discovery had a lot of benefits for Pittí. It helped shift suspicions as to what happened. It helped turn the investigation and it helped in stopping the searches by the families and by Sinaproc in the area. Even though it may seem 'too much of a hassle' by some people to have been part of a planting plan, reality teaches us that it nevertheless was a simple and (proven) effective method to turn this case around.
PITTI'S WILD WEST PROPAGANDA
In the end, I think that it has been mainly (and falsely) fed in the media that there is no way you'd even survive a few days out there, beyond the summit. But you have to take into account that this trail, including the part after the summit, was a normal hiking trail before all this, which was used by tourists and locals alike. People who hiked the trail beyond the Mirador (case researchers, tourists, bloggers) all ran into other people in that area. Locals, tour guides, people tending their cattle. Even someone walking their dog. There are finca's and meadows there, houses and sheds. There is water everywhere. It were the authorities who insisted time and time again that the area behind the Mirador is 'a death trap'. But is it really? No. Not unless you go there right after a flash flood. Notwithstanding that barely anyone was allowed by Panamese authorities to venture beyond the Mirador; not the Dutch dog units, not the journalists, not the Dutch ambassador. Only Sinaproc. So how do the Dutch authorities know that it is so very dangerous out there? They never saw it with their own eyes. Frank van der Goot did, but only 9 months after the girls went missing. And he failed to come back with any hard evidence whatsoever. There is also no evidence that they got lost on the trail they were last pictured on. Despite multiple people walking these trails every single day, nobody claimed to have seen these two eye-catching tourists beyond the Mirador. No more photos after then, showing they took a supposed wrong turn. No trails left behind. The guide went up to there on day 3 already and said he saw 'no footprints' even of them. No trails in the grass. No signs of them in any of those sheds there, no hairs found, no piece of shredded paper found, even though they carried a lot of paper in their bag seemingly, going by one of the night photos where a rock was littered with paper. But they didn't leave even a candy wrapper behind when they 'got lost'. I find it very worrying that the little bits that were found of them, ultimately point towards at least Kris having walked around in her underpants and without a bra.
In the end, I think that it has been mainly (and falsely) fed in the media that there is no way you'd even survive a few days out there, beyond the summit. But you have to take into account that this trail, including the part after the summit, was a normal hiking trail before all this, which was used by tourists and locals alike. People who hiked the trail beyond the Mirador (case researchers, tourists, bloggers) all ran into other people in that area. Locals, tour guides, people tending their cattle. Even someone walking their dog. There are finca's and meadows there, houses and sheds. There is water everywhere. It were the authorities who insisted time and time again that the area behind the Mirador is 'a death trap'. But is it really? No. Not unless you go there right after a flash flood. Notwithstanding that barely anyone was allowed by Panamese authorities to venture beyond the Mirador; not the Dutch dog units, not the journalists, not the Dutch ambassador. Only Sinaproc. So how do the Dutch authorities know that it is so very dangerous out there? They never saw it with their own eyes. Frank van der Goot did, but only 9 months after the girls went missing. And he failed to come back with any hard evidence whatsoever. There is also no evidence that they got lost on the trail they were last pictured on. Despite multiple people walking these trails every single day, nobody claimed to have seen these two eye-catching tourists beyond the Mirador. No more photos after then, showing they took a supposed wrong turn. No trails left behind. The guide went up to there on day 3 already and said he saw 'no footprints' even of them. No trails in the grass. No signs of them in any of those sheds there, no hairs found, no piece of shredded paper found, even though they carried a lot of paper in their bag seemingly, going by one of the night photos where a rock was littered with paper. But they didn't leave even a candy wrapper behind when they 'got lost'. I find it very worrying that the little bits that were found of them, ultimately point towards at least Kris having walked around in her underpants and without a bra.
This cold case has captured the attention of many people worldwide. I believe that the unsolved status, the mystery and the complexity of this case is what keep so many people invested over the years. Our brains are simply hard-wired to hyper-focus on and repeatedly revisit unresolved questions. Used artfully, it’s what gives cliff-hangers of beloved TV shows such lasting power. But the lack of satisfactory forensic evidence for instance, also causes frustration in many. Below follow an extensive list of unanswered case questions. Then comes a very detailed timeline. At the bottom of this post I will detail my personal suspicions in this case and write about what I think has happened to Kris and Lisanne. Thank you for reading this far 🙂
And many questions remain. Read all the questions here which still need to be answered.....
*What went wrong with the promised and 'arranged' volunteer work at Guardería Aura? Why have we never heard a proper explanation from Ingrid or the school staff about what exactly went wrong here?
*How come Maria Elena claimed she did not know Spanish by the River or Ingrid?
*As it appears to have been a package deal they booked: language courses, a community to join, different locations and volunteer work as a cherry on the cake. Or did the director of Aura get out of her part of the agreement with just an excuse? Who sends volunteers away?
*Who booked that supposed Wednesday tour with guide F?
*How was it possible that inexperienced intern Eileen, who spoke barely any Spanish, was to run the school all by herself? And then booked day tours as well? Who was supposed to man the school then?
*Did guide F. meet Kris and Lisanne and said 'Hola!' to them or not?
*What did he and Eileen W. spend all that time in the girls' bedroom?
*Why didn't Miriam call the girls when they never showed up at home, and why didn't she report them missing with the police?
*How come Maria Elena claimed she did not know Spanish by the River or Ingrid?
*As it appears to have been a package deal they booked: language courses, a community to join, different locations and volunteer work as a cherry on the cake. Or did the director of Aura get out of her part of the agreement with just an excuse? Who sends volunteers away?
*Who booked that supposed Wednesday tour with guide F?
*How was it possible that inexperienced intern Eileen, who spoke barely any Spanish, was to run the school all by herself? And then booked day tours as well? Who was supposed to man the school then?
*Did guide F. meet Kris and Lisanne and said 'Hola!' to them or not?
*What did he and Eileen W. spend all that time in the girls' bedroom?
*Why didn't Miriam call the girls when they never showed up at home, and why didn't she report them missing with the police?
*Was Sigrid V. ever properly interviewed and could she confirm that Kris and Lisanne did nót wear the same clothes on Monday evening as they did in the Pianista photos?
*Why were the CCTV video recordings of the girls in Boquete overwritten, despite police heading out to get them (reportedly)?*Why was there no other footage of them out and about in Boquete, or bank videos for instance? And why do we not know therefore what time they were still in Boquete on April 1st?
*Did Kris and Lisanne use their last Wi-Fi at Nelvis café or at Spanish by the River? How come investigators did not specify this important detail in the case files??
*Why did the police (!) statements from the staff at the language school about the girls leaving there around 13:00 not overlap with the photo time evidence on the camera?
*Why did the taxi drivers statements (to police!) about when he picked and dropped off the girls contradict the photo time evidence on the camera?
*Why did the taxi drivers statements (to police!) about when he picked and dropped off the girls contradict the photo time evidence on the camera?
*Who were the two men in the back of the taxi of Leonardo and why have they never been identified by police?
*How come a second taxi driver declared to have dropped them off at the trail on Monday the 31st?
*Why do the statements of almost all the witnesses who claim to have seen them on the Pianista trail that Tuesday contradict the photo time evidence? And why did none of the roughly 15 witnesses correctly describe their clothing?
-Why was nothing seriously done by investigators with the multiple reports of a red pickup truck that came down the Pianista that afternoon?
*The girls had warned other youngsters in Bocas del Toro not to venture out alone without a guide and they were known to be meticulous planners, so why did they themselves decide to go out alone (supposedly) on a wilderness hike?
*Why was Blue the dog, who supposedly walked along with them, never seen in any of their photographs?
*Did Doris and Giovanni make up this story about Blue the dog accompanying Kris and Lisanne? Why? Is their son somehow involved?
*Did Doris and Giovanni make up this story about Blue the dog accompanying Kris and Lisanne? Why? Is their son somehow involved?
*Why didn’t the girls turn around and walk back after taking photo #508? Or after they placed their 1st emergency call?
*How could they get 'lost' on a one way, easy road, and in an inhabited world where Ngobe Indigenous people walk the mountain trails daily with their cattle?
*Since they may have gotten into trouble so early in the trip, as indicated by their emergency calls, how could they have fallen into a river 12 hours away, as some people claim?
*If they were lost and realized this, why cross two big rivers, leading further into the wilderness? (Because their remains were found in an area where you had to have crossed those rivers).
*Is there actually a ravine over there which connects to a river which could have dragged their bodies all the way up to Alto Romero? As Dr. Frank van de Goot declared? If not, that would be interesting to see confirmed.
*There are many wooden sheds, houses and small wooden cabins along the river and scattered around the terrain where Kris and Lisanne could have ended up, going by the location where their remains were scattered: why wouldn't they have hidden in there if they truly were lost? Waiting for the rescue teams to find them there?
*How was it possible for Kris and Lisanne to power their phones on and off so methodically at set ('office') times, without having a watch or means to know the time in the tropical forest?
*How was it possible for Kris and Lisanne to power their phones on and off so methodically at set ('office') times, without having a watch or means to know the time in the tropical forest?
*WHY were there no more photos or even videos made by the girls for eight whole days and nights after April 1st?
*Why did they not once try to call their parents at home, or their host family nearby?
*Why were there no draft messages or other signs of life for their loved ones found?
*How come after 5 days alone in the wild (supposedly), the girls seemingly didn't memorize each other's telephones' PIN codes?
*Did Lisanne's Samsung phone ever get a correct PIN code entered or not (did it even require a pin code), considering all the phones ever tried to call were the two emergency numbers, which could be reached without entering a PIN code?
*Why was Lisanne's phone powered off overnight on April 2nd, but was it left on during the night of April 3rd, draining its battery nearly entirely without making any good use of that phone?
*And why did the girls just stop using that phone, which still had some battery left, on days 7-10?
*How come Kris' iPhone still had battery left by day eleven and could be powered on over an hour then? Shouldn't that battery be drained by then?
*How come Kris' iPhone still had battery left by day eleven and could be powered on over an hour then? Shouldn't that battery be drained by then?
SEARCHES AND INVESTIGATION
*If they were lost for 11 days, how come nobody found them or heard them, despite them being searched by locals, tour guides, helicopters, dog units, wilderness experts and Sinaproc?
*How come Sinaproc's director said on national TV that after months of searching he was certain that the girls were not out there? If they were there after all? Where were they hiding?
*How come Sinaproc's director said on national TV that after months of searching he was certain that the girls were not out there? If they were there after all? Where were they hiding?
*How come the local telecom company could not provide a more precise indication of Kris or Lisanne's last confirmed mobile phone locations? Or ping their phones?
*Why weren't the houses/fincas of some of the tour guides or other potential persons of interest checked for DNA or hairs of the girls?
*Why weren't the houses/fincas of some of the tour guides or other potential persons of interest checked for DNA or hairs of the girls?
*Has the statement from a local ánd a German tourist called Marcus M. about hearing someone scream in the forest around April 5th, ever been properly investigated?
*Why did we hear nothing from investigators about the drugs- and gang activity going on in Boquete around 2014?
*Why haven’t investigators launched a thorough investigation into the other unsolved deaths and missing person cases in the area?
*Was the backpack planted? And why does prosecutor Pitti call such insinuations manipulatively “Irresponsible” and “without foundation.”
*How and why did the jeans shorts from Kris get off and why were their bras folded up and neatly packed in their backpack?
*Did they in fact go for a swim after their Pianista hike, as some sources claim, and is that why they folded up their bras and shorts voluntarily, by themselves?
*Why did Betzaida Pittí not give the Dutch dog search unit permission to search beyond the Mirador?
*And why was Betzaida Pittí fired from her job in early 2015? If she did such a marvellous job, by her own estimation?
*Why do we not know whose fingerprints were on the digital camera, the phones, the bras etc? We really do need to know who made the last phone calls to 911 and 112; fingerprint analysis could help with that. And why weren't the fingerprints of the searchers recorded?
*How about the water bottle and its water remnants; were the water molecules found in the small plastic water bottle from supermarket quality water? Or was it water from a local river? Or local tap water perhaps that was last in it? Why did Pittí decided against investigating this?
*And was the second water bottle, pictured in photo 492, ever found by search teams?
*And was the second water bottle, pictured in photo 492, ever found by search teams?
*Why were there no successful DNA samples taken from possible saliva remnants on the water bottle?
*Why did Pittí decide against investigation of the soil and plant residue found on the bag? Or locating their origin?
*From who was the blue shoe that was found? The one which Betzaida Pitti did not want to be investigated for DNA, despite the pathologists asking for it.
*Why did the plastic Romero bag and the long blonde hair and fuchsia shoe sole go missing? (Read more about this in part 2).
NIGHT PHOTOS
*Why has the exact location of the nighttime photos never been thoroughly investigated and established?
*Why did Pittí decide against investigation of the soil and plant residue found on the bag? Or locating their origin?
*From who was the blue shoe that was found? The one which Betzaida Pitti did not want to be investigated for DNA, despite the pathologists asking for it.
*Why did the plastic Romero bag and the long blonde hair and fuchsia shoe sole go missing? (Read more about this in part 2).
NIGHT PHOTOS
*Why has the exact location of the nighttime photos never been thoroughly investigated and established?
*How is it possible for the Dutch forensics to conclude that the nearly 100 nighttime photos were all dark, when many photos have since turned up and are showing a clear landscape? In fact: why did they and the families say this?
*And why were the other 85 or so nighttime photos so closely guarded and did officials and family refuse to make them public, claiming they also show 'nothing but blackness'? (They have mostly all been leaked now by an anonymous source, see the next blog posts)
*How is it possible that a state prosecutor can manipulate and permanently alter the memory card, prime evidence, before sending it to the NFI?
*Who erased data from Lisanne Froon’s camera—and why?
*How come nobody could retrieve even a few percentage of photo 509, despite this being the norm when a photo is just manually deleted?
*How come nobody could retrieve even a few percentage of photo 509, despite this being the norm when a photo is just manually deleted?
*Why has Betzada Pitti never confirmed or denied whether she had any awareness of that missing file 509, or why she messed with the night photos? Why did a sleuth have to discover this?
*The camera and phones of Kris and Lisanne were first examined by technicians in David: were the people examining the SD Card already aware there WAS a missing file? (Or was it perhaps deleted by them or Pitti..?). They have never commented on this very important point.
*How much of the evidence in this case has been tampered with? And can we even trust the phone data, the photo data and the state of the backpack, for instance?
AUTOPSIES
*Why won’t Panamanian national authorities release the Holandesas’ full autopsy reports?
*Why is Lisanne's autopsy report nowhere to be found in the case files?
*Why did Prosecutor Pittí declare that the girls were dragged to their deaths in the river when the pathologists say the bones show no sign of abrasion from river rocks or injury markings whatsoever and the bone marrow was dry?
*What made Lisanne's foot break off clean at the ankle and how come her foot still had flesh on it while Kris' bone remnants were bleached?
*Why was there bleach/phosphates on Kris' bones, but not on Lisanne's?
*Here the stages of human decomposition are explained: how come Lisanne's foot in the shoe still contained skin and tissue (found on June 19th, so roughly 10 weeks or 2,5 months after presumed death)?
*How come Kris' bones looked in the late stage of decomposition, in stark contrast?
*How come Kris' bones looked in the late stage of decomposition, in stark contrast?
*Why could there not be a possible time of death determined from eithers remains?
*Why did Pittí make up the silly and never further proven statement that Lisanné shin bone skin was cow's skin, despite the actual coroner writing it was skin from Lisanne's shinbone?
*How can a professional prosecutor just dump such a thing out there, without evidence to back it up?
*Where were all their other remains and clothes, aside from the handful of small bones, the bag and a jeans shorts found?*How can a professional prosecutor just dump such a thing out there, without evidence to back it up?
AFTERMATH
*Did the taxi driver really drown by accident?
*Did Osman Valenzuela die by accident or was he murdered? And is it true that he had photos on his phone of girls, matching the description of Kris and Lisanne? And if so, is this the swimming photo which was recently leaked?
*Did Kris and Lisanne meet Henry, Edwin, Osman and the other pandilla members?
This is what such a specific package deal looked like: some Spanish, new friends,
some exploration, a host family arranged for you, volunteer work if you like to.
up ideally on site, and that can still be cleared up perhaps:
-Where were those night photos taken?
-How long does it take to walk from the Pianista trail to the 1st and 2nd cable bridge river crossings? And how much longer to reach Alto Romero?
-How much habitation, houses, farms etc does one pass while walking to the location of the bones (Alto Romero)?
-Can you really walk all the way there without running into anyone?
-How many open spots do you pass, where one could have waved and flagged a passing helicopter?
-How many sheds are passed visually where one can take shelter?
-Can you really not get lost on the Pianista trail and on the trail on the other side of the summit? After the stream of photo 508, if you keep walking on, is there really no way to get lost or fall down a ravine there? Or any side trail?
-On the summit, Kris' mother pointed to a small trail in the Answers for Kris video and guide F. waved it away as nothing. But where does that small trail in fact lead to?
-Do the people working in the local pharmacy remember that Kris and Lisanne supposedly visited the store on Tuesday morning for coughing syrup and such? If so, at what time did they see them exactly? Same for the store manager of Romero supermarket (which CCTV footage of the girls was overwritten, according to Ingrid Lommers)?
Well, stuff like that..
The official timeline of events, presented to us by Panamanian and Dutch officials and the media and with more case details
Credits to FOK forum. Take into account that Dutch officials have complained openly that some of the information provided by the Panamese authorities was incorrect (and most likely some evidence and information has been kept from the public), so I am not entirely sure all of these official versions of events are correct to the T. But this is what has been communicated by the officials, the authorities, those involved in the search, the families and the media.
[Saturday 15 MARCH]
Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers arrive in Panama for a six week holiday. They board a plane from Amsterdam to Costa Rica. From there they travel to the Panamanian island Isla Colon in the Bocas del Toro archipelago.
[Saturday 29 MARCH]
[Saturday 29 MARCH]
The girls take an early bus in Bocas del Toro, around 08:00 AM and travel to Boquete. [Lisanne herself wrote in her diary: Saturday morning around 10 o'clock we are ready to leave for our new destination: Boquete!] Eileen W. joins them. They arrive in Boquete in the afternoon, around 15:30 PM, with a shuttle bus. They plan to learn Spanish and teach children in a local school. Kris herself described in her diary how she and Lisanne got off this bus before everybody else, 'in the middle of nowhere'. (You can read all their translated diary entries here). They 'found the school in no time', and at Spanish by the River, they were then told where to find Miriam's place. There they had to wait for them, 'which was nerve-wrecking'. Miriam Guerra houses often international students and has a room for the girls in her main house. The girls plan to stay with this local host family in Boquete for four weeks. Miriam later describes the girls as smart and shy. Kris and Lisanne are both tired from their busy and social two weeks in Bocas del Toro, and need to readjust in Boquete. They don't speak good Spanish. In the late afternoon of Saturday March 29th they walk to nearby Spanish by the River to meet staff there. Marjolein J. (30 years old at the time) explains them where Guardaría Aura is located, where they have to start their volunteer work on Monday. Lisanne write in her diary that evening: "I'm sitting here, with tears in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. The view of the mountains is beautiful, the house is spacious and the family is friendly. I'm even here with Kris, who is so very familiar. But still I want to go home. I had no problems for two weeks and suddenly I went completely crazy. The transition from two weeks of lively holiday to stepping into the life of a real Panamanian family is just too much for me. I cannot make myself understood and this is real life, not a vacation anymore. I was way too naive to think that I could handle this. Because this is exactly the type of situation that I just can't handle. Not even now that I'm 22 and living on my own. I'm in way over my head. I want mom and dad to hold me tight and tell me that everything will be alright. But I can't let them know how I feel now, because I don't want them to worry. It is precisely because I am 22 that I think I have to solve this myself. Still, I now feel like a small child of 2 yelling for her mother who is 2 metres away. I didn't really want this, but I went anyway. I thought I should be able to do this, the final test before I can be really happy with myself. So far I have failed badly. Shit." And Kris writes in her diary: "Last night we really had to get used to the new situation. You suddenly stay with a family that you are not (yet) part of. You know nothing about their habits and you actually don't know how to behave. On top of that you can hardly speak a word with them, so you also cannot express how you feel. We were also really exhausted yesterday, but after a good night sleep all is not so bad anymore. So once we have stayed here for a while I am sure that it will be all right. The family is very sweet. The mother's name is Miriam. The eldest daughter Y. Miriam also has 2 other children. A. and A. Y. also has 2 children, J. and S. The youngest is 1 and the other almost 3. They are all very friendly and used to visitors who cannot speak Spanish. The eldest daughter does speak English. But for our Spanish it is better to speak as little English as possible. We also went to Boquete today. Very nice and cute village. Tomorrow we will start at Aura. Very curious how that will go."
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[Sunday 30 MARCH]
The girls had a good night of sleep and have breakfast together with their host Miriam. They visit the language school where Marjolein gives them a welcome talk and introduction. Marjolein later (in May 2014) writes to Ingrid that on this Sunday, she tells Kris and Lisanne that for guided tours the school usually works with tour guide F. Kris and Lisanne are also told that the volunteer work with Guardería Aura is sorted and that they can choose between a morning or afternoon shift the next day. They opt for a 13:00 PM start. Kris and Lisanne are later said to have talked with Marjolein about their interest in places like Barú volcano, the Caldera hot springs and the Hidden Waterfalls. They post on their facebook pages this Sunday and announce their plans to walk in and around Boquete today. They go out to explore the small town of Boquete. They take photos along a riverbank and while having lunch in a Boquete restaurant, called 'Boquete Bistro'. Sitting on a balcony they have a plate of chips in front of them with toast and an extra small plate of chips between them. They drink orange and pink juice from a can. Lisanne also studies a map that lies on the table. Some witnesses have stated that the girls talk to local young men this day, who have never been identified further. Kris and Lisanne also explore the area of the Coffee and Flower Fair. Host mother Miriam stated later the girls arrive back again at their host families' place at the end of the day, before it gets dark. Myriam Guerra has declared that Kris and Lisanne don't get home until sunset that day. The sun in Boquete sets a little after half past six. Lisanne writes in her diary that day: "Okay, the tears are gone but it is still strange. I still feel like a tiny intruder in this family. Delicious French toast for breakfast! Explored Boquete in the afternoon which was nice. What a world of difference with Bocas! Here its windy and everywhere around you there are mountains. Magnificent! You can go almost anywhere here for 60 dollar cents. In the afternoon we also went to the school to check out some excursions, that will be fine. We mainly eat rice here by the way! Tomorrow our first day in Aura! Exciting!"[Monday 31 MARCH]
Kris and Lisanne are seen at breakfast in Miriam's house by the oldest daughter. The girls go to the children's school, but are sent away there. They are told by head of the school, Maria Elena Quintero Gonzalez, that they are not expected and they hear that there is no work for them. They can come back in a week's time. Kris and Lisanne are gutted by this unexpected news, considering they made solid agreements with staff of Spanish by the River - who arranged the volunteer work for them - about the work planning in advance. The head of the children's school had other things to do elsewhere it was later said, and had no time for the girls, despite earlier made agreements. The head of the school complained later that she could hardly understand the girls, as they spoke no Spanish. Hardinghaus and Nenner write that Maria Elena has declared the following: "Only "the taller one in the flowered blouse" spoke a little Spanish, she says, while the other one didn't. Again, Maria explains that she can't offer her a job, to which "the tall girl" replies that she doesn't want to accept any more work at all but is going on a trip to Bocas del Toro instead. If Lisanne has said this, it could be due to resignation. At that moment, it must have felt to her as if everything was going wrong in Boquete. It is possible that prosecutor Pittí later used this statement as an opportunity to claim that the girls had walked to Bocas via the Mirador. Where Kris and Lisanne go after that is completely unclear." And to police Maria Elena declared not to know Spanish by the River or Ingrid Lommers.. Which has to be a lie, as Guardería Aura is listed on the website of SbtR at the time as one of the schools with which they work and collaborate.
Especially Lisanne does not take this setback well, as she planned everything meticulously at home and does not like unexpected surprises. "We have been sent away" she texts her parents. "I am really very disappointed." The girls need to keep themselves busy for another week before they can hopefully start their volunteer work in the school. Disappointed and upset they go to Spanish by the River. Here they spend parts of the day, on and off, waiting for staff member Marjolein to hopefully find them replacement work for that week. Eileen is supposed to be at her work station, but Kris and Lisanne find nobody present when they arrive at the language school. There are some gaps in the timeline here and it is not entirely clear or known how Kris and Lisanne spend that Monday afternoon. We know that in the morning, Kris and Lisanne were seen getting into a cab around 11:00 in the center of Alto Boquete. It is claimed to have been Marjolein who sees this, while in a bus heading to David. They are also seen around noon by a local waiter of Bistro Boquete, Vega Moises, walking toward the local supermarket Romero (they had enjoyed lunch in Bistro Boquete the day before). Notice here that we know from the case files that neither Kris nor Lisanne's phones were used during this period. Kris's iPhone was even switched off... This Monday Kris and Lisanne have lunch in town (name of the restaurant is unknown to me... Was it Sabroson's place? Was it at Nelvis? Or somewhere else?) Lisanne's Samsung phone is claimed to have logged into an unknown public Wi-Fi network around 13:06 PM, and stays logged in until 13:38 PM. Kris switches her phone on for the first time that day at 13:13 PM and uses WhatsApp, among other things, until 14:00 PM. At 13:48 PM two photos are taken with the Samsung phone. Between 14:00 and 15:30 PM the photo gallery on Lisanne's cell phone is open.
It is unclear what Kris and Lisanne do on Monday afternoon. No further cell phone activity is recorded until 16:42 PM. It is assumed that they may have visited the Artisan Village* (again?) this afternoon, but there is no hard evidence to corroborate this and frankly, there is a gap for Monday afternoon and we don't know for certain how they spent this afternoon exactly. Their phones did not give indications of this. *This 'Artisan Village' is described by one tourist by the way as "full of Yanks selling their ""alternative"" stuff to each other. An important weekly event to them, but hardly the local colour one would expect." Worth a quick look, but don't plan your day around it. Maybe Kris and Lisanne spent more than a mere twenty minutes there, but we know of no photos of such a visit. At some point that afternoon, salesclerk Ana O. also claimed to investigator Martin Ferrara to have spoken to Kris and Lisanne on this Artisan Village. She claims that they told her that they wanted to go hiking, but didn't mention where. This claim is not verified. Then there is also some unconfirmed information that one witness saw the girls attempt to start the Pianista hike this Monday afternoon, but that he advised them to make a short walking tour behind his restaurant instead. It was later assumed that he was confused about the dates and may have seen them on April 1st instead. Lisanne also wrote nothing in her diary entry for March 31st about a hike at or around the Pianista Trail, and neither does she mention it to her mother while communicating with her that day. Another faint possibility is that Kris and Lisanne use this Monday afternoon to get a ride to the Caldera hot springs, where some witnesses claimed to have seen them. Police noted down a sighting of them there at 14:00 PM. But witnesses proved very unreliable in this case.
That evening they spend with their host family. Miriam recalled later that Kris read a book in the girls bedroom, while Lisanne kept Miriam company a bit and told her that they didn't yet know what to do with their free time. She also recalled that Lisanne was sickly and that she didn't believe they would voluntarily make a very long hike the next day. No known tours were booked this day for the next day. Their diaries only show that both girls were eager to find replacement work that same week. Neither seems preoccupied in their diaries with guided tours for the rest of the week. Lisanne writes in her diary this Monday: "Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! Our first day was a disaster. As we arrive at Aura on time, we are not even recognized or given a friendly welcome. The only thing we hear is "no proxima semana" = we are only welcome next week. WHAT?! We returned to the [Spanish] school disappointed and indeed, the daycare only has work for us next week. But of course we don't buy anything for that*. Maybe we will be able to start tomorrow at Casa Esperanza. Fingers crossed! To alleviate our disappointment we went to Sigrid for a full body massage. Some enjoyment! Another day tomorrow, hasta la mañana!" *[Scarlet: a Dutch saying. It comes down to this 'being of no use'] Kris writes in her diary about this Monday March 31st: "Today was a strange day. We were going to the project for the first time. We were quite nervous and found it nerve-racking. When we arrived we introduced ourselves, expecting the woman to know who we were because she was expecting us, after all. But that was not the case. She showed no sign of recognition and said that it was not possible now [to start volunteer work there] and that we should come back next week. Very unfriendly and not at all warm or cordial. So when we left again we were very disappointed. We were not received openly and did not feel welcome at all, unexpectedly to us. We also did not understand what was exactly going on. Then we went back to the language school to tell our story and to get some answers. It turned out that there was no place/work for us after all this week, so we couldn't start yet. The school also found it very strange because we had planned things months in advance. Then we had to wait all day for Marjolein to hear if we could be part of another project for this week. Eventually we heard that she had not been able to speak to the volunteer coordinator yet, so she wasn't sure, but she did think we would be able to start there. She also said that it was a nice project and after reading about it we also became enthusiastic. Tomorrow they will try to get a hold of that woman and suppose that we really like it there, then we can also just stay there*. Because we both don't really want to go back to Aura anymore, because we didn't feel welcome at all there, and it was really a huge disappointment. Let's hope that the other project is really fun. Well, lets go with the Panamanian flow then."
[Tuesday 1 APRIL]
Marjolein leaves for Costa Rica on Tuesday morning very early, leaving new intern Eileen alone to run the place. Marjolein claims in a later letter, written in May 2014 to Ingrid Lommers, that she had a meeting around 07:00 AM with guide F. at Spanish by the River this morning, in order to drive with him to David. From there Marjolein traveled onward to Costa Rica. Eileen W. is responsible for the school now. Kris and Lisanne are reportedly seen at breakfast that morning by Miriam, before she leaves for work. According to Miriam she serves Kris and Lisanne bread, cake, and cold tea for breakfast. When she leaves for work at 06:45 AM she sees them still sitting at the table but does not speak to them again. At 08:10 AM Lisanne opens a clock app on her cell phone for four seconds.What happens next is subject to ongoing speculation. After all these years and all the investigation that has gone into this disappearance case, it is still not certain how the rest of this Tuesday exactly unfolds. There are some facts released in the Dutch press which I haven't seen in international coverage of this story. There is also misinformation and conflicting information circulating, so it is very difficult to be exactly sure about the details of this most pivotal day. Kris and Lisanne are said to visit the language school already around 10:00 AM to use their computers, but employer Eileen later denied this and stressed that the girls were last seen in the language school by her on Monday 31st of March, around 16:44 PM when they also used the Wi-Fi connection there. But to others (including in her official police statement made on April 7th!) Eileen said that she last saw them there on the 1st of April around 13:00 PM though.. Something which Ingrid repeated in the media and something which Ingrid still insists is the truth. Ingrid stated in this news video: "The last moment that they were seen by a female teacher here was really 13:10; an employer of us in the office also saw them walk away then." But that information does not match with the times of the photos of Kris and Lisanne made on the Pianista.
It is also not entirely clear when Kris and Lisanne's phones logged into the Wi-Fi network of Spanish by the River that morning (indicating that Eileen was not having the correct recollections about not having seen Kris and Lisanne at SbtR on Tuesday morning). Matt from Imperfect Plan revealed that Lisanne's Samsung phone last made a connection with Wi-Fi at 10:26 AM on April 1st. It was long assumed that this was at Spanish by the River, but other sources since published that it was in restaurant Nelvis where they had breakfast at that point. (But the Wi-Fi source is not specified by the NFI). Cafe Nelvis was a minute’s walk from Restaurant Sabroson, owned by Edwin A's parents; more about him in part 2. The waiter there is Edwin S. who - according to Pittí - declares later to the police that Kris told him they wanted to go to 'the mountain' that day. It is assumed by the Dutch authors that Lisanne's phone made contact with this restaurant's Wi-Fi at 10:26 AM, but there is no proof for this as the case files bizarrely do not specify where exactly this 10:22 - 10:26 PM Wi-Fi use took place. The SLIP authors, on the other hand, claim to have different info from the case files and state that according to the report, Lisanne's cell phone was logged into the school's Wi-Fi network between 09:09 AM and 10:20 AM. The Samsung phone was last located at 09:57 AM in Spanish by the River. So they present different times and locations also. These different claims and quotes from various writers with books out, are clearly not helping to establish a reliable and detailed timeline.. The SLIP authors also claim that "at 9:09 AM, Lisanne appears on WhatsApp for the last time in her life. She also browses messages on NOS News and checks her Facebook page. The phone data also reveals 17 Google searches that can be tracked via her account. After initial general information about hiking in Panama and routes in Boquete, Lisanne's interest increasingly focuses on the Pipeline Trail, recognizable by five targeted searches. Her final focus is on the Pianista Trail, which she researches three times. At the same time, the search activities are reflected on the school computer, where similar terms are entered. Shortly before Lisanne logs out of the network, she activates Google Maps on her cell phone at 10:16 a.m."
Restaurant Nelvis in Boquete, as Kris and Lisanne visited it in 2014,
Credit to Power-Pixie
BOOKING A TOUR FOR THE NEXT DAY - Word is that Kris and Lisanne think about booking a guided tour for Wednesday: together with Eileen they are said to want to visit a local coffee farm. This Dutch newspaper reported that the girls were looking for a guided tour for this Tuesday through a local travel agency, but that none were available. Eileen has later declared to have personally called guide F. to book him in for the next morning at 8 o'clock. There has been no further verification of this information and it is unclear when and how guide F. was booked. Nor what sort of tour was booked, which varies in the available information from a strawberry farm to a coffee tour to Baru volcano or the Quetzal trail. Some people, including the Kremers family, even doubt if this Wednesday excursion was booked at all. Local guide F. has claimed in this interview with a Dutch newspaper, that he sees Kris and Lisanne at Spanish by the River "shortly before they disappeared", most likely on Tuesday morning (or perhaps on Monday, the guide never specified this). And that one of the girls is lounging in a hammock while the other is studying maps of the area. In this Dutch newspaper it is also stated that before finding out there were no guided tours available that day, the girls had already gone online on a computer at the language school and read the information maps present there about the Pianista trail. Staff member Eileen was also questioned by a local resident of Boquete (Lee Zeltzer) and said the following on April 4, 2014: "I spoke with Eileen at Spanish by the River in Boquete who confirmed that the girls are missing. That they told noone where they were going but they think from brochures and the internet sites they were reading they were heading toward the Quetzal trail or someplace in that region of the mountains. For those not familiar with the area that is a very remote mountainous area north of the pueblo."
CAB RIDE - As mentioned above, there are two different timelines for the time Kris and Lisanne started their Pianista hike. Either they started their hike around 11:00 AM, or they instead left SbtR around 13:00 PM, then went to their room at Miriam's place to pick up some things, including their backpack and walking shoes. Then take a taxi to the Pianista trailhead. None of the two taxi drivers who have since come forward gave a time that matches the 11:00 AM trail start. They both do match the 13:45 trail start. Taxi driver Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu (34) claimed that he picked the girls up around 13:30 in Boquete and that he dropped them off around 13:40 at the start of the Pianista trail. Two Panamese (young) men are already in the taxi when he stops for Kris and Lisanne. The driver asks the girls where they want to go; he speaks English. One of them answers in Spanish: "A la entrada del Pianista." First the other two Panamese passengers are dropped off at their destination and then very soon after the taxi driver brings the girls to the start of the El Pianista. Underway the taxi driver receives a lot of phone calls and he therefore doesn't talk much with the 'Chicas Holandesas', he later declares. After paying him 5 dollars the girls ask him where the trail begins exactly and the taxi driver gives them some instructions. Witnesses have later stated that they see the two young women get out of the taxi at this point. Taxi driver Humberto G. also came forward and declared on April 8th 2014 to police that he picked up two European girls (believed to be Kris and Lisanne) at the Bruña supermarket. He said he did so between 13:15 and 13:45 PM. He drove them to the start of the Pianista trail, where they said they wanted to go. However, he wasn't talking about April 1st, but about March 31st. It is not certain if either taxi driver spoke the truth, and their claims were not further investigated.THEY MEET PEDRO - On Tuesday Kris and Lisanne meet Pedro from Casa Pedro, according to Pedro. Kris and Lisanne twice talk to him there. First they ask him where they can find the Il Pianista trail. He points them the way. In front of his house there are also arrows painted on the road, indicating the direction of the popular trail. But he tells the girls that another, shorter, trail starts next to his house. He believes that the girls first start to walk this much shorter route in the morning of April 1st. After roughly an hour they return to Pedro. They tell him that they want to go back to their guest house because they are tired after their walk. Pedro confirms that Lisanne has a nose cold and is a bit sickly. They ask him about the easiest way to get back to Boquete. He advises them to take a taxi, and not a bus (why is unclear, perhaps because the bus doesn't run often). He also advises them against also walking the El Pianista trail that day. The girls tell him that they may then visit the town instead. After this, he sees them sitting on the side of the road for some time, probably waiting for their taxi. But it appears that they ultimately did not return to Boquete, but ended up on the Pianista trail that afternoon, and beyond. If this witness statement is correct and they had already finished a short hike at this point, one wonders why they would so soon after opt for a much longer and steep walk up the Pianista trail? In this newspaper, the following is stated by Ingrid Lommers: "Lisanne and Kris then went to sit near the road at the hostel and spoke with the owner. Another man, who owns a nearby shop, saw them walk past. We are not a hundred percent sure if it was Lisanne and Kris, but it does seem that way." The travellers were described as two young backpackers who spoke English with an accent. After that, no trace is left of the two girls. "Nobody saw them get on a bus or in a taxi", Lommers says." And also: "According to Lommers, an American who lives near the path leading to the Pianista Trail spoke to the girls, encouraging them to take an easier trail instead, which is also fun. The travellers did this, but turned back soon as they were tired and wanted to go home." They didn't.
IL PIANISTA OWNERS - Giovanni Santoro, who has an Italian restaurant at the start of the Pianista trail, states later that he sees the girls start their walk and that they ask him some questions about the trail. The wife of a restaurant owner, Doris, is said to have given them the dog Blue as a guide. Halfway on the trail, the girls are seen by a resident whose house lies along the trail. This resident sees them climbing up the trail. Despite the Old Timeline placing them at the start of the trail at 13:45 PM , and many statements from locals living on the Pianista trail also placing the girls on the trail around 14:00 PM, the discovery of the camera and phones of the girls in June changes everything. The New Timeline, based on the digital camera photos and times, is now the gold standard. Regardless of statements from witnesses and the taxi driver, Kris and Lisanne múst have started their hike that Tuesday April 1st at 10:45 AM. Reaching the summit of the mountain (El Mirador) around 13:00 PM, according to the photo data. They take various selfies and pictures of the surroundings here. Lisanne wears a greenish/turquoise sleeveless tank top and shorts, Kris wears a red and white striped top and jeans shorts. Both wear walking boots.
LAST PHONE CONNECTION - At 13:38 PM the connection of their mobile phones was cut off as they had ventured too far from the summit. At 13:54 and 58 seconds PM Lisanne takes a photo of Kris at a small stream. It lies on the 'wrong' side of the Pianista trail, beyond the summit. The girls have not turned around on the summit to walk the same trail back. Despite Marjolein having told to do so on Sunday already. Yet for some reason the girls have walked on. They had also read the Lonely Planet guide, which warns tourists that robberies have taken place in the past on the Il Pianista trail, although it also describes the Pianista trail walk as "a pleasant day hike". Strange fact: according to her father and boyfriend, Kris last had contact with her boyfriend Stephan around 14:00 PM, by phone. This must have happened in a zone without mobile phone connection then.
FIRST EMERGENCY CALLS - Around 16:39 PM on April 1st, an emergency phone call is made with Kris' mobile iPhone. Because no connection is made (no cell phone reach), it is not clear from what exact location this call is made, or why. Twelve minutes later, at 16:51 PM, another attempt is made to reach emergency services, this time with Lisanne's Samsung phone. Both calls are made to 112, the Dutch emergency number, which should also work in Panama normally. At that point the walk back would take several hours and around 18:40 PM it would get dark. The local dog Blue does make it back alone to his owners at the start of the Pianista trail later in the afternoon, they later declare to investigators. This dog is said by them to have accompanied the girls, but there is no photo evidence of this. Blue is pictured in none of the girls' photos of that day. It has since been considered an untrue case detail, therefore, but it remains a question why Doris and Giovanni would introduce such a detail into the world if it is a lie. Giovanni and Doris say they do not raise the alarm when they see Blue return by himself and without Kris and Lisanne. Their host Miriam notices that the girls haven't returned in the evening and waits with dinner in vain. Miriam is said to have gone to bed that evening by 23:00 PM without having seen or heard Kris or Lisanne coming home. But she tells investigators and the media that she did not think much of it and that she was not worried yet; students have more often stayed out late and Boquete has a lively nightlife. They may just be having a good time..
IL PIANISTA OWNERS - Giovanni Santoro, who has an Italian restaurant at the start of the Pianista trail, states later that he sees the girls start their walk and that they ask him some questions about the trail. The wife of a restaurant owner, Doris, is said to have given them the dog Blue as a guide. Halfway on the trail, the girls are seen by a resident whose house lies along the trail. This resident sees them climbing up the trail. Despite the Old Timeline placing them at the start of the trail at 13:45 PM , and many statements from locals living on the Pianista trail also placing the girls on the trail around 14:00 PM, the discovery of the camera and phones of the girls in June changes everything. The New Timeline, based on the digital camera photos and times, is now the gold standard. Regardless of statements from witnesses and the taxi driver, Kris and Lisanne múst have started their hike that Tuesday April 1st at 10:45 AM. Reaching the summit of the mountain (El Mirador) around 13:00 PM, according to the photo data. They take various selfies and pictures of the surroundings here. Lisanne wears a greenish/turquoise sleeveless tank top and shorts, Kris wears a red and white striped top and jeans shorts. Both wear walking boots.
LAST PHONE CONNECTION - At 13:38 PM the connection of their mobile phones was cut off as they had ventured too far from the summit. At 13:54 and 58 seconds PM Lisanne takes a photo of Kris at a small stream. It lies on the 'wrong' side of the Pianista trail, beyond the summit. The girls have not turned around on the summit to walk the same trail back. Despite Marjolein having told to do so on Sunday already. Yet for some reason the girls have walked on. They had also read the Lonely Planet guide, which warns tourists that robberies have taken place in the past on the Il Pianista trail, although it also describes the Pianista trail walk as "a pleasant day hike". Strange fact: according to her father and boyfriend, Kris last had contact with her boyfriend Stephan around 14:00 PM, by phone. This must have happened in a zone without mobile phone connection then.
FIRST EMERGENCY CALLS - Around 16:39 PM on April 1st, an emergency phone call is made with Kris' mobile iPhone. Because no connection is made (no cell phone reach), it is not clear from what exact location this call is made, or why. Twelve minutes later, at 16:51 PM, another attempt is made to reach emergency services, this time with Lisanne's Samsung phone. Both calls are made to 112, the Dutch emergency number, which should also work in Panama normally. At that point the walk back would take several hours and around 18:40 PM it would get dark. The local dog Blue does make it back alone to his owners at the start of the Pianista trail later in the afternoon, they later declare to investigators. This dog is said by them to have accompanied the girls, but there is no photo evidence of this. Blue is pictured in none of the girls' photos of that day. It has since been considered an untrue case detail, therefore, but it remains a question why Doris and Giovanni would introduce such a detail into the world if it is a lie. Giovanni and Doris say they do not raise the alarm when they see Blue return by himself and without Kris and Lisanne. Their host Miriam notices that the girls haven't returned in the evening and waits with dinner in vain. Miriam is said to have gone to bed that evening by 23:00 PM without having seen or heard Kris or Lisanne coming home. But she tells investigators and the media that she did not think much of it and that she was not worried yet; students have more often stayed out late and Boquete has a lively nightlife. They may just be having a good time..
[Wednesday 2 APRIL]
On Wednesday the girls are said to have an appointment with local guide F. for a tour in the area. He goes to the Spanish language school, where they were supposed to meet around 08:00 AM, together with German intern Eileen. But the girls aren't there. They also don't show up in the next half hour. Together with Eileen, guide F. then goes to the host family to see if the girls are there. The girls are nowhere to be seen and they don't respond to knocks on their bedroom window/door. Subsequently, this guide calls Miriam and she tells him where to find a key to the house. Around 10:00 AM he and Eileen spend some time in their room, reportedly up to half an hour. Alone, without police or Miriam present. The guide says later to police and the media that he felt instantly that nobody slept in that room the past night and that it gave him goosebumps. It is unclear then if Eileen stays with guide F. that afternoon or not; they have given conflicting statements about this. Eileen calls with the head of the language school in Costa Rica, Ingrid Lommers. (Although locals stated here that Lommers was stationed in Boquete in fact). She is Dutch herself and already knew Kris and Lisanne from their weeks in Bocas del Toro, where they attended 'Spanish by the Sea'. Ingrid is initially not very worried, but instructs Eileen to inform the girls' families about the fact they didn't come back from their hike. Eileen also calls the girls' family in Holland in the late afternoon (midnight in the Netherlands). Lisanne Froons mother Diny stated in a Dutch talk show that she was called in the middle of the night by Eileen, "just after midnight". Eileen asks Diny Froon: "Do I speak with Lisanne?". "We are searching for Lisanne." "No", answers Lisanne's mother, "Lisanne is in Panama." She hangs up, confused. Then she calls back and hears the terrible news that her daughter did not spend the night at their host family and seemingly did not come back from a hike. The girls' worried parents say they normally received daily messages from the girls, but that this had stopped on April 1st. Both Lisanne and Kris' parents head that same night, around 05:00 AM Dutch time, to the Dutch police to report Kris and Lisanne missing case and to have Interpol alerted, which is done right away.It is said that the guide and Eileen go to the police around 19:00 PM. Although this local news article says that they went to the police together around 21:30 PM. But that is most likely when they returned to police, who asked them to bring some ID info of Kris and Lisanne, after which guide F. and Eileen go back to the host family that evening to gather a passport of Kris and possibly also a diary of one the girls, to take it back to the police station. Eileen and the guide subsequently look for identity info in the admin at Spanish by the River. Guide F. is told by the police to inform Sinaproc the next morning of the disappearance. One can wonder at this point why they were searching the room in the morning, but didn't report the girls missing to the police until the evening.. Guide F. has blamed this decision on Eileen, insinuating that she held him back by reminding him how German police want adults to be missing for at least 24 hours, before people can report them missing.
This day, Wednesday the 2nd, Lisanne's Samsung phone is used to try to call 112 at 06:58 AM. At 13:50 PM the Samsung phone is only powered on and powered off again. At 16:19 the Samsung phone is powered on and left on. The phone continues to be powered during the night of April 2-3. The iPhone from Kris is used once this second day, to call 112 at 08:14 AM, and while doing this, a screenshot photo is made from the telephone screen. Perhaps accidentally. Both phones are used alternatively. Language school owner Ingrid Lommers is later interviewed by a Dutch investigation journalist and tells the journalist that in the first few days, so April 3rd, 4th and 5th, many private searches were already taking place. By friends, local guides. People with an adventure company also helped look for the girls very early on. Sinaproc started helping the search early on as well, but initially with few people.
[Thursday 3 APRIL]
Guide F. informs Sinaproc of the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. On April 3rd, Personería Municipal del Distrito de Boquete starts its judicial "investigation into an alleged crime against the life and integrity" into the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. Lisis C. is put in charge. He instructs the responsible criminal investigation department (SDIJ) and the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Sciences (IMELCF) to investigate a possible crime against Kris and Lisanne. The Personería looks for Kris and Lisanne in hospitals, bus stations and hostels, among other places. The Netherlands ask for all Panamanian telecommunications providers to look out for phone activity by Kris and Lisanne, based on their phones' IMEI numbers. Nothing turns up though.
Sinaproc also go to Miriam to talk with her and her kids about the disappearance. Miriam tells them that she does not believe Kris and Lisanne to have taken off on a hike, because Lisanne had been sickly and they did not bring their jackets or passports with them. IMELCF look forensically through Miriam's house and through the girls' bedroom, reportedly taking fingerprints and DNA swabs, and also photographing and documenting their belongings. However, as has been reported in the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa, there is a reported 'misunderstanding' here between IMELCF and Sinaproc, with Sinaproc not actually being authorized to enter the girls' room. The head of Personería Boquete, Rafael Guerrero, later tells the press that the civil defense agency overstepped boundaries and falsified a possible crime scene. Sinaproc had conducted witness interviews on its initiative and searched the missing girls' room without authorization and before the room was taped off and secured. They also did not stick to the strict forensic rules when touching the girls' belongings. Arturo Alvarado defends his teams actions in the press, by emphasizing that there was an absolute urgency to spring into action at the time and the case was then still considered a missing persons case, not a crime investigation.
Sinaproc plan to start a large scale search for the two missing Dutch young women. Local guide F. urges them to make haste. Sinaproc do put together a search team at that point of roughly ten men, who are supposed to search on the Pianista trail. But then Sinaproc gets a call and is told to stay put until more teams arrive from Panama City. There is also information that they had to return and set up camp in Boquete because of the arrival of the Dutch ambassador there the next morning. Guide F. has declared in the case files that HE himself was also asked to join the Sinaproc team, 'as a local expert'. I have not seen this confirmed by Sinaproc in the media. By his own admission, guide F. walks the Pianista trail and the ongoing trail beyond the summit himself, all the way to the meadow ('paddock'), but finds "no trace of the girls". F. also confirmed in the Answers for Kris video that he went out on the Pianista trail on Thursday April 3rd to look for them. He also talks with the people living along the trail, including Giovanni and Doris from the Il Pianista restaurant, Olivia and her husband and Martina. All supposedly tell him that they saw the girls walk up the trail, but not come down again. (You can read more about this in my blog post about the witnesses). Guide F. also tells Sinaproc that Kris and Lisanne were seen at Spanish by the River with a map with information about the Pianista trail. He also knows that the girls did internet searches for this trail (this is what he most likely found out when he and Eileen went to the office on Wednesday evening, after police asked for more official info about the by then missing Dutch girls). Sinaproc are therefore told about the Pianista trail early on, but because they only have this second hand information from the guide to go on, they want to be certain and plan searches of a much wider area, including many other places that are popular with tourists. The case of the missing Dutch girls has also aired on TV by now and flyers have been handed out in and around Boquete. Sinaproc has a message circulating, stating that the two Dutch women were last seen at the guest house of Miriam. A helicopter is considered but the weather conditions have turned for the worse. This day, the Samsung phone from Lisanne has been powered on throughout the night. In the Netherlands, Judith calls the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the morning to notify them of the situation. The Dutch call the Panamanian embassy. - Between 02:21 and 02:41 AM a weather application has been used on the Samsung phone. Then on 02:41 applications of the Android OS were used, but it is not known which ones. By 07:36 AM the Samsung has only about 1% battery left and is powered off. At 09:32 AM the iPhone4 is powered on again and 911 is called twice. Then the iPhone is powered off. At 15:59 PM the iPhone4 is powered on and the contact “Mytiam, 00 507 679xxxxx” is looked up on WhatsApp. Then the phone is powered off.
[Friday 4 APRIL]
On Friday April 4th, 2014(so three days and 72 hours after the girls went missing), Sinaproc starts the searches. They focus on popular hiking trails around Boquete. The Boquete side of the Pianista is searched, as well as de Los Quetzales trail, the Hidden Waterfalls and the Baru volcano area. (Around 25 hiking trails in the nature reserve in Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro are in fact searched meticulously until April 11th, with a total of 621 miles of territory). According to police, a helicopter and small plane is also sent up to support the searches. Some dogs are also used. Dutch ambassador in Panama, Wiebe de Boer tells Dutch television station RTV Utrecht however that the helicopter search was interrupted in the afternoon due to 'bad weather in the area'. What sort of weather is not specified, and it may have been simply unfavourable weather to fly a helicopter specifically, instead of a storm or something like that. RTV Utrecht dedicates its first media coverage of the disappearance in the Dutch news, as does Panamanian newspaper El Siglio. A popular Dutch forum (FOK) starts a discussion thread about the case at the same day, just as local Boquete forum Boquete Ning. Lisanne's brother, uncle and a friend arrive around this time in Boquete and help with the search actions. A helicopter flies this day also over the tropical forest north of Boquete, but this is deemed rather useless as it won't be able to see through the thick foliage. On a local Boquete message board, where the search operations are discussed, a member called 'Safe Home Security of Panama' writes on April 4, 2014: "A member of a horse search party from Volcan just contacted me and a group of men are going to search. The three trails most tourists go to are Pipeline, Wendi Burton's Lost Waterfalls and Quetzal Trail. We discussed the hiking spots. [..] If the girls said they were going hiking, not walking around town, or hanging out, then most likely went up the mountain "somewhere". A bilingual woman will distribute fliers and speak to the Indians that live on the mountain, near the trout farm." Sinaproc also goes to the house of Miriam Guerra to look in their bedroom for clues. But an important detail is that it will take four more days for the actual forensic specialists to arrive to secure the bedroom of the girls (on April 8th)... A little too late probably, considering how many people have already gone in and out of that room by now. Kris' iPhone is used at 10:16 AM and 13:42 PM, seemingly to look for a mobile phone signal. The Samsung phone is powered on and off at 04:50 AM. At 05:00 AM the Samsung phone is again powered on and off. The battery is by then at 0%. 
[Saturday 5 APRIL]
Ingrid Lommers arrives in Boquete and starts asking around about Kris and Lisanne. Search teams continue throughout the weekend. A helicopter flies out on Saturday morning, but due to bad weather it gets stalled in the afternoon. This Dutch newspaper claims that 2 helicopters have been used today and a team of 40 volunteers have searched the area. However, the wind and clouds make a search by air very difficult. Search teams explore the areas of the Pianista again (the Boquete side) as well as an area north-east of Alto Quiel called Bajo Mono. On top of approximately 25 mountain search professionals, a team of around 20 volunteers helps also and goes onto the mountains, including local guides who drag themselves through the mud day in day out. In the area where the girls have gone missing live a lot of Indigenous people and they are also shown photos of the missing girls. Kris' iPhone is used at 10:50 AM and 13:37 PM to look for a mobile phone signal. At 13:37 the wrong or no PIN code is entered in the iPhone and it is not unlocked. Eileen leaves Panama this day. On a Boquete forum, a person named Allan wrote that on April 5 that all the trails on the Boquete side have by now been searched thoroughly by search teams, and that they also searched about an hour or two past the Divide on the Bocas side. Nine days later, the whole area including Alto Romero would have been searched… Contrary to later official statements that this search area around Alto Romero area was "too dangerous" to search. [Sunday 6 APRIL]
The owner of the language school in Boquete announces on the local radio that a reward of 2500 dollar is offered for the golden tip that leads to the missing women. SINAPROC's Security Director Lecia Espinoza later confirmed to Jeremy Kryt that the government’s search began on April 6—four days after teachers from the language school reported the women missing to police, and admitted that the first phase of the search was hindered because “nobody knew where to look” for the missing women. Kris' iPhone is tried to switch on at 10:26 AM and 14:35 PM but both times incorrect PIN codes or no PIN codes are entered. Two French tourists declared later that they made the Il Pianista walk this Sunday and were told by someone living on the route not to enter into the tropical forest, as there had been screams heard the day/night before. Lisanne's brother Martijn and her uncle Jan arrive in Boquete to help with the searches.
[Monday 7 APRIL]
Dutch police from Colombia assists with the rescue operations. President Ricardo Martinelli from Panama emphasizes during a press conference that his country is doing everything they can to find the women. He explains all that needs to be done now and also says that there are many rumors, but not enough facts. He is concerned that tourists may decide not to come to Panama anymore. [Mind you, Martinelli is the same now ex-president who is wanted for corruption, currently facing a lengthy prison sentence]. Martinelli also He thanks the Dutch embassy “for the confidence” during the search party. Eileen W. is questioned this day by the Personeria Municipal. She tells them ánd Sinaproc that she last saw the girls at the school at 1:00 p.m. on April 1st. (Eileen W. later contradicts this years later by telling the two Canadian sleuths that no, in fact she last saw Kris and Lisanne on Monday March 31st around 13:00 PM in the school). For the searchers there is difficulty today choosing between two walking routes, one of which is El Pianista Trail. Thick clouds are hampering the search party now, a rescue service member tells. Rescuers are also battling with the Panama landscape, needing ropes to travel downwards. The parents of Kris travel to Panama to help with the searching. Lisanne's parents stay home for personal reasons but follow the case closely from there; instead their son and Lisanne's brother prepare to travel to Panama. The Dutch RHWW Rescue Dogs Foundation wishes to fly to Panama with rescue dogs to help with the searches, but the Dutch government do not see a direct necessity for this.
[Tuesday 8 APRIL]
Kris' parents Roelie and Hans Kremers arrive in Boquete. The families spread video images of their daughters in the hope for new tips. Many volunteers offer to help the official rescue teams, but Panamanian authorities are not eager to allow large groups of volunteers in; they prefer seasoned professionals because inexperienced volunteers are 'at risk of getting lost'. In this newspaper article Sinaproc's chef Arturo Alvarado says on April 8th 2014, that his teams have by then combed through "every zone" where the girls may have ended up. In fact, they covered over 25 different routes in the tropical forest near Boquete and found nothing. Sinaprocs Alvarado goes as far as to say to the Dutch newspaper that he does not believe the two girls got lost. But that something else must have happened. Miriam Guerra, the girls' host family, confirms this and states to the newspaper that the girls were very quiet when they were with her, and had "no plans whatsoever to make long walks outside of Boquete". Neither did they have plans to go climb the local volcan Baru, she says. It is not sure if they did book such a trip with guide F. (as claimed) or didn't and which information given by the guide is correct. Miriam Guerra says also that they weren't dressed for a long tour, as everything was still in their room: their coats, wallets, Kris' passport. - It is also revealed this day that the women had lunch with two Dutch men in restaurant Nelvis in Boquete, a catering establishment recommended by the Spanish school where the friends were taking a course, shortly before their disappearance. Police try to track their identity. Later they are excluded as potential leads in this case and the information is adjusted by police; it turns out that two other unknown men were seen having breakfast in restaurant Nelvis with Kris and Lisanne, but they were not Dutch. They have never been traced. A search team member, a woman, later declares to Lisanne's father (shown in the Dutch TV program 'Break Free') that at this day, some of her dogs acted dubiously in the jungle; she wasn't sure if they had caught sense of something or not, and she decided to move on. Later she regretted this and stated that she thinks they passed the girls close by at that moment, and that they were still alive back then (also based on the camera and phone data found later). And that she regrets till this day that she didn't double check.
However, Kris' brother reported to the press soon after the TV program aired, that this was nonsense, as the woman's search operation was taking place weeks after the girls went missing, at a time when they were most certainly long deceased. Also, there is mentioning now of a sighting by several witnesses of a red car, seen later in the day on April 1st and around the time the girls should have been on their way back. Police never traced this car or its driver, although they did ask residents if they owned a red car or knew someone who owned a red car. Local Dutch detectives criticize this "slack" investigation method. And there is also information that in fact some witnesses díd see the girls return from their walk. It is not sure if this information is correct; there have been many false witness statements, placing the girls in town and in cafes when police knew for a fact they were at the Il Pianista thanks to their camera photos. But a certain Pedro Kapon is said to have declared that he saw the girls return down the mountain at the end of the afternoon of April 1st, asking him for instructions on how to get back to town. An American living at the start of the trail also states to have seen them come back down, inquiring about the best way to get back to town. Police today make a statement and announce that they covered most of the tropical forest (where the girls can be) but have some spots they want to refocus on. Someone spotted a ravine somewhere, with vultures circling above it, which can indicate a dead animal lying in it. In fact, tour guide F. also made such a statement on national TV also: "A mountain guide [guide F.] told us that if he saw vultures circling above the jungle. That would be less good news." Here you can see guide F. tell it on camera. More attempts are made to enter Kris' iPhone but every time the wrong PIN code or no code is entered. After 7 days of not using the digital camera, suddenly it is used again; no less than 99 photos are shot with a flash between 01:00 AM and 04:00 AM, mostly of rocks and trees in darkness. Theories of the reason for these photos range from trying to scare something off, trying to see in the dark, signalling something or someone or lighting the way up a steep rock wall. The photos are taken intelligently and sharply, investigators conclude. [Thursday 10 APRIL]
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Data state that around 40 people go missing annually in Panama and that in Boquete, an Englishman called Alex Humphrey (29 yo) went missing in 2009. The police remove the personal belongings of Kris and Lisanne from the room in Miriam Guerra's house.
[Friday 11 APRIL]
Search teams will continue until the end of the weekend. Dutch specialists are criticizing the fact that search teams look again in spots that have already been checked. The longer the disappearance continues, the smaller the chances of the girls being found alive. A local Dutch-Panamanian couple hires a private detective to help with the investigation. News is also communicated that the girls bought large quantities of anti-mosquito products in a pharmacy on the day of their disappearance, and also did some shopping at a supermarket. At 10:51 AM the iPhone from Kris is powered on for the last time. Again no PIN code or a wrong code is entered (not further specified). The phone stays switched on for an hour and five minutes until 11:56 AM, when it is switched off for the last time.
[Friday 11 APRIL]
Search teams will continue until the end of the weekend. Dutch specialists are criticizing the fact that search teams look again in spots that have already been checked. The longer the disappearance continues, the smaller the chances of the girls being found alive. A local Dutch-Panamanian couple hires a private detective to help with the investigation. News is also communicated by president Martinelli today during another press conference, that the girls bought large quantities of anti-mosquito products in a pharmacy on the day of their disappearance, and also did some shopping at a supermarket. There is also an investigation into whether or not the girls have been captured on shop cameras in the process. These leads are never followed up on (not even in the case files) and neither is the direct source of this information revealed anywhere. It is reported in the files that three banks in Boquete only have cameras on ATMs or in their interiors, which are not investigated. In the end, no CCTV footage is discovered of Kris and Lisanne. Despite them having used ATM's, given the amount of cash money that was discovered in the girls' backpack. On this Friday April 11th, at 10:51 AM the iPhone from Kris is powered on for the last time. Again no PIN code or a wrong code is entered (not further specified). The phone stays switched on for an hour and five minutes until 11:56 AM, when it is switched off for the last time.
[Sunday 13 APRIL]
The weather has changed for the better in Boquete and search teams circle around the spot where they previously found a little package with snacks and a single long ("yellow") hair. Neither turn out to be of any importance. This is the 11th searching day and morale is low. Later this day, authorities announce that they will stop with the search operations and scale it down to 'monitoring' the situation.
[Monday 14 APRIL]
Dutch investigations comb through the internet activities of the young women and their contacts in Panama. Spokesman Elmer Quintero says during a press conference: "If they were in the jungle of Boquete, we would have already found them." He rules out that the girls are out in the nature reserve. The intensive search is scaled down to monitoring phase, in the hands of the Public Ministry. Betzaida Pittí is put on the case. Her predecessor was specialized in rescue operations whereas Pitti is specialized in criminal offences.
[Tuesday 22 APRIL]
The Personería Municipal Boquete is relieved of the case and the chief public prosecutor's office of the third judicial district of Chiriquí, based in David, takes over, with Betzaida Pittí Cerrud investigating a crime involving the deprivation of liberty and kidnapping. Pittí even considers the possibility that the girls have been kidnapped directly from Miriam's house, which is why she has the property investigated with sniffer dogs. Over the next weeks, Pittí also inspects several properties on the Pianista Trail has most of the witnesses reinterviewed. The property of an American couple in the Caldera sector is also searched after a tip-off.
[Friday 25 APRIL]
Betzaida Pittí receives the case file, requested 'with urgency'.
[Sunday 27 APRIL]
Kris' family has by now returned to the Netherlands, as well as Lisanne's relatives. A Dutch police team leader arrives in Panama, in order to go through the case 'face to face' with the Panamanian authorities. They exchange all information they both have.
[Tuesday 29 APRIL]
Pittí picks up copies of the hard drives of the computers of Spanish by the River. On April 29, public prosecutor Pittí also finally decides to have the computers at the language school examined and to create a digital image of the hard disks and server.
[Wednesday 30 APRIL]
The families increase the reward money from 2500 to 30.000 dollars. Reason being that they are now expecting that a crime took place. 35 new tips come in, but none reveal where the women are.[Tuesday 6 MAY]
Lisannes parents travel to Panama in the hope of giving the search actions a new impulse.
[Tuesday 13 May]
[Tuesday 13 May]
The families increase the reward money from 30.000 to 40.000 dollars, if the girls are found alive by someone, or for anyone able to tell about their whereabouts. This is a very high reward amount for Panamanian standards, where the average annual income at the time was 10,500 US dollars.
[Wednesday 14 May]
A blue shirt is found behind the Pianista, by 'a privately funded research team'. The families look at the photos and determine that it is not a shirt of Kris or Lisanne.
[Friday 16 MAY]
A peculiar tip is checked; two bodies are said to have been seen near the spot where the women disappeared. Police release a map with the spot where the bodies are said to have been found, which coincides with an area called Culebre, near the cable bridges and the river crossing. Representatives of the Panamanian prosecution are sent to the spot, but bad weather prevents the helicopter from landing. They do circle for two days around the area and when the representatives do eventually arrive there, they find nothing. Shortly afterwards they state it was a 'false alarm' from an anonymous telephone tipster, who called the police with this 'information'. No money claim was made. Which is a strange extra detail, considering there was a reward of 40.000 dollars for the person who found the girls, and it kind of excludes the possibility of the tipster being a gold-diggers trying to troll for the reward. But in this article it is reported that the radar of a helicopter did in fact notice two skeletons. Note that this region was already highlighted on May 16th, while the girls' backpack and bones were found much later, respectively on June 11th and around June 18th.. In the same area as marked on this May card regarding the location of these potential bodies. Unfortunately the hard to reach Culebre region was over time not searched by Dutch sniffer dogs (who were trained to find both living people and bodies), as they were not allowed to go there due to dangerous circumstances. They would search the Pianista trail however between May 27-June 4th of 2014. On a Boquete forum, a person named Allan wrote on July 1st of 2014 that "Both Panamanian and Dutch dog teams found no scent, as well as no kind of evidence or trace of the girls on the trail which they were reported seen entering on, which has led local searchers and Government officials, on both sides, to conclude that the women had never been on the mountain."
[Monday 19 MAY]
Chances that Kris and Lisanne fell victims to a crime increase. A silent wake and march is held in Boquete by the local inhabitants and Lisanne's parents join in. Both Panama and the Dutch authorities finally allow special Dutch sniffer dogs to fly in to search for the missing women. Around this time several houses in the Pianista area are checked by police for signs of Kris and Lisanne, without result.
[Thursday 22 MAY]
[Thursday 22 MAY]
Police search an Italian restaurant in the area after an anonymous tip that Kris and Lisanne were held there. SLIP states that on May 22 "the private home and restaurant of a Canadian are raided in Boquete".
[Monday 26 MAY]
The RHWW Rescue Dogs Foundation from Duiven, the Netherlands arrives with 18 people and 12 dogs in Panama to search for the missing Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offered to transport the dogs free of charge. The team and their dogs plan to stay until June 4th. Read their journal about the expedition in the link. The dogs are trained to sniff out dead or injured people in open or enclosed areas. On May 26 Pittí sends the Dutch RHWW, their 18 helpers and their dogs out to search tourist sites around Boquete. They are accompanied by units from the national police, SINAPROC, the counter-terrorism unit UFEC1561, the counter-narcotics unit UTOA and firefighters.
[Tuesday 27 MAY]
12 Dutch sniffer dogs start their jungle search. The dogs, it is said, can track human remains as old as nine months, even if they are lying at the bottom of a river in high Rainy Season. The dogs are wearing cooling vests. They trace some of the same area that was previously checked by search teams. For nine days they plow through the tropical forest in torrential downpours and heat. Several farms and houses are also reportedly checked, but police make no announcements about this. The Dutch mobilize unique resources, this time a group of criminal investigators specializing in foreign disappearances. They investigate and make an electrifying public pronouncement: The women could not have simply disappeared from one of the trails. It sparks wild speculations, ranging from "sightings with shadowy young men, allusions to telling cell phone records, a mysterious anti-bug lotion in Boquete that could “impair judgment” and “cause odd behavior.” Even the hypothesis that an earthquake caused a landslide burying the students." But ultimately the sniffer dogs are not allowed to search the area around Alto Romero due to bad weather and dangerous terrain. In fact, they are not allowed to even search beyond the Mirador by Pittí...
[Thursday 29 MAY]
Again the Boquete side of the Pianista Trail is checked. Unfortunately the search again does not expand towards the area of Alto Romero or beyond the Mirador by the RHWW Rescue Dog Foundation. There are multiple versions of events out there, with regards to this. One version is that Han of the RHWW wants to continue to search behind the Mirador, but that this plan is cast aside because the team agreed to only search on the basis of tip-offs. Dutch forum member RapaN. has another version of events however. This forum member actually called the RHWW some years back to ask them about the expedition, and they explained back then on the phone that the RHWW were in fact not given the green light to pass the Mirador by local police. Because Panamanian police believed that Kris and Lisanne also would have never kept walking beyond the Mirador. This version of events is in fact also confirmed by the German authors Hardinghaus and Nenner, who possess copies of the case files: they are not allowed to search the path behind the Mirador, which irritates the head of the dog squadron. RapaN. rightly notices that if police indeed would have stopped the more extensive dog searches 'based on tip-offs', they could not even have known whether or not Kris and Lisanne had gone over the summit. Or did they believe that people díd see them come back down the Boquete side of the mountain or something? And how about the anonymous tip-off of May 16th, about two decomposing bodies being found behind the Pianista? They were gone by the time police made it out there. Yet, the Dutch sniffer dogs had no reason to search behind the Mirador now and were prevented from doing so by local police? Very strange, considering these help troops had flown halfway across the world for this expedition. In this Dutch newspaper article, the RHWW members state to have been bitterly disappointed when they went back to the Netherlands without having found Kris or Lisanne or any signs of them. The article does detail how the dogs barked at a certain point on the main trail and how trained rescue workers scaled down the slope there, but found nothing. "Kris Kremers' parents followed the search in Panama closely. "For them, the search work of the dogs means that they can now definitively cross out certain areas. There is no trace of the women to be found there," said the dog's handler." But Hardinghaus and Nenner write about how the dogs barked on a separate trail in fact: "Instead, the Dutch search dogs "remarkably" hit another spot, as the head of the dog squadron says: at the top of the Piedra de Lino Trail, in the direction in which the bag was found the RHWW is not informed of this."On May 29 investigators also respond to the discovery of two mattresses that had been discovered on the banks of a stream in the Alto Quiel sector (mentioned in the Inspection Report of May 28, 2014). TVN reports: "On one of the trails, 2 mattresses were found tied up. At one point it was thought that the Dutch were inside, but fortunately that was not the case. Whoever threw the mattresses was summoned by the MP." Investigators had headed to the spot, described as the "crossroads between Cerro Horqueta and Cerro de los Ladrillos." When investigators check the location, it is again near the place where the plastic bag was found (read more about that bag HERE) and near where Marcus M. reported to have heard blood curling screams and a bang. However, according to the file, the officers do not even make this connection. This is certainly because SINAPROC investigates the place where the bag was found, while the Personería does the same with the mattresses. The pink and greenish-bluish mattresses are neither photographed nor forensically analyzed (!), but a local TV team records the find (see photo attached). This location was on route to the Lost Waterfalls, which Kris and Lisanne had shown open interest in visiting: they told Bas and Edwin on March 31 that they were going to the cascades; the school computer's search history log showed them having only googled two places of interest before they disappeared: the Pianista Trail and the Pipeline Trail, at the end of which there is a waterfall.. Both the mattresses and the plastic bag and contents should have been forensically investigated for DNA, body fluids, or fingerprints. On May 29, investigators also visit a hostel in the district of Gualaca, which is known for excessive drug use and morbid horror parties and also has hidden waterfalls. Nothing is found.
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[Friday 30 MAY]
30 mountain rescuers and specialists from the Costa Rican Red Cross arrive to help search. They stay until June 2nd.
[Sunday 1 JUNE]
In Panama a TV reportage airs, investigating whether or not the girls fell victim to organ traffickers: "El misterio de las Holandesas" may be related to organ or human trafficking, or be linked to the mafia, according to this channel.
[Monday 2 JUNE]Police receive a tip that a Dutchman who lives in Boquete and who has arms in the house and is said to be aggressive, has kidnapped Kris and Lisanne. During a police raid of his house, nothing is found.
[Wednesday 4 JUNE]
Panamanian police search local houses with the Dutch rescue dogs, looking for a scent hit. No results. The Dutch sniffer dogs found nothing. They will return to the Netherlands now. The dogs have tried to find a scent of Kris and Lisanne on the (Boquete side of the) Pianista Trail during their week long search attempts, around the Caldera hot springs, the Hidden Waterfalls and the Baru volcano area. They also accompanied police during several house searches after tips, looking for new leads towards Kris and Lisanne. All without result, unfortunately. A disappointed local from Boquete complained on a public blog that the Dutch and their dogs were not allowed to search beyond the Mirador, where they had the best chance to find something, in retrospect: "The 12 Dutch sniffer dogs never sniffed the spot where the last normal photo of Kris was taken, that is situated 1 hour beyond the Mirador of the Pianista trail. They followed the orders not to proceed beyond the mirador. The reason was that at that time, everybody assumed that the girls could never have crossed the Cordillera. So why search any further? Twelve Dutch dogs, 18 of their Dutch trainers, travelled all the way from Holland. But they only reached the mirador and then they turned back."
[Thursday 5 JUNE]
A benefit concert is organized in the Netherlands. Profits go to Kris and Lisanne foundation. Artists like Wibi Soerjadi and Babette van Veen perform.
[Wednesday 11 JUNE]
Search actions for the girls are broadened to the nearby country of Costa Rica (60 km away from Boquete). Flyers and posters must inform the Costa Ricans of the girls' disappearance. On June 11, investigators search the home of a Colombian man who is said to have abducted Kris and Lisanne to his property in the San Lorenzo district. Nothing comes from this. It was reported in a local newspaper that the girls' backpack was found by locals on this day, June 11th. A local woman from Alto Romero finds the girls' backpack near/in a river. This area had been searched prior by search teams by the way, who searched the entire area between the Mirador and Alto Romero. But they found no signs of the girls then. Despite heavy rainfall and months in the jungle, the backpack and its content is only slightly damaged. Police find their mobile phones, digital camera, 88 dollars and 30 cents, bras and sunglasses, as well as an insurance pass from Lisanne and an empty plastic water bottle. Police now know for a fact that the girls went to the Il Pianista trail, going by their photos. They subsequently drop another anonymous tip about a man living west of Boquete and the Baru region, who supposedly kidnapped Kris and Lisanne. It takes at least 48 hours until police manage to pick up the bag by helicopter in Alto Romero, on June 13th. According to authors Hardinghaus and Nenner, Pittí was at the time preparing everything "for a major raid, but immediately cancels it when she is informed via telephone a day later, on June 13, that Kris and Lisanne's backpack has been found near the village of Alto Romero in the forest behind the Mirador. This turns the entire case on its head."
[Friday 13 JUNE]
On the morning of June 13, Pittí travels by helicopter to Alto Romero to pick up the backpack. She is accompanied by her Secretary of Justice, Bolivar E. They arrive there at around 10:00 AM. Units from SENAFRONT, SDIJ, and the national police have already been in Alto Romero for an hour by then and have set up a base. After photographing the backpack and making an inventory of its contents, the items found are packed up by the officers, taken to David, and handed over to the IMELCF's Forensic Informatics Department.
[Monday 16 JUNE]
Panamanian authorities restart their search for the women, aided by a Dutch police team leader. They comb through the riverland and steep slopes in the area where the backpack was found. The weather is bad with rainfall.
[Tuesday 17 JUNE]
A photo of the backpack of the girls is leaked to and shown in this Panamanian news item. According to the inspection report from June 17, expert Luis R. has attempted to analyze the phones and the digital camera of Kris and Lisanne. The camera cannot be examined, it turns out, as it is filled with water. R. extracts the known images from the SD card. He is unable to extract information from Kris's iPhone because, according to protocol, it cannot be switched on. R. could not gain access to Lisanne's Samsung phone because it was password-protected. However, he takes contacts, mobile phone connections, and text messages from the SIM card. For some reason the photos from the Canon camera are marked as edited on June 17th, opening the (unanswered) question whether or not Pittí and her employees altered the photo originals.
[Thursday 19 JUNE]
Officer of Justice Betzaida Pitti confirms that human remains have been found in the search for Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon. Something which they had been informed about the day prior. Guide F. and six locals find bones and a shoe along the river Rio Culebra. Two different shoes are found, of which one contains human bones. This shoe with foot is found upstream. The laces are still laced tight and it also has a sock still inside it. The other shoe was not from the girls. A pelvic bone is also found: they are not all found close together. Pittí sends a group to the location, consisting of Mayor M., six employees from SENAFRONT, four from Sinaproc, three from the anti-drug agency UTOA, two from the Sub-directorate for Judicial Investigations, and a representative of the Red Cross. Pittí also allows a helicopter and a TVN camera team from the local press to come along (!) to this special mission of collecting the bones... A headquarter and checkpoint are set up in the village of Alto Romero. (In which vicinity the bones were found). The day prior, on June 18th, the commission has already been presented with two bone fragments and two shoes by locals Luis A., Angel P., Luciano V., and Lorenzo M., which they had found on the banks of the Culebra in the previous days. According to the report, they are "a black sneaker with pink edges, a dark shoe with a green sole, a bone with similar characteristics to the hip (pelvis), and a bone with similar characteristics to the one found in the knee." The shoe and bones are photographed and then sent to IMELCF in Panama City for forensic analysis. Around 30 people are now combing through the tropical forest again, near the area where these bones were found. On a Boquete forum, a person writing under the name of Concerned wrote that "This area had already been searched previously and nothing was found. Two months ago, there was a severe (fuerte) drought in the area, that affected the water levels in the whole cordillera of Talamanca." This day Dr. Moreno also performs an autopsy on the pelvic bone from Kris. It shows no signs of trauma - no fractures or signs of illness - but the bone does show minor traces of plant roots and slight damage from rodents or the likes. The autopsy report mentions that the bone has been cooked for four hours. Normally this can be done to help extract DNA from the bone, but there is no mentioning of DNA tests being done on the bone.
[Friday 20 JUNE]
The girls' family make a public statement, telling the public that they have strong reasons to believe that the girls have passed away. The bones found are investigated and forensic and DNA-specialists say that it remains to be seen of the remnants can prove a cause of death, because the temperature in which they have remained, the humidity, the state of the ground, their rate of decomposition and whether or not they were found in water, will all play a role here. The shoe found in the jungle is from a Dutch brand called Wildebeast. It is only sold in Perry Sport shops in the Netherlands. It turns out to be Lisanne's. The search group continues to search for more today and find a piece of dark blue cloth (see picture above), of which some believe it may have been Lisanne's shorts. But the cloth is clearly a t-shirt and is not further investigated, although the local press does report on the find. They also discover the jeans shorts of Kris near the second monkey bridge. It has her size 38, is light blue in colour and is found lying on a dry tree trunk near a waterfall. It is found in a good condition, with only minor damage, including a tear on the back. Later photo comparison confirms for investigators that it is indeed Kris' "Divided" brand denim shorts from H&M. In a local newspaper an article appears, in which the last line reads: "Unofficially, the arrest of at least three people and the discovery of more remains were reported; however, this has not been corroborated by the authorities." Around this time, the Dutch NFI forensic institute also receives the backpack of the girls with its content. They were sent to the Netherlands after Pittí and her team went through all the content and worked on the SD card. The NFI and their forensic investigators received both cell phones, the digital camera, the backpack and the two bras on June 20th. (But it somehow takes until September 2nd of 2014 until the camera case and the mobile phone cases are tested for biological traces). The black iPhone 4 of Kris had its battery and SIM card fixed to the device with adhesive tape. The NFI also received the official request for the "preliminary investigation into an alleged offense of deprivation of liberty against Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers," which was drawn up based on a UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. On June 20th Pittí was seemingly still considering the disappearance a crime. The NFI is not informed that Pittí's team has already examined, at minimum, the data from the electronic devices. Therefore the NFI themselves note that some of the photos on the SD card were edited on June 17, 2014. The originals are therefore not available for the NFI's investigation. The NFI investigators are also unaware that text messages and contacts from Lisanne's phone have already been backed up. The Panamanian authorities also refuse to comment again on the data recorded by R." To see this confirmed officially is a small bombshell in my opinion. - It is the cold case team of the National Police of the Central Netherlands that is now commissioned to draw up an expert report, which is given report number RHV02 with document code 09 PANAMA. The head of the investigation commissions the NFI in The Hague to carry out the initial analysis.
[Sunday 22 JUNE]
The forensic institute in Panama City confirms that the foot found is from Lisanne. Searches beyond the Mirador are halted on Betzaida Pittí's orders due to bad weather and rain. It will take a month until she calls for searchers to pick up where they left things.
[Tuesday 24 JUNE]
The other found bone (a left pelvic bone) belongs to Kris Kremers, DNA tests confirmed.
[Wednesday 25 JUNE]
The spokesperson for the Kremers family, Jeroen Van Passel, wants the Panamanian Public Ministry (Attorney) to explain whether the death was caused by an accident, or if other hypotheses are considered. Van Passel expresses that the relatives hoped that Panamanian authorities would have restarted the search for evidence or clues in the disappearance, but they understand why it had been suspended due to bad weather. The family also request the Panamanian authorities to forward the contents of a camera and information from a cell phone that were found with other possessions of the young ladies inside a backpack. The prosecutor, Betzaida Pitti, points out that the Public Ministry (OTP) insists that the investigation will continue. "Right now no one is under investigation" in the disappearance of the Dutch tourists, "it's still too early to say any hypothesis. Let's keep looking" in the area of the Talamanca mountain range, "but as it is an inaccessible and dangerous place we will do it properly", says the prosecutor.
The prosecutor, Betzaida Pitti, points out that the Public Ministry (OTP) insists that the investigation will continue. "Right now no one is under investigation" in the disappearance of the Dutch tourists, "it's still too early to say any hypothesis. Let's keep looking" in the area of the Talamanca mountain range, "but as it is an inaccessible and dangerous place we will do it properly", says the prosecutor.
[Wednesday 2 JULY]
Betzaida Pitti, head of this case, flies to the Netherlands to exchange information with the authorities there "to meet with authorities of that country, in order to learn about judicial assistance." The purpose of the visit is to "analyze and exchange information on the development of research"
[Thursday 3 JULY]
Kris and Lisanne's parents receive the photos from Lisanne's camera. This is before they are evaluated by the NFI.
[Monday 14 JULY]
The families of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers are still seeking answers to clarify what happened to them, says a representative of the family. "The hypothesis that they died after becoming lost is not definitive for the families," says a spokesman. "We are still considering the scenario of a possible third party being involved." This stance is based on "issues that have come to light in the investigation" about which the family "cannot give more details," says the source.
[Thursday 17 JULY]
The Netherlands and also the Dutch forensic institute (NFI) are faced with a great catastrophe when Malaysian air flight MH17 is shot out of the sky in Ukrainian airspace. 298 people lose their life and the NFI are forced to refocus their attention to this national crisis.
[Friday 18 JULY]
A remembrance service is held in Amersfoort, the Netherlands for Kris and Lisanne. Both families join the service.
[Thursday 24 JULY]
In a special press release the families of Kris and Lisanne announce that they feel the desire and need to both go their own ways and handle the ongoing search for more answers regarding the disappearance of their daughters in their own way from now. They will no longer work directly together.
In a special press release the families of Kris and Lisanne announce that they feel the desire and need to both go their own ways and handle the ongoing search for more answers regarding the disappearance of their daughters in their own way from now. They will no longer work directly together.
[Saturday 26 JULY]
Kris Kremers' parents travel back to Panama to start searching again on their own. They hike the Pianista Trail and try to retrace the steps of Kris and Lisanne, based on the photos on their camera. Hans and Roelie hire the services of tourguide F. for this hike, who brought some helpers. They record their hike in the Answers for Kris video, which they later upload on Youtube.
[Tuesday 29 JULY]
At approximately 7:00 am, a search for new evidence begins, ordered by Betzaida Pittí. The search team is made up of around 20 members of the National Border Service (Senafront), Sinaproc, Directorate of Judicial Investigation (DIJ) and the Public Ministry (MP). Their plan is to enter the mountains, including the El Pianista trail, for around three days to search for new clues. They search the area between the Pianista Trail and the second Monkey Bridge. The search teams are led by three indigenous people, including backpack finder Luis. (No official information whether or not guide F. is once more present this time). Kris Kremers' father will be arriving in the Boquete district later this week to closely follow the investigations. Police sources explain that the operation had not been reactivated previously due to the bad weather in the area, which could have endangered the investigators. The search will focus on the area where remains of the two women were found. The families are hoping that the additional search can uncover more clues and explain how the women died.
[Wednesday 30 JULY]
Again bone remnants are found, by locals who are helping with the search and tour guide F. They later turn out to be from Kris and Lisanne.
[Thursday 31 JULY]
The officials return from their search on July 31 without any results.
[Friday 1 AUGUST]
Authorities start searching again, tracing the Il Pianista path once more for clues that might explain better why the girls disappeared. Kris' parents join the group.
[Saturday 2 AUGUST]
On August 2, six new bone fragments are found again out of nowhere by local Alto Romero residents. Luis takes the remains over the Mirador to the entrance of the Pianista Trail and hands them over to members of the public prosecutor's office. He says the bones were found along the part of the Río Culebra known to the locals as Finca de Quiróz. This is upstream from where the backpack was previously found. It makes some people suspicious that official search teams find nothing, but the Alto Romero locals, invited by Pittí, do manage to make these surprise discoveries of remains. Again bone remnants are found. Later they turn out to be from other people: four bones belong to an animal, a skull and fibula cannot attributed to anyone. The press reports also that the bone of a 3 year old child and the bone of an older woman were found, but the case files do not reflect this. But 13 days later it is proven that one of the bones is in fact a rib bone of Kris. In the autopsy report it is described as being "dry, tissue- and fat-free." Dutch newspapers report that the Dutch friends already got into trouble on the first day of their disappearance and that they started their walk earlier than was assumed. They tried to call emergency services 8 times.
[Sunday 3 AUGUST]
During a press conference in Boquete, which is part of a memorial service, the Kremers parents declare that they believe that Kris and Lisanne did not get lost, but were kidnapped. They are also livid that they have not been informed by Pittí or by case officials about the discovery of a rib of Kris, a day prior. And that they had to learn this (once again) from the media. It is safe to say that the relationships between the Kremers and Betzaida Pittí is at an all-time low at this point.
[Wednesday 6 AUGUST]
After speaking with Betzaida Pitti (who makes them more promises of solving the case asap) and hiring a Panamanian lawyer, Enrique Arrocha, Hans and Roelie Kremers fly back to The Netherlands.
[Wednesday 13 AUGUST]
Enrique Arrocha files a complaint against the Panamanian prosecution, in name of the Kremers family. They accuse Panama of mishandling the case and performing a weak investigation. Arrocha reveals that it turned out that after the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (Imelcf) determined the test that was done to the skeletal remains of the second finding (carried out by residents of Alto Romero) was negative, false evidence was possibly being created and planted: "They are planting bones and evidence, something that is a crime and that worries us," Arrocha says.
[Saturday 16 AUGUST]
The bones found do in fact contain DNA material from Kris Kremers, research leader Betzaida Pitti announces. One of her ribs is found.
[Monday 18 AUGUST]
Enrique Arrocha discovers that the findings of the Dutch NFI forensic Institute have not been passed on to the Panamanian authorities. Kris' parents make a desperate plea to the NFI to do so immediately. Pittí claims that the NFI report still lays waiting at the Dutch general Prosecutor's desk. The NFI denied this and says claims everything had been handed over to the Dutch public prosecutor's office as agreed. The latter denies not having forwarded the documents. Here you can read an old blog post of the Kremers family about it, on their then newly erected Answers for Kris website (by now the site has been taken down). They state for instance, frustratedly: "In recent days it has become clear that the results of the investigation by the Dutch NFI of the backpack that was found, containing the telephones and the digital camera among other things, have still not been handed over to the Panamanian authorities. Our lawyer in Panama, Mr. E. Arrocha, came to this conclusion after a first look at the more than a thousand pages file that he has since been handed over by the Public Prosecution Service in Panama. The family would like to urgently request the NFI to hand over this information to the Panamanian authorities as soon as possible so that they can be further included in the investigation into answers about what happened to Kris."
[Tuesday 19 AUGUST]
Dutch forensic institute NFI start to investigate the memory cards of the digital camera and the mobile phones of Kris and Lisanne.
[Saturday 23 AUGUST]
Lawyer Arrocha walks the same route as Kris and Lisanne did, all the way to the spot of the last known photo #508 by the stream. He does so together with a research team. Arrocha says afterwards that he is about 85% certain that Kris and Lisanne didn't lose track and didn't get lost on the trail. After inspecting the site himself, he is convinced that Kris and Lisanne have been abducted. He criticizes the Dutch Prosecution for still not having given them the phone data. Betzaida Pittí thinks differently and ushers the Ministry around the same time to close the case. Despite her not having seen the NFI report yet...
[Saturday 23 AUGUST]
Lawyer Arrocha walks the same route as Kris and Lisanne did, all the way to the spot of the last known photo #508 by the stream. He does so together with a research team. Arrocha says afterwards that he is about 85% certain that Kris and Lisanne didn't lose track and didn't get lost on the trail. After inspecting the site himself, he is convinced that Kris and Lisanne have been abducted. He criticizes the Dutch Prosecution for still not having given them the phone data. Betzaida Pittí thinks differently and ushers the Ministry around the same time to close the case. Despite her not having seen the NFI report yet...
[Friday 29 AUGUST]
Locals who live in the tropical highland forest again find bones along the Culebra river: 2 bones from a lower leg, a small bone and a piece of skin. Luis (once more) hands them over to special agent E., who has flown to Punta Rovaló, Norteño sector. These are three bones that the indigenous man Basilio A. is said to have found the day before, while fishing in the Culebra River and detecting a "foul smell." He also hands over "a mass of tissue that was in an obvious state of decomposition." However, the person who is reported in the media to have found and gathered the bones is identified as mister Espinoso. This is confirmed by a Panamanian forensic scientist, Mr. Trejos.
[Monday 1 SEPTEMBER]
According to Kris's family, the NFI report has been lying idle at the Dutch embassy in Panama for ten days now. Here you can read an old blog post of the Kremers family about it. One quote from this now defunct Answers for Kris website: "We have now understood that the much anticipated NFI report is still not in the hands of the public prosecutor in Panama, Betzaida Pitti. According to various media, the NFI (Netherlands Forensic Institute) openly stated on 20 August that the investigation requested by the Panamanian authorities had been completed on 7 August and that the report containing the results of that investigation was sent the same day to the Dutch Prosecution. That message is in conflict with the information that the Dutch Public Prosecution Service provided to the Dutch lawyer of the Kremers family on 14 August 2014 and 20 August 2014, upon request. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has informed the lawyer of the Kremers family that the investigation by the NFI would not be fully completed yet. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service announced that it would act on the request for legal assistance from Panama and that it would have been agreed with the Panamanian authorities that all research results would be made available to the Panamanian authorities in one go via the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice. [..] The Dutch ambassador in Panama has had the research results for ten days now, but he has still not made those research results available to the Panamanian authorities."
The Kremers family are very saddened by all this and continue: “Here we again feel that they are giving us the runaround and that we're being kept in suspense, while we are simply trying to find out what happened to our daughter and how she died. There seems to be little empathy among people in the Netherlands who are involved in this research and who apparently cannot understand themselves that it goes beyond the bounds of decency to treat families in this way. Since the beginning of April we have now been trying to retrieve telephone data and we have made this clear time and time again to the various parties involved. We simply do not understand that such a report then disappeared first in a drawer somewhere, until we send out a press release with a plea; and then its release is again delayed by a Dutch embassy, while the authorities in Panama are just as desperate for it as the family. We hope that the Dutch authorities will soon come to their senses and that not only the Panamanian authorities may receive the report electronically today, but that we, as a family in the Netherlands, will also be added to the mailing list. So that we can have the information in our hands today, after chasing after it for more than four and a half months now. When they state in the Netherlands that it is only a case of the girls simply having gotten lost, and they no longer want to investigate the cause, then there is also no longer any reason or research interest for not disclosing this report immediately to those close to the girls. We expect that after this press release, the authorities concerned will finally understand that the matter is still very urgent for the family, not least because the weather is getting worse by the day in Panama where the rainy season will now soon erupt in its full glory, significantly diminishing the chances of finding Kris' remains. And with that also the chances of finding answers, which may wash away with the rising water.”
[Thursday 4 SEPTEMBER]
The new bone remnants found on Friday in the area where Kris and Lisanne died, turn out to be two large left leg bones belonging to Lisanne. Nothing more is said about the piece of skin that was found. Nobody hears who found the skin and bones. When Betzaida Pitti finally goes to the embassy to get the long awaited and 'missing' NFI rapport, the Dutch embassy says they do not have it. Around this time, Arrocha challenges the Panamanian Prosecution in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He believes the Panamanian officials have performed the investigation into the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne sloppy and have been negligent. [Thursday 11 SEPTEMBER]
The Panamanian Public Prosecution releases the belongings of Lisanne and Kris. Kris's parents say they have not been informed about this.
[Thursday 18 SEPTEMBER]
The Panamanian forensic specialist Dr. Mair Sittón Moreno performs an autopsy on the bones that were found on August 29th. IMELCF's director dr. Silvia Brenes de Bandel is reported to attend the autopsy. Hardinghaus and Nenner mention however that it is instead forensic scientist Wilfredo P. who accompanies Dr. Mair Sittón Moreno.... The bones have already been investigated at this point by IMELCF's own genetic lab, who have tried to extract DNA from the bones, which are confirmed to be human. Moreno finds no fractures or laceration wounds on Lisanne's left tibia and femur leg bones. The tibia (shin) bone does show signs of periostitis, which they attribute to 'environmental and occupational influences'. Like Romain has published already (see part 2 of my blog series for a review of his autopsy report findings), there were also some superficial traces of roots on the bones, but no signs of animal predation or 'cultural influences'. According to Adelita Coriat, they had been found covered in mud. Whether the skin tissue mass that was found belongs to Lisanne, will remain one of several great controversial mysteries of this case. Because bizarrely, the complete autopsy report for Lisanne's upper and lower leg bones is not included in the court files. There is no explanation provided for this. The case files only contain the report on the discovery of the bones and skin and the photos of them. This is shocking. We do not even know if the autopsy took place at all. All we have to go on is an article from reliable journalist Adelita Coriat, who published on October 20, 2014 in La Estrella about the autopsy of Lisanne's remains which she witnessed firsthand. She was with the anonymous pathologist who claims to have carried out the autopsy in the IMELCF's biomolecular analysis laboratory in the first week of September 2014. Pittí has since tried to discredit Coriat and her article, and accused her and the pathologist of lying when they identified the mass of skin as coming from Lisanne's shin bone. Pittí likes the public to believe it was cow's skin. She offered absolutely zero evidence for this, not even a photo.
[Friday 19 SEPTEMBER]
An Autopsy Report is presented. Betzaida Pitti is convinced that the girls died eight days after they went missing. She admits that a lot could have happened to the girls and that she isn't entirely sure about it, but still suspects the 'swollen river' to be the culprit and that even assuming that the girls were murdered is 'irresponsible'. One sentence in the report states that “It is important to indicate that the N / W (north and west) is not marked, and therefore the precise location of the bone remains is unknown, making it impossible to locate them on a geographic map.” When asked by Adelita Coriat from La Estrella de Panamá what Pitti will do if she will find the bodies of the girls on the farm of some local, Pitti pauses and responds: "We are going to kill them; [but] the criminologists of the Public Ministry or the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences do not give me grounds to think that it is a homicide." Criminologist Octavio Calderón strongly criticizes the Public Prosecution for not starting an investigation into the case and for withholding results and information.
[Saturday 20 SEPTEMBER]
In a response to Calderón, Ana Belfon of the Public Prosecution says she cannot start an investigation.
[Wednesday 24 SEPTEMBER]
Arrocha finally receives the NFI report, which raises more questions for him than it answers, as it appears to be incomplete. No answers are also provided about what happened with the NFI report until then and why it was 'lost'. The NFI wrote a recommendation that further research is needed to obtain specific results that can provide information about the cause of death of the girls. Arrocha agrees with this. However, this same day, the bone remnants of Lisanne Froon are flown to her parents in the Netherlands, on her birthday. Some local investigators as well as lawyer Arrocha in Panama criticize this decision, as the investigation into the girls' disappearance is still ongoing at that point. They fear it will never be solved now, because further investigation of the bone remnants is needed to perhaps discover a time of death at least. Arrocha's list of demands for further investigation are rejected by Pittí. The Froon family pass the bones onto the NFI for a second opinion. Interestingly enough, they discover that Lisanne's foot has three metatarsal fractures. This is very strange, as according to Panama's IMELCF autopsy report from June 19th, these fractures were not found then. Wilfredo P. wrote explicitly about the examination of Lisanne's foot: "The tarsal, metatarsal and phalanx bones were dissected and exposed, and no bone trauma was found." What is going on here? I like to add that I am sad for the families and the girls themselves that at the end of the day, after all their suffering, they only had a foot, one upper leg bone part (a femur), a lower leg bone (tibia) and a rib and a pelvic bone to bury.. And that these poor girls are most likely still buried somewhere in that frightening harsh jungle-like terrain in Panama. Quite gruesome that even in death they cannot be laid to rest in their home country, with their family. Arrocha also asks critical questions about the forensic report: A high concentration of phosphates has been found on the rib of Kris. This has not been further investigated.
[Wednesday 1 OCTOBER 2014]
The father of Kris Kremers appears in Dutch late night show 'RTL Late Night'. He says that DNA of an unknown person has been found on the backpack of Kris and Lisanne. Kris's parents highlight that they do not believe that their daughter and her friend Lisanne got lost in the jungle of Panama. According to them, two forms from the Panamanian authorities state that Kris and Lisanne were kidnapped. Fingerprints were found on the smartphones of the women, one of which has been found in the Panamanian database, the newspaper La Estrella writes.
[Thursday 16 OCTOBER 2014]
The Panamanian lawyer Arrocha is suing the Panamanian Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Kremers family in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for negligent handling of Kris' case. On October 14th 2014 already, newspaper Panamá América had published a story in which they claimed that sources close to the family of Kris Kremers had leaked that her family was contemplating bringing charges against the Panamanian state for negligence and violation of human rights. These charges could be brought to the Inter-American commission for Human Rights in New York. The family contemplated this due to the poor police work and the shoddy communication with them during the investigation. They may never have gone so far, because they would then have had to prove with documentation that the Panamanian state was negligent with guaranteeing the two tourists' fundamental right to live. Arrocha later did press charges. The families were by now still waiting for the full Panamanian case report. For anyone thinking that both families went ahead right away with the Lost conclusion; keep this in mind.
[Monday 20 OCTOBER 2014]
The skin tissue found on August 29th is from Lisanne's leg, and was found in a remarkably good condition, five months after her disappearance. Criminalist Calderón speaks out in an newspaper article from Adelita Coriat this day. He heavily criticizes the work of public prosecutor Pittí: "All evidence that could shed light on the cause of death was ignored [..] a clear violation of the investigation protocol. We don't know whether it was out of ignorance or on purpose, but every opportunity to find out the truth was wasted." He refuses to believe that the local river could have washed bones of both girls onto the same sandbank, over six miles from their last known location: "This has never happened before." Calderón beliefs that the rucksack and bones were planted by the river by someone.
[Thursday 30 OCTOBER 2014]
Arrocha is appealing against the rejection (by the Public Prosecution) of the request for further investigations. A day later, on October 31, Arrocha would actually file a lawsuit against Pittí's decision to not carry out any more investigations into Kris Kremer's case. Hereby Pittí ignores calls for further investigation from multiple parties, including the IMELCF and NFI. Arrocha is also threatening to sue the International Court of Human Rights for negligence in the Kris Kremers case.
[Friday 31 OCTOBER 2014]
The bone remnants of Lisanne Froon are buried during a private ceremony.
[Tuesday 11 NOVEMBER 2014]
The remains and belongings of Kris are transferred to the Dutch embassy in Panama at the request of her parents. Head of the biomolecular analysis department, Diomedes Trejos, is still calling in vain this first week of November 2014 for soil samples to be taken from the place where Lisanne's tissue was found, in order to determine the larvae it contained. "We need to carry out an inspection of the area to find other factors that have not yet been reported to us.") Not long after, the Supreme Court of Panama rules in Pittí's favour, allowing her to stop the investigation. The Supreme Court does leave the option open for the possible reopening of the investigation if there is new evidence presented in the future. The Dutch public prosecution (OM) also has the case suspended as a cold case. Given the absence of most of the skeletons, the IMELCF ultimately does not dare to certify the death of Kris and Lisanne and there is in the end no death certificate was issued and no cause of death given. The IMELCF at the end of the day also does not want to rule out the possibility that Kris and Lisanne died as a result of a crime. They only point out that "no evidence of injuries caused by sharp, pointed, or edged objects or the use of firearms against the girls has been found". Of course, this is based on only a handful of bones that were ever found of Kris and Lisanne, with major bones such as a skulls also missing.
[Wednesday 3 DECEMBER 2014]
Pittí tries to appease her critics with a last (five day) search round in Panama - an ultimate attempt to find more remains and to close the investigations. The Dutch RHWW Rescue Dogs Foundation will fly over again and Dutch pathologist Frank van de Goot will also travel to Boquete. He hopes to find more bone remains from Kris and Lisanne along or in the rivers in the vast land behind the Mirador. Or that is the plan, at least..
Pittí tries to appease her critics with a last (five day) search round in Panama - an ultimate attempt to find more remains and to close the investigations. The Dutch RHWW Rescue Dogs Foundation will fly over again and Dutch pathologist Frank van de Goot will also travel to Boquete. He hopes to find more bone remains from Kris and Lisanne along or in the rivers in the vast land behind the Mirador. Or that is the plan, at least..
[Sunday 18 JANUARY 2015]
The last search results in a great deception. Due to weather conditions and the risk of flash floods, the search teams have never made it to the river. Prosecutor Pittí has been told she is no longer senior prosecutor and is taken off the case. She unfortunately gets a knee/ankle injury during this last search operation.
[Monday 2 MARCH 2015]
Taxi driver Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu (34) drowns apparently in a river under unclear circumstances. Soon after the case of Kris and Lisanne is closed by the officials.
My personal opinion and conclusion
('Trigger warning': not everyone will agree with this but I will give you my arguments and opinion below. And this a summary and more repetition basically, so you can also skip to the last part now, further below: The Full Timeline) - Although there are no certainties and I cannot exclude the possibility that the girls had an accident, I personally have the feeling that foul play was involved. Personally I think the most likely scenario is that they were the victims of a local killer. Someone from the area. Many people who have more (reliable) data than us, except for First Superior Prosecutor Betzaida Pittí Extraordinaire, say: "Crime". That includes several forensic pathologists and journalists who had insight in the file case. If the bodies of Kris and Lisanne had been found in any other state, I may have believed as well that they simply got lost and tragically perished out there. They had no protective clothing, no extra food, not much extra water, nothing to shelter in or under. It makes sense that they just died out there, lost. Until you read about the forensics regarding the bones that were found. The absence of most of their skeletons, despite the backpack being found intact and their sunglasses inside it, without a scratch. The bones from Kris being all bleached looking and in a late stage of decomposition in the middle of June 2014 (little more than 2 months after the girls disappeared); her bones looking like they had been baking in the hot sun for a long long time, not what one would expect from bones having been shielded in the cloud forest, around 10 weeks after their suspected death. Whereas the bones from Lisanne still had intact skin on them and were found in a much earlier stage of decomposition. Neither bones looked 'right'. And what shocked me personally the most, was to find the information, while surfing the net yet again one night in search for more clues, that in late August of 2014 a mass of skin from Lisanne's shin was found, more or less intact. That was 5 months after Kris and Lisanne disappeared. Barely showing signs of decomposition according to the forensic scientist who did the autopsy. He said it must have been stored in a dark, cool place all that time and not out open in the jungle, where it was somehow found.
Aside from being surprised that this information was largely kept out of the media and was not mentioned by authorities, it mostly baffled everyone involved in that autopsy: how was this possible, considering the state of Kris' (and Lisanne's to a lesser degree) bones only 10 weeks after they went missing? To me it just doesn't add up scientifically with a Lost/Accident scenario. Either Lisanne must have lived a lot longer than Kris - and then she should have been found or kept alive somewhere - or her remains were stored somewhere cool and protected and this rolled up piece of skin was then planted in the jungle much later, or fell by accident when moving things around... (Which is, I will admit, a strange story as well). Meaning there was human intervention. The fact that news articles about this piece of skin were edited over time and Betzaida Pitti set up a crusade against the coroner who determined that the skin belonged to Lisanne's shin bone (as well as against the female journalist who wrote about it), does not convince me at all that it really was all one big autopsy error. In fact, her bizarre claim later on that it was in fact cow's skin, without as much as a supportive scientific piece of evidence of this, and that both the professional state coroner and journalist Adelita Coriat (who was present during the autopsy) were bare faced liars.... is infuriating. And ridiculous.
NOTICED
Two tall, good looking fair haired women in hotpants may have been noticed there. Perhaps word went round that they were out there alone on that mountain. If one of them got injured, the other could have followed the path back to Boquete to get help. Or they could have stayed put, as the main trail they were on was used by many people, including search teams and locals shortly after they went missing. Yet no-one heard or found a trace of the girls. They weren't there. They were taken. Frank van de Goot went to the area to search and believes that this area is so much inhabited in fact, that he deems the social control in this place too high to allow for a kidnapping to have happened unnoticed. I wonder why a kidnapping could not be done unseen, but two desperately tall European women, screaming no doubt to be found, could supposedly stay completely undetected for at least eleven days, going by this logic? No, it makes no sense. Especially considering the massive public incentive to find them, with the reward money quickly rising to $40.000. Yet nobody did.. And bluntly put: you don't die like that when you are young and fit and stuck in a stretch of tropical forest that borders so closely on civilization; where it wasn't very cold that time of year; where there is natural water and rainwater to drink. Where you can find sources of food ("Worms, grubs and termites are everywhere in the jungle and are all a great protein source. If you had fresh water, you could survive for months on insects alone"). With insects and other small animals to eat. That has natural shelter places - many abandoned ánd inhabited little sheds can be found all over the place, for instance. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FOUND
Also the places where someone could potentially fall in a ravine had all been checked and the girls weren't there. Volunteer bloggers also went out and also looked through the area, weeks into the disappearance and found zilch. An explorer and writer blogged about going down the sloped, searching for traces and finding nothing (his stories on this are covered in part 2). Kris' parents retraced their steps and are very clear about it; after the last known photo on day one (picture 508) there is no way to get lost on that trail, whether you walk on or turn around, back to the summit. There are no ravines or cliffs you can fall from, as the existing slopes are all densely grown with trees and shrub to break any potential fall. There are no other trails you can be mistaken with and get lost on either. I feel that it cannot be ignored that all the slopes around the actual mountain itself, around the Pianista trail, have been searched extensively by volunteers, by professionals going down on ropes and by different sniffer and rescue dogs. They were not there. Aside from the impractical fact that their remains were not found at the bottom of a cliff, but many kilometres up north on flat land, in the river and behind trees in an inhabited area. But none of their belongings show signs of a fall. Only minor possible slid marks on one area of the back of the jeans shorts from Kris (which may also have been the result of the ongoing friction of streaming river water or the river branch at which it was found stuck) and the backpack showed barely any damage at all. No damage to its content either, not even a scratch on the sunglasses. No signs of falling or sliding on the shoes or drag marks on the backpack. Guide F. walked that entire stretch on day 3 already, looking for their footprints or any indication of them having been there, and I am sure he would have noticed signs of two tall women falling through natural growth down a slope. He saw none of that. And that stretch of forest where the remains were found months later was also checked and checked again, they were not there either according to Sinaproc (who are highly professional search units). But nevertheless the official narrative is that Kris and Lisanne both had an accident (never specified or backed up by forensic evidence), somehow ended up in the river (never further explained) and their bodies were pulverized to some degree (no forensic evidence for this either), aside from a couple of intact bones that were found. Without any detectable microscopic damage, mysteriously enough. And a backpack found right near the tour guide's place, which also only had minor damage. Quite some river that is, littered with rocks.. Normally a body would have sunk and gotten stuck in one of the many bends right away. Not disappear from the face of the earth.
Also the places where someone could potentially fall in a ravine had all been checked and the girls weren't there. Volunteer bloggers also went out and also looked through the area, weeks into the disappearance and found zilch. An explorer and writer blogged about going down the sloped, searching for traces and finding nothing (his stories on this are covered in part 2). Kris' parents retraced their steps and are very clear about it; after the last known photo on day one (picture 508) there is no way to get lost on that trail, whether you walk on or turn around, back to the summit. There are no ravines or cliffs you can fall from, as the existing slopes are all densely grown with trees and shrub to break any potential fall. There are no other trails you can be mistaken with and get lost on either. I feel that it cannot be ignored that all the slopes around the actual mountain itself, around the Pianista trail, have been searched extensively by volunteers, by professionals going down on ropes and by different sniffer and rescue dogs. They were not there. Aside from the impractical fact that their remains were not found at the bottom of a cliff, but many kilometres up north on flat land, in the river and behind trees in an inhabited area. But none of their belongings show signs of a fall. Only minor possible slid marks on one area of the back of the jeans shorts from Kris (which may also have been the result of the ongoing friction of streaming river water or the river branch at which it was found stuck) and the backpack showed barely any damage at all. No damage to its content either, not even a scratch on the sunglasses. No signs of falling or sliding on the shoes or drag marks on the backpack. Guide F. walked that entire stretch on day 3 already, looking for their footprints or any indication of them having been there, and I am sure he would have noticed signs of two tall women falling through natural growth down a slope. He saw none of that. And that stretch of forest where the remains were found months later was also checked and checked again, they were not there either according to Sinaproc (who are highly professional search units). But nevertheless the official narrative is that Kris and Lisanne both had an accident (never specified or backed up by forensic evidence), somehow ended up in the river (never further explained) and their bodies were pulverized to some degree (no forensic evidence for this either), aside from a couple of intact bones that were found. Without any detectable microscopic damage, mysteriously enough. And a backpack found right near the tour guide's place, which also only had minor damage. Quite some river that is, littered with rocks.. Normally a body would have sunk and gotten stuck in one of the many bends right away. Not disappear from the face of the earth.
WESTERN ARROGANCE?
If even the director of Sinaproc said this on camera, he may have a better grasp of the reality there than us leisure hikers from Europe or from the USA...? I think it is very tempting but also not necessarily leading to the truth, for a 'Western' person who is into hiking, to compare his personal western experience with the situation in a Latin American country, a culture of which even the locals regularly say and write that it has high crime, corruption and countless cases of disappearing young women or drowned and murdered youth or locals.
ONLY THREE REALISTIC OPTIONS FOR THE CALLSPhone use wise, there seem to have been only really three sensible possibilities for why they called 112 several hours before it got dark that day:
Firstly, because one of them had a mild injury, an ankle strain perhaps, or Lisanne's "asthma"/cold symptoms were flaring.
Secondly; because they realized they wouldn't make it back to Boquete before dark.
Thirdly; because they ran into the wrong person or crowd and were afraid.
I'd say the 3rd option for me seems most likely. Because they called emergency services hours before it got dark. And because if one got a mild injury, they could have stayed put and would have been found, or the other could have gone back to get help, if not on day one then certainly on day two (and on day three a local guide walked that entire trail and didn't find them or any trace of them there). And most importantly: because both girls powered off their phones after 5 PM! If you are lost and in the possession of two phones, why would you not look for a signal more often with at least one of those phones? While in a panic, trying to gather your thoughts and options? The same goes for the 2nd scenario: they could have made it back on day two, as it was only about 2,5 hours to walk back at that point. I don't believe two healthy athletic strong young women both got seriously injured on a one way trail, surrounded by rock walls. Because if they were so seriously injured, how did they then eventually end up 14 walking hours up north? Into less accessible terrain? And if anyone found the bodies, he or she would have surely collected the 30.000/40.000 dollar reward, which is a fortune in Panama.. Not silently drag the bodies along with them and plant them near their village without asking for the reward (like, how does that make sense in any way?).
Secondly; because they realized they wouldn't make it back to Boquete before dark.
Thirdly; because they ran into the wrong person or crowd and were afraid.
I'd say the 3rd option for me seems most likely. Because they called emergency services hours before it got dark. And because if one got a mild injury, they could have stayed put and would have been found, or the other could have gone back to get help, if not on day one then certainly on day two (and on day three a local guide walked that entire trail and didn't find them or any trace of them there). And most importantly: because both girls powered off their phones after 5 PM! If you are lost and in the possession of two phones, why would you not look for a signal more often with at least one of those phones? While in a panic, trying to gather your thoughts and options? The same goes for the 2nd scenario: they could have made it back on day two, as it was only about 2,5 hours to walk back at that point. I don't believe two healthy athletic strong young women both got seriously injured on a one way trail, surrounded by rock walls. Because if they were so seriously injured, how did they then eventually end up 14 walking hours up north? Into less accessible terrain? And if anyone found the bodies, he or she would have surely collected the 30.000/40.000 dollar reward, which is a fortune in Panama.. Not silently drag the bodies along with them and plant them near their village without asking for the reward (like, how does that make sense in any way?).
THEY WERE FOLLOWED OR RAN INTO SOMEONE
I have the feeling they were followed, or ran into someone. Perhaps the taxi driver, perhaps locals, perhaps someone else, perhaps criminals (think of local criminals or gang members, a sex crime, organized crime or even organ trafficking is mentioned a lot in comment sections online about this case). My bet is that some local committed a crime of opportunity. It may have been a tour guide or a younger person from the area. Maybe this person (or these persons) kindly offered to accompany Kris and Lisanne when they crossed paths on the Pianista Trail, as it is said to be difficult at times to find the right track to reach the Mirador. All may have been fun and games, until said person(s) pushed the girls to walk on, and on.
NO PROFESSIONALS
The existence of drug laboratories and traffic routes in that stretch of jungle also keeps coming back in the media and even guide P. told a local expat about that possibility here. But I personally doubt this to have been what killed Kris and Lisanne. Organ trafficking is also mentioned regularly, although this must be a complicated matter in the jungle itself. You'd need a hospital nearby to keep 'harvested' organs functioning and fit for transplanting. The jungle is not really a good place for this. So if this is what happened in the end with them, they must have been transported away from Boquete. No, my suspicions go towards a local gang of sorts. Guys their own age at the time, following them up the Pianista and then committing a crime of opportunity. The sweet and chirpy Kris and Lisanne from Holland probably didn't think about the possibility of running into criminals. They were together, had so far encountered kind people and joyful times in Panama and at 21 years old you don't normally think about everything that can go wrong in the big bad world. Unfortunately, in this case...
I have the feeling they were followed, or ran into someone. Perhaps the taxi driver, perhaps locals, perhaps someone else, perhaps criminals (think of local criminals or gang members, a sex crime, organized crime or even organ trafficking is mentioned a lot in comment sections online about this case). My bet is that some local committed a crime of opportunity. It may have been a tour guide or a younger person from the area. Maybe this person (or these persons) kindly offered to accompany Kris and Lisanne when they crossed paths on the Pianista Trail, as it is said to be difficult at times to find the right track to reach the Mirador. All may have been fun and games, until said person(s) pushed the girls to walk on, and on.
NO PROFESSIONALS
The existence of drug laboratories and traffic routes in that stretch of jungle also keeps coming back in the media and even guide P. told a local expat about that possibility here. But I personally doubt this to have been what killed Kris and Lisanne. Organ trafficking is also mentioned regularly, although this must be a complicated matter in the jungle itself. You'd need a hospital nearby to keep 'harvested' organs functioning and fit for transplanting. The jungle is not really a good place for this. So if this is what happened in the end with them, they must have been transported away from Boquete. No, my suspicions go towards a local gang of sorts. Guys their own age at the time, following them up the Pianista and then committing a crime of opportunity. The sweet and chirpy Kris and Lisanne from Holland probably didn't think about the possibility of running into criminals. They were together, had so far encountered kind people and joyful times in Panama and at 21 years old you don't normally think about everything that can go wrong in the big bad world. Unfortunately, in this case...
COULD ONLY ONE HAVE BEEN TAKEN?
Could only Kris have been taken, with the tall athletic Lisanne being able to run off and hide into the tropical forest initially? After she no longer heard any voices or crackling of branches, she could have made the emergency calls on both phones. She must have known the PIN code from Kris' phone for this, as for the first five days the iPhone was logged in with the correct set of codes... When darkness fell, she put the phones away, afraid that the light or her voice would betray her position in the dark woods. The next day she started walking at the first light. She again made a number of emergency calls but she was afraid that her voice would betray her if she had contact with the 112 operator. On April 3, she may have found the path back again, but she also got the third party behind her, who eventually caught up with her. In the meantime, she may have fallen from exhaustion and injured her foot. There is also the gruesome possibility that her captors injured her foot badly, to prevent her from running off.... Posting on the trail was also a necessity for the third party, because if Lisanne reached the hostel, the person(s) who kidnapped Kris would have been in trouble. Problem with this scenario is however that Lisanne would then have had the backpack from the moment she escaped on day 1, and been able to make the phone calls. I am just not sure she would have known the PIN codes from Kris' iPhone... As both phones were used from April 1st onward. Only after about 5 days was the wrong PIN code or no code consistently entered. So that makes the chance perhaps bigger that both girls were together for at least the first couple of days. TAKEN, OR THEY GOT SPOOKED
So what I think may have happened is something along these lines: they either were captured on their way back to Boquete, turning around after photo 508 by the stream - after all they had already walked approximately three hours by then and needed to return to get back before the sunset. They would have ended up below the Mirador on the Boquete side of the mountain by the time it was 16:39 PM and the first emergency calls were made. We now know from Matt's revelations about the official police files that the Samsung phone of Lisanne had lost contact with the GSM network in that area when they walked up. So that can explain why their call attempts were fruitless in this area. As Kris' father explains and shows here, there is not much dangerous terrain there. No dangerous cliffs. This area does have some wooden sheds. People may have waited for them there, or ran into them there and hidden them in one of these dwellings or houses. Later powering off their phones and taking them elsewhere, against their will. They may have been hidden deep in the forest or in a house or dwelling of sorts, far away from the stretch of jungle behind the Pianista trail. I think that they were either forced to come with these people, or they may have voluntarily come along, under the promise of something. A shortcut back to Boquete, a shortcut to a waterfall, a swimming spot... Perhaps they could even have been driven off the mountain in the red truck that was mentioned by witnesses. Explaining why hundreds of people could not find these two tall, stand out European women for weeks on end in this relatively small area of nature. Or they got spooked by someone and ran off in the wrong direction of the Pianista trail. The girls may have taken a photo of their attackers, the infamous photo #509, just like these two tragic girls did. They could have seen something they shouldn't have seen, managing to outrun whomever went after them and staying hidden in the tropical forest for some days, before being captured eventually.
THE PHONE LOG RESTRICTIONS
But if they did walk back all the way to Boquete, as some witnesses claim, then there is the problem of the phone data: officially their mobile phones never made a cell tower connection again after roughly 14:00 PM on April 1st 2014 (officially 13:38). And the phones seemed to move further away from the GSM tower, over time. We do not know what happened to those phones after they were both powered off by 17:52 for fourteen whole hours. The phones could have been transported to a completely different area in the meantime. But between 14:00 and 17:52, they could not have returned to the trailhead. If we are to believe the phone logs.... There is of course always the rare possibility that the case officials made an error with the data or messed about with it. And we also know from the police files that the phone logs were flawed; some events wére logged, others were randomly not logged. Periods of high battery use were left unexplained and empty. Times (13:37) were accidentally copied and pasted in the wrong place. And for Kris and Lisanne to end up away from the Pianista trail and toward the Caldera area where the swimming photo was taken, on the Tuesday afternoon without regaining cell reception, they would have had to move there over the less well known mountain trail behind the Mirador. I am honestly not sure how realistic that scenario really is, albeit still possible.
MISSING #509 ALSO POINTS TO HUMAN INTERVENTION
I think. Even with advanced retrieval software the Dutch specialists were using, they were unable to salvage the image from the original card. Not even a fraction of it was ever retrieved, against expectations. This is a strong clue that the image was razed on a computer, instead of using Lisanne’s own camera. Just like Pittí and her team meddled with the memory card of the digital camera.“If the photograph was deleted in the camera, that image would most likely still be on the memory card,” Rosenthal wrote to The daily Beast. Recovery software gets back anything you simply deleted. Yet no trace of the image has ever surfaced - despite the camera functioning fine and taking many photos afterwards that were all on the memory card - leading to claims that it wasn’t deleted by accident, nor right away after taking the photo, but on purpose. Perhaps because its content was somehow at odds with the controversial accident scenario. 'Losters' like to believe on the other hand that the camera had a highly unusual glitch of sorts, resulting in the skipping of #509. Not that Lisanne's camera had ever before experienced such a malfunction..
I think. Even with advanced retrieval software the Dutch specialists were using, they were unable to salvage the image from the original card. Not even a fraction of it was ever retrieved, against expectations. This is a strong clue that the image was razed on a computer, instead of using Lisanne’s own camera. Just like Pittí and her team meddled with the memory card of the digital camera.“If the photograph was deleted in the camera, that image would most likely still be on the memory card,” Rosenthal wrote to The daily Beast. Recovery software gets back anything you simply deleted. Yet no trace of the image has ever surfaced - despite the camera functioning fine and taking many photos afterwards that were all on the memory card - leading to claims that it wasn’t deleted by accident, nor right away after taking the photo, but on purpose. Perhaps because its content was somehow at odds with the controversial accident scenario. 'Losters' like to believe on the other hand that the camera had a highly unusual glitch of sorts, resulting in the skipping of #509. Not that Lisanne's camera had ever before experienced such a malfunction..
THE SWIMMING PHOTO
This is the swimming photo that was leaked recently, showing Kris and Lisanne (with what I would say 99% certainty, although opinions differ on this!) bathing with two local youth in a river, identified as the Caldera hot springs, nearby. I made the below collage of photo comparisons of the girls in the swimming photo, and Kris and Lisannes photos (a match in my opinion).. It is not sure when that photo was taken exactly (it is claimed to have been on April 4, 2014). But of this photo does show Kris and Lisanne, then there are only a few dates possible. The girls had only arrived in Boquete the previous Saturday, leaving only three other possible days when they could have gone there. And these other days were all described in their diaries, without any of them mentioning the Pianista hike or the swimming event. On Saturday they arrived in the mid afternoon in Boquete and settled in. On Sunday they had a busy day with documented lunch in Boquete, a visit to the center of town. On Monday March 31st the girls were mostly preoccupied with the set-back of having been sent away at the local children's school, and subsequently trying to find other volunteer work for that week with the help of Marjolein from the Spanish language school. There was also a late afternoon visit to Spanish by the River (the iPhone of Kris connected to the Wi-Fi of Spanish by the River at 16:44 PM) and an evening massage with Sigrid. They could still have been at the Caldera, swimming, between 13:00 and 16:30, technically. But what if the girls met someone during the Pianista hike who gained their trust and who took them to the swimming location that Tuesday afternoon? Urging them first to walk beyond the summit. Urging them to take pictures of this? In order to have photo evidence that the girls strayed deeper into the forest... Handy evidence, showing to everyone that these girls just 'got lost' beyond that trail? Then driving them to the Caldera area by a backroad, without cell reception? Or perhaps the girls did return to the trailhead (different clouds in the background of summit pictures - check; many witness statements seeing them near the trailhead between 15:00-16:00 PM - check), and there was another way to whisk them off from there without the phones regaining cell reception. Or perhaps the swimming photo dates from Monday March 31st and the lads in the photo found out about Kris and Lisanne's Pianista plans and followed them up there the next day, with bad intentions. Much more on this new swimming photo can be read in my part 2 blog post. And in a more recent podcast, the mother of one of the identified lads pictured in the swimming photo, makes startling statements. read all about it in this post of mine. WHERE ARE THE SHITTY DUTCHIES?
Panamanian video that circulated online in 2014: "Where are the shitty Duchies?" ("Donde están los holandeses de merde"), posted on youtube on August 30th 2014. Since removed offline. The person who updated this video was at the time (August 30th 2014) a Facebook friend of the Boquete clique of Henry, Osman and the rest. Makes you wonder why the poor unfortunate missing Dutch women are called 'of shit' (shitty). Apparently it may also mean "Where are the fucking Dutchies?" Did these locals know what was said to have happened to the girls? Are they acquainted with the local gang members?
THIRD PARTY
A third party may have also checked the girls' phones for incriminating information and taken the confusing photos on the night of April 8th to plant the definite seed for the public that the girls were still out there at that point, alone and lost. For all we know Kris and Lisanne took dozens more photos after April 1st, but those were also all removed later with the help of a computer, and a small human error ensured that only file 509 was still seen as an empty file on the SD card. I personally do not believe that Kris and Lisanne were out there in that wilderness behind the Mirador alone after April 1st, nor that they made all the later emergency calls, nor that they made the night photos. I personally think that everything that happened from then on, including the discovery of their belongings and remains, was planned and planted by a 3rd party. Soon after the $30.000 reward was declared, these items were found. At a time when the ongoing search operations, funded by the parents, may have become incredibly oppressive to some people living there. Both the families expressed explicitly during press conferences that they would not leave until they found their daughters. Some folks like to sneer that real life isn't a Hollywood movie, but real crime happens every single day in every country. THE MUCH ABUSED OCCAM'S RAZOR THEORY
Some people drag up the Occam's razor theory in this case, a Medieval theory roughly translated as: "All things being equal, the the simplest solution tends to be the best one." No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary. There are some pivotal words in there, such as 'all things being equal', being the basic condition for the use of this theory. But that has been skipped for the most part by online sleuths, who want to simplify even the simplifying theory, ending up somewhere with 'the simplest explanation is often the most likely'. Which is not what the theory says and in this Kris and Lisanne case the Occam's Razor theory is misused and overused in my opinion, not rarely in a lazy and unintellectual fashion. There are different pieces of evidence used here and nitpicked, to support one or the other theory. Online 'western' forums in particular have a tendency to believe that the most simple and straightforward explanation in their personal experience is often the right one. Many forget to educate and inform themselves of what is most common in a completely different country like Panama. Or pretend to know, going by their own sense of logic. So if anyone comes up with a crime theory that involves a couple of steps or thought processes more than the basic of basics (kept walking, lost, a tumble, no water and food), that crime theory usually ends up being deconstructed. With the person in question considered to have the duty to prove. As for more simplistic Lost theories, well they can freely skip over the inconvenient fineprint details of this case that then no longer match up. Such as bones from one girl that decomposed very differently from those of the other, despite lying in the same area. Or intact skin having been found 5 months after the fact. Or the rather unusual use of phones and camera, or the girls breaking with many of their normal habits. And as you know by now, there is a very long list with case inconsistencies and open questions.
Some people drag up the Occam's razor theory in this case, a Medieval theory roughly translated as: "All things being equal, the the simplest solution tends to be the best one." No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary. There are some pivotal words in there, such as 'all things being equal', being the basic condition for the use of this theory. But that has been skipped for the most part by online sleuths, who want to simplify even the simplifying theory, ending up somewhere with 'the simplest explanation is often the most likely'. Which is not what the theory says and in this Kris and Lisanne case the Occam's Razor theory is misused and overused in my opinion, not rarely in a lazy and unintellectual fashion. There are different pieces of evidence used here and nitpicked, to support one or the other theory. Online 'western' forums in particular have a tendency to believe that the most simple and straightforward explanation in their personal experience is often the right one. Many forget to educate and inform themselves of what is most common in a completely different country like Panama. Or pretend to know, going by their own sense of logic. So if anyone comes up with a crime theory that involves a couple of steps or thought processes more than the basic of basics (kept walking, lost, a tumble, no water and food), that crime theory usually ends up being deconstructed. With the person in question considered to have the duty to prove. As for more simplistic Lost theories, well they can freely skip over the inconvenient fineprint details of this case that then no longer match up. Such as bones from one girl that decomposed very differently from those of the other, despite lying in the same area. Or intact skin having been found 5 months after the fact. Or the rather unusual use of phones and camera, or the girls breaking with many of their normal habits. And as you know by now, there is a very long list with case inconsistencies and open questions.
Nick wrote me: "Occam's Nonsense. It's amazing how people jump onto a catchphrase or theory without any proof it's correct! Someone somewhere in the world every minute is experiencing an incredible set of coincidences that defies Occam's razor. This must happen in ALL patterns in life. Therefore it's nothing other than a "higher probability rate" for the simplest explanation .If we are trying to solve the case then the only thing that will do so is hard evidence, not higher probabilities of sequences of events. Roll dice enough times and double "1" will come up in sequence 15 times.... because it will." - Indeed, Occam's razor is used in the most restrictive ways by some people, eager to namedrop. Indeed, every hour of every day, things happen that go against the most simple, rational course of action. That theory is a starting point in investigations, nothing more.
LOGIC IS SUBJECTIVEIt's easy to cast this aside as far-fetched Hollywood fantasy, but (serial) killers have been known to do stranger and more intelligent things. Anyone following true Crime stories knows that you won't get very far with the attitude that anything 'too far-fetched' cannot be true.
There is a hot trail of local guys, pictured with them in the swimming photo no less, who died afterwards. Facial comparison shows fairly clearly in my view that it are Kris and Lisanne who are pictured there. But some people do not even want to contemplate a connection. I fail to see why going with a statistically more likely scenario is akin to being a 'conspiracy theorist' and 'sensationalist', and going by the equally unproven Lost theory would be akin to being 'rational' and sensible - according to some folks taking the high ground online. Planting a backpack and an SOS sign (the tiniest, frumpiest, least clear one I have ever seen) is child's work, compared to the preparation and smarts of a Zodiac killer, for instance. Same for shooting some random pictures in the dark of night. Sure, you need to make a bit of an effort to go out there, but (understandably), people seem to forget sometimes that certain killers or criminals take pleasure from a cat and mouse game. Not all murderers are primal creatures who act without thinking or planning. Besides: we have to remember that up until now, nobody has actually identified the location of the night photos. What if this location is only known to people like Feliciano and Laureano that is located within 2 minutes walk from their fincas? It wouldn't have been as much of an effort then to take a few pictures of trees, rocks, some torn paper or even (possibly) of the actual location where the two were held.
A COMPLEX CASE
In other words: this is an extremely complex case. Especially when you take in all the details, contradictions and details about the highly flawed investigation. And yet, there is a certain hardliner group online who tries hard to demonize and ridicule anyone who does not believe that these young women simply got lost or had an accident. Insinuating that anyone who thinks otherwise is an outsider conspiracy theorist. It's just childish psychological warfare. Or as Power-Pixie summarizes it: "Bottom line is that Losters pretend the principle of Occam's Razor does not apply to (all) their theories. They move the goalposts as needed." There are plenty of examples of highly intelligent, well prepared, thinking ahead and planning-type of killers, who wouldn't mind a sardonic night out in the jungle to shoot some random 'puzzling' night photos. And there will be many more we do not know about, because they simple were never caught. In this disappearance case, the cover-up wouldn't even have been that intricate. I believe that after day one it were the perpetrators who handled that phone. It is easy to look in the call history and to just continue the pattern of calling 112 and 911. In fact, I learned from João who has the same phone and who really looked into all this, that you can in no time even stage all these calls of the next days manually. All you'd have to do is change the date and time of the phone, make the calls (in a place where there is no cell reception of course), then set the time to the next day, and so on. Even when you reset things to the right time again in the end, the wrong time/date will stay recorded for those specific call attempts, he says. So perpetrators didn't even have to go out every day to make staged phone calls, technically. They wóuld have to go out and take those night pictures however, one evening. Which may seem 'complex' or a hassle to some, but it may not be that much asked when you are in fear of the long arm of justice. Or get some sardonic pleasure from misleading. I see no point at all for Kris and Lisanne to shoot just under hundred photos of mostly the exact same trees and sky.
NIGHT PHOTO MADNESS
And if Kris and Lisanne had been really 'lost' and stuck in some cave in the wild, why would they risk or even try to deplete the battery of their digital Canon camera like that? They could have made a video of themselves or have taken photos that show their faces or make their plight clear. Instead we have mostly (purposely made) vague photos of the same tree tops. Would Lisanne really make such an hours-long effort to make such well-framed, steady focused and entirely repetitive photos after a panic-filled week of supposedly no food and little sleep? Deliberately switching from photographing in landscape-style to Portrait-style and back? In the dark? Wouldn't one shot of that V-shaped tree be enough? If one of the girls in fact did bother to create a visual narrative, why would they waste so many photos on utterly vague shot of the same dark sky? Why not create an actually informative series of photos? These ones... look completely staged. The entire night photo sequence looks like a staged production. With a couple of carefully framed (but never repeated) images of props on a set: the back of Kris' head (but framed in such a manner that we cannot see how her head or body are positioned), the strategic flag marker and the put together SOS display.
It were these photos and the equally staged-looking emergency number call attempts that pointed many (including the prosecutor) in the direction of an accident.
I personally think that the perpetrators shot those night photos and solely did so to create a Lost in the wilderness scenario. Going back and forth to the dark night and the treetops, must tell us that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere: a spot which for nearly a decade has never been found. That's how nondescript those 90+ photos are. There is the addition of only a couple more specific photos. Adding an abstract photo of the back of Kris' head to give the impression that those girls were physically there and took those photos themselves. It is a morbid thought, but if you were to have two bodies, which part of it could you photograph and made to look 'alive'? Not the limbs. Not the slumping body. But the back of the head (with Kris' distinctive reddish hair)? Yes. Is that why this photo is cropped so peculiarly and we see nothing of her body? And we cán't see if Kris is alive or dead in that weird photo. What we do see, is what strongly appears to be a finger, placed near the lense. A finger and knuckle with hairs growing from it even. A hand that may have wiped the lens clean when either water mist or dampness collected on the lens, or perhaps some raindrops started falling on it. (Wiped in order to... take more of the same photos of the same V-shaped tree, robotically? Why?) IF this is indeed a finger and a hand knuckle depicted, then Lisanne was not the photographer that night. A whole week supposedly of no photos (despite these girls having been in the habit of taking photos every single day, until the moment they went missing) and then these cryptic, non-descriptive flurry of dark pictures? They could have taken at least one of these photos in daylight - sun came up only a couple of hours later - if they really wanted to document their location. It is madness. THEY DID IT ALL
The 3rd party also placed the backpack near the Ngobe village of Alto Romero two months after the disappearance. The woman who found it is no stranger to guide F. and I think it is theoretically possible that she was instructed where to find it the next morning, at a time when the ongoing searches by the families (they had amassed large funds through public donations for their Foundation to find Kris and Lisanne) must have gotten on some people's nerves. And by the time there was a significant reward raised for whomever found these Dutch tourists. And a third party also got rid of the bodies imo, opting to scatter only a few bleached or non-incriminating bone parts around, which could not help determine a cause of death. If the girls had disappeared without a trace, everybody would have suspected foul play from the very beginning, I think. But the findings of some minor bones and the girls' belongings sealed the case and determined it, baselessly, to be an accident. Who has most benefited from all this, one wonders? People have been sent on a wild goose chase, if you'd ask me, based on these photos. Because until the bag with the camera and phones was found (planted?) months later, this disappearance was called a kidnapping, also by Kris' parents. It were these photos and the equally staged-looking emergency number call attempts that pointed many (including the prosecutor) in the direction of an accident. Investigators concluded that the girls got lost thanks to the bag, Further cementing my suspicion is that no personal notes were left behind, no personal items left behind along the trail. Despite this, and despite the complete lack of evidence that they slipped down any ravine or slope or were stuck alone in the jungle all this time, the planted bag only reinforced the notion that the girls just got lost; no perpetrator had to worry about incriminating evidence as long as they made sure not to leave blatant clues of their presence behind. And there was in in the end, indeed, nothing in that bag that tied it to a specific person. Other than - perhaps - the missing photo 509 or the multiple strange fingerprints and DNA. But with a weak forensic investigation to lean on who did nothing with these clues, a lot of doubt was - in my eyes - sowed either by design or through at least some level of incompetence.
The 3rd party also placed the backpack near the Ngobe village of Alto Romero two months after the disappearance. The woman who found it is no stranger to guide F. and I think it is theoretically possible that she was instructed where to find it the next morning, at a time when the ongoing searches by the families (they had amassed large funds through public donations for their Foundation to find Kris and Lisanne) must have gotten on some people's nerves. And by the time there was a significant reward raised for whomever found these Dutch tourists. And a third party also got rid of the bodies imo, opting to scatter only a few bleached or non-incriminating bone parts around, which could not help determine a cause of death. If the girls had disappeared without a trace, everybody would have suspected foul play from the very beginning, I think. But the findings of some minor bones and the girls' belongings sealed the case and determined it, baselessly, to be an accident. Who has most benefited from all this, one wonders? People have been sent on a wild goose chase, if you'd ask me, based on these photos. Because until the bag with the camera and phones was found (planted?) months later, this disappearance was called a kidnapping, also by Kris' parents. It were these photos and the equally staged-looking emergency number call attempts that pointed many (including the prosecutor) in the direction of an accident. Investigators concluded that the girls got lost thanks to the bag, Further cementing my suspicion is that no personal notes were left behind, no personal items left behind along the trail. Despite this, and despite the complete lack of evidence that they slipped down any ravine or slope or were stuck alone in the jungle all this time, the planted bag only reinforced the notion that the girls just got lost; no perpetrator had to worry about incriminating evidence as long as they made sure not to leave blatant clues of their presence behind. And there was in in the end, indeed, nothing in that bag that tied it to a specific person. Other than - perhaps - the missing photo 509 or the multiple strange fingerprints and DNA. But with a weak forensic investigation to lean on who did nothing with these clues, a lot of doubt was - in my eyes - sowed either by design or through at least some level of incompetence.
THE KREMERS FAMILY
What did the Kremers family last say about their suspicions regarding the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne? The Kremers gave their last interview in April of 2019 with a Dutch magazine. You can read the entire translation of this interview in my blog part 6. Summarized, the article states: "Five years ago the students Kris Kremers (21) and Lisanne Froon (22) from Amersfoort disappeared in Panama during a walk in the jungle. A month and a half later only a handful of bones were found from them. Until today there are doubts about what exactly happened. "Back then só many mistakes have been made during the investigation", says father Hans Kremers. Until this day he has doubts about the investigation of the Panamanian authorities. Time and time again he and his relatives were confronted with inconsistencies. It was investigating judge Betzaida Pitti who at the time claimed that the two students had perished during their walk, but at the same time she stated that the investigation had not been closed. "There were many loose ends. In my opinion, and that of many others, many mistakes have been made." "I can still get very mad about it, but what's the point."
What did the Kremers family last say about their suspicions regarding the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne? The Kremers gave their last interview in April of 2019 with a Dutch magazine. You can read the entire translation of this interview in my blog part 6. Summarized, the article states: "Five years ago the students Kris Kremers (21) and Lisanne Froon (22) from Amersfoort disappeared in Panama during a walk in the jungle. A month and a half later only a handful of bones were found from them. Until today there are doubts about what exactly happened. "Back then só many mistakes have been made during the investigation", says father Hans Kremers. Until this day he has doubts about the investigation of the Panamanian authorities. Time and time again he and his relatives were confronted with inconsistencies. It was investigating judge Betzaida Pitti who at the time claimed that the two students had perished during their walk, but at the same time she stated that the investigation had not been closed. "There were many loose ends. In my opinion, and that of many others, many mistakes have been made." "I can still get very mad about it, but what's the point." "Hans still wonders if the students truly got lost and died in the jungle of Boquete."
Hans still wonders if the students truly got lost and died in the jungle of Boquete. "We still have doubts about things like their digital camera and their mobile phones, with which they tried to call after their disappearance. After they disappeared photos have been taken with the digital camera. We were not allowed to mention even a word about this from the Panamanian authorities at the time." Hans Kremers also declared: "I have thought for a while about writing a book. I can write an encyclopedia full by now when it comes to errors that are made during the investigation. There's no point in talking in hindsight. We have to live with the fact that our daughter is no longer here" For a long time the two families (Kremers and Froons) were united, until deep underlying tensions arose, according to Hans. Tensions about the investigation into the mysterious disappearance, about the later findings of remains of their daughters and the way in which they communicated at the time with the media. Hans thinks it is pointless to start a new investigation, five years after the fact. "We picked life back up and will think about our dear daughter every day, no matter what Nobody can take that feeling away from us." - Aside from this article, I have it from sources that Hans and Roelie still don't believe that the girls merely got lost or had an accident... For what it's worth.
And in one of their very first interviews (dated May 3rd 2014, which you can also find translated on my blog part 6), both the Froon and Kremers family said the following: "All four parents assumed that the girls got lost during a hike near Boquote, the place where they are currently staying. But now that the area has been scoured and no trace of the girls has been found, they assume a completely different scenario. A dark scenario, in which their daughters are taken against their will. It doesn't change their task, they say from their couch in Amersfoort. Their daughters múst be found. They cán be found. That's what they hold onto. But every morning they have to deal with that same hammer blow again. The two young women are not there. They find the strength in each other to continue searching, in spite of this, but in particular from thinking about their children. Still, they don't imagine where Lisanne and Kris are right now, or what they're going through. The parents cannot afford to spend energy contemplating horror scenarios. Hans: 'We have to remain strong for the girls, to find them and help them when they get home. That is our motivation, that's why we keep going.'Horrors
Going past all possible options, it is most likely in my opinion, unfortunately, that the girls were kidnapped very early on and were hidden in one of the many empty dwellings over there. Or in a finca where nobody would look for them. Abused for several days, then murdered and made to disappear, with exception of a handful of 'clue' bones to plant in the jungle close to Alto Romero once a significant reward price was raised, ensuring they would be found and end the search operations. Label: accident. Soon, no more deep forest and mountain searches took place; perhaps that is what the perpetrators actually wanted to achieve by placing these few crumbs of evidence. What could lie deeper in the jungle that was not meant to be found by investigators? And let's not forget that not everything that is known by the authorities has been revealed to the public. Not all the photos have been released and neither the full autopsy report, or at least not officially - it was anonymously leaked to Jeremy Kryt luckily and to some other people and its details worked their way to the surface by now. And there may be more information that has been kept out of the media. There are simply too many inconsistencies and question marks in this whole case to assume that we know all of it. This makes me more suspicious that something criminal took place with these girls and that local authorities may have kept the full story back, as to not harm local tourism more. The link tells you how much authorities feared the drop in tourism that was already noticeable one month after Kris and Lisanne went missing in Panama.
Going past all possible options, it is most likely in my opinion, unfortunately, that the girls were kidnapped very early on and were hidden in one of the many empty dwellings over there. Or in a finca where nobody would look for them. Abused for several days, then murdered and made to disappear, with exception of a handful of 'clue' bones to plant in the jungle close to Alto Romero once a significant reward price was raised, ensuring they would be found and end the search operations. Label: accident. Soon, no more deep forest and mountain searches took place; perhaps that is what the perpetrators actually wanted to achieve by placing these few crumbs of evidence. What could lie deeper in the jungle that was not meant to be found by investigators? And let's not forget that not everything that is known by the authorities has been revealed to the public. Not all the photos have been released and neither the full autopsy report, or at least not officially - it was anonymously leaked to Jeremy Kryt luckily and to some other people and its details worked their way to the surface by now. And there may be more information that has been kept out of the media. There are simply too many inconsistencies and question marks in this whole case to assume that we know all of it. This makes me more suspicious that something criminal took place with these girls and that local authorities may have kept the full story back, as to not harm local tourism more. The link tells you how much authorities feared the drop in tourism that was already noticeable one month after Kris and Lisanne went missing in Panama.
IT HAPPENED BEFORE
People who think this is a far-fetched scenario; remind yourself that in 2017 a near similar scenario took place in the Panamanian jungle with a young German tourist, who was also lost and looked for by search teams. She ran into... the wrong search team. Three volunteers who locked her up and gang raped her for days. Had she not injured one of them with a broken bottle, badly enough in fact that he needed to go to hospital, I doubt she would have walked out of there alive. I think that with Kris and Lisanne, officials covered the whole sordid affair up, to protect their important tourist industry. And then the story of those two bodies found on May 16th of 2014... A peculiar tip was checked then: two bodies were said to have been seen near the spot where Kris and Lisanne disappeared. Police release a map with the spot where the bodies are said to have been found, which coincides with an area called Culebre, near the cable bridges and the river crossing. Representatives of the Panamanian prosecution were sent to the spot, but bad weather prevented the helicopter from landing. They did circle for two days around the area and when the representatives did eventually arrived there, they found nothing. Shortly afterwards they stated it was a 'false alarm' from an anonymous telephone tipster, who called the police with this 'information'. No money claim was made though. Which is a strange extra detail, considering there was a reward of 40.000 dollars at that point for the person who found the girls. In this article it was reported that the radar of a helicopter did in fact notice two skeletons. Note that this region was already highlighted on May 16th, while the girls' backpack and bones were found much later, respectively on June 11th and around June 18th.. Anyway, more question marks. Also about Pittí's investigation.
People who think this is a far-fetched scenario; remind yourself that in 2017 a near similar scenario took place in the Panamanian jungle with a young German tourist, who was also lost and looked for by search teams. She ran into... the wrong search team. Three volunteers who locked her up and gang raped her for days. Had she not injured one of them with a broken bottle, badly enough in fact that he needed to go to hospital, I doubt she would have walked out of there alive. I think that with Kris and Lisanne, officials covered the whole sordid affair up, to protect their important tourist industry. And then the story of those two bodies found on May 16th of 2014... A peculiar tip was checked then: two bodies were said to have been seen near the spot where Kris and Lisanne disappeared. Police release a map with the spot where the bodies are said to have been found, which coincides with an area called Culebre, near the cable bridges and the river crossing. Representatives of the Panamanian prosecution were sent to the spot, but bad weather prevented the helicopter from landing. They did circle for two days around the area and when the representatives did eventually arrived there, they found nothing. Shortly afterwards they stated it was a 'false alarm' from an anonymous telephone tipster, who called the police with this 'information'. No money claim was made though. Which is a strange extra detail, considering there was a reward of 40.000 dollars at that point for the person who found the girls. In this article it was reported that the radar of a helicopter did in fact notice two skeletons. Note that this region was already highlighted on May 16th, while the girls' backpack and bones were found much later, respectively on June 11th and around June 18th.. Anyway, more question marks. Also about Pittí's investigation. I have further fine-tuned my personal theory about what may have most likely happened in the end, based on a new swimming photo which was leaked by a key player in the whole case. You can read this updated theory at the bottom of part 2 of this blog series.
GERALDINE LARGAY
But everything is possible of course. I read for instance about another chilling case of Geraldine Largay, who made a toilet stop off the path of the Appalachian Trail and got lost and perished in the woods, not far from the main trail. Here you can read more about her case. I followed the Gerry Largay case, it is really sad that this hiker got disoriented after a short toilet stop off trail. "The mistake she made was an easy one to make. The forest in the Redington section of the Appalachian Trail has a dense understory. Eighty paces from the path, it looks the same in every direction. If you fail to pay attention when you walk in—the way finder's fatal error—there is nothing to help you retrace your steps: no landmarks, no boundaries, no white blazes on a wayside tree. Much of the area is owned by the US Navy’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school, which teaches pilots and special forces personnel how to survive behind enemy lines. The Navy chose it because it’s hard to escape from". Gerry ended up dead in her tent, within a mile from the trail. She was also very close to a railroad track and an open clearing, thereby close to a spot where the helicopter would have spotted her. She did the right thing initially, staying put, but I think soon after she should have started to systematically walk 100 metres, then 200 metres, then 300 metres from a set tree, to all directions. Use branches to trail the way back. She basically tried to catch the attention of a helicopter from a densely wooded spot and laid in her tent, waiting for the end. I was surprised she hadn't used all her water even. - But this is a very different case from Kris and Lisanne I feel. For Gerry, not the same level and scale of search operations were set up, for one. Also, the findings in the end made it absolutely clear that she had perished, her whole body was found, everything matched the story, also the forensic findings. And of course the most important thing; she left a diary, she left notes, also for whomever would find her, she left text messages for her loved ones. As almost everybody in such a situation does. They are all that is on your mind in the end. Her body was found intact after two years and two months of searching. Her case has really no open endings, no strange details, it fits exactly with the events and it is pure tragedy. As I always say; the discussion is not IF someone can easily get lost in nature. All of us can. One toilet stop can mark the beginning of the end, if you get disoriented in the woods. But the question in the Kris and Lisanne case is; DID they get lost? I think the actual evidence and forensics points against this... There were more unexplained missing or dead tourist cases in the Boquete region. No less than 25 people are officially said to be missing until this day in that region of Panama (and more unofficially), and over two dozen unsolved killings and disappearances have taken place in the same region of Panama within the last 8 years. And most of them have happened after 2014 when the girls went missing... In the majority of these cases, no bodies have been recovered and no rigorous investigations were launched by authorities. Kris Kremers' father has said on Dutch TV that he does not believe they got lost, but that there might have been a homicide.
NO CRIME CASE AFFECTED ME LIKE THIS ONE
I've followed so many murder case investigations over the years but none affected me like this one. Probably because it is not clear what exactly happened and there are so many twists and turns, so many tragic and frightening aspects and details to the story, no matter which theory you believe in. And to say something more about what could have happened, you need to submerge yourself really deep into the case, which gets to your psyche a bit. Well I couldn't sleep properly for some time at least when I first heard more about the details of this case not too long ago. It seems to trigger the imagination of everyone: two young beautiful women on an adventure in an exotic setting.. Then the terrifying element of being lost in a hostile and isolated environment.. Or kidnapped by evil people. So far from home. The cryptic clues provided by the phones and the camera, glimpses into the girls’ final days. The bones make little sense. Like many others out there, I just got sucked into this rabbit hole. I am an avid hiker myself and have done so for years, often alone in desolate nature with an audiobook on my headphones, but I was afraid to do so for quite some time after submerging myself into this case, and even carry a reliable weapon these days... The ominous night photos are still unsettling for me to watch, even though there is nothing to actually see, but you feel the haunting atmosphere in them. It's almost like a Hitchcock movie, the suspense is perhaps even more frightening than anything. The stuff you imagine in your own mind, by association. The Blair Witch Project analogy has been made before, but it is pretty much like that. One of the scariest movies to me, despite not seeing a whole lot of creepiness; but you know something was chasing them. Forests are creepy anyway... To imagine these girls alone in the dark in a forest, methodically shooting photos that are incredibly creepy, with a so-called SOS marker nearby.. it is very frightening to me. And I still get a shiver whenever I see the pictures from the girls at the Mirador; so happy looking, yet unknowing that they were scant hours away from the beginning of what must have been a terrifying end :( If they had turned back, they would have returned to town, had a nice pizza with a beer, and later that day hung out at the local bar, mingling with other travellers before starting to learn some more Spanish perhaps. One of them would have said "I think we were right no to push it, I didn't feel like it"... Instead, Kris' last line in her diary before heading out on their hike was: "Go with the Panamanian flow." Another reason why I was drawn to this case may be because I lost my own sister, two weeks before her 22nd birthday in equally tragic circumstances. She resembled Lisanne in several ways.
DISCLAIMER
When I tried to make some sense out of this disappearance case back in 2018, there was on the one hand very limited public information with regards to what actually happened to Kris and Lisanne, and on the other hand a lot of journalistic work done on the matter which had not been highlighted or translated at all. It was clear that the story had some gaping holes and that there was conflicting information out there. I have tried to shine a light on all this publicly available info about the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne and I tried to bring all this scattered and translated information together here. I also tried to broaden the narratives about what may have happened to them. In the hope that when more people know about this case, chances increase that we'd ever find more facts and answers. Over time, as the official case files were leaked, some more details could be filled in. But we are still no closer to solving this case, unfortunately. Maybe in time to come. This case is officially closed and stuck in Accident mode though. The Dutch prosecutors have admitted to having had a more diplomatic, submissive role in all this. Panama was leading in the investigation. And they still are if this case is to ever be reopened.
https://forum.fok.nl/topicchain/5309/p0
Juan's case album
The Daily Beast
Strange outdoors
Imperfect Plan
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcOaudtrXoG8UHsOxEBzy_g
http://www.melodijoadelita.com/p/adelita-coriat.html
https://muckrack.com/adelita-coriat
https://youtu.be/jQM-TqIO33E?list=WL
https://muckrack.com/adelita-coriat
https://youtu.be/jQM-TqIO33E?list=WL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BlWmxr5dFQ
https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/eenvandaag-03-12-2014/
https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/eenvandaag-03-12-2014/
https://www.reddit.com/r/KremersFroon/comments/13p7nkh/forum/
https://pauw.bnnvara.nl/media/327077
https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Investigaciones-holandesas-pueden-tomar-rumbo_0_3949105126.html
https://nos.nl/video/667443-kris-en-lisanne-hadden-hier-de-weg-terug-moeten-nemen.html
https://www.npostart.nl/eenvandaag/04-08-2014/AT_2015455
http://www.highonadventure.com/Hoa08apr/Panama/Panama.htm
https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Investigaciones-holandesas-pueden-tomar-rumbo_0_3949105126.html
https://www.panamaamerica.com.pa/tema-del-dia/tras-las-huellas-de-lisanne-y-kris-su-paso-por-boquete
Volkskrant - A fatal hike
https://demuren.wordpress.com/page/83/
http://historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com/2018/11/death-in-panama.html
https://latinamericacurrentevents.com/panama-the-mysterious-death-of-two-young-tourists/37248/
https://pauw.bnnvara.nl/media/327077
https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Investigaciones-holandesas-pueden-tomar-rumbo_0_3949105126.html
https://nos.nl/video/667443-kris-en-lisanne-hadden-hier-de-weg-terug-moeten-nemen.html
https://www.npostart.nl/eenvandaag/04-08-2014/AT_2015455
http://www.highonadventure.com/Hoa08apr/Panama/Panama.htm
https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/Investigaciones-holandesas-pueden-tomar-rumbo_0_3949105126.html
https://www.panamaamerica.com.pa/tema-del-dia/tras-las-huellas-de-lisanne-y-kris-su-paso-por-boquete
Volkskrant - A fatal hike
https://demuren.wordpress.com/page/83/
http://historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com/2018/11/death-in-panama.html
https://latinamericacurrentevents.com/panama-the-mysterious-death-of-two-young-tourists/37248/
Daily Beast articles on this case
Well, I have read through a lot of your blog, and as for your style, it is a kind of stream of consciousness, thinking as you go kind of affair. I am like that too. I am fairly new to this tragedy, I worked in Engineering for 40 years problem solving so my skills of observation and deduction are rather finely honed. I agree with you on a lot of the points you have made, and I think there is more than one possible scenario of what happened, and short of some perpetrator coming forth with videos and skulls, it will remain so. I will write my thoughts at some point, soon. A ton of great info here about this case. Congratulations! I know that was a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteSo in a 1000 words or less, what ARE your conclusions? I couldn't sort them out in the flurry of paragraphs. Thank you, Scarlet
Z
Thanks for reading my blog and following this case zOOmz. I think personally that Kris and Lisanne met foul play. I don't exclude the possibilty that they were followed on the Pianista or ran into someone or some people beyond the summit of the trail, who whisked them away. But I believe more so that the swimming photo is legit and that these young women met with a local group of young men who were involved in their disappearance. Perhaps they were offered a ride home after the swim, and the wrong expectations were created somehow and they were driven somewhere else. Or maybe the swim took place before the Pianista hike and these locals knew about their plans and somehow interfered with their hike. But I believe that local guys their own age could be the key and that it was the father/local guide(s) who then tried to cover up for it and steer the investigation in a different direction. There would be some level of strategic intelligence involved (with staging of the phone calls after day 1 and staging of the night photos on night 8 plus planting of the backpack and bones) but I believe the forensic findings in this case and the very odd use of the phones and total absense of selfies/messages/personal use of the camera and phones does point in this direction.
DeleteBest wishes Scarlet
Reminds of case in late 2018 or so of young girls killed in Morroco brutally. Were they from the Netherlands too? Please no more young women from there getting harmed
ReplyDeleteThe world is not safe and risk factors in certain regions are female, light hair and skin.
I think there is need for awareness in Netherlands of other countries risk levels. I would never hike in panama or camp in morroco. I have been in the middle of the ocean on a small sailboat, traveled alone abroad etc, am not unadventurous. Feel terrible these girls didn't know and makes realize the naivité of countries with low crime etc. Panama is not safe. No reason to go. South America is iffy as a whole. Humans are evil, the cruelest of species, sick vile deranged
I think the tour guide should be investigated based on what read ---
Kind regards
Hi, yes that was a gruesome case.. I was stupid enough to view the video of what happened, which was circulating at the time. Stuff you can never erase again from your memory (don't watch). It is certainly so that shielded upbringings in the free western world can sometimes create this fake sense of security, when going out in the big world. Many tourists are kidnapped each year in countries like Brazil as well, believing they get into a registered cab or bus, when in fact they are being kidnapped. You cannot prevent everything. But it is good to at least be aware of certain risks in other countries. I mean, everyone can step under a bus by accident anywhere, but flying a drone in, let's say Iran, poses significantly more risk than doing so in Lapland. And latin American countries come with their own set of possible risks.
DeleteFrom the phones usage logs it does look like abduction likely took place but not in an overtly hostile way as most seem to suggest, but in a mix of forced friendly manner as seen in the swimming photo, so as to willingly perform acts on them at a secluded place without necessarily killing or kidnapping them. This may have been their habit that they might have indulged in several times previously as is indicated by their much earlier photos at the same place with other girls. After the last day photo the boys may have taken them further by some internal route towards that spring to avoid being seen, which is also indicated by the lack of good phone network reception again. At the secluded holding place the bag may have been kept where they couldn't reach without being seen, also knowing well there was no good mobile network connection there to make calls, leaving them only few moments in the day to quickly reach for the phone when out of sight. This could be the reason why they only dialled emergency so that in haste it doesn't leave a distressed call log or text for the captors to discover and turn overt. It looks like later they moved to another property deeper where there was no network picked, and this may have continued there until one morning tired of appeasing them Kris tried to run or was sexually assaulted, leading them to kill her to shut her and probably also sealing Lisanne's fate. These boys may have then schemed and later that day taken the bag from the cabin to build fake accident evidence from what they could use in it, leaving Lisanne no phone access for few days until she finds it again on the morning of 10th and is able to check phone network for two more days. In that time the captors may also have tried to feed her the story of lost jungle accident and the photos for some time which didn't work to satisfaction, but nothing changed for Lisanne till 11th after which the same might have happened with her at some point later. The bodies and belongings may have been stored hidden until search heat was over and incident forgotten to then dispose them off. But then much later motivated by the large reward some evidence may have been planted which otherwise wasn't intended to be revealed.
ReplyDeleteDid guide F. happen to be out of town from 7 to 9 April? Because the phones weren't used in those days, and the night photos were taken on the 8th in a place that nobody from Boquete seems to recognize...
ReplyDeleteI’m seriously impressed by all your work, as well as that of Juan, the guys from imperfect plan, the backpackercoach and so on. Respect! I chose to react on this page, because I’m a strong supporter of Occam, although I wield that razor in a different way. And because your excellent blog was the first to draw my attention.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this case is quite simple. If these girls were just lost, than ALL info from camera’s, pictures, logs etc etc is true and trustworthy, and what is found and where and when it is found can be logically explained. If only one thing in that chain is broken, the chain is broken. And it is.
Even if we forget everything else: only look at photo 499: Lisanne, way out of proportion on top of the Miramar. Juan proves in several ways that this photo has been photoshopped. That one is the most convincing, because really everybody can see even without further evidence that pic is photoshopped. From there, all we need is logic (although I’m glad of all the work that provides evidence as well). The fact that at least one photo, nr 499, has been photoshopped - has enormous consequences. Before I go into that: has anybody before me noticed that in all pictures of Lisanne, when her hair is loose, it falls to the left -except in 499? And that brought me to the next thought: I understand that Lisannes brother had exactly this picture, the most blatant example of tampering - mirrored and complete out of proportion - on his facebook? Was he giving the message that - in spite of what he said - he knew very well what was going on?
Anyway, as soon as tampering with even one photo is proved - quod est - what is then the meaning of all other pictures? Nothing. Because then we know someone has tampered with the material. That someone made a conscious decision about what is and what is not on that SD card. Numbers can be manipulated, time stamps, content, order, anything. All we know for sure is that there is someone who altered the story, who uses these photos to paint a false picture (pun much intended). And so everything (!) has to explained from that perspective - and that is what occams razor is also about: we have to prove foul play only once, not over and over again. There is foul play at hand. That is not a question, that is a fact. So everything we see is basically intended by the schemer.
Apart from errors, of course. Sloppy photoshopping is one. Planting bras in the backpack is strange. Might be an order that was misunderstood (“everything you can find”), not expecting that the bras were still in store? And then there was a mixup with remains from another victim. Those maybe were errors, just like the sloppy work on the pics.
But in short: we know for sure this was no accident, but there was foul play. What kind of foul play and how that played out exactly will be hard to figure out. But I fear I’m better off not knowing.
Hello Scarlet! Amazing work you have done with all of this material!
ReplyDeleteAbout the girls hiking the other trail before Pianista:
Do you know if there are some photos from the other trail the girls presumably hiked on before the Pianista on April 1? One would assume that there would be some if the girls where there...after all they took a lot of photos from nearly all places they went. I cannot imagine that they wouldnt take any pictures from their first hiketrip?
After having spent way too much time reading multiple pages on this blog and others such as Imperfect Plan, it appears to me that the proposed scenario of the women having returned back to the Boquete side of Mirador would have been for the phones to be taken from the women and wrapped in aluminum foil to prevent them from connecting to the cell network (the phone logs revealed no cell connection after it was lost on April 1, other than a very brief connection days later). The only reasonable way for this to have happened is if the phones were taken way from the women. Unless the phones were returned, which I can't imagine a scenario that would make it likely, all the phone logs would have to have been created artificially. This could have been done, but there appears to be some pattern to the phone use, which I doubt would be present if it were created by the perpetrators to mislead the investigators. Also, I can't imagine the perpetrators staging the night photos the way they were taken over four(?) hours, or the camera clock settings changed repeatedly to make it appear like they were. The only photo that I can understand being taken to mislead the investigators is the photo of Kris' hair, assuming the goal was to make it look like she was still alive days after she was actually killed. However, I can't imagine what would cause the perpetrators to take all the other night photos before and after the hair photo. The one thing I can think of is the possibility that the perpetrators were high on hallucinogens that caused them to find enjoyment in flashing the camera. However, this seems extremely unlikely to me.
ReplyDeleteBut, if they were abducted, why would the perpetrators allow the women to keep their phones and camera? A possible explanation is that the perpetrators were local men that they had interacted with in the previous day(s). They may have at least started out thinking that they were going to hang out with the women for a few days of drug fueled fun beyond the Mirador. I can imagine them catching up with the women mid afternoon and promising them an opportunity to see hidden waterfalls or simply to indulge in drugs with them. Some have suggested that Scopolamine is known in Panama as a drug that can be used to make victims compliant and could have been used. The women being allowed to keep their phones and camera could have been a way to make the perpetrators believe that the women were somehow willing participants in the what would almost certainly been sexual abuse. And, they probably knew that the phones couldn't connect to service in the location they were being held.
I truncated this comment because I received an error massage that it was too long.
A continuation of previous comment because it was originally too long per error message
ReplyDeleteThe phone usage patterns could have been due to the pattern of abuse by the perpetrators. My guess is that there were several of them and that they had to maintain some semblance of normal life in their community, and therefore all of them would not have stayed with the women over multiple days. This would probably mean that the location they were held was reasonably close to Miador or elsewhere along the far side of the continental divide.
The one detail that blows up this scenario of the women having access to their phones is that they easily could have contained information entered by the women that implicated the perpetrators. The only way they could have safely allowed them to be found is if they could be certain of what was contained. I doubt the level of technical knowledge required to do this without leaving electronic finger prints was not available locally. Perhaps these local "gangsters" had connections with drug lords or other criminal organizations that employed someone with such expertise. With the phones not being found for two(?) months, there was certainly time for this to happen. On the other hand, I can't imagine these local "gangsters" being valuable enough to a criminal enterprise for this to have actually happened.
I was hoping that after all the time I invested in trying to sort through what was know and what was probably misinformation, that I could connect the dots in a way that fit with all the facts. But it appears impossible to know with any certainty what is fact and fiction in the information available.