The missing Dutch girls in Panama
So, what might have happened? More about the many mysterious elements & discrepancies in this case
Neither Dutch nor Panamanian forensic teams could provide a cause of death. The Dutch felt it was likely an accident, whereas some Panamanians stated initially that it could also perhaps have been a criminal act. The case was first officially declared “a homicide” and “a crime against personal integrity” by Panama’s attorney general in the Chiriquí Judicial State report. La Prensa published on April 22nd 2014: 'The disappearance of two young Dutch women tourists in Panama on April 1 has now become a homicide investigation'". On June 20th of 2014, the official Panamanian request for mutual assistance used the following terminology: 'investigation within the context of deprivation of liberty'. In other words: kidnapping. And in October of 2014, two forms from the Panamanian State officials described the disappearance as a case of abduction. But when forensic teams failed to come to a definitive and official conclusion, and not long after Betzaida Pittí replaced the first prosecutor of the investigation around April 14th of 2014, the case was closed and considered an accident after all: the girls had decided to continue past the tourist portion of the trail into the Continental Divide region, which is said to be wild, treacherous terrain. They started their hike on a sunny, blue sky day, but endured some rain the second day, which may have turned the paths muddy and more difficult to walk perhaps. There was even an earthquake on April 2nd, south of the Panamanian town of David, although this played no role in this disappearance case according to investigators. One Boquete resident said about this earthquake: "I was here then, no damage in Boquete and they were much farther away. Btw, yesterday morning had a 4.9 quake much closer and not enough to get out of bed!" According to Dutch officials, the girls eventually perished due to a fall. They think that they may have both fallen down a ravine. Or perhaps Kris fell first, Lisanne tended to her, then photographed her remains in the dark and moved on alone; after which she also fell, broke her ankle and foot, before she fell into the river and died too. Or they may both have died from injury or infection. The Panamanian prosecutor Betzaida Pitti also believed that Kris and Lisanne had an accident, or simply had gotten lost. She also mentioned death by wild animals or through drowning as credible causes of death, despite the absence of any evidence for this. Then there were poisonous animals such as snakes that could have killed them. They may also have died from hunger, exertion and the elements. The girls were very lightly dressed so they may have suffered from hypothermia. I heard from an astronomer that on April 1st 2014 it was a new moon, meaning there was no moon at all to be seen in the night sky. So it was the worst moment to get lost in the tropical forest, because it must have been all dark out there. This would have been the case during the next few days also..
BADLY PREPAREDAnd no compass, no extra food and only two water bottles (that we know of..) were brought along by Kris and Lisanne, so dehydration is also a risk factor. Although there was running natural water in that area, and a human body can last without food for quite some time. In fact, humans will die after about six days without water, but can survive up to two months without food. So ten days without food should not be the biggest problem directly. On June 29th 2019 for instance, rescuers found a 73 year old man who had been missing for 10 days in a canyon in LA; he had survived after finding water in a creek. But he had not eaten. Nevertheless he was "walking and speaking". Despite not having eaten in at least five days. Showing that not everyone is weak and immobile after 5+ days of no food, as long as there is water available. But in the wild region of Boquete, there was also food to be found for the non-picky; fruits, worms, plants, seeds, small bugs, insects and so on. Unopened sweet were found in their backpack; would starving girls leave it really unopened before dying, if they were truly starving at that point? I don't know.. Although you do weaken rapidly without food, it is the lack of water that kills humans fast. Especially in a humid tropical forest environment, where you sweat out so much moisture. But there were streams in the wilderness behind the Pianista Trail.
SAFE NATURAL WATER Some of those are said to have contained giardia parasites and other diseases and once you catch that, the rate at which you lose water and dehydrate due to violent diarrhea makes you worse off than if you hadn't been drinking at all. Although I am doubtful of this, looking back at this youtube video where Kris' parents walk the same route as the girls did and where a local guide is seen drinking handfuls of water from the stream. It must be clean enough for the locals therefore. Fast flowing, cold water; there is usually nothing wrong with that, unless it gets contaminated with pesticides or something at the source. And some other streams are also considered drinkable. Kris and Lisanne had two plastic water bottles to collect water efficiently. There was also rain at some point. Someone wrote on Websleuths about this specific aspect of the case: "I've hiked over 3000 miles in my life, and I've done a lot of climbing and mountaineering. Two things that have struck me in addition to the effects of malnutrition. One is that they almost obviously had access to water. Without food AND water, they would not have lasted until the 8th. I know that almost goes without saying, but it's an important point. If one of them was injured, they were close enough to water that the other could ferry enough water in their one small water bottle to keep them alive. The effects of having no water is much faster than starvation. I once ran low on water in the Sierras for a day and I barely had the strength to walk downhill and was almost stumbling like I was drunk. Aron Ralston's story of getting his arm stuck in a Utah canyon is a good example of this. He was probably hours from death after 6 days. At least one of the girls survived at least 10." I agree with this author. It seems likely that they had access to running water (if they were mobile): the stream that is visible on photo 507 and 508. There is another stream about 20 minutes further down the trail and after that follow bigger rivers. Had they no access to water then it was unthinkable that one of them (seemingly) still operated the iPhone on day 11 of their disappearance. And if they had issues with parasite infections and diarrhea, then the jeans shorts from Kris would have shown microscopic evidence of that. Which it did not. A chilling case, either way.
EXOTIC WORLDThe girls are Dutch and in Holland life is very organized; cell phone reception mostly everywhere, the country is overall flat as a pancake, there is little wild nature to get lost in. Not many youngsters learn how to stay safe in the wilderness here, or join the scouts. So why not be more cautious of the unknown? Just imagine; you lost track, the dog has gone, it is getting dark, there are the sounds of a jungle which you are not familiar with; trees everywhere, no cell coverage and you didn't dress for the tropical forest or brought many supplies. Bare arms and legs, nothing to sleep in or under. You must be so afraid. And that for at least a week, going by the current evidence. It is imaginable that the girls simply walked too far on April 1st and realised too late that the sun was setting. At that day, sunset was around 18:40 PM (sunrise around 06:30 AM). It sets relatively early in Panama and once it is dark, it can get really pitch black in the tropical forest. Especially when the moon is at its smallest, as was the case that night. Perhaps the girls panicked and instead of staying put, waiting for the daylight to walk back, they tried to find their way with the light of their mobile phone and slipped and injured themselves? They may simply have freaked out at the thought of spending a cold frightening night in the jungle alone and decided to keep walking back, possibly getting turned around and walking in circles and eventually in entirely the wrong direction?
"The feeling that comes over you when you are lost in the jungle is "a form of forest madness. Once you get lost up there you change. You are not the same person you are down below. Some people go crazy and start to sprint down the trail. It's like a nightmare to be lost in the jungle."
Local tour guides in Boquete understand that not every tourist can afford 25-45 dollars for a guided tour, but they are clear about the risk these tourists run of getting lost in the wilderness then. 'The mountains know no mercy'. In Panama they call it 'el horror nocturno': it gets cold at night, it rains, you don't see anything as it gets pitch black and everywhere are the sounds of animals of the night. That is scary; your thoughts run wild. You don't know in advance how you will psychologically and physically react to such a situation. Despite the family saying it is an easy path that you cannot get lost on, this documentary (a complete audio version of some of the first articles from Jeremy Kryt) shows that going over the path which the girls may have taken is no small feat once the rain starts to fall. The small monkey bridges over the river are so dangerous and unreliable when they are slippery that not even search dogs were allowed to pass them. The girls took off on a sunny day, but several days later there was (some) rain. I also saw a video in which local guides describe what happens when even they get lost in that same tropical forest sometimes. One senior tour guide told about how a group of eight guides on a training mission got disoriented and got lost on the Bocas side of the Divide, the same area where Kris and Lisanne disappeared. "First they got lost. Then they started to fight about which route to take. Until finally the group split up over it."
THE SUN SEEMS TO RISE HERE IN THE WESTOthers mention the confusing set of trails down there. If one of them got injured or suffered a snake bite, then you'd expect the healthy one to hike on and try to find help. But if neither of them knew how to get out, they were less likely to separate. At some point the Dutch women would have had to pick an arbitrary direction and start walking. The further they would have gone without seeing something familiar, the more scared they would have been. If you don't have a map or a compass, it is actually not that hard to end up walking in circles. They had just come from a town and may have thought that there would be another town on the other side of the divide. They may not have understood that they were heading in a deep dark wilderness. And all the locals you see on these trails carry huge machetes.. It seems risky really that the girls ventured out into the wild alone, without even as much as a knife on them. Another important detail: on MostlyMystery, a local writes that there is a particular strange phenomenon going on in Panama that makes it extra important to carry a compass when going out for a hike: "Here’s why: The tiny, narrow country of Panama runs in an East-West direction, almost doubling back on itself, serpent-like. Owing to a peculiar optical illusion, the sun here appears to rise in the West, not the East. If the women were not aware of this peculiarity, they would be pulled in the wrong direction, away from town, further into the forest. This alone is a powerful, potentially tragic story element." A person from Boquete called Patrick also wrote in this respect: "It's possible that the girls got disoriented somewhere on the trail and without a compass weren't able to establish the direction that they started from. If they followed common logic and thought that the Sun sets in the West and headed in that direction then they would actually be heading East. towards Boca del Toro. I know it seems strange to someone not living here but because Panama runs East to West and not North to South this strange illusion takes place. I often watch the Sun rise in the West (South Sea - Pacific) and set behind Volcan Baru (Boca del Toro) in the East. I cannot think of any other logical (non-criminal) reason for them to continue to the Boca del Toro region."
Owing to a peculiar optical illusion, the sun here appears to rise in the West, not the East.
Nevertheless: the video made by Kris' parents shows us that simply getting lost on day one, around 16:30 PM, was unlikely. The video shows also that the road is used frequently by locals and their cattle and is by no means desolate. And that falling down beyond the Mirador in ravines or anything of the sort is as good as impossible. Even less likely is to fall down a slope there and not being discovered by the dozens and dozens of professional and volunteer searchers in the following months. Realistically speaking, the worst fate they could have suffered soon after photo 508 was taken, is a sprained ankle or perhaps some breathing issues for Lisanne. The parents emphasized that these girls were responsible and smart. They had also read online about the Pianista Trail and had been told in the language school that they had to return on the same path in order to get back to Boquete. It seems therefore illogical that they would voluntarily continue on this path by the time they were ready to head back home. Or for them to decide to leave the path, knowing how flimsy they were dressed and what light package they brought along. The terrain becomes instantly hard to cross due to thick foliage when you leave the clearly carved out trail, and they had bare arms and legs.. They would normally turn back to the trail soon and make the same trip in reverse back home, as they were told to do by Marjolein of Spanish by the River. And even if they mistakenly assumed that the trail would somehow bring them back to Boquete in a loop (and there is no evidence that they were informed on Sunday March 29th that this was not the case), even then they would have realised after a while that the road only brings you further away from Boquete. Logic is not always easy to fare on, but logic would normally dictate them to stop, find a place to spend the night and return on the same road the day after. And if one had been injured, the other one could have walked back to Boquete the next day. It also seems unlikely that Kris was mortally injured early on, because her iPhone received the right PIN codes for five more days, and her head and healthy looking hair (as far as you can tell this from a photo) were pictured on a nighttime photo of April 8th.
Several other tourists have gone missing in this same region, but they were in fact found by search teams. For instance, the Colombian 33 year old tourist Yuli Natalia Zurruaga (also called Zuluaga in other news articles) got lost on the Il Pianista trail in Boquete in 2016. She went up the mountain with several other people, but fell behind due to a foot issue. When trying to return to Boquete, Natalia mistakenly heads further north instead of south. But she was found safely by rescue teams, and quickly too; she was reported missing on the Friday and as soon as Sinaproc rescue teams headed out to look for her on the Saturday, they found her that same day. In another situation, two female teachers were found and rescued by Sinaproc and police in the Nürüm district of Comarca Ngöbe Buglé. They were lost in the wild and phoned 911 at 17.30 PM. Rescue teams found them at 03.00 AM (in darkness!), after 7 hours of searching. The teachers suffered from dehydration, bruises, hypothermia and exhaustion. And in September 2013 a young German couple in their late 20's also got lost in the tropical forest north of Boquete according to Miguel Angel Gonzalez from Hostal Mamallena. From what I understand, the couple lost track of which direction they were heading and ended up at the first monkey bridge. But luckily a local passes by (as locals regularly do on this trail) and tells them where they are and how to get back to the Mirador, as well as pointing them to a hut of another indigenous man where they can spend the night. People cán get lost or discover that they walked to far in order to make it back to Boquete before nightfall. But people rarely remain lost in this inhabited stretch of hills, woods and farmland. Sinaproc's leader has stated the same to the media.
NOBODY EVER STAYED LOST ON THE PIANISTASinaprocs director Alvarado went as far as to say to a Dutch newspaper that he does not believe the two girls got lost. But that something else must have happened. Arturo Alvarado, who led the search teams, stated to the media that nobody had EVER stayed lost on the Pianista trail. His team had always found them. In this newspaper article Sinaproc's chef Arturo Alvarado said on April 8th 2014, that his teams had 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. Around 25 hiking trails in the nature reserve in Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, with a total of 621 miles of territory were searched during the first two weeks alone. Without any result. Spokesman Elmer Quintero also said during a press conference on April 14th, 2014: "If they were in the jungle of Boquete, we would have already found them." He ruled out that the girls were out in the nature reserve. These girls were actively looked for by specialist guides, locals, search dogs, helicopters, SINAPROC, the army, volunteers, local natives, farmers, tourists and at least one of them supposedly lived for at least a staggering eleven days straight after disappearing (last time the iPhone was switched on and off). And then the searches continued for many more months. Yet nobody found them? Or their entire skeletons? Despite their bones being found close to the small and permanently inhabited village of Alto Romero? Their few remains and possessions were found alongside the local river, which indicates that (unless all of those were planted by a third party) Kris and Lisanne's last camp must have been alongside the river as well. But if that were the case, they would have been found by searchers. or seen by helicopters. And they were not. Nobody found them, despite a 40.000 dollar reward on their heads. Like the head of Sinaproc declared; perhaps the girls weren't out in the jungle at all when these search parties were active. And in this newspaper Alvarado defended Sinaproc's search operations in late May 2014: "Alvarado stressed that Sinaproc has done everything possible to find Kris and Lisanne in and around Boquete. His people have traveled nearly 1,000 kilometres "by land, in the air and by sea" in searches." [Alvarado was shot twice in 2017].
The Dutch verdict: a hiking accidentThe most prominent Dutch theory of what happened to them, is that they moved further into the mountains for unknown reasons, tried to pass a river on the treacherous monkey bridges, accidentally slid off a slippery slope, injuring themselves, and got stuck in a river bedding or ditch of some sort which they could not climb back out of. And where they had no cell phone reach. The slope may have been too steep for them to climb back up on without any gear (some discovered by the forensic team on location were up to 30 or 40 metres deep), and they were stuck. However, this does not explain how their remains could have ended up so many kilometres up north, on flat terrain near the river. And the places where some steep edges are, also lie close to the summit of the Pianista trail and if they had fallen there then rescue teams and (dog) searchers had definitely found them. All the slopes there were inspected and scaled down on by search members. In this Dutch TV program, a local guide explains this. The region in which Kris and Lisanne seem to have wandered around is not all that large and people searched for them extensively and for a very long time. Sinaproc declared in the media that they were certain the girls weren't there. Also, the girls were during many days capable of using their phones. If it were truly Kris and Lisanne who handled the phones, then they were conscious and should have heard the rescue teams, dogs and all other searchers if they had fallen close to the main trail or in that tropical forest at all; there was a big reward for the person who found them, so there was extra incentive to find them. Yet, nobody did.. As this author puts it: "One of the perplexing parts is that the reward wasn’t enough incentive to locate the women. By Panama’s standards, $30,000 is a lot of money. It’s equivalent to $500,000 in a developed country. With $30,000, a local person can buy land, build a house and start a small business in Panama." And wouldn't all their bodily remains then have been found near the place where they made a supposed deadly fall? Instead, hardly any remains were found and the few bones that did show up were found at least 14 walking hours up north, not near a ravine.. With a broken foot and a pelvic bone broken in half, you don't normally walk that far yourself... Which makes the fall theory seem wobbly.
The Panamanian verdict: first a homicide, then changed to a hiking accident
On September 24, 2014, Attorney General Betzaida Pitti overturned Panama's initial declarations about a kidnapping and/or homicide. Pitti publicly declared the cause of death of the women to be a hiking accident, having been “dragged to death” in the river. So the official report classifying the case as a homicide was updated, but the new verdict was not backed up by proof. Initially she tried to circumvent this by stating that "it is essential to maintain the confidentiality of the summary to clarify this case.” By then several different case explanations had already passed by. Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon most likely drowned in a river according to Pitti, but they could also have been killed by wild animals according to her report, or they could have fallen into a ravine. In the end, Pittí wrapped her many accident theories up into one main theory, namely that Kris and Lisanne hiked from Boquete to Bocas del Toro (presumably because they disliked Boquete) but that during this hike, they fell off one of the monkey bridges and were dragged to their deaths by the river water. Pittí was satisfied that there were no criminals involved, since there are no serial killers in Boquete and there was cash money found in the rucksack. Even some of the countries' own journalists criticized the authorities for not providing any forensic evidence for their Accident verdict. In fact, we already know that the existing science contradicts all three of these theories. Prosecutor Pitti also referred to a report prepared by the National Environmental Authority, where the presence of wild animals was established in the area that Kris and Lisanne explored. However, in no line of the autopsy reports was any evidence of an attack by a wild animal detected. There were no microscopic signs of animal involvement found on the remains, not on the clothes and belongings, nowhere. And there are also problems with the drowning theory. For instance, not all the bone remnants were supposedly found downstream from the location of the backpack. Multiple people who investigated this case, including Jeremy Kryt, claimed that some were found upstream: from the Continental Divide you have rivers streaming down to the Pacific Ocean on one side, and down to the Caribbean Sea on the other, so flowing in different directions. The victims’ highest-placed remains were found at about 2,300 feet above sea level, near the headwaters of the Serpent river, in the upper cloud forest. Aside from the fact that the rainy season hadn't started yet at that time and the rivers weren't swollen when Kris and Lisanne were missing in the initial weeks; aside from the fact that these athletic girls could swim and could even have hopped over river rocks from one side to the other, or wade to the other side. Aside from all that: how could a river have made over 80% of their bodies disappear entirely, but managed to deposit the few bones that wére found in neat clusters along a relatively short stretch of riverbanks?
Other opinionsJohn Tornblom, 32, a guide with more than 10 years of experience in the cloud forests above Boquete, said about it: “If it was really an accident why couldn’t they find more remains? Where are all the big bones? Where are the skulls? There are no animals up there that would eat a skull.” Criminologist Octavio Calderón confirms this and also rules out that the girls have been attacked by wild animals. The assumption is perhaps based on the report presented by the National Environmental Authority, which establishes that there are vipers, pumas and tigers in the area.
Criminologist Sr. Octavio Calderón also said, "if the beasts had attacked them, where are the skulls?" These animals do not swallow a skull. Cougars, the criminologist adds, are solitary animals, who avoid interacting with humans. And if a snake had been the cause, it would attack one person, not two at the same time. According to Calderón it’s “strange” for a foot to be broken off at the ankle, remaining in its boot. (Without any signs of teeth, claws or signs of violence detectable on the bones). He finds it also peculiar that most of Lisanne’s bones had tissue attached, while none of Kris’ did. And perhaps the biggest oddity of all; as we've read in a previous subtopic, Kris’ bones – but not Lisanne’s — were looking bleached. Some say they look like they came out of a cooking pot, which wasn't far from the truth probably, as authorities later stated that the pelvic bone had actually been placed in boiling water for several hours by a forensic team to remove its soft tissue, enabling them to see if the bone showed signs of violence. If true, let's hope authorities made plenty of photos of those remains before boiling them... Kris' bones (unlike Lisanne's) also contained phosphorus, a substance missing from the local non-volcanic soil. This gave rise to the following startling statement by Sr. Calderón: “…the match could indicate the use of fertilizers or chemicals on the remains. Desperation may have led to the attacker to use such substance to ‘disappear’ the evidence. (sic)” The lawyer of the Kremers family, Enrique Arrocha, stated: "If the girls were attacked by wild animals, why are their clothes found intact?" If this aggression had occurred, the blood and tear marks would be clearly visible on the clothes, and this is not the case. So effectively, everything that officials claimed to have caused the girls' demise is a vague assumption in their opinion. One of them may have been injured early on, there could have been a possible fatal injury, some of the nighttime photos appear to have been made pointing upwards with the camera, IF one of them got a snake bite the river could have dragged them to their deaths and then crashed the bodies apart. Even though their badly injured foot and broken pelvic bone were found on land, 14 walking hours away from said ravines.
“The match could indicate the use of fertilizers or chemicals on the remains. Desperation may have led to the attacker to use such substance to ‘make the evidence disappear’”
Octavio Calderón was also consulted by La Estrella de Panamá and maintains that Kris and Lisanne were murdered. He stated about the body parts which were found together near the river: “Two bones from different parts of the body, from two people, never end up together on a sandbar. This shows that someone placed them there. There is no other reason.” It doesn’t make sense that these bones washed-up on the same small riverbank, alongside a river that moves on for many kilometres. Bodies can float due to gases, but bones do not float. They sink. Also, if one or both of the girls had drowned in the slow floating river - as it was at the time - it would have carried the whole body, and most likely would have made them stagnate somewhere in a river bend; not break them up. Several specialists on the matter declared this too; a river like that does not break up a body, not even after a full year in a river, let alone after a month or two. Even when a young girl drowned in a nearby river, similar in size to the Rio Culebra and also in Ngobe territory, she was found just a week later with her body intact and clothed—not broken into bits and scattered like the Holandesas. “If I fall into a river while hiking,” said local team leader David Miranda, “I fall in with everything on me. And that’s how they’re going to find me later. People’s clothes and backpacks don’t just wash off them like that in a few weeks’ time.” 
Environmentalist Ezequiel Miranda believes that the backpack that was found in the Culebra River with its contents "are not so credible that they could be in that sector, rather it seems to me that it could be a way to mislead rescuers", Miranda commented. "Finding so many belongings together in a backpack that could have been dragged by the river is not very credible," stressed the community leader. And why were only a couple of bones retrieved (on land, behind and half under a tree, without any microscopic signs of having bounced off the rocks in the river, bones of both girls found scattered around but in clusters together?). And where are the rest of the two skeletons? And how did Kris' pelvic break in half? A river drowning also does not explain why Kris' bones contained phosphates, nor why her once brown shoe ended up on land, seemingly bleached into a blue colour. Betzaida Pitti refused to get that shoe analysed in the lab, unfortunately.. For unknown reasons. This woman leading the investigations believes that the bleached look of the bones from Kris is the result of them having been sun-bleached. It is unclear why the bones of Lisanne, found nearby, showed no such bleaching however. Pitti also never attempted to explain this different state of decomposition. She also stubbornly claims that the local soil does contain phosphorus, despite local soil testing disproving this.
“Two bones from different parts of the body, from two people, never end up together on a sandbar. This shows that someone placed them there. There is no other reason.”
And let's not forget that others disappeared here. As many as two dozen people -mostly women- are said to have 'disappeared' in the area between Boquete and the coast. Not just tourists. When Kinga Philipps from the Travel Channel mentioned to Frank van de Goot that "this area has a bit of a reputation", he replied: "Yes, I know". Kinga: "There are other people who have gone missing here." Frank: "Yes, correct." And criminologist Octavio Calderón said about this: "There's hundreds of cases like that." One British traveller has never been found, Alex Humphrey.
Frank van der Goot's ravine
Dr. Frank van de Goot went to Panama in 2015 and was privately commissioned to do so by the parents of Kris and Lisanne (and paid for by sponsor money). He worked for the NFI until 2010. He has communicated that he does believe that Kris and Lisanne fell in a ravine, and he said at the time: “You can’t really exclude a crime, but I remain [of the opinion] it was an accident scenario. [..] “If they had been kidnapped, we’ve heard nothing to confirm that.” “Normally people get in touch and ask for money. I can’t completely exclude a crime, but I have nothing to prove that. With an accident, there are a few possibilities, but I can’t prove it” Van de Goot also said. He suggested on camera that Kris and Lisanne fell off a cliff, and this cliff was traversed by a river at the bottom, which then carried away their bodies and backpack. Van de Goot’s accident theory was met with some skepticism however, in part because of a lack of specifics, such as GPS coordinates or suggestions or even photo evidence of where that fall would have exactly taken place. He also waited for nine months to go to Boquete to have a look for this ravine, in January of 2015. In March of 2015 he told the Dutch NOS news that he went to Boquete 'to test scenarios' and came up with the fall theory because there was no possibility to get lost: "If you walk around there you will see a path that runs forward and backwards, with forest on either side. There are no side paths. There is nothing to get lost in." Getting lost on the other side of the mountain is also not an option, he says: "The water there does not flow into the river where the remains were ultimately found." According to Van de Goot, the wrong impression was created that Kris and Lisanne were walking in a large forest where anything could happen. "If you walk around there a bit, you see all kinds of farms. And you have to go up and down the path through a village. We may not see anyone there, but everyone sees us." Nine months after their disappearance, Van de Goot concluded that a seemingly random slope he selected was the place where they must have slipped... "You see that on a certain part of that mountain there is a narrow path with a slope right next to it that is about fifty to sixty meters down. It only takes one wrong step." He says so without any actual evidence having been found by volunteers and search groups of a sliding pattern anywhere on these trails. At the spot where they could have theoretically fallen, volunteers scaled down within a week and found zero evidence of a fall. Nature tends to leave traces behind of two huge adult women sliding down a slope.. But Van de Goot seemed not phased by this lack of actual evidence. And neither by the total absence of evidence of a fall on the belongings of Kris and Lisanne. No blood found anywhere or on anything. Even their plastic sunglasses were found in their bag without as much as a scratch. Despite having fallen down a huge slope? And I won't even start here about the illogicality of how these women and their backpack would have miraculously made it from the bottom of a ravine to the river near Alto Romero, many kilometers up north.. In this same NOS interview in March 2015, Van de Goot was terribly confident that a crime could be ruled out, for a very simple reason (in his logic..). After the phones had been found "it became clear that contact was still being sought with the same phones days after the disappearance, then that is a strange crime. One where they were allowed to keep their phones." Strange, but certainly not a one-off for those who know their true crime history. Needless to say that I find this close-minded reasoning very flawed and very disappointing, coming from a scientist. He later also said to (crime convinced) Kryt that his team of examiners declared they couldn’t actually be certain a “third party” didn’t activate the phone on that day.TOO MUCH SOCIAL CONTROL - Frank van de Goot also believed that the Pianista region is inhabited to such an extent, that he deems the social control too high to allow for a kidnapping to have happened unnoticed. But I wonder why a kidnapping could not be done unseen in his opinion, but two desperate tall European women, screaming no doubt to be found, could supposedly stay completely undetected for at least eleven days, going by Van de Goots logic? Someone living in Boquete wrote here that in the area where Kris and Lisanne went missing, the terrain is sloped and sound carries very far in fact. "It is a misconception that sound is blocked by foliage here. Not much greenery is blocking sound on a slope. Just this morning I heard a car alarm from maybe a km away. I can hear water rushing in the Rio Caldera hundreds of metres away. To conflate sound transmission on a flat area to a sloped area is disingenuous. This concept also applies to light transmission; to see possible dwelling lights from a distance that would not be possible in a flat area." - And if their bodies had been laying there for months, wouldn't all those locals and passers by in this stretch of nature have smelled the remains (or seen vultures fly above it), like the foot of Lisanne was supposedly 'smelled' by the volunteers? Ultimately, Frank van de Goot did not scour the entire area. He hiked the Pianista trail, passed some monkey bridges and that was it. Frank also worked with the Dutch state and he was the only one handpicked and allowed to go to Panama and to search beyond the Mirador (authorities in Boquete literally set up barriers and prevented the Dutch dog teams for instance to go beyond the Mirador). I am not convinced by Frank van de Goots following of the official accident narrative therefore. Especially since he failed to provide the basic proof for it. Not even a photo of this supposed cliff, despite him having been there to 'identify' the place. Don't tell us, show us. During a later 2019 cooperation with the Travel Channel, Frank also went back and forth with his statements and suspicions, and seemed to imply there is a lot of crime out there. He said things like: "There is no way to get lost. You actually don't need a guide." Here you can see summarized how by 2019, he seems to no longer discard a foul play theory entirely, nor mentions his ravine fall theory anymore. But you can wait in vain for a rectification message from him. To two Dutch authors Frank van de Goot stated with his usual dramatic flair that when he saw the monkey bridges for himself, he "felt mortal for the first time". Which to me sounds rather absurd for a middle-aged man. Which 46-year old man (as he was in 2015) has never felt mortal yet? That is stuff for teenagers with undeveloped brains.
It's not like they were in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, or the Darién Gap... People actually live here and local people have cattle and settlements here. Photos and telephone data suggest that at least one of the girls was alive on April 11th, so how is it possible that in 11 days time, they didn't run into anyone? Not one settlement? Not one local person or search team member crossed their path?
The area has huts, cattle, farmers and locals
There are trails there, and you can walk in several days to the coast in the north, which is about 66 kilometres away.... There are villages along the way and open spots where farmers let their cattle graze (not 100's of kilometres of impenetrable rainforest such as in Brazil for instance). Or as Juan puts it: "Nobody keeps cows in a jungle! This is a forest at best, not a jungle." Kris and Lisanne were not in a completely uninhabited area. Based on the location where their few bone remains were found, they must have at least crossed the 1st cable bridge (unless you believe they were murdered and a handful of selected and cleaned bones were simply spread out in parts by someone else). And there are inhabited and uninhabited fincas between the 1st and 3rd river crossing.. See the image on the right for instance, which was made by Power-Pixie and which shows five fincas or sheds near the three cable bridges. (This map doesn't even include the slightly more northerly fincas of Laureano Bejerano and guide F.) They are visible within 50-100 metres of distance. And look at how much clearance there is in this landscape. Clearances equals human activity, along with human dwellings. There is deforestation in this area; grassland (paddocks), cattle, domesticated animals and human presence. Especially animals have distinct smells and sounds that are often hard to miss. You can normally notice these inhabited fincas from a distance; their sounds, the smells of their fireplace and their surrounding deforestation and human-made trails which all indicate human presence. And then the amount of open terrain. They could have stood there every time a helicopter was flying circles around the area. But they didn't. They would have been hard pressed to AVOID all areas of civilization in this area if you ask me. Including the heavily used cable bridges. Besides, when you are in an unknown surrounding, you stick to the path, any path as a hiker. Unless you are hiding from someone, that is. And paths always lead to somewhere, may it be habitation, a plantation, water or even a road. But had Kris and Lisanne spent any decent time near the river, then it seems quite a feat not to bump into anyone, eventually. Not considering the amount of people who live in that area, who pass through it and the scores of people looking for Kris and Lisanne soon after they disappeared. Why was Sinaproc not able to find them?
2.jpg)
DANGEROUS AND UNINHABITED?Although on this local Boquete site the terrain behind the Mirador is described as follows: "If you are out of shape and not actively fit, an inexperienced hiker, and unaccustomed to hiking off the beaten path, then you should not be helping out in the search. The terrain is not easy for the inexperienced, it is rocky, straight up, and rough with as many as 22 trails in that area. These are not regular trails meaning that they are not travelled on daily like the popular El Pianista Trail." Authorities, prosecutor and certain journalists have gone out of their way to describe the terrain behind the Mirador as death traps with bone grinding rivers, mudland that swamps you in until your navel. Deadly challenges at every turn, basically. They basically paint the worst picture possible of this terrain, with floods and mudslides. But when Kris and Lisanne went missing, it had been exceptionally dry for a long time. The trail wasn't even muddy up the Pianista, which is a rarity. Power Pixie dug further into this topic and confirmed to me that no floods or heavy rains were reported in the Alto Romero/Bocas Del Toro Province region, between April 1, 2014 and June 19, 2014. So why did Betzaida Pittí communicate in the press that Kris and Lisanne faced that risk? Kris and Lisanne did not disappear because they were swapped away by a deadly mudslide, I think that (mostly) everyone can agree on that. And even if there was some minor rain a week later, there are so many tourists who book guided tours especially to pass those monkey bridges or to walk along these same narrow trails during much worse weather conditions. Many tourists also hike the long trail to Bocas del Toro, without problems. These trails are still used by locals and they have been for decades, centuries perhaps. Making it all the more bizarre and worrying that PItti and authorities did not allow specialised dog teams from the Netherlands to search beyond the Mirador. This doesn't mean that you could not have an accident and fall or die in the woods of Boquete. Of course that is possible. But I feel that certain people make a real purposeful effort to create the worst possible horror version of this stretch of nature, just to push an accident narrative.
I list a bunch of questions about this case below:
*The Backpack was found on the riverbank, yet everything inside was looking in fairly good shape
Including both the mobile phones and the digital camera. There were no significant physical cracks, dents or huge damage to the screens of the mobile phones or the digital camera. The sunglasses were also found intact. The money bills inside the backpack were dry and not decomposed. The metal parts of the bras were not really rusted and the camera still worked. Even the phones in the backpack survived what is assumed to have been a float in the rock-filled river. They could be read out by the NFI after drying. Despite having been in the humid, muddy, rainy tropical forest for ten weeks, the backpack looked fairly clean and dry (as you can also see in the photo that was taken from the bag and its content by the finder of it). The police files reported minor dirt on the bag. But despite the bag looking dry in the photo, it was somehow described as still 'wet' on the inside and the outside by the time investigators got the backpack in their possession, which was at least 48 hours after it was found/photographed. The backpack was found on June 11th and was picked up by case officials on June 13th. This seems strange because on the photo of the bag, taken inside the hut where it was kept until police picked it up, not even the turquoise flap of fabric looks wet or to have water damage. It was found downstream of the girls' fragmented remains; some distance from Alto Romero and close to guide F's finca. Local tour guide Laureano Bejerano who has worked for many decades in this region, said about this: “I never could understand that about the backpack. To me that part just doesn’t make any sense.” Shouldn't the backpack have fallen apart after months in the river, potentially? Be mould-ridden? But there was no mould reported to have been on the fabric of the bag. Matt from IP had access to the official police files and concluded: "Although the damage of the backpack (scratches and abrasion) is consistent with travelling in a river and rocks, the damage is very light and probably not consistent with a travel of many kilometres in a wild river." Could the rucksack have reached the site near the settlement of Alto Romero some other way, instead of taking a month and a half to wind through the Serpent’s rapids? (Picture of the First Monkey Bridge; notice how rocky and winding the stream is and how shallow the water).
Local backpacker George calls the state of the backpack 'a huge red flag'. Too convenient how it was found and its state not representing it's supposed long stay out in the elements. It should have completely disintegrated. "Our rainy season, we get 24 to 30 inches a month. So sixty days being out in the rains... heavy rains, I think that was an interesting find. It was too good to be true. And way too late." Too late to save Kris and Lisanne. Too late to steer the investigation in a good direction when there was still hope. And also very late if we are to believe that Kris and Lisanne were out there, near that village for such a long time already, and yet the bag wasn't there the day prior, Irma Mirando claimed. Where had that backpack been all that time? Not in the middle of the flowing river, if we are to believe Irma? I also don't believe that a lycra non-waterproof backpack could have survived a significant trip down a supposedly wild river full of river rocks, coming out in the state it did. That flood is certainly very selective in who or what it chooses to disintegrate and when and where and how far to take it... The distance from the monkey bridge to the location where the first of the bone fragments were found is only two kilometres according to guide Bejerano, who also finds it “doubtful” that two human bodies would break up after such a short passage in the Serpent. U.S.-based forensic consultant Carl Weil, who has given his analysis in more than 300 court cases, also finds it very suspicious that the victims’ inexpensive nylon backpack was said to have spent six weeks awash in the nearby Serpent River, floating around in the same stretch of water that supposedly - going by Betzaida Pitti's verdict - reduced the victims to tiny fragments. And with the functioning phones and camera inside it all that time. After reviewing a photo of Lisanne Froon’s recovered pack, Weil said that a lightly built, civilian pack of that kind would likely have become “saturated within minutes” of falling in the river, with the “electronics inside it fried.” It wouldn't have floated around but sunk.
The Holandesas’ backpack was discovered by an Ngobe family on June 11, 2014—around the same time that the search for Kris and Lisanne was heating up, with the Costa Rican Red Cross and Dutch dog teams joining in the hunt. “If the suspect was clever and crafty,” Weil said, “he might not have wanted related items found in his house during a search.” “They probably weren’t out here alone.” Irma Mirando and her husband Luis Atencio found the bag and spoke with the Lost in the Wild crew and she declared on camera: "My husband and I walked down to the river. I was going to wash clothes and bathe myself. And when I approached the edge of the river, I saw what looked like a backpack from the distance, trapped in between the rocks on the edge of the river." Her husband said that as they wanted to hand in the backpack to the authorities, he called a nearby cattle rancher (said by insiders to have also been a tour guide, but the case prosecutor later claimed without providing further evidence that it was a man named 'José') and informed him what he had found. This man then called the border police and handed the backpack "directly over to the police". Panamá Americá reported that: "The first idea that came to mind for the indigenous Bocatoreña who found Lissane Froon's backpack with belongings was fear. She felt the weight of it and knew immediately that there was something inside. She was bathing in the Culebra River when she spotted the backpack. "I feel that something weighed inside, it kind of scared me, but I had to see what was there", the indigenous woman told TVN Noticias from her home in the thick jungle. "I checked it, it had everything that came there, which was $87, I checked it and left it there", she said. In the police file itself it was claimed however that the couple was working in the nearby rice fields when Mirando spotted the bag in the river. This spot had been searched prior by search teams, who inspected the whole area between the Mirador and Alto Romero. But they found no signs of the girls then. 
CRIMINOLOGISTThis criminologist, Octavio Calderon, is also critical about the Accident-in-River theory: "It is a supposition without any scientific basis or proof. Nothing indicates that the girls were close to water." So it is theoretically possible that the backpack - which was found either directly next to the river or on a spot inside the river, depending on various statements which Irma Mirando has given over time - was taken by someone and placed there. Either a criminal involved, or perhaps simply a local farmer for instance who found the bag, kept it in his home for some time but then placed it out there once the media storm and hype got too much. But if that were the case, why wouldn't such an innocent person just hand the bag to the police and ask for the reward dollars? This disappearance case was very well known by then. There were dozens of posters of the girls put up in and around Boquete and the indigenous people coming to or from Boquete were given instructions and flyers with descriptions of the girls, the clothes and the backpack they were sporting on the day of their disappearance. So people knew. Why would an innocent person risk incriminating himself and missing out on a small fortune in potential reward money? It is also theoretically possible that local authorities found the backpack during door to door searches and were dead-set on covering up the case to protect their tourism industry, and placed it themselves in the tropical forest to let some local farmers 'find' it the next day. And if the girls themselves made it to the place where the backpack was found, then wouldn't they have been rescued or found, considering that people live and work there? The local Indigenous woman who discovered the backpack was quoted in local media to have said that 'the bag had definitely not been there the day prior'. So she went there more often, one can conclude from this. But this detail is not mentioned in the official police files.
THE SOIL REMAINS ON THE BAG
Soil remnants found on the backpack have not been compared by Panamanian prosecutors/investigators with soil on the spot where the bag was found. In fact: no soil samples were performed at all by prosecutor Pittí. It would have been Betzaida Pitti who had to order those tests and she didn't, according to local news. And the official case files confirm this. There is even talk that the woman who found the bag may have washed the outside of it clean before handing it to the police. But this is nowhere confirmed and possible untrue. Maybe somebody spread that rumour to try to explain the seemingly clean and dry backpack? I mean, like I said: most striking is that the light blue colour of the bag shows no signs of water damage, stains, mud, algae or other obvious signs of having been in a damp jungle for months, or in a winding river for many kilometres. The media also echoed that everything in the backpack was neatly folded; the bras for instance and the other items also weren't randomly stuffed into the bag, but orderly placed in it. Although we cannot be certain that the Alto Romero locals did not go through those belongings, before rearranging things. But why did the girls put their sunglasses for instance in their backpack, or their bras? Did they not wear them or need them? Some people have suggested that the person who lived the longest could have already been nearing madness by April 6th-11th, when the iPhone from Kris was powered on and off a lot with wrong or no PIN code enterings. But would anyone hallucinating and on the verge of insanity really neatly wrap up their stuff in a backpack and leave it behind?
THE DAMAGE OF THE BAGThe police report also mentions details about damage to the backpack. As mentioned before, there was minor damage to the bag. The attachment of one of the straps had partly come loose. The plastic closures contained deep scratches. The fabric of the bag showed some signs of discoloration in various places, possibly by abrasion. A rectangular piece of the fabric of approximately 30 by 15 mm at the top right corner was missing, showing straight edges at the location of the damage. And there was a straight tear in the fabric of the bag of approximately 10 mm. There was polyester urethane detected at the puncture site (using infrared microspectrometry). Its source is unknown. This big tear was located near and parallel to a seam. The tears were determined to have been caused by a sharp edge. The precise nature of this edge (whether it was a natural sharp edge or a man-made sharp object) has not been determined however. Although suggestions have been made repeatedly that this sort of damage could have been the result of a machete or of the bag having been hooked on a fence and torn that way. Juan was told some time ago already - before Matt published this new case info - that locals had told him that the backpack had been left hanging on a nail in the wall of the house of Angel Palacios, before police came and picked it up. Could this information be correct? Perhaps at least one of the tears in the bag was not sustained before it was found, but afterwards. The fact that the backpack was found near the river more or less discredits the official version that both could have fallen off a cliff and died. Then their backpacks would have been with them in that ravine. Unless of course someone found their bodies, took their backpack, and for some inexplicable reason took nothing out of it, told police nothing about it, and placed the bag with all its belongings near the village and the river.... This sounds incredibly far-fetched, especially when you remember that there was a small fortune up for grabs in reward money. If the local indigenous people were involved in the girls' death, it seems illogical also that they would draw attention to their own village by planting the bag at the river in the vicinity of their village. And the fact that no body grease from their corpses was found on the backpack also means that it wasn't worn by one of them after they died.
*Also strange; both the girls' Bras were found folded up in the backpack
How come they took their bras off, which are the same ones they are seen wearing on April 1st? You can see them under and through their clothes in the daytime photos, for instance in this picture. Forgive my amateurish collage that is added here by the way, circling the (obvious) coloured flower patterns on Lisanne's bra (which may theoretically also have been a bikini, as the straps could be taken off, but I'd say myself that it looks more like a bra). In Kris' case you can only see the black strap of her black bra in one Mirador summit photo, but you do also see the general shape of her balconette-style bra back in a close up of her chest area with her sleeveless shirt worn over it. Aside from the fact that these type of bras usually have underwire (which can irritate or feel uncomfortable in the long run), the shape matches in my opinion the shape of the cups of the bra shown with the backpack, because what this type of bra does is lift the breasts and shape them in a certain way, just as seems the case in Kris' daytime photos. OK, enough on that now. So the bras were found, although not on the girls. But none of their other clothes have been found, bar the jeans shorts from Kris. More on that one in a minute. The turquoise coloured top from Lisanne and especially the red and white striped top from Kris would stand out in the forest normally. So where did they end up and why weren't they found together with the bone remnants? The girls had not brought any special or extra clothing on their day trip. They wore shorts and tank tops, but did not bring a hat for instance. They also did not seem to bring extra bras; the ones they were wearing in the photos were the same ones which were found in the backpack. No other bras (or bikinis for that matter) were seen, photographed, or found in their backpack and it is safe to assume they did not bring an extra set. Besides, if they had made the effort to bring extra things along, you'd normally sooner expect that they would have picked a flashlight or notebook and pen - which they didn't - before bothering bringing another set of bras. The bras were therefore with near certainty worn by them on the day they took off, and then taken off at some point. Bringing us back to the core question: why did they take them off and put them in their backpack? BRA OPINIONS DIFFER
Some women say that in a rainy, humid cloud forest, wet bras may have been uncomfortable to wear. The fabric may have caused friction redness on the skin and if the bras had become wet, they could even have caused skin inflammation as such after prolonged use. Or that the girls may have lost weight during their ordeal and found the bras ill-fitted and unpleasant to wear at some point. However, bras can be adjusted both in the shoulder straps and on the back, so even weight loss is no real urgent reason for a bra to suddenly not fit at all anymore. And Kris had decent sized breasts: wearing a bra then gives more comfort than not, especially when walking or in a humid wet climate. Although there are literally METRES worth of side debates to be found on this exact topic online. Women mostly, debating whether or not they do or do not like to walk around bra-less, and whether or not they would have taken theirs off when lost in the jungle, yes or no. But we need to keep in mind here the size of someone's breasts, the conditions in which they are walking and moving around, the climate but also their general sense of (un)safety. But you won't find consensus on this particular topic; some women will declare it's obvious they voluntarily took their bras off due to comfort and others will say the polar opposite; aka, highly subjective opinions that do not tell us anything about Kris and Lisanne's personal preferences and considerations. (To me though, hiking with wobbling breasts seems tedious more than anything else). Lisanne's singlet was on the teeny side and Kris' top was going to be partially transparent as soon as the fabric got wet. The simple singlets they were wearing wouldn't give much protection; you'd feel almost bare in them without a bra. Kris' father was unsettled by this detail and asked several young women he knew if they would take off their bra in the tropical forest in a situation where they were lost? And they all said that they wouldn't. Because you never know who you will run into there and then a bra does feel like a layer of protection. With cool nights in the cloud forest and the girls not bringing any other garments as far as we know, they must have been chilly; one more reason to keep your bra on, you would think... And Kris' shorts were also found in the forest, so are we to believe that this girl voluntarily walked through a mosquito infested forest in only her bottom underwear and a see through tank top? And if they didn't take them off willingly, does this then point towards a 3rd party who forced them to take them off? Having a possible sexual motive? Betzaida Pittí believes that the bras show us that a sexual (harassment) motive can be ruled out as a factor in this case, because the bras found in the girls' backpack showed no signs of violence, no saliva or fingerprints. Pittí: "Are you going to let someone take off your bra without using force? Let's assume that it happened to both of them, did they both give in? Did you both take off your bra? And the rest of the clothes?' Pittí insinuates here that in her opinion, the bras would have shown signs of violence in the case of sexual harassment, as she does not believe that Kris and Lisanne would have willingly taken off their clothes without a struggle... OK then.. Excuse me for not taking Pittí's uneducated assumptions for fact here. - And if Kris and Lisanne truly got lost; why were those bras not left in the jungle and used as markers or tools? What actually makes most sense to me personally, is that they went for a swim. Perhaps during or after the Pianista hike. They then willingly took the bras off and folded them up themselves and stored them in their bag. They willingly took their sunglasses off too. There are hot springs nearby in a place called Caldera, and local media reported early on that Kris and Lisanne had been seen there by witnesses at some point during their stay. This was also written on a local Boquete online forum. A source close to the Kremers family with insight in the case file made a detailed theory, which you can read in part 2 of this blog series, and he claims that the girls went for a swim with some local men and this is where they never came back from. A new swimming photo of the girls also was leaked, which you can also read about in part 2.
*Kris' Jeans Shorts had been left folded on a rock
The Ngobe who recovered the shorts claimed to have found them zipped and folded and placed on a rock, high above the water line. At least, that is one account. Another account reported them having actually been discovered floating in the river.. A local guide called Laureano told The Daily Beast: “Her clothing wasn’t found on any trail! We found those shorts down there in the river”. (We = at the least him and local guide 'Angel', aka: Angel Palacios, here you can see him talk about his find). He was pointing to the bank of the Culebre river some 50 or 60 feet away, downstream. This place is only reachable by passing a three cabled monkey bridge. “Her shorts weren’t used as any kind of trail marker,” Laureano insisted. “And they weren’t put there on purpose.” This raises the question how a piece of clothing could float in the river for as long as it did, considering it was noticed around June 19th? Wouldn't it sink at some point? And how does someone fall in the river and lose her shorts within just a few hundred metres anyway? “Sí,” Laureano says, “Nunca habia otro caso como asi.” There’s never been another case like this.
NO DROWNINGS
The last time a person drowned in the Serpent river was more than 25 years ago, by Laureano’s count. During the dry season, he says, you don’t even need to use the high and potentially dangerous cable bridge. There’s an easier crossing just upstream. Kris’ shorts were removed, either by her own choice or otherwise. Despite Laureano thinking otherwise, the mainstream accepted conclusion is that the shorts had been left there deliberately on the small land piece in the river as a marker of her presence in that spot, or as a reminder of this specific spot. But why was it found on such a different location than Kris' pelvic and rib bone and Lisanne's foot, leg bone and boot and their backpack? There were many kilometres between the locations where those were all found - this Dutch police detective who was closely involved with the families and investigation says that there were as many as 14 walking hours between the location where the backpack was found and the location where the jeans shorts from Kris was found (he thinks that they were murdered by the way). He also thinks that the jeans shorts and the backpack were most likely placed along the riverbed on purpose, instead of floating around the river. But why was it found so far away from the backpack and the bones of Kris? Is this because a third party threw it away or placed it as a fake sign of the girls being 'lost'? Or did Kris or Lisanne purposely place it there? Was there really nothing else they could have used as a marker?
NO BLOOD, NOT MUCH TEARING OR DAMAGE
The jeans shorts showed no blood upon forensic analysis. No blood, saliva or any other bodily fluids were found on either the jeans shorts or the bras or the backpack, in fact. The pathologists were not even able to detect cadaveric fluid, which normally eats deep into the fabric when a person passes away and is still dressed in some way and which does not wash off by water easily, certainly not on a microscopic level. So did Kris get rid of her jeans shorts while she was still alive? In terms of damage, there was a small hole found on the jeans shorts and some slight fraying of the fabric in one spot on the back. No microscopic indications of an animal attacks. Also no stains from diarrhea either by the way, a popular suggested cause for the jeans shorts to have been taken off to wash. Would Kris really take her rather tight shorts off and hike the rest of the way in her underwear? In that harsh environment, with mosquitoes, stingy animals, bigger praying animals, criminals perhaps even? In your underwear? It is hard to imagine someone voluntarily walking in their underwear briefs through the jungle. If I had to choose, I would definitely take off my bra before my shorts. Brian messaged me and suggested that the short jeans may have chaffed and chapped Kris' thighs at some point, making her decide to take them off. Going by Kris' figure, I think thigh chafing could also be happening with bare legs unfortunately, when out hiking for a long time and sweating. Another possibility could be that this jeans had to come off due to an injury. But again, no blood was found on the shorts. Also no other signs that the person wearing it fell or got injured. And why not put them simply in your backpack and bring it along then? And if Kris died early on and Lisanne left her behind, she surely wouldn't have stripped her dead friend of her jeans shorts, just to put it a few 100 metres further on a rock? This is an implausible scenario anyway, as Kris' rib and pelvic bone were found 14 walking hours up north; not at the location of the jeans shorts. And the shorts showed no signs of bodily fluids; normally a decomposing body turns partially into grease, which penetrates whatever is worn by the person and which is impossible to just wash off. Nothing was found on the shorts however. Of course, the most obvious possible reasons springing to mind (especially combined with the found bras) is that either Kris took them off at some point to swim, or that someone else wanted those pants to come off (sexual offense). But somehow that option is as good as discarded by Dutch papers and investigators ('they fell off a cliff', is their credo). If they did fall off a cliff or a bridge, did they do so nakedly then?
The Ngobe who recovered the shorts claimed to have found them zipped and folded and placed on a rock, high above the water line. At least, that is one account. Another account reported them having actually been discovered floating in the river.. A local guide called Laureano told The Daily Beast: “Her clothing wasn’t found on any trail! We found those shorts down there in the river”. (We = at the least him and local guide 'Angel', aka: Angel Palacios, here you can see him talk about his find). He was pointing to the bank of the Culebre river some 50 or 60 feet away, downstream. This place is only reachable by passing a three cabled monkey bridge. “Her shorts weren’t used as any kind of trail marker,” Laureano insisted. “And they weren’t put there on purpose.” This raises the question how a piece of clothing could float in the river for as long as it did, considering it was noticed around June 19th? Wouldn't it sink at some point? And how does someone fall in the river and lose her shorts within just a few hundred metres anyway? “Sí,” Laureano says, “Nunca habia otro caso como asi.” There’s never been another case like this.
NO DROWNINGS
The last time a person drowned in the Serpent river was more than 25 years ago, by Laureano’s count. During the dry season, he says, you don’t even need to use the high and potentially dangerous cable bridge. There’s an easier crossing just upstream. Kris’ shorts were removed, either by her own choice or otherwise. Despite Laureano thinking otherwise, the mainstream accepted conclusion is that the shorts had been left there deliberately on the small land piece in the river as a marker of her presence in that spot, or as a reminder of this specific spot. But why was it found on such a different location than Kris' pelvic and rib bone and Lisanne's foot, leg bone and boot and their backpack? There were many kilometres between the locations where those were all found - this Dutch police detective who was closely involved with the families and investigation says that there were as many as 14 walking hours between the location where the backpack was found and the location where the jeans shorts from Kris was found (he thinks that they were murdered by the way). He also thinks that the jeans shorts and the backpack were most likely placed along the riverbed on purpose, instead of floating around the river. But why was it found so far away from the backpack and the bones of Kris? Is this because a third party threw it away or placed it as a fake sign of the girls being 'lost'? Or did Kris or Lisanne purposely place it there? Was there really nothing else they could have used as a marker?
NO BLOOD, NOT MUCH TEARING OR DAMAGE
The jeans shorts showed no blood upon forensic analysis. No blood, saliva or any other bodily fluids were found on either the jeans shorts or the bras or the backpack, in fact. The pathologists were not even able to detect cadaveric fluid, which normally eats deep into the fabric when a person passes away and is still dressed in some way and which does not wash off by water easily, certainly not on a microscopic level. So did Kris get rid of her jeans shorts while she was still alive? In terms of damage, there was a small hole found on the jeans shorts and some slight fraying of the fabric in one spot on the back. No microscopic indications of an animal attacks. Also no stains from diarrhea either by the way, a popular suggested cause for the jeans shorts to have been taken off to wash. Would Kris really take her rather tight shorts off and hike the rest of the way in her underwear? In that harsh environment, with mosquitoes, stingy animals, bigger praying animals, criminals perhaps even? In your underwear? It is hard to imagine someone voluntarily walking in their underwear briefs through the jungle. If I had to choose, I would definitely take off my bra before my shorts. Brian messaged me and suggested that the short jeans may have chaffed and chapped Kris' thighs at some point, making her decide to take them off. Going by Kris' figure, I think thigh chafing could also be happening with bare legs unfortunately, when out hiking for a long time and sweating. Another possibility could be that this jeans had to come off due to an injury. But again, no blood was found on the shorts. Also no other signs that the person wearing it fell or got injured. And why not put them simply in your backpack and bring it along then? And if Kris died early on and Lisanne left her behind, she surely wouldn't have stripped her dead friend of her jeans shorts, just to put it a few 100 metres further on a rock? This is an implausible scenario anyway, as Kris' rib and pelvic bone were found 14 walking hours up north; not at the location of the jeans shorts. And the shorts showed no signs of bodily fluids; normally a decomposing body turns partially into grease, which penetrates whatever is worn by the person and which is impossible to just wash off. Nothing was found on the shorts however. Of course, the most obvious possible reasons springing to mind (especially combined with the found bras) is that either Kris took them off at some point to swim, or that someone else wanted those pants to come off (sexual offense). But somehow that option is as good as discarded by Dutch papers and investigators ('they fell off a cliff', is their credo). If they did fall off a cliff or a bridge, did they do so nakedly then?
MORE OR LESS NAKED?It also seems like Lisanne was still clothed when she died, as none of her clothing has been retrieved and she must have still worn her socks and shoes, going by the grisly discovery of one of her feet 'behind, almost under a tree'. If Lisanne indeed have such a painful inflammatory injury, why did she die while still wearing a tightly tied and laced up shoe? As if she was hiking until the very end? Wouldn't you take off that shoe when in pain from a foot injury? But with Kris the opposite seems to be the case. Kris seems to have died without her jeans shorts on, without wearing her shoes (one of her shoes was found empty), even without wearing her bra. So supposedly the two women were together, died together, but one did so naked (why?) and the other not? There were no signs of animal predation on the shoe of Kris either. Another strange element which I already shortly mentioned above is that if they actually placed that jeans shorts on that river rock to mark a certain spot, then why did they not just tear off a piece of the colourful tops for instance. Anica Wu and E. Kinskey made this video and walked the same route as Kris and Lisanne as early as late April-early May 2014. So before the backpack or remains had been found, but after the suspected date of their deaths. Their disappearance was still hot news at that time. They passed the cable bridges, yet they didn't see anything on the rocks there, despite looking for signs of the girls. No jeans shorts on those rocks, no toilet paper signs, no red plastic wrappers on sticks. They also stated that over 150.000 (!) rural local people and Ngobe people use these cable bridges and these routes. How come Kris and Lisanne were supposedly stranded near one, yet weren't found by anyone? - By the way; tour guide Laureano Bejerano himself ended up badly hurt and stranded during a solo trek in 2017. Jeremy Kryt described how he was informed that Laureano had gashed open his ankle, and lain helpless on a trail in the rugged terrain around Boquete for hours. Eventually he was reported missing by his family, and a team of his fellow guides dispatched to rescue him on May 8th of 2017 at 5am. "And yet unlike the Holandesas the lost “Cowboy” was found alive, and within less than a day of being reported missing." Below Laureano's finca, which you can find here on the map.
UPDATE, ALL THE JEANS PHOTOS
Imperfect Plan, Matt and Romain made the jeans photos public in 2021. received and shared case file photos of Kris' jeans. We do not know why these photos were added to the case files in black and white. The investigator also did not add a detailed description of the found jeans, or of its condition. Lawyer Arrocha complained that no bodily fluids could be found on the pants and that investigators did not create a DNA profile from these jeans shorts. They are solely attributed to Kris because of visual comparison with the daytime photos of April 1st. There is no information in the case files that the jeans or the clothes that were found, ever made it back to the families in the Netherlands. So all we and everybody else has are these visual comparisons.
Unlike what we had heard before in the press, according to case officials the jeans were found soaked and stuck on a dead tree branch that was partially submerged in a waterfall on the Serpent (Culebra) river, more than 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from where they were last thought to be. Found between a tree and stones in the riverbed. Matt writes: "When her shorts were discovered by investigators, her shorts had numerous holes, some of which were new holes that didn’t exist prior to their disappearance (as shown in numerous photos). It’s uncertain if the new holes were caused naturally from the river conditions, or caused by something else altogether." There were some dirt traces on the shorts, and they also show a large tear at the back, as well as a few small holes, "possibly from a fall that Kris experienced while she was missing." In the photos you can see some damage on the back of the shorts, mainly left and right from the main vertical seam. The brand of the shorts is H&M's 'Divided', which is a fashionable but cheap clothing brand, which generally lasts just one fashion season. This may be the sort of damage you get from simple wear and tear. It is located seemingly at around the same spot where Kris had already some mud visible in photos 507 and 508. I am not sure this relatively small damage area would be consistent with a slide down a ravine, for instance. I'm inclined to think the fabric damage should be more extensive in such a situation, and also shown further down on the point where the bum sticks out most, so to speak, and would have suffered the most friction in case of sliding down rocks. It is also possible that the force of the water at the spot where the jeans was found, stuck on a branch in the water, caused this fabric damage. The jeans were also found unbuttoned and mostly unzipped. "The official reports stated that the jean shorts had no trace of bodily fluid, nor skin cells of any type. Furthermore, the shorts did have some dirt on them." Matt also says that it is difficult to damage jeans like that and confirms that the case report indeed states that there was no blood on those shorts. He proposes the theory that "For one reason or another, the shorts ended up in the river and thus were carried by the current. Subsequently, when arriving at the waterfall, the shorts got stuck on the tree which covered the passage." By the way, we learnt from Jeremy Kryt that the Case files contain "xeroxed photographs".. Xerox photography.. Photocopied. Is that why these published photos are in grainy black and white? Read more about this topic towards the top of my part 4 blog. Below the photos, left as they were published, right how I adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit for a better view of the details:
Unlike what we had heard before in the press, according to case officials the jeans were found soaked and stuck on a dead tree branch that was partially submerged in a waterfall on the Serpent (Culebra) river, more than 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) from where they were last thought to be. Found between a tree and stones in the riverbed. Matt writes: "When her shorts were discovered by investigators, her shorts had numerous holes, some of which were new holes that didn’t exist prior to their disappearance (as shown in numerous photos). It’s uncertain if the new holes were caused naturally from the river conditions, or caused by something else altogether." There were some dirt traces on the shorts, and they also show a large tear at the back, as well as a few small holes, "possibly from a fall that Kris experienced while she was missing." In the photos you can see some damage on the back of the shorts, mainly left and right from the main vertical seam. The brand of the shorts is H&M's 'Divided', which is a fashionable but cheap clothing brand, which generally lasts just one fashion season. This may be the sort of damage you get from simple wear and tear. It is located seemingly at around the same spot where Kris had already some mud visible in photos 507 and 508. I am not sure this relatively small damage area would be consistent with a slide down a ravine, for instance. I'm inclined to think the fabric damage should be more extensive in such a situation, and also shown further down on the point where the bum sticks out most, so to speak, and would have suffered the most friction in case of sliding down rocks. It is also possible that the force of the water at the spot where the jeans was found, stuck on a branch in the water, caused this fabric damage. The jeans were also found unbuttoned and mostly unzipped. "The official reports stated that the jean shorts had no trace of bodily fluid, nor skin cells of any type. Furthermore, the shorts did have some dirt on them." Matt also says that it is difficult to damage jeans like that and confirms that the case report indeed states that there was no blood on those shorts. He proposes the theory that "For one reason or another, the shorts ended up in the river and thus were carried by the current. Subsequently, when arriving at the waterfall, the shorts got stuck on the tree which covered the passage." By the way, we learnt from Jeremy Kryt that the Case files contain "xeroxed photographs".. Xerox photography.. Photocopied. Is that why these published photos are in grainy black and white? Read more about this topic towards the top of my part 4 blog. Below the photos, left as they were published, right how I adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit for a better view of the details:
*How about the Water Bottle?Why was it pictured with the bag, but not mentioned in the official police file content list of the backpack? While we can see in fact two bottles in several photos of Kris and Lisanne of April 1st, as well as one of the bottles in the photo of the backpack and its content after it was found? Kris is seen holding two bottles in front of her in photo #491. In photos #505 and #508 you see one water bottle sticking out of Kris' jeans pocket (making me assume that Lisanne was carrying the other bottle). Where did that second bottle end up? Was the second one even found by investigators? And why wasn't the single bottle that was pictured by the person who found the bag further investigated by Pittí&Co? Authors Hardinghaus and Nenner wrote about this: "In a corresponding letter, Pittí instructs the IMELCF to examine the plastic bottle for traces of DNA and, if found, to compare it with the samples provided by the girls' parents to determine whether DNA from Kris and Lisanne is present.[64] We do not find a result or an answer in the files, nor is there any further mention of the water bottle. Why there was no instruction to analyze the bottle for fingerprints or the water residue inside is inexplicable" So we haven't heard more about any tests done on the water remnants inside this bottle. The tests may never have been done at all. It is unbelievable really. So the case files contain no results of forensic tests performed on this water bottle, something which Pitti later claimed did take place. But she lied. The water bottle wasn't even mentioned in the official police inventory of the backpack's content. Nothing is officially known about the content of that water bottle and the origin of that water in it. While such findings would have been not only basic forensic info, but also very interesting. If we knew for certain that there were no waterdrop remnants from supermarket water left in the bottle for instance, but water from one of the local streams instead, then we knew with some certainty that Kris and Lisanne were unlikely to have died from thirst. Because there was water everywhere; the rivers, the streams, the waterfall, the rain water. They had a bottle to collect it in. And if there are water remnants from a nearby river identified in that plastic bottle, then we can assume that Kris and Lisanne made it to one of those rivers. Or if investigators had discovered that there was local tap water in the bottle for instance, it could be a clue that they were (held?) somewhere in a place or a house that had a normal kitchen with a water source. Whereas if in fact only remnants of the original commercial water was left in it.... then the chance is much higher that something happened to them already on April 1st... Before they had as much as a chance to collect river water. So who wouldn't Pitti have wanted to know the source of the last water that was in that bottle? Was it supermarket water? Tap water? River water from behind the Pianista? River water from another location? Priceless info, potentially. And what about DNA or even fingerprints on the bottle? Wah wah wahhhhhh, too bad.. we do not know.
That is a significant amount of money in Panama to bring for one free hike in nature. Had they plans for later in the day that required cash? Or was it a general precaution for them to carry some money when out and about? Incredibly enough, Pittí never investigated this matter either. Nobody knows why they brought so much cash along for this casual Tuesday hike, or when and where they withdrew the money, as there were also no ATM videos secured. Nobody also knows if they bought groceries before the hike or not. And isn't the money in the bag proof that it really was an accident, going by Betzaida Pittí's reasoning? She even repeated this conviction recently in an online interview when asked whether she thought Kris and Lisanne could have encountered an act of violence. Her answer: "No, because the money was still in the rucksack. A criminal would have taken it." So going by her reasoning, in case of foul play the money would have been taken and the camera and phones too. Because what sort of criminal leaves so much cash in the backpack, considering that in some Latin American countries you are said to get killed for less? Unless of course someone made a calculated attempt to make it all seem like a hike-gone wrong and the girls getting lost and dying from the elements or from an accident. Within this scenario, criminals had the bag with the belongings for some time, but realised there was such a witch-hunt going on and so much media attention, that they wouldn't be able to sell the phones or the camera anywhere in Panama (or beyond) without raising suspicion or risking to be caught doing so. So they dumped it on a strategic spot where they knew it would be quickly found (as good as clean, dry, despite all those weeks in the rainy humid tropical forest and river), possibly in a state of panic. Or to make the case truly look like the girls got lost and perished, and take the heat off their own back. Or to make the parents back off.. Only after the backpack, the phones and camera and the few bones were found, did the families stop sending professional search teams out in the tropical forest. Locals may have gotten restless, fearing there would be house searches up on the menu unless the parents found enough to know their girls were dead.. And what if perpetrators were mainly interested in Kris and Lisanne, and not in their phones and handful of money?
But defenders of the Lost/ Accident scenario including prosecutor Betzaida Pittí do claim that finding the backpack with phones and a camera still inside is absolute “proof” of a twice-fatal accident. However, U.S.-based forensic consultant Carl Weil says such behavior is “not at all unusual.” If the motive is not robbery, but assault or rape, it’s fairly common “for the criminal to discard personal items and even valuables” Weil says. In fact, victims’ valuables have also been found abandoned in the aftermath of other disappearances in the Boquete area. In this case for instance, the victim had sufficient cash left in his pockets. Chris wrote by the way that by Panama’s standards, in the Boquete region of Panama, $88 is equivalent to approximately one weeks pay for a standard local. To indigenous tribe members $88 is significantly more money considering that they often earn less than $300 for the entire year. Unfortunately we have no insight in the bank accounts of Kris and Lisanne; we do not know how much money they generally withdrew from cash machines when holidaying in Panama. Or how much they used to spend on a day. But we do know they were frugal with their money, in general. No big spenders. I like to think that they only brought this much cash with them on Tuesday, and not on other days, because they wanted to go the Boquete Tree trek for instance, which is costly. But that is pure assumption and speculation. Anything is possible.. They may have wanted to carry extra cash in case of an emergency. They may have had specific plans for which they would need such an amount.. Even though the local bus and taxi fares were cheap and typically below 5 dollars a ride. As I said: we don't even know how much they would normally take out of a cash machine, day by day or week by week.. This was also not mentioned in the case files. Or maybe they reckoned that if they'd ever be burgled, they would need some proper cash on them? Who is to say.. Brian messaged me and asked if there were no coins found in the backpack? Yes, new case info says there were 30 dollar cents in the bag. Brian would have found it strange if there had been no small change, because when travelling in Latin American countries you can quickly get a lot of coins in change, he says. Considering the girls had gone to the local pharmacy that morning, he considered it logical that coins were found on them. "If not, that could be more indication that the backpack was staged. Basically if people harmed the girls, whoever decided to put the backpack in a findable location wanted it to look like an accident so they gathered up some cash to include but may not have thought to add any coins."
*The mystery of the so-called "Night Photos"
Many people have suggested that one of them - and it seems largely agreed that it was Lisanne - took these night photos as a way of communicating some message. Perhaps they wanted to document landmarks in the hope of being found or allowing them to backtrack if needed. But why were these photos all taken at the 8th night then? When the visibility is nearly zero? Wouldn't it make sense to wait until daylight to show clear and accurate images? Or wait until the rain stopped at least, as this night was the only night in a week's time when there was some significant rainfall. What an odd timing to start 'documenting the surroundings' exactly then. If Lisanne was taking the night photos to use the flash to find her way, wouldn't more of them be of the trail ahead or of the ground, instead of eye-level greenery and cliff-faces or (for the most part) aiming upward? It seems almost like she was looking for something. Perhaps she heard something and was trying to capture it on film, or tried to see it. Which is a haunting thought, accompanied with these eerie photos. But for nearly three hours? And how do we even know that Lisanne took these photos? None of the photos were a selfie or something of the likes. No hair hanging in front of the lens, no hand visible either. Jeremy Kryt from The Daily Beast writes however that in some of the nighttime photos the hair of Lisanne can in fact be seen:
"A few of the shots include locks of hair hanging into the frame that match her ash-blond color, while another carefully composed and well-lit image (the clearest of the whole series) seems to show red-haired Kris with what looks like a head wound—a possible indication that she was badly hurt or even already deceased when that picture was taken."
PROPS
But I haven't detected Lisanne's hair in any of the nighttime photos. Aside from - perhaps - this one? I wouldn't call it a full lock of hair however that is visible here. Shame Kryt didn't publish the photo to illustrate his observation.. We have long been hampered here anyway, because as the public we didn't have access to all these nighttime photos until very recently. Why is there not a single “help me” marker found closer by the Pianista Trail? No initials scraped into a tree, no arrows made with branches on the ground? A Hansel and Gretel sort of trick any Dutch or German child would know to use once lost in the woods... And that (toilet) paper that suddenly turned up in the photo Jeremy Kryt published: how come it is nowhere else seen, or used? In no other photo is there sight of this paper, and searchers found no paper in the backpack. But then again, they could have been in a state of intense panic. Little sleep, no food, little water and horrible fear might have messed with their clearance of thinking.. The night photos look steady and sharp however. There speaks a certain determination from the repetitive, sharp and well framed night photos, which show for the most part barely anything that tells us who took them, where they were taken and why.
BOREDOM
Other people believe that one of the girls took these photos out of boredom.. But then you have to wonder: why on the 8th night, but not during any of the nights of the previous week? Why keep shooting the same photos over and over again for three hours? Wouldn't you look for some variety when bored? Repetition causes more boredom. Why would you continuously take photographs of the same forked branch in the distance above, and make sure to never picture your legs, your backpack or anything that ties you - personally, identifiably - to that spot? All that seems of interest of the (unidentifiable) photographer are the rain, that sight of the night's sky and the forked branch plus a handful of photos showing the back of Kris' head once, paper on a rock and some plastic attached to sticks. But none of the photos clearly show Kris or Lisanne. The red hair is indicating Kris, but it has no context to it. It seems a cropped composition. There is no follow-up photo. Of all the things you could have photographed, the photographer went for the least explanatory things. Jeremy Kryt said that the night photos of April 8th were taken with a steady hand, decisively, and seemingly not during a shaky panic attack. Yet I can't shake the thought that when out staring death in the face for 8 days, they normally would have wanted to send a message to the outside world at this point.
DEBUNKING THE SIGNALING THEORY
As I already covered in more detail in this earlier blog post: I do believe that the night photos were taken purely to signal 'people out there'. And that's why they aimed at the sky and stopped short before sunrise. But this is so highly theoretical. We don't have any hard evidence of search troops being out there at night on the 8th and moving. Nobody has ever claimed this was the case, aside from one forum sleuth. Not Pittí, not Sinaproc. All those years that have passed and not a single official or volunteer spoke out about any night search in that jungle. No paperwork evidence of this has ever come up either. So, it is unverified make-belief. There were also for a fact no helicopters flying at night. This has been confirmed by officials. Hardinghaus and Nenner wrote that: "The fact that they used flashes to signal rescue teams on April 8 came from a rumor that rescue teams had been in the jungle at night on April 8 and were searching by light signals. It was also said that helicopter had been deployed. We cannot confirm this on the basis of the original files. SINAPROC neither carried out searches at night nor used any special light and sound methods. Helicopter did not fly at night either. However, Plinio and friends were out and about behind the Mirador somtime between April 5 and 13 and spent the nights at Laureano's finca, which is 8 kilometers from the Mirador. If Kris and Lisanne got close enough, they could have heard or seen the men."
But I haven't detected Lisanne's hair in any of the nighttime photos. Aside from - perhaps - this one? I wouldn't call it a full lock of hair however that is visible here. Shame Kryt didn't publish the photo to illustrate his observation.. We have long been hampered here anyway, because as the public we didn't have access to all these nighttime photos until very recently. Why is there not a single “help me” marker found closer by the Pianista Trail? No initials scraped into a tree, no arrows made with branches on the ground? A Hansel and Gretel sort of trick any Dutch or German child would know to use once lost in the woods... And that (toilet) paper that suddenly turned up in the photo Jeremy Kryt published: how come it is nowhere else seen, or used? In no other photo is there sight of this paper, and searchers found no paper in the backpack. But then again, they could have been in a state of intense panic. Little sleep, no food, little water and horrible fear might have messed with their clearance of thinking.. The night photos look steady and sharp however. There speaks a certain determination from the repetitive, sharp and well framed night photos, which show for the most part barely anything that tells us who took them, where they were taken and why.
BOREDOM
Other people believe that one of the girls took these photos out of boredom.. But then you have to wonder: why on the 8th night, but not during any of the nights of the previous week? Why keep shooting the same photos over and over again for three hours? Wouldn't you look for some variety when bored? Repetition causes more boredom. Why would you continuously take photographs of the same forked branch in the distance above, and make sure to never picture your legs, your backpack or anything that ties you - personally, identifiably - to that spot? All that seems of interest of the (unidentifiable) photographer are the rain, that sight of the night's sky and the forked branch plus a handful of photos showing the back of Kris' head once, paper on a rock and some plastic attached to sticks. But none of the photos clearly show Kris or Lisanne. The red hair is indicating Kris, but it has no context to it. It seems a cropped composition. There is no follow-up photo. Of all the things you could have photographed, the photographer went for the least explanatory things. Jeremy Kryt said that the night photos of April 8th were taken with a steady hand, decisively, and seemingly not during a shaky panic attack. Yet I can't shake the thought that when out staring death in the face for 8 days, they normally would have wanted to send a message to the outside world at this point.
DEBUNKING THE SIGNALING THEORY
As I already covered in more detail in this earlier blog post: I do believe that the night photos were taken purely to signal 'people out there'. And that's why they aimed at the sky and stopped short before sunrise. But this is so highly theoretical. We don't have any hard evidence of search troops being out there at night on the 8th and moving. Nobody has ever claimed this was the case, aside from one forum sleuth. Not Pittí, not Sinaproc. All those years that have passed and not a single official or volunteer spoke out about any night search in that jungle. No paperwork evidence of this has ever come up either. So, it is unverified make-belief. There were also for a fact no helicopters flying at night. This has been confirmed by officials. Hardinghaus and Nenner wrote that: "The fact that they used flashes to signal rescue teams on April 8 came from a rumor that rescue teams had been in the jungle at night on April 8 and were searching by light signals. It was also said that helicopter had been deployed. We cannot confirm this on the basis of the original files. SINAPROC neither carried out searches at night nor used any special light and sound methods. Helicopter did not fly at night either. However, Plinio and friends were out and about behind the Mirador somtime between April 5 and 13 and spent the nights at Laureano's finca, which is 8 kilometers from the Mirador. If Kris and Lisanne got close enough, they could have heard or seen the men."
*And then there is The Dog Blue, who is from a family running a restaurant at the start of the Pianista trailHe is named Azul in Spanish, but we'll call him Blue now as this name is used in most articles and posts about this case. Blue is the dog from the owners of Il Pianista restaurant, living at the start of the trail. Although there is also incorrect information online that Blue is the dog of the local host family that the girls stayed with. Wikipedia also claims this, but it quotes the blog mostlymystery, which offers no proof or back up links. [Update; wikipedia finally corrected this error now, nearly two years later]. Many blogging tourists named and pictured Blue during their hikes.
OWNERS CLAIMS
On April 7th, 2014, Boquete resident Lee Zeltzer went to the restaurant owners Doris Downer and Giovanni Santoro and interviewed them about the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. Doris confirmed to him that they are Blues owners and that her husband saw the girls. She also said that Kris and Lisanne talked shortly with him at the start of their walk. Doris declared that Blue was given to them as a guide of sorts. On this local Boquete message board, Lee Zeltzer wrote in his own words: "Phil [..] said the owner of Il Pianista, Giovanni, had spoken to the women on April 1 and told them where to catch a bus back to Boquete. This along with other rumors drove me to drive to Il Pianista. (Il Pianista at the road to the trail). Giovanni was not at the restaurant but his wife Doris was. This is what she said: Giovanni saw the women on 1 April near Don Pedro hitching toward Il Pianista. An employee at Il Pianista saw them start-up the trail between 15:00 and 15:30 PM. Blue, their dog who often follows hikers, went with them. No one can remember seeing them return. Blue did return and Doris believes because of the hour they could not have gone far. She and Giovanni believe that they did return or the dog would have stayed with them. All of this information has been provided directly by them to the DIJ investigators and Sinaproc". In this video you can see very clearly how the entrance of the Pianista trail is right next to the Il Pianista restaurant. A commentator to Lee's blog post mentioned that Blue returned to his owners in the mid- to late afternoon. But other sources say Blue returned alone in the evening. So according to accounts, Giovanni explained to them where to take a bus back to Boquete. And he saw them near Casa Pedro.
CASA PEDROPedro of Casa Pedro also said that he told Kris and Lisanne where to take a taxi back to Boquete. He had earlier advised them on Tuesday April 1st, when they asked him if the trail next to his house was the Pianista trail, to hike this Alto Lino (Piedra de Lino) instead of the Pianista Trail, as it is a much nicer and shorter trail to hike. Pedro declared this on April 7th in an interview with the Personeria Municipal investigators. But when the girls returned after less than half an hour and sat down tiredly at the side of the road in front of his hostel, He asked them if they walked up the hill and the girls said yes. Pedro knew they were lying because it takes at least 45 minutes to walk the summit of the Piedra de Lino trail. Here you can see a video of this hike and you can even see that the trail starts right next to Casa Pedro. And in this blog you can see photos of the hike. Pedro pointed them to the best place to catch a bus (that left every half hour), in order to go back to Boquete. He claims that they also asked him if the Lost Waterfalls were nearby. But when he explained the route to them, they told him they were too tired for the walk and wanted to go back to Boquete after all. Pedro's wife Marilyn P. was a witness to this all, as well as Pedro's neighbour Leonidas C. He also clearly recognized Kris and Lisanne in front of Casa Pedro and on the Piedra de Lino Trail, according to his statements to the police. Then there it also witness Giovanni S. (owner of Il Pianista restaurant), who passed Casa Pedro in his car between 14:00 and 14:30 PM and who also claimed to have spotted the two women sitting alone in front of Pedro's hostel. They held out their thumbs hopefully, supposedly looking for a lift. This is before Giovanni sees them passing his restaurant on foot. The police asked the bus drivers at a later date if they witnessed anything, but no tourists described as Kris and Lisanne were traveling on the bus routes in question that day.
Ingrid Lommers posted about this on Facebook as well. According to different witnesses, they were seen walking and sweating. Although they may of course have seen other females instead and confused them. Or could this mean that Kris and Lisanne had already returned from their Pianista hike at that point? And because of language problems it was perhaps thought that they were looking for the Pianista, whereas they had already hiked that trail? Who knows. The Dutch RHWW Rescue Dogs Foundation, who searched the region between roughly May 27th and June 3rd (although they were not allowed to search beyond the Mirador), later declared that their sniffer dogs were alarmed at the top of the Piedra de Lino, for unknown reasons. They were looking for the scent of Kris and Lisanne. Regarding Casa Pedro, Ingrid Lommers wrote on April 5, 2014: "It is NOT that they were going to meet a guide at the trail and the guide never showed up. They were going to hike a bit (just going a bit up and a bit down for the time they would like it… and making sure to be only hiking in daylight)…. that is what we recommended. And actually, from what Pedro from Casa Pedro says, we should not discard that they never made it to the Pianista Trail and after Casa Pedro wanted to go back home and that we don’t know what happened from that moment. It is also possible that Pedro saw some other girls and that our girls never started ANY hike." "Pedro from Casa Pedro had the strong impression that after the small hike they did (only 30 min in total, but on a steep trail and Lisanne had a cold), following the [Piedra de Lino] trail next to his house, that they were so tired that they wanted to go back to Boquete. They sat down on the floor on the side of his house, saying that they did not want to go to El Pianista anymore, but rather to town. They sat there for a while and Pedro did not see how they left and in what direction. It must have been about 15:00 at least. So we are not sure if it was them, but it were definitely two girls, very young, one taller than the other one, with a black backpack, speaking English, but not native English. They came here with a taxi first of all, asking for the Pianista trail (this is logical, since at the front of the house of Pedro is a sign that mentions the trail next to Casa Pedro, and also has an arrow pointing that you have to continue on the main road to get to the Pianista trail).." In this video, Ingrid Lommers is interviewed and shows the Dutch TV presenter exactly where Pedro saw the girls. Ingrid Lommer says "They wanted to learn Spanish and they really wanted to work with children. They had really good intentions, for themselves and for the local population. And it is so unbelievable that something like this happened to two girls, who came here with such good intentions. Why did this happen to them? Why on this moment and in this place?" Presenter: 'Ingrid takes us to Casa Pedro. Probably the last place where Kris and Lisanne were seen.' Ingrid Lommer: "One of the two girls has sat here, the other stood here. And they had the intention to return to Boquete. And they sat here for a little while. The mister from Casa de Pedro has seen them here. And at some point they were gone." Pedro's statement to investigators was detailed, but the time and date given does not match with the photos of Kris and Lisanne, placing them already beyond the Mirador at that time. Is it possible that Pedro is mistaken about the day? Did Kris and Lisanne spent Monday afternoon exploring the trailhead, in fact? There are several 'missing hours' on Monday, where there is no phone use and investigators do not know where they went. Or could Pedro have been mistakenly mixing them up with other tourists? One of the young women he saw had short red hair, he later claimed. Maybe that is also why we have not heard Pedro about the memorable red and white striped shirt Kris was wearing on Tuesday April 1st? Not all witness statements proved to add up in terms of times and dates given, so we will have to take that into account. But Pedro already testified all this to Ingrid right before April 5th, when she posted about it online. So we have to assume that his memory was still fresh and detailed by then. You can read more witness statements HERE.
BACK TO BLUEBack to Blue. Maybe Giovanni's testimony is correct, or maybe not. Giovanni is Sicilian but his wife Doris is from Panama and they have several children. Their dog Blue is also accompanying Kris Kremers' parents and local guides in this youtube video, and is following them the entire route that day. Blue stayed close to the people he was with over the course of the video. Blue regularly is said to have walked with tourists along the trail, and several tourists accounted for this online. The earlier linked to blog of 'Me and You and a Dog Named Blue' for instance mentions: "As we arrived [on the Pianista trail], Azul (Blue), the owner's dog was waiting at the entrance as if he were expecting us. He stayed with us the entire walk, waiting patiently as we caught up." So this dog may have been in the habit of walking along with tourists and staying relatively close to them. But if Blue also accompanied Kris and Lisanne, then it looks like Blue was in fact not staying by their side: because we have no proof of any dog being with the girls. No indisputable proof I mean, because the dog was never pictured by the girls! Not a single photo of Blue among those many summit selfies, or any of the other photos that were taken by the girls on Tuesday April 1st. Not even a hint of a dog's tail. He looks cute and loyal so surely they would have wanted at least one souvenir photo of their walking buddy? Was there actually even a dog accompanying them? Or perhaps only shortly? Or could the dog have been sent away by a 3rd party at some point, and was that then the reason why he abandoned Kris and Lisanne? It's all making me wonder if this entire detail of Blue the dog could have been made up? And if so, why? Some locals say it was told to crank up business for the Il Pianista restaurant. Who knows.
But alright, let's just go with the prevailing story regarding the dog Blue for a minute; the dog is said to have gone along with the girls, but arrived back home in the late afternoon or early evening without them. At that point Kris and Lisanne had already tried to call emergency services. Why didn't they follow the dog back home if they simply were lost? I find this a spooky detail to be honest. And when the dog (supposedly) turned up on its own, without the girls, it didn't instantly prompt the owners to call for help. Just like Miriam, their host, wasn't initially worried when Kris and Lisanne didn't arrive home that Tuesday evening, and stated she assumed they were just out having fun. Is it possible that Giovanni and Doris made up the story about having Blue join the Dutch girls? One of their sons was said to have been questioned by the Panamanian police over the disappearance, because the lad was part of a youth gang of sorts. He also allegedly worked at the Il Pianista restaurant at the time, having seen Kris and Lisanne chat to Giovanni. Did he tell his gang friends about the event and about the girls being alone up the Pianista? Could his parents have pretended they saw Kris and Lisanne and gave them their dog to take along? Trying to prove that the girls went up that mountain and never came back? And that they should therefore be searched behind the Pianista Trail? All theories.. and no evidence. Or maybe Blue was walking only shortly along with the girls? The owners only had limited view up the Pianista trail from their place. It is also possible that the dog owners had the timeline incorrect; in some articles I read them mentioning 15:00 PM as the moment they saw the girls pass by. Which seems impossible in retrospect, if we go by the time on the camera and phones. There is all in all no factual evidence that that dog did join then, but neither that he did not join. Or, Kris and Lisanne may have been out exploring the trailhead region already on Monday afternoon March 31st as well. This youtuber makes a good case for this scenario, which could also explain some of the 'non-fitting' witness statements, as well as a second taxi driver statement (more on that in a moment). Of course, the main problem with this theory is that there is no (known) phone log record of their phones having connected to the Pianista GSM mast on March 31st... Although perhaps their phones were both powered off then. Update: Someone wrote to me in a comment that Blue has passed away by now after a long and fulfilling life.
*Regarding the missing photo #509; it was the missing link between the daytime photos and the eerie nighttime photosBy the time Kris and Lisanne shot the last daytime photos, they were already off the main trail. They no longer made happy smiling selfies by then. In fact, in photos 505 and 508 I'd say Kris looks perhaps even slightly worried, compared to her smiles on the summit, shortly before. Although this is debatable and subjective interpretation. Her body language is also different in these last few photos I think. Strained. After photo #508, no more photos were taken for over a week. Only photo (or video) file #509, of which we only know that it existed and was removed; not at what day and time it was shot. Did the girls take that photo soon after photo #508? Possibly. And why would they want to delete this important photo #509, which is situated precisely between the daytime photos and those eerie nighttime photos? And why could Dutch specialist teams not be able to get that one deleted photo back? Something that is normally not a big problem when an image is manually deleted, and which they therefore linked to the use of a computer to fully remove this photo from the memory card and digital camera. Was the missing photo #509 really deleted by a computer then, and if so, who did this and why? Did the Panamanian investigators do it, by accident or on purpose? Because they covered something up and wanted to push the 'accident' supposition? Or did someone else who was involved perhaps remove that photo? Or is there another explanation?
DOUBTS
"If the photograph was deleted in the camera, that image would most likely still be on the memory card," wrote Keith Rosenthal. There is more than one way to recover a deleted photo, so it is peculiar this one was not retrieved by Dutch technical specialists, despite doing all they could. Someone wrote me about this case: "I think that image 509 is the single piece of evidence that completely proves the abduction-murder theory. My theory is that image 509 was the last image that Lisanne was able to snap before the camera was removed from her. Whatever 3rd party that showed up was most likely caught in image 509, which is why 508 is the last somewhat "normal" image that exists. It's possible that the 3rd party showed up around image 507-508 which would explain the strange demeanor of Kris. Whatever occurred after image 508 was never meant to to be seen. Then days later a bunch of nonsensical nighttime photos show up starting with 510. Clearly the camera and phones had already been compromised. I personally think the Panamanian government feared how much this could affect tourism so they assigned one of their own shills to persuade everyone it was simply an accident." - Online there have been people who claimed that memory cards can reclaim unused space when you first delete a file and then take new photos. And that this action can overwrite the section of the card that contained the deleted data. I don't believe this, because IT specialists from the Dutch Public Prosecution came to the conclusion that the photo could mainly have been removed like this with the help of a computer (or by formatting the memory card). People have also done experiments with the Canon camera and nobody I heard from found this type of overwriting evidence. The people from Lost in the Wild tested it too and also didn't find such evidence. They found that if you delete a photo (like #509) and then continued taking more photos, that a new photo will then overwrite the old file. And if this is the case, then we wouldn't have found an empty file 509 on the girl's memory card. Then file #509 would just have contained the first night photo and we'd never even knew there once was another photo in its place. The Canon camera of Lisanne also never malfunctioned throughout the course of their Panama holiday. The chances of this being a freak glitch are very remote and there is no indication for this at all. There is also no indication in any of the other photos that the camera suffered a temporary and freak water damage accident (which is another far-fetched theory out there).
DOUBTS
"If the photograph was deleted in the camera, that image would most likely still be on the memory card," wrote Keith Rosenthal. There is more than one way to recover a deleted photo, so it is peculiar this one was not retrieved by Dutch technical specialists, despite doing all they could. Someone wrote me about this case: "I think that image 509 is the single piece of evidence that completely proves the abduction-murder theory. My theory is that image 509 was the last image that Lisanne was able to snap before the camera was removed from her. Whatever 3rd party that showed up was most likely caught in image 509, which is why 508 is the last somewhat "normal" image that exists. It's possible that the 3rd party showed up around image 507-508 which would explain the strange demeanor of Kris. Whatever occurred after image 508 was never meant to to be seen. Then days later a bunch of nonsensical nighttime photos show up starting with 510. Clearly the camera and phones had already been compromised. I personally think the Panamanian government feared how much this could affect tourism so they assigned one of their own shills to persuade everyone it was simply an accident." - Online there have been people who claimed that memory cards can reclaim unused space when you first delete a file and then take new photos. And that this action can overwrite the section of the card that contained the deleted data. I don't believe this, because IT specialists from the Dutch Public Prosecution came to the conclusion that the photo could mainly have been removed like this with the help of a computer (or by formatting the memory card). People have also done experiments with the Canon camera and nobody I heard from found this type of overwriting evidence. The people from Lost in the Wild tested it too and also didn't find such evidence. They found that if you delete a photo (like #509) and then continued taking more photos, that a new photo will then overwrite the old file. And if this is the case, then we wouldn't have found an empty file 509 on the girl's memory card. Then file #509 would just have contained the first night photo and we'd never even knew there once was another photo in its place. The Canon camera of Lisanne also never malfunctioned throughout the course of their Panama holiday. The chances of this being a freak glitch are very remote and there is no indication for this at all. There is also no indication in any of the other photos that the camera suffered a temporary and freak water damage accident (which is another far-fetched theory out there).
*Local guide F.In a strange twist, one of the last people to see the women alive, a local tour guide, was also the person who led the search party that found most of their remains - hero or suspect?
Get your headache pills ready, because this story is going to become even more murky and cloudy now. And awfully long. But there simply are so many case details and angles to cover here. On Wednesday April 2nd the girls are said to have an appointment with local guide F. for a tour in the area. Here guide F. stated that he charges 25 dollars for each tourist. Guide F. goes to the local Spanish language school, where they are supposed to meet at 08:00. When guide F. arrives at Spanish by the River that morning, the girls aren't there. He is joined there by a 25 year old German volunteer staff member called Eileen. Guide F. said about this moment to police later: "I arrived at school at 8 in the morning. The German girl was standing outside the school, waiting for me. Ready, with her little backpack. We talked for a few minutes, maybe 5 minutes, and she told me: 'These girls aren't coming. They are usually on time'. And as a joke, not thinking they would be missing for long, I told her: 'They might usually show up on time, but they can't be as punctual as you Germans.' She told me 'No, they are usually on time'." Kris and Lisanne do not show up at the arranged time. "At a quarter past eight they are still not there". Strange, thinks F. "With her I waited half an hour for the Dutch women. Time passed and they did not arrive. We decided to go together to the house where they were staying. In this interview however, guide F. states it slightly differently: “Eileen told me to go to Spanish by The River on Wednesday, April 2 at 8:00 a.m. to look for them.” In any case, Eileen joins him and they walk the roughly 5 minute distance to the host family to see if the girls are there.
MIRIAM
In the Lost in Panama podcast it is highlighted that according to F's police statements, Miriam Guerra was a friend of him. And that he knew exactly where Kris and Lisanne were staying. And that it was a symbiotic business arrangement for all involved. 'Travelers would come to Boquete, study at the language school, sightsee with guide F. and stay at his friend's house down the street'. When Eileen and guide F. arrive at Miriam's place, the girls are nowhere to be seen and they don't respond to knocks on the door or on their bedroom window. "We knocked on the door of their host family. But there was nobody home." Guide F. said in an interview about this moment: "Upon arrival they did not answer and we thought they were asleep. For this reason, we telephoned the owner of the house”. [The pair do not at any moment telephone missing Kris and Lisanne]. In this local article with interview it is written that "after knocking on her door and calling for a few minutes" they asked Miriam to help them. At 10:00AM the owner of the property authorizes guide F. and Eileen to look for a spare key hidden in the garden of the house so that they can enter the room. Guest mother Miriam Guerra is at work then and she left breakfast for the girls on the table, which they never touched. Guide F. also said as much in an interview: "The owner of the house told me that she even made them breakfast thinking they had come home late". The previous evening Miriam had waited in vain with dinner, although she was not yet worried: students have gone out for the night more often. But when she receives a phone call from the guide, she is alarmed. This detail also returns in an article called A Fatal Hike in Dutch quality newspaper De Volkskrant of June 28th 2014, acknowledging that Miriam told the guide about a key hidden in her backyard. She is alarmed when the tour guide calls her: "I have a spare key in the backyard. So I said to the guide: take that key and go inside the house with this key and knock on their bedroom. Knock on the door and when you hear no response, you can open the door." Note: at 08:30 AM Eileen and guide F. stated they decided to make the 5 minute walk to Miriam's house, and by 10:00 AM they called her for the key.. So what were they doing there for 1,5 hours, in front of a closed off house, I wonder? And also: imagine the possibility at that moment of the girls actually being present in their room, sleeping after a night out, or showering, and this completely strange man walks in or wakes them up by standing by their bed...
THE BEDROOMThe tour guide and Eileen are said to spend about half an hour in the bedroom, without police or Miriam present. Upon entering, Feliciano says that together with Eileen he sees the unmade beds, some backpacks and cables to charge cell phones. 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. "When we entered that room I just felt it; nobody had slept there the past night. There were all sorts of items laying on the beds. It gave me goosebumps". And: “We entered the room and realized that they had not slept in the house." In the official police files, guide F. is also noted to have declared: "To our surprise we found some things on the bed. A backpack and some sandals, falling onto the floor." He declared to police to have called Miriam again at that point, to let her know that the girls were not in their room. "She was very surprised. She had been waiting until 11 at night to have dinner with them. And after some time she decided to go to sleep, because she had to get up early the next day for work. She had left breakfast for them the next morning and thought: if they come home late, they will also wake up late". [Scarlet: So Miriam never checked herself in the morning to see if these girls got back safe or not.... She is surprised to hear from guide F. that their room was empty.. Why not simply call them on their phone the evening before, to ask them if they will share dinner or not and if all is OK?] Guide F. later also told a local newspaper the same line: “We entered the room and realized that they had not slept in the house". So guide F. declared that all sorts of personal items were laying on their beds, yet the made-up beds looked unslept in. I found that an interesting comment. Going by the photos of the beds and the room (see all of them in part 2), it would surely be impossible to determine such a thing? The girls may have slept in the beds, tidied the covers, then spread some personal belongings out on the bed before leaving that very Wednesday morning? They had also left these beds exactly like that on the Tuesday morning, after having actually slept in them that night.
GUIDE SLIPS UP AND SAYS HE SAW A MOBILE PHONE IN THE ROOM
In this Dutch interview, Guide F. also says something else that is peculiar; that he saw a cell phone in the girls' bedroom. This was well spotted by Vicious-Vixen. Translated: "When the manager of the language school said that the girls were gone, I was convinced they were lost. All their belongings were still with the host family where they stayed. I saw it myself, I went with them when their room was checked. I saw the bags, ID cards, the cell phone. And they were last seen at the Pianista Trail, where you can hike.". So he is saying he saw their bags and 'the cell phone' in their room. However they had their mobile phones with them. There was no mobile phone left behind in their bedroom. What mobile phone is he talking about? Why has no journalist ever questioned guide F. about this comment of his? Or police? Was this a slip up and did he see their phones in fact elsewhere (and does he then know more about what happened to them after their hike?). Besides, he went in their bedroom himself with only Eileen present, so who is he referring to "with them"?
.png)
CONFLICTING STATEMENTS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AFTER CHECKING THE BEDROOMThen they leave and there are two conflicting testimonies out there about what guide F. and Eileen do on Wednesday afternoon. In one interview, guide F. says that “So as not to alarm anyone”, Eileen and F. separate and do not get back in touch until 5:00 PM, thinking that perhaps the Dutch were walking around town. But in the Volkskrant article 'A Fatal Hike' it is written that during the afternoon, Eileen in fact went with guide F. to his private coffee ranch (and thus she left the desk of Spanish by the River unattended). In their podcast, Jeremy Kryt and Mariana Atencio confirm this version of events. Eileen and guide F. did go to his farm together that afternoon and asked rangers along the way if they had seen Kris and Lisanne. In the book LITJ the same is written: Then there's this on page 211: "As there is very little they can do, Feliciano invites Eileen to go to Fillo's farm, where the owner is expecting them. On the way over, they drop by park ranger Felicia, at the station Alto Chiquero, near the hiking trail de Quetzales, hoping that she has seen Kris and Lisanne, one day earlier. Unfortunately Felicia didn't see the two women passing by." Alto Quiel was the tour destination here..
So it is unclear which of the stories told by guide F. and Eileen is true. Did Eileen and guide F. spent that afternoon together at his coffee farm, waiting? With Eileen leaving the desk of Spanish by the River empty? Or did they go their separate ways? There is now also a third version of events, described by Hardinghaus and Nenner, who also possess copies of all the case files and write that guide F. declared in a police statement made on April 7th of 2014 (file pages 24-26) that Eileen and him went to the strawberry farm (named to be the Finca las Princesas strawberry farm) he planned to take Kris and Lisanne as well that day. "As they have no choice but to wait and see, Feliciano and Eileen decide to make the trip to the strawberry farm in pairs. Once there, they ask around to see if Kris and Lisanne might have gone there on their own, but neither the farm owner nor the park ranger have seen or heard anything." What is it with this case, where one person gives three different versions of events in three different interviews?
GUIDE F. AND EILEEN VISIT THE POLICE ON WEDNESDAY EVENING TO REPORT KRIS AND LISANNE MISSING
There is consensus on the next event though: guide F. and Eileen visit the local police in Bajo Boquete together in the early evening of Wednesday April 2nd. When there is still no trace of Lisanne and Kris in the early evening, Eileen is said to then remember that she saw Kris and Lisanne checking out a trail map of the Pianista the day before. Together they go to the police office to report the missing persons case. Guide F. said: “As they didn't show up, at 7:30 PM we decided to go to the Police and they told us that at that time they had no officers available. As we did not have the exact information of the girls, we went back again to the room where we found a card.” [Kris' passport]. This time Miriam is also present in the house. Then, together with Eileen who had only been in Boquete for three days at that point, they go to Spanish By The River where they find "the complete data on the company's computer", according to this La Prensa article. Shortly before 9:30 PM both Eileen and guide F. return to the Police and file the missing persons complaint. Guide F. later told this local newspaper: "We were surprised, that Wednesday was crucial for us, we did not file the complaint right away, thinking that perhaps the girls had stayed somewhere." How exactly was guide F. "keeping track" that Wednesday of where Kris and Lisanne were, or whether they had showed up somewhere? Wasn't he away from Alto Boquete for the rest of the day, back at his farm? How did he stay up to date? And he and Eileen separated during the day, in this version of events.
GUIDE F. BLAMES EILEEN FOR NOT GOING TO THE POLICE RIGHT AWAY
Guide F. later also declared to the police interviewer that Eileen told him that in Germany police only does something after someone has been missing for 24 hours. "Eileen said that in Germany, officials only start acting after someone has been missing for 24 hours", says the guide. "We decided to go to the farm." In the police interview, guide F. blames Eileen for not going to the police right away. "She said: maybe they are running into some problems, or they were with friends at night and didn't come back for whatever reason. They most likely come back during the day. I told her we should tell the police. She told me: If we were in Germany, we would have to wait 24 hours. I told her that in Panama, it is basically the same system." - So guide F. decided that the girls were missing, but that he and Eileen were not going to inform the police about this just yet, that afternoon. But... why shouldn't the police be alarmed, nearly 24 hours after these young women were last seen alive? Why keep it quiet for the rest of the day? Despite the matter being seemingly pressing enough for guide F. to go straight to their private room early in the morning already and enter it, going through their personal belongings. These two things seem contradictory. Sure, adult women cannot be reported missing right away, but they hadn't been seen for more than 24 hours at that point. And they were young tourists, not local women with a large network of friends or family in Boquete and surroundings. Guide F. said in a news item of the NOS news of April 8th, 2014: “I had an appointment with them on Wednesday at 8am. I went to look for them, but I couldn’t find them. When we learnt that they hadn’t spent the night at their host family, we have reported them missing as soon as possible.” Not sure that is technically true.. And what is more; why did a guide who never met these girls report them missing at the police station? Why not Miriam, who had the girls under her roof for days and nights already and who saw them every day? Miriam would have been the more logical person to report these girls missing. She noticed they hadn't slept in their beds on the morning of April 2nd and she had noticed that the girls hadn't been in the house since Tuesday afternoon, but she left them breakfast and went to work as usual, albeit worried, no doubt. Then allowed for the guide to get into her house, then into their room, and she then also left it to the guide to go to the police that evening. She may have thought that the girls had gone out partying, but she knew in the course of Wednesday morning that they still hadn't returned. And again: nobody seems to have called the two missing adult women themselves on their cell phones? Not Miriam, not Eileen, not Ingrid, not guide F. Spanish by the River had their contact data and Miriam probably too, as Kris and Lisanne also had HER phone number listed in their WhatsApp contact list. They have declared to have just called each other and Lisanne's parents later on, but not the phones of Kris and Lisanne... Bizarre.
EILEEN CALLS INGRID AND LISANNE'S PARENTS
Eileen also calls with the head of the language school that Wednesday afternoon; Ingrid Lommers. Ingrid is in Costa Rica at that time. She is Dutch herself and already knows 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. By the late afternoon it is Eileen who calls the girls' family in Holland. She finds the Dutch phone number in the girls' file at Spanish by the River. Lisanne's mother Diny stated in a Dutch talk-show that she was called in the middle of the night (Dutch time) by Eileen: "just after midnight". In this news article/interview, it is also confirmed: "The whole story starts on April 2nd at 12:15 AM. Diny and Peter are just in bed when the phone rings. They receive a call from a woman whose name you pronounce as Eilien. Diny Froon: "Do I speak with Lisanne?" she said. "We are searching for Lisanne." "But she's in Panama", I said. ("No. Lisanne is in Panama."). Diny hangs up, confused. "It was a very strange phone call. We sat on the edge of the bed. Then you put the receiver down. That was Panama calling.” With a 7 hour time difference in April between Panama and the Netherlands, this means that Eileen called Diny Froon on Wednesday around 17:15 PM Panamanian time. Then Diny calls the number back and hears the terrible news that her daughter has not come back from a hike. When Kris' father is told the news by phone shortly after, supposedly by Judith from the travel agency, Kris' mother screams in the background: "Oh no, it can't be true!". The girls' worried parents say they normally receive daily messages from the girls, but that this stopped on April 1st. Both Lisanne and Kris' parents head that same night to the Dutch police, around 05:00 AM Dutch time, to report the disappearance.
Eileen also calls with the head of the language school that Wednesday afternoon; Ingrid Lommers. Ingrid is in Costa Rica at that time. She is Dutch herself and already knows 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. By the late afternoon it is Eileen who calls the girls' family in Holland. She finds the Dutch phone number in the girls' file at Spanish by the River. Lisanne's mother Diny stated in a Dutch talk-show that she was called in the middle of the night (Dutch time) by Eileen: "just after midnight". In this news article/interview, it is also confirmed: "The whole story starts on April 2nd at 12:15 AM. Diny and Peter are just in bed when the phone rings. They receive a call from a woman whose name you pronounce as Eilien. Diny Froon: "Do I speak with Lisanne?" she said. "We are searching for Lisanne." "But she's in Panama", I said. ("No. Lisanne is in Panama."). Diny hangs up, confused. "It was a very strange phone call. We sat on the edge of the bed. Then you put the receiver down. That was Panama calling.” With a 7 hour time difference in April between Panama and the Netherlands, this means that Eileen called Diny Froon on Wednesday around 17:15 PM Panamanian time. Then Diny calls the number back and hears the terrible news that her daughter has not come back from a hike. When Kris' father is told the news by phone shortly after, supposedly by Judith from the travel agency, Kris' mother screams in the background: "Oh no, it can't be true!". The girls' worried parents say they normally receive daily messages from the girls, but that this stopped on April 1st. Both Lisanne and Kris' parents head that same night to the Dutch police, around 05:00 AM Dutch time, to report the disappearance.
GUIDE F. REPORTS KRIS AND LISANNE MISSING WITH SINAPROC ON THURSDAYOn Thursday, April 3, Feliciano reports the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne to the Sinaproc headquarters in Boquete, at 7:30 AM. An hour later he does the same in the municipal personería of his community. Sinaproc are said by authors Hardinghaus and Nenner to soon after inspect the girls' bedroom and Spanish by the River and to question Eileen and Miriam. None of this info made it into the media so far.
GUIDE F. GOES TO THE POLICE AGAIN ON THURSDAY AND DECLARES THAT EILEEN TOLD HIM ABOUT THE PIANISTA PLANS
In the afternoon, the guide goes to the DIJ to repeat the procedure. He declares to police also in a statement that Eileen had told him that she thought Kris and Lisanne had gone to the Pianista trail. Because she had heard the two talk about that trail the morning of the day of their disappearance and because she had noticed them searching for information about it on the school computer. Guide F: "Except at the Police, I filed all the complaints, only because the German [Eileen] does not speak Spanish," he said. “She told me that she thought the Dutch were going to go for a walk on the El Pianista trail. "At school he heard them talk and saw a map of this trail. Even though she is German, she told me that she understood them because she [Eileen] studied tourism in Amsterdam”, continued Feliciano, clarifying that days after her disappearance, Eileen left Panama. Eileen later denied having said this and when interviewed by two Dutch authors insisted (or so the authors claimed..) that she had no idea where Kris and Lisanne went. But in true schizo fashion by now, this statement was álso turned upside down again in 2024, when Eileen told two German authors that in fact, no, she never said that to the Dutch authors. "That's not true. I heard them talking about it myself and I saw on the school computer that they were googling for information about the Pianista trail on the day they disappeared. I told that to Feliciano, who was only able to inform the authorities about it that way". This statement of Eileen also ended up in Sinaproc's case file (pages 137-139).
GUIDE F. SEARCHES BEYOND THE MIRADOR ON HIS OWN ON THURSDAY
Guide F. also helps looking for the missing Dutch girls during the next few days. On Thursday April 3rd he alone looks for them on the Pianista trail and behind the Mirador, all the way to the Paddock. On Saturday April 5th, guide F. claimed to have accompanied a DIJ commission to walk along this same Pianista trail. Kryt and Atencio confirm this: "He went as far as the Mirador on April 3rd and hours beyond it to the Rio Culebra on April 5th." And found nothing. [Scarlet: But didn't we hear in the Answers for Kris video from guide F. and the Kremers family that guide F. went already as far as the paddock, aka the meadow, on Thursday April 3rd?] Guide F. said about these searches: “Unfortunately we didn't find anything. Two days later I accompanied Sinaproc and we did not find them either. In fact, during the two tours we saw many roosters* [gallotes, a type of black vulture] in an area where they do not normally fly. When we went to those places we did not find anything”, confirming that “it is at the order of the authorities and the relatives of the disappeared for anything they need.” In May of 2014 guide F. told a local Dutch radio maker: “They are bureaucrats, filling in papers and more papers. But when someone is missing in the forest then every minute counts. They get hungry, it will start to rain. You have to hurry then. It is just as with an ambulance, you won’t wait for the specialist then; the ambulance staff goes straight to work. If we had gone that day, had continued searching, we would have found something sooner. But [searching] 4 or 5 days later is too late.” Feliciano says at this point that he believes that Kris and Lisanne fell into a river. “There is only one way to cross it; walking over a rope bridge, almost like rope dancing, with two other ropes to hold on to. The rope is around 60 metres long and starts to swing violently when you try to pass it in the middle. It is extremely dangerous, and when you fall into the river, you are lost.” Feliciano also doesn’t understand how they ended up on the wrong side of the mountain. In this video made by a tourist, the tour guide still insists that Kris and Lisanne fell in the river on the 'wrong' (Atlantic) side of the Pianista and were dragged to their deaths. No word about the many rocks and bends in the river alongside where the (very few) remains were found, and how those would have made it hard for entire bodies to be carried away...
GUIDE F. HAS SUSPICIONS ALL OVER THE PLACE
Guide F. says contradicting things in the local media: one moment stating the girls must have gotten lost, the next criticizing police for not going after their kidnappers: “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there. In an article from June 2nd 2014, guide F. declares that the authorities took a long time before reacting and that he believes that they could have been several steps ahead if they had notified, for example, the border authorities. "If someone saw them in a car, they didn't pay attention to them, because it's normal" to see tourists in Boquete”, he says. “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there, whether someone lives there. You can just hide two girls there. We have to find them. Two girls who just disappear. That may not happen.”
Guide F. says contradicting things in the local media: one moment stating the girls must have gotten lost, the next criticizing police for not going after their kidnappers: “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there. In an article from June 2nd 2014, guide F. declares that the authorities took a long time before reacting and that he believes that they could have been several steps ahead if they had notified, for example, the border authorities. "If someone saw them in a car, they didn't pay attention to them, because it's normal" to see tourists in Boquete”, he says. “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there, whether someone lives there. You can just hide two girls there. We have to find them. Two girls who just disappear. That may not happen.”
David M. made a good comment about guide F's vulture statements: "He is a very experienced guide, he might even be the most experienced and knowledgeable man to be found in that area of Panama, as he has walked it extensively all his life. Regarding this comment he made at the time (he makes it twice actually) about Black Vultures circling the area. This hasn't been picked up on by others. The fact that the Panamanian wilderness has vultures is an interesting detail, it tells us guide F. is familiar with the significance of their sightings when in a pack and so would have a very good idea if there were bodies out there... What is particularly significant here however is that it does tell us that if the two friends really do come to disaster at a cable bridge, and eventually pass away there, then that spot becomes a target for Vultures. If Guide F's experience is correct. A cable bridge that is suddenly regularly swooped on by a flock of vultures would escape no one's notice. People would see, people would know what it means. So what it does lend significant weight to (for me) is the idea that in fact the two friends final resting place was never below a cable bridge at all. Indeed it might not even be on the river... Black Vultures. I wonder how common they are in Panama and its forests?"
Great comment David. I also think that if there had been vultures circling around on April or May, locals would have noticed it right away and people would have traced whatever attracted those birds, who have superior smell sense. Because there was a 40.000 dollar reward on the line at some point for whomever found the girls. So is this a clue that the girls did not in fact die behind the mountain, out in the wilderness there? There were no vultures seen in the area and the few bone remains of Kris and Lisanne showed NO microscopic signs of vulture predation either. That is a solid fact. It is incomprehensible in that region for two corpses to lay undetected in nature for weeks, without vultures being attracted to it and being seen by the nature-conscious locals.
EVENTUALLY GUIDE F. AND HIS LOCAL HELPERS FIND MOST OF WHAT EVER WAS FOUND OF THE GIRLS' BONES AND REMAINS
Eventually guide F. and his local helpers find most of what ever was found until now of the girls' bone remains; overall just a few miles from his ranch near Alto Romero. Feliciano found several bones/personal belongings, including the foot and shoe, with the help of several other locals, again not far from his jungle ranch. LITJ: "A few days after the discovery of the backpack, Lisanne's shoe containing her foot is found by Feliciano Gonzalez and a few other local men."). Also LITJ: "All remains and the pants were found by the same group of local guides and Indians: Feliciano Gonzalez, Laureano B., Angel P. and some locals from Alto Romero who are related to them or often work with them, such as a cousin of Feliciano Gonzalez. Is that because they know the area well - both Laureano and Gonzalez have a finca in the Alto Romero area -, or are they involved in a plot? Feliciano also said himself in this very candid interview that... "We found the remains. And they didn't even say 'thank you for your help'. No, they only came in helicopter to pick it up in two minutes." With interviewer Britta Sanders saying on camera: "The man who found the backpack of Kris and Lisanne also is disappointed in the officials. He is a tour guide and knows the area well." "They [the remains] were all found near the river Culebra by ordinary people such as Feliciano Gonzalez." So the guide admitted himself that he found many of the remains of Kris and Lisanne. The backpack of Kris and Lisanne was found relatively close to his finca near Alto Romero. But his ranch never gets stripped or even investigated by police to look for forensic signs of blood or DNA of the women for instance. Dutch sniffer dogs later search only the Boquete side of the Pianista Trail during their week long search attempts at the end of May 2014, as well as the Caldera hot springs, the Hidden Waterfalls and the Baru volcano area. But they are never allowed by Panamanian authorities to enter the terrain behind the Pianista and neither the region near Alto Romero.
So let's look a little bit more closely at some of these events linked to guide F. Starting with the Bedroom Visit
The Daily Beast leaked a police report, in which guide F. is accused by Panamanian authorities of searching the bedroom without a police escort, and the defense lawyer Arrocha accused him of "potentially tampering with evidence". Although F. says he was just worried and simply checked if the girls were there or not, and whether or not they had slept there that night or were truly missing.. Don't forget that nobody even knew they had disappeared at that stage, let alone that it could potentially be a criminal case... If you scroll down this follow up post I made, you can see the photos of the girls' room, and how things were moved around over the course of a week. Interestingly, people have suggested that for this guide to enter the girls' room by his own initiative before police came to the scene, may have possibly (and theoretically) enabled him to retrieve an adapter or cord for the digital camera of the girls and their phones. The iPhone 4 from Kris for instance needed a specific charger with 30-pins connector to a usb-a cable. A cable which Kris certainly left in her room. A special cord would also have been needed to erase the missing and vital photo #509 with the help of a computer. A charger from their room would also have allowed the iPhone from Kris to still have battery life by April 11th, despite police having shown that its battery was only 51% full when they started their hike on April 1st. Interestingly, guide F. mentioned to the press that upon entering the room, he instantly noticed "the unmade beds, some backpacks and cables to charge cell phones". He also mentioned seeing a cell phone, which was not possible as the girls brought theirs with them in their backpack. 
Local police also made errors when investigating the bedroom, which was done by unqualified personnel. In this article, Rafael Guerrero, Prosecutor for Complex Cases of the MP points out that "The girls' room was inspected by unqualified personnel. Now many clues have disappeared. Expert investigation personnel should have entered the room and collected important data such as agendas, writings, seeing the clothing inside the room, which would have allowed obtaining data on what they would do in the place." Also, very prominently in the photos that were later taken by police of the girls' room, is a business card/flyer with the guide's name on it, lying on Kris' bed. I always wondered if Kris really left it behind like this when she left her room on April 1st, right in the middle of her bed? Or if the Feliciano Tourist card/flyer may perhaps have been planted there by him to show the police; 'See? They had an appointment with me. They used my services. I have a reason for being so involved in this case. I would have liked to hear if Ingrid or Marjolein J. (30 years old at the time) gave Kris and Lisanne that business card/flyer? Or how else they could have gotten it in their possession? And was this business card checked for fingerprints from Kris or Lisanne? Or is it clear from forensics that someone else handled it exclusively and planted it there? The fact that nobody knows of any fingerprint investigation done on this piece of evidence, indicates that the card simply wasn't investigated forensically, and we may never know if the guide himself touched it, or Kris. Is this all a surprise? Probably not. After all, the many fingerprints from the backpack were also never properly investigated.
Who booked this supposed Wednesday tour with the guide?
*In this local Panamanian news article it is written that: "On Tuesday afternoon F., who for many years has provided his services as a tour guide, received a call from the Spanish by the River school, where the manager informed him that two young people were interested in obtaining their tour guide services." And in this local newspaper article, the guide himself told the interviewer that "The two girls who work at the Spanish by the River school contacted me. A German named Eileen and a Dutchwoman named Mariolane [Marjolein]. Eileen told me to go to Spanish by The River on Wednesday, April 2 at 8:00 a.m. to look for them there." Eileen herself later declared that she contacted the guide by phone on Tuesday morning of April 1st, to ask him about a guided (coffee) tour for herself and Kris and Lisanne for the next day. And that the guide was not in or near Boquete that day, but in David for a hospital visit. Journalist Adelita Coriat wrote something else however and knew to tell that the guide was behind the Mirador on Tuesday in fact with his son - no official info is out there that the guide's alibi was ever checked and confirmed or not. There has been no further verification of this information; we do not know for instance where his phone pinged that day or whether that phone call was really made by Eileen, as she claimed. Betzaida Pitti never really looked into it further. But anyway, the tour guide seems to not have met Kris and Lisanne in person. Maybe the girls had simply received his business card from Eileen or Marjolein. But why it had to be left right on top of Kris' bed when they left on Tuesday for a hike, remains an open question. And ultimately we do not even know for certain that Kris and Lisanne would really have used his services on Wednesday April 2nd for a coffee tour. We have never seen in black and white that those day trip bookings were made with guide F., or were made for them through coworker Eileen. Nothing was recorded about this tour booking. No payment details, no handwritten notes in the girls' diary or agenda confirmation of these appointments (check this detailed schedule of their diary statements about their last days if you are interested in this). And phone data have not been checked by officials to verify this story that Eileen called guide F. for the booking. EILEEN DID THE BOOKINGS
Eileen nowadays claims she did the bookings and communicated later about this supposed appointment she had with the girls. These three young European women had already known each other from their previous shared weeks in Bocas del Toro. Although Kris nor Lisanne ever mention Eileen in their diaries. We only heard about her because of her role in the aftermath of the disappearance. With Eileen being the only staff member at the school that Wednesday, it is also unclear why she would leave her workplace all day for this supposed tour. Would she, as a brand new intern at this location, just leave the desk unmanned in order to go out for a private hiking tour? While Ingrid and Marjolein were in Costa Rica? Eileen only worked for a few days at this Boquete location at that point and was about to move away again soon (sooner than agreed on) after the disappearance.
PITTÍ CLAIMS THE GIRLS MADE THE BOOKING DAYS IN ADVANCE
And according to Pitti/police the girls had made an appointment with guide F. for a tour "several days earlier". As it is stated in the case files. Not Eileen. And 'several days earlier': does this imply that the Feliciano booking was made already on Monday, or Sunday even? On Monday they were looking for replacement volunteer work for that upcoming week. And on Sunday Kris and Lisanne were still under the impression they would be doing volunteer work at Aura that upcoming week.
WHAT SORT OF A TOUR WAS BOOKED WITH GUIDE F.?
Guide F. himself said in an interview that Kris and Lisanne had plans to see a strawberry farm* with him on Wednesday April 2nd. Eileen later said that she booked a coffee tour. This is also confirmed in the book LITJ: Eileen booked a coffee tour to Mister Fillo's farm with Kris and Lisanne and guide F, they write. But guide F. himself has declared in another Dutch interview that he was supposed to take Kris and Lisanne on a volcano tour, to Barú, on Wednesday morning... Confusing, because as it's understood they were supposed to visit the local volcano Baru with him on Saturday the 6th. The same Baru is mentioned in the Dutch Break Free documentary: "For the climbing of the volcano Baru, which is known to be a serious climb, local guide Feliciano is recommended to the girls. They make an appointment with him to climb the volcano, two days later. But because the girls don't show up on their appointment two days later, the guide decides to look for them at their host families address." Then there is Ingrid Lommers, who first told police that the scheduled trip from the girls with this guide was to her knowledge going to "a ranch in Alto Quiel". This is the same place where a plastic bag, long hair and a fuchsia red shoe sole were found later on, which some people linked to the shoe of Lisanne; see a video on the matter here and I also cover that story in part 2 of this blog series. Kryt also wrote that Ingrid Lommers reported to police that the women had booked a trip to a “ranch in Alto Quiel” with this guide. Alto Quiel is in the opposite direction of the Pianista Trail. Jeremy Kryt declared that after having access to the police reports of this case, he could confirm that guide F. offered the girls a tour with an overnight stay in his finca near Alto Romero. Both Laureano and guide F. have a finca in the Alto Romero area. It’s published on sites like Trip Advisor that this guide is specialized (like many other local guides there) in long, three-day treks from Boquete out to the Bocas coast via the Pianista trail; the same route where Kris and Lisanne seemingly walked toward and where their remains were approximately found. So... it was uncertain how these appointments were made exactly and what sort of tour was booked. Eileen stated herself that she called the guide to book a tour for herself, Kris and Lisanne. Sinaproc and the case file reported that the girls had made the appointment, which may also have simply been an imprecise formulation. Again, we have no hard evidence for any of this; no phone call log info that they called him and no receipts or anything from the language school either. And Hans Kremers stated on Dutch TV that the families had not heard Kris and Lisanne mention this supposed tour with guide F. at all. He doubts that the tour was booked at all. Hadn't these girls expected to work at a replacement children's school by Wednesday? After all, they asked the help of staff of the Spanish school on Monday March 31st to try and find replacement volunteer work for them asap. So if they really wanted to work all week and were hoping to find replacement work; why would they book three different day tours for the rest of that week, starting with this Wednesday tour? Maybe because they wanted to have something to do in case no replacement work was ever found? Unfortunately we only have Eileen and guide F's words on this supposed Wednesday booking.
Guide F. himself said in an interview that Kris and Lisanne had plans to see a strawberry farm* with him on Wednesday April 2nd. Eileen later said that she booked a coffee tour. This is also confirmed in the book LITJ: Eileen booked a coffee tour to Mister Fillo's farm with Kris and Lisanne and guide F, they write. But guide F. himself has declared in another Dutch interview that he was supposed to take Kris and Lisanne on a volcano tour, to Barú, on Wednesday morning... Confusing, because as it's understood they were supposed to visit the local volcano Baru with him on Saturday the 6th. The same Baru is mentioned in the Dutch Break Free documentary: "For the climbing of the volcano Baru, which is known to be a serious climb, local guide Feliciano is recommended to the girls. They make an appointment with him to climb the volcano, two days later. But because the girls don't show up on their appointment two days later, the guide decides to look for them at their host families address." Then there is Ingrid Lommers, who first told police that the scheduled trip from the girls with this guide was to her knowledge going to "a ranch in Alto Quiel". This is the same place where a plastic bag, long hair and a fuchsia red shoe sole were found later on, which some people linked to the shoe of Lisanne; see a video on the matter here and I also cover that story in part 2 of this blog series. Kryt also wrote that Ingrid Lommers reported to police that the women had booked a trip to a “ranch in Alto Quiel” with this guide. Alto Quiel is in the opposite direction of the Pianista Trail. Jeremy Kryt declared that after having access to the police reports of this case, he could confirm that guide F. offered the girls a tour with an overnight stay in his finca near Alto Romero. Both Laureano and guide F. have a finca in the Alto Romero area. It’s published on sites like Trip Advisor that this guide is specialized (like many other local guides there) in long, three-day treks from Boquete out to the Bocas coast via the Pianista trail; the same route where Kris and Lisanne seemingly walked toward and where their remains were approximately found. So... it was uncertain how these appointments were made exactly and what sort of tour was booked. Eileen stated herself that she called the guide to book a tour for herself, Kris and Lisanne. Sinaproc and the case file reported that the girls had made the appointment, which may also have simply been an imprecise formulation. Again, we have no hard evidence for any of this; no phone call log info that they called him and no receipts or anything from the language school either. And Hans Kremers stated on Dutch TV that the families had not heard Kris and Lisanne mention this supposed tour with guide F. at all. He doubts that the tour was booked at all. Hadn't these girls expected to work at a replacement children's school by Wednesday? After all, they asked the help of staff of the Spanish school on Monday March 31st to try and find replacement volunteer work for them asap. So if they really wanted to work all week and were hoping to find replacement work; why would they book three different day tours for the rest of that week, starting with this Wednesday tour? Maybe because they wanted to have something to do in case no replacement work was ever found? Unfortunately we only have Eileen and guide F's words on this supposed Wednesday booking.
HANS KREMERS SAYS NO
Hans Kremers, Kris' father, stated in one of the earliest newspaper interviews, on April 14th of 2014, that it is not true that Kris and Lisanne had an appointment with the guide for that Wednesday; he said that they only had a guided tour planned with him for the upcoming Saturday. Hans Kremers also stated: “They would never go away for that long without letting us know.” And Lisanne's mother Diny said in one of the Dutch late night show interviews, that Kris' boyfriend Stefan got a message in which Kris said that they would go for a walk that Tuesday and then planned to see the Volcano on Saturday.. Kris' mother Roelie said she understood that they would go on an excursion to the Lost Waterfalls. But Lisanne's mother did know through her daughter about general plans for guided tours. So maybe the girls only told their parents about initial plans and never gave them any specifics later on. Nothing was really specified about it in their diaries either. Which doesn't mean they didn't book the Wednesday tour. But there is also no confirmation of it by their parents.
MIRIAM INSISTS THE GIRLS HAD NO HIKING PLANS
The girls also didn't tell their host 'mother' Miriam about these specific tour appointments. Miriam mainly said in the press that she was surprised that the girls even went up the Pianista trail, as they had told her that they had no such plans. Miriam Guerra confirmed to the Dutch newspaper that the girls were very quiet when they were with her and had "no plans whatsoever to make long walks outside of Boquete". Miriam said also that they weren't dressed for a long tour on April 1st, as everything was still in their room: their coats, wallets, Kris' passport. But there are so many variations of this story circulating - and possibly even tactically used to blur the narrative, ensuring that nobody can be sure of anything really.
Conflicting information about whether or not the girls met guide F. personally
Guide F. was the main guide which the language school Spanish by the River recommended to their guests (they stopped doing this after the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne). Locals have said that the guide hung around places like the language school more often to pick up new clients. Most information I found does confirm that the girls actually saw guide F. themselves. Guide F. said in this interview that he saw them lounging in a hammock at the school "shortly before they disappeared". He shouted 'Hola' to them. This fleeting meeting would have been on Tuesday morning. The exact time is not specified. Kryt's Podcast details in episode 2 that Feliciano told police the following: “I saw them Tuesday, April 1st of this year. I saw them at the Spanish Language school that day in the morning hours. That was the only time I saw them. After that I didn’t see them.” He says that he never actually spoke with Kris and Lisanne. “No, just the hello from afar. That was all.” In this interview from May 2014 with a Dutch newspaper he literally said:"I remember well that I saw the girls for the last time. One was laying in a hammock at the Spanish language school and the other was standing in front of a map of Panama and was looking where she wanted to go. Hola! I greeted them. That was shortly before they went missing."
"I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE GIRLS"However in this Dutch newspaper article from March 2019, the tour guide is interviewed again and says: "I still have contact with the girls' parents and I don't want to make them sad. I only wanted to help. I have never seen the girls." Similarly in an interview guide F. gave in July of 2022 to a Dutch newspaper: "I never met the girls, but they said I was the last to see them." (I covered and translated the entire interview in part 4 of my blog). Guide F. told journalist Jeremy Kryt in 2016: “I met the holandesas in town but never saw them after that.” Jeremy Kryt also wrote in another article: "Witnesses say this same guide met with Kris and Lisanne less than 24 hours before they disappeared, on the campus of an all-inclusive language school called Spanish by the River, where the women were staying in Boquete. During that meeting, he offered them a full-package tour, including a guided hike up to the nearby Continental Divide, and an overnight stop at his ranch, deep in the jungle on the far side of the mountains. For unknown reasons, the women declined." - Granted, there were some years in between those interviews, but is guide F. trying to gaslight everybody here? Or has he simply forgotten what he himself told the press on earlier occasions, or believes everyone will take his word on things, no matter how he changes such important details up? Is guide F. editing his version of events as the years go by? And are we supposed to believe that one of the possible key players in this saga happened to be at Spanish by the River that Tuesday morning (for what? To try to get some tours booked most likely), SAW the two Dutch girls, observed and remembered their exact behaviours, but only says 'Hello' in passing? That doesn't make sense. Was he there to get new customers? So if he saw one peering at a map, why didn't he showcase his famous Dutch to them and told them about his tours? No, by now guide F. is trying to imply in interviews that notwithstanding his own earlier quotes in the media, when he arrived at the school on Wednesday morning April 2nd he had absolutely no idea who these two Dutch girls were, or what they looked like. And it was German intern employee Eileen who was the go-between. The one who had arranged everything. And he just became caught up in what unfolded on the wednesday and weeks after (as Dave M. aptly put it).
Nevertheless, in a 2022 podcast series from Jeremy Kryt and Mariana Atencio it is revealed that the official police files state that guide F. confirmed in a statement to them that he DID met Kris and Lisanne at Spanish by the River. Guide F. is quoted in the police files as saying that on April 1st he got a phone call from the language school, where he had earlier that day seen Kris and Lisanne. And that one of the SbtR employees called him to make a last minute appointment for Kris and Lisanne to tour a local farm. Guide F: "They call me to tell me the two young women I had seen at the school wanted to go to Mister Filo's Farm (?) in Alto Quiel. I didn't have any commitments the next day, so I told her I'd pick them up at 8 o'clock in the morning at the school. That's what we agreed on." Notice that this supposed appointment was made at a time when Kris and Lisanne were already on their Pianista hike. And Mr. Filo, who is this? Could it be a way of inconspicuously describing guide Feliciano's own coffee farm? (like Pittí also tried to mask the identity of Feliciano's brother, José Domingo Gonzalez, who handled the backpack before giving it to police, by craftily naming him through initials...?). Or is he a coffee or strawberry farmer perhaps?
SO A TUESDAY MORNING MEETINGSo guide F. seems to have met Kris and Lisanne in the morning of April 1st. But we also learnt that guide F. was "out of town" that Tuesday. On a hospital visit in David. Which lies about 35 kilometres south of Boquete. So how early did he drop by Spanish by the River exactly then, and how early did he see Kris and Lisanne at the language school on the day of their disappearance? No idea... There are also articles such as this article, which states that this entire meeting at the language school never took place, and that in fact this same tour guide simply and only got a call on Wednesday April 2nd (so not on the Tuesday) from the same worker of the language school, Eileen, to ask over the phone for his services that same day for the two girls. They were already missing at that stage, but the school aide did not know this yet. He never met them personally in this scenario either. And in this local newspaper article it is also stated that the girls booked their trip with this guide through the language school, and that F. never met them. So it is one or the other. The guide himself gave different answers in that respect to different newspapers. I understand that memories can become fluid with time, but anyone would normally have been able to remember whether or not he ever met or saw two missing (striking looking) women in person. This man, guide F., is apparently a former school teacher and they tend to be fairly decent when it comes to remembering facts. So, there is some confusion about what was booked exactly, when and how and if guide F. met Kris and Lisanne in person or not. His own statements have differed over time. And this inconsistency wasn't limited to these tour bookings.
WHY WASN'T GUIDE F. EVER INVESTIGATED?
As David M. aptly commented: "How come police didn't investigate this? We do know the police force in Boquete was a very marginal presence in the town, barely even a token force. But trying to break down what Feliciano's statements to them contained, I can only wonder why he made two statements, at different times. But when someone states he saw these two young women in the morning, and they vanished sometime (as far as they knew) between lunchtime and two o'clock, the obvious question here is to ask what was *said* that morning, what was said in the School when he "saw" the two there to end up with a booking for the next morning?! And how could no one realise that if he "saw" the two that morning, then when and why did Eileen contact him to arrange a trip for the next morning? It doesn't make any sense!" "At best F. is editing his previous statements, trying to lessen the potential damage. At worst he is demonstrating that he is spinning a lie. When you tell a lie and that lie leads to an ongoing debate from others, your 'story' will change, purely because your story isn't based on truth. It is based on something you manufactured, in your head. And you can't often remember what you said, or what you need to say... so the story changes, and so do the people involved in it." - That is a great comment Dave. And it goes to the core of the problem with this case. Guide F. has been allowed to make varying comments and statements in the press, without being challenged over it and without police forcing him to get one straight story. Why wasn't he investigated? Why no verification of this supposed appointment made with him? Why were his emails and phone use and pinging locations not investigated? Why not compare his statements with testimonies of others? Same for the supposed hospital visit in David on April 1st (on the route to Spanish by the River), surely that alibi and the exact times when he was there can be verified and proven? Why are all these conflicting statements of him still floating around in the ether, unchallenged, muddling this case? Of course he is innocent until proven otherwise. But when nothing is investigated, nothing ever gets answered either. And we are stuck with the analysis of what he voluntarily told to the press or in public.
There are also different statements about when guide F. went out to search the girls, and whether or not they could have gotten lost or not in his viewHere the guide for instance stated that he wasn't allowed to search on his own before Sinaproc arrived, but in this video it is explicitly said that he was the first to go out looking, alone, and already walked this path on April 3rd (so day 3) by himself, looking for them. Over the Pianista, past the two small streams and to the meadow with the small wooden houses scattered around. But that he found no trace of them. "Not even footprints." Isn't that an odd statement? It had been unusually dry that period, so did he really expect to see footprints? And if so, wouldn't the five to eight people who pass that stretch of trail on average each and every day have left footprints as well? And does this mean Kris and Lisanne couldn't have slipped on any slope along that trail? Or he'd have seen the evidence of this by day 3? But here he stated that he started looking for them on day 5. So what is it? Day 3, day 5, or after Sinaproc went in?
SWAYING BETWEEN DIFFERENT PUBLIC BELIEFS
This guide also swayed between different beliefs as to what happened to Kris and Lisanne. Talking of a deadly accident one moment, and about foul play and dodgy empty houses the next. Stating one moment that one cannot get lost on the Pianista trail and that one would have seen vultures circling if the girls had really died out there (guide F. said on national TV: "A mountain guide told us that if he saw vultures circling above the jungle. That would be less good news."), to criticizing the police, to trying to convince the reporter that the terrain behind the Mirador is a downright death trap and that the girls must have had an accident. He rightfully and reasonably ushered the police to go "check empty houses near Boquete, where people can be hidden by those with bad intentions". In an article from June 2nd 2014, guide F. declared: “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there, whether someone lives there. You can just hide two girls there. We have to find them. Two girls who just disappear. That may not happen.” Here the guide is interviewed and says, while theorizing with some seeming certainty that Kris and Lisanne díd hike the Pianista trail: "I do not think that it is possible that people leave the trail and go into the forest.. Hikers have no choice but to follow the trail. What is possible, and what is a risk, is that you forget the time and that you keep walking that trail on and on. But it is not possible to lose track of the trail and to wander into the forest without noticing." And in this interview guide F. comes across sincerely worried and says on camera; "With those search operations, they would have been found by now. In my opinion it would have taken no more than a week to find them, if they had an accident, regardless of problems. Because those girls could have had an accident, or been attacked by wild animals, and then you would have seen the presence of black vultures circling, and then we would have found them. Or part of their belongings. But we would have found them. I think it is suspicious, people must have participated in something that is not good."
This guide also swayed between different beliefs as to what happened to Kris and Lisanne. Talking of a deadly accident one moment, and about foul play and dodgy empty houses the next. Stating one moment that one cannot get lost on the Pianista trail and that one would have seen vultures circling if the girls had really died out there (guide F. said on national TV: "A mountain guide told us that if he saw vultures circling above the jungle. That would be less good news."), to criticizing the police, to trying to convince the reporter that the terrain behind the Mirador is a downright death trap and that the girls must have had an accident. He rightfully and reasonably ushered the police to go "check empty houses near Boquete, where people can be hidden by those with bad intentions". In an article from June 2nd 2014, guide F. declared: “All those houses have not been searched by the police. Nobody knows who lives there, whether someone lives there. You can just hide two girls there. We have to find them. Two girls who just disappear. That may not happen.” Here the guide is interviewed and says, while theorizing with some seeming certainty that Kris and Lisanne díd hike the Pianista trail: "I do not think that it is possible that people leave the trail and go into the forest.. Hikers have no choice but to follow the trail. What is possible, and what is a risk, is that you forget the time and that you keep walking that trail on and on. But it is not possible to lose track of the trail and to wander into the forest without noticing." And in this interview guide F. comes across sincerely worried and says on camera; "With those search operations, they would have been found by now. In my opinion it would have taken no more than a week to find them, if they had an accident, regardless of problems. Because those girls could have had an accident, or been attacked by wild animals, and then you would have seen the presence of black vultures circling, and then we would have found them. Or part of their belongings. But we would have found them. I think it is suspicious, people must have participated in something that is not good."
"They can be everywhere, also here in Boquete. I think there is a chance of that. There are many new built houses that are empty in Boquete. None of those empty houses have been searched by police. Nobody knows who lives there. You can easily hide two girls there."
Locals commenting on this local Boquete site wrote that they looked into some of these empty houses: "We also searched some abandoned buildings in the alleged area the girls were last seen." Lee Zeltzer confirmed this on the same site: "We walked the beginning on the trail to Bocas and checked out the abandoned cabins and no sign of anyone on that overgrown trail." Guide F. also stated in this short interview with Algemeen Dagblad: "Because he had walked the trails as a guide countless times, and during the first track [trying to find them] he had brought a lot of fruit in his backpack. 'The girls will be hungry, I thought.' But during next searches he no longer did that. Now his searches were not as coordinated anymore. 'He didn't know where to look and did not believe that the girls were in the tropical forest. because it has already been searched.' THEN GUIDE F. SUDDENLY CALLS FOR THE END OF THE SEARCHES
Interviewed in June 25th 2014 by the Netherlands leading news channel (NOS news), guide F. suddenly explained that after the discovery of the backpack and of the two separate shoes of Kris and Lisanne, he gave the advice to stop the searches. [Quote] "When he heard that the backpack was found, he organized a search immediately. With a group of six male local inhabitants he combed through the shores of the river, for three kilometers upstream where the backpack was found. After two days, they had found two different shoes and two bones. These findings turned out to be pivotal. Earlier this week, forensics confirmed that its DNA matched that of Kris and Lisanne. The families now wanted the searches to continue as soon as possible. And for them to continue until all the remaining questions about the death of Kris and Lisanne had been answered. Guide F. repeated throughout the interview that it was very good luck that the backpack was found, because without it 'we wouldn't have known anything about the fate of Kris and Lisanne'. "Until then, the wildest stories were doing the rounds," guide F. said. (Wild stories involving his own son Henry, at times). This comment tells us that guide F. kept an eye on what was said about this case in the press. "The women were allegedly kidnapped and taken to neighboring Costa Rica for their organs. Or being held somewhere by a criminal", guide F. told the Dutch press. Now it was suddenly clear in his view that the witnesses who had seen Kris and Lisanne walking on the mountain path were right after all. The friends had taken the Pianista path on April 1st after all, and had probably accidentally walked on and got lost. [Good question from Power-Pixie: "The question I would have asked to follow up this statement of guide F: 'Well F, since we know what photos were on the camera, but no proof they were dead, and the phones have still to be examined since it is June 27 now and they are being taken to the Netherlands, how could you know what their fate was, just going by the backpack?'] Guide F. made an effort to tell the public through media interviews, that this backpack discovery could end any speculation and rumour about foul play.. By June 16th, the parents of both missing young women still had openly expressed hope to find them alive after the discovery of the backpack. But guide F. knew enough at this point, and we will never know what exactly made him believe this.
"I think that you shouldn't take any risks. With what we had found at that point, we knew that nobody was alive anymore."
One minute he was crying on Dutch TV about the lack of serious investigation, the next moment he wants to unilaterally call off the searches because a few remains are found. So; more contradictions. (Besides: the parents would have wanted to find as much as possible from their beloved daughters: not for the searches to suddenly be called off permanently). Guide F. also wondered out loud what another search could still deliver: "These searches are very dangerous. It is difficult to cross the river. There are cables crossing it and they swing when you walk over them." The boys who accompanied him did dare to cross the cable bridges. "But imagine that someone dies during these searches. When you fall into the water, the current pulls you down and you cannot get up again. You are lost then." If it was up to F, the search operations were over now. "I think that you shouldn't take any risks anymore. With what we have found now, we know that nobody is alive anymore." Surprising, coming from the same man who cried on camera in June of 2014 (so the same month) because not enough was done for these girls. These cable bridges sound like horrendous death traps suddenly. But we know that guides pass them regularly, also with paying tourists in tow. Why would they do that if they are so extremely dangerous? I came across different blog posts from his clients, showing him crossing these monkey bridges with a big smile. Yet when it came to finding more bones from Kris and Lisanne, these bridges were bringing the local search teams into mortal danger suddenly? Here he is expressing his sadness about the inept Panamese search operations. And in this May 2014 interview as well: guide F. says that if Sinaproc or the authorities had allowed him to continue the search on the first day already when they knew the girls were missing, "they would have at least found something much sooner". "But starting to search, 4 or 5 days later is too late". But later he supported the accident theory, blaming the wonky monkey bridges. “But there are no markers on top of the top. So what happens sometimes, is people go down the mountain the other way. After about a day, maybe a day and a half of walking, you come at the river Culebra, which is very high and the water flows super fast. There are only two cables hanging above the water. But of course they didn't know that. They see those cables, and they think you have to go over them. Understandable, but when you step on those cables, they swing from side to side. They hang very loose. I think one of them in the river fell and the other tried to save her, or they went on the cables at the same time, and then it's impossible. Then they move in all directions. It also fits exactly with the locations of the shoes, the bag and the remains of the girls. They were all downstream from La Culebra." He also calls the monkey bridges "extremely dangerous" and when you fall off them you are "hopelessly lost".
From being suspicious of the authorities, to saying it must have been people with bad intentions who got them as one cannot get lost there, to them being stored in empathy houses and suspicious sheds that hadn't been properly checked by authorities, to the smart vulture comments (never heard any updates on those bird sightings) to the classic monkey bridge story and the emphasis on the dangers for the guides to even be out there behind the Mirador, saying the searches had to stop right there and then. Really, all over the place in terms of his public suspicions and accusations. And then the backpack, found by his team, which was the crown piece. Confirming everything was all an accident after all. And it was very good luck already that this backpack was found, because without it 'we wouldn't have known anything about the fate of Kris and Lisanne'. Forgotten was his tearful appearance that same month on Dutch TV, highlighting how local authorities were only coming out to search when the families were in Boquete. By now guide F. suddenly decided that the searches were too dangerous full stop, and that the backpack sealed the deal anyway, so there was nothing more to look for out there. Even though the poor parents had only a few bones to bury, and most of their daughters were still laying somewhere out there... Wouldn't it have been more logical for such a dedicated man to be powered on by the discovery of the bag? Now we have a hot trail and now we have to find all their remains?! Apparently not. Bizarre. Especially for super fit and confident sportsmen, who make their living from taking tourists to these exact same locations. But I also want to emphasize that this man has generously dedicated a lot of free time in joining search operations and looking for Kris and Lisanne, by all accounts. Betzaida Pitti had delegated the entire search operation to guide F. and his local helpers at some point, as she wasn't able to go out there herself and time was ticking. So without even a single actual law enforcer in tow, he and his local men just did the work which Betzaida Pitti should have done. They found the remains, they took pictures and then allowed Pitti to pick it up and parade it in front of a helicopter to the press. As a Dutch reporter emphasized as well: “But local inhabitants are not content with the manner in which the authorities have organized the searches because all the findings and discoveries were done by local ordinary people, and not by the professional search teams. First the backpack, last Wednesday. Then the shoes and bone remains. They were all found near the river Culebra, by ordinary people. Such as Feliciano Gonzalez. Feliciano is a guide in the area and has a farm there. Since the two young women disappeared in the area, two months ago, he has been thinking about them every single day. They disappeared in his region.” Guide F. also lost his wife in later years (she reportedly died of heart failure in 2017) and seems to have suffered under the negative press. He sounded demoralized and even depressed in a later interview. I document what he has said in the press and in public and I ask questions, but everyone is innocent until proven otherwise. There was no investigation here, so we have to assume the first.
Eileen W.
Eileen W. (25) worked at the time as 'Assistant Hostel Manager' for Spanish At Locations, as a university intern. The job came down to mostly reception work. She was in Bocas (Spanish by the Sea) when Kris and Lisanne holidayed there, and went with them in the shuttle bus to Boquete on March 29th in order to work at Spanish by the River. She also could understand some Dutch. She and this guide spent some time in their bedroom around 9 AM, after Kris and Lisanne had not shown up for the tour appointment. The fact that a business card was clearly visible on one of the girls' beds could also be because Eileen perhaps gave it to the girls. She also went with this guide to his mountain house that afternoon of April 2nd. It was a bit after 7 PM when they went to the police station to report the girls missing. Judith, an employee of the travel agency the girls used (Het Andere Reizen, roughly translated as A Different type of Traveling), later said that Eileen really freaked out over the girls' disappearance at this point. Judith was called by the girls' parents once they found out about their daughters' disappearance. But Judith herself was also affected badly by the panic and drama of that moment, especially when she called with the parents of Kris, who were instantly highly alarmed by the news that their daughter and her friend had been unaccounted for for so long already. Eileen was by then left more or less alone at the school to handle this crisis, as Ingrid Lommers was still in Costa Rica and Marjolein had by then just left to go to the Costa Rican language school. So Eileen was alone at the desk and I do not understand how she could leave the place unmanned to book a guided tour or herself and Kris and Lisanne for April the 2nd. Either way: understandably, the German intern was hysterical according to Judith. And soon after she herself left Boquete as well. She is said to have only been at the school for a mere week at that point - two weeks in total by her own admission - but we know she arrived with the girls at March 29th and she soon after left Boquete again. Going back to Bocas del Toro and being replaced at Spanish by the River by Tobias from the Panama City school. He was interviewed by Telemetro on April 7th 2014 in front of Spanish by the River (so roughly a week after Eileen arriving in Boquete), and most likely changed places indeed with Eileen. And if Eileen did leave Boquete after one week already, only five days after the girls went missing, despite having planned to work there for two weeks, that should raise questions about why she left Boquete already so soon and unexpectedly. What feelings or events motivated her. We never heard her talk about this in public. Just like we never heard much at all from Eileen about her recollections of the interactions she had with Kris and Lisanne during the last days of their lives. What she did say is messy and is contradicted by herself frequently, depending on who she spoke with (including two sets of book authors and a duo from Canada). We do know that Eileen was back in Bocas by April 24th, as she was tagged and pictured there at that time by Ingrid. And that she was also with Ingrid and her student group in Panama in July 12th (so still in Panama, or again in Panama). 
.png)
SPENDING THE WEDNESDAY WITH GUIDE F.On top of planning the intended tour for Wednesday and accompanying guide F. to the girls' bedroom, Eileen also agreed to go along with F. to his 'jungle farm' afterwards. This was reported as a quote from her in the same article of June 28th 2014, 'Een Fatale Wandeling' (A fatal hike). Now, the 'farm' mentioned in the article may have been the guides' remote 'jungle farm' in Alto Romero. The place in close radius of where the girls' scattered remains were later found by himself and some other locals. There is also a road near Boquete that goes to Bocas del Toro, allowing you to divert at some point to a dirt road of sorts to Alto Romero, bypassing the entire Pianista trail. Or perhaps 'the farm' refers to a coffee farm he has nearer to Boquete. It is also described in Okke Ornstein's radio program, where he meets up and speaks with F. in that place and compliments him on air with the delicious coffee he makes. But either way: Eileen spent quite some time together with the guide, attempting to sort this out. Instead of going back to her job. She must have been away from her desk most of the day on April 2nd 2014. And on top of all that, Eileen also went briefly back to the office of Spanish by the River that day, to get more official data on the girls. And then 5 days later, Eileen left Boquete.
EARLY DEPARTURE?
Eileen is said to have asked for an early transfer to Panama City and was replaced by Tobias M. who worked at the branch in Panama City. In a telephone call Eileen is said to have stated that she wanted to leave Boquete right away. Although authors Hardinghaus and Nenner write that Eileen returned to Bocas del Toro at that point, 'as planned', they do so because they claim to have spoken directly with Eileen, who told them that it was always the plan to return to Bocas until June that year for her internship. And that her trip to Boquete was only to 'fill in for someone' for those two weeks. Who she had to fill in for is unknown. Just as it is not further explained why the two planned weeks in Boquete were reduced to only one week. Although Eileen later denied this as well in a conversation with two Canadians (see further below): to them she insists she stayed two weeks in Boquete. But it was mentioned on Ingrid Lommers' facebook page and a male coworker switched places with her and moved to the language school in Boquete; giving her his work spot in Panama City instead. Or perhaps that was nonsense. Nothing seems clear cut in this case after all, it is very tiring. The German authors wrote about Eileen's departure that she was first interviewed by Sinaproc on Wednesday morning April 2nd. "In fact, she returned to Spanish by the Sea in Bocas del Toro after her interrogation - as planned from the beginning - to continue her internship until June." - So both sets of authors like to stress that Eileen did not leave Boquete prematurely. And that she sat out those 2 weeks. But this does not appear to be correct. It appears that those early reports that she left Boquete after just one week, changing places with the Dutch guy Tobias who worked in the Panama City school, are correct. The talk online at the time was always that he did so to change places with Eileen. And when we look at the Telemetro video reportage shot at April 7th 2014.... we see that they interview this same Tobias, in Boquete, at Spanish by the River. He clearly had arrived in Boquete by then (so within a week of Eileen arriving in Boquete), and most likely changed places indeed with Eileen. So actually, without hard evidence of the contrary, things seem to point instead towards Eileen having indeed left/fled Boquete prematurely. Sooner than those pre-arranged two weeks there. Just like it was reported in real time on the FOK forum. If true, that raises questions about why she left Boquete already so soon. What feelings motivated her. We never heard her talk about this in public. Just like we never heard much at all from Eileen about her recollections of the interactions she had with Kris and Lisanne during the last days of their lives. Eileen was never thoroughly questioned by police investigators before or after she left, as far as anyone knows. She was never asked by police when she last saw Kris and Lisanne (!) during her April 7th chat with SDIJ. She never publicly spoke out about what she knows and saw in Boquete, despite being the one who supposedly booked Kris and Lisanne their shared tour, inspected their bedroom and reported them missing at the police... Back in Germany she was never in contact with police over this case anymore either. When contacted by people who follow this case, she has been evasive and highly contradictory when it comes to telling whatever more she knows. She hasn't made it public what happened in the 1,5 hours she and guide F. were waiting at Miriam's house between going there at 08:30 and calling Miriam finally at 10:00 AM. She hasn't indulged others in what exactly was done in that bedroom for reportedly half an hour. What did F. do there, what did he look at, touch, why spend all that time in there? She didn't once and for all tell the truth about how she spent the rest of that Wednesday afternoon; was it with guide F. on his farm (as he stated in one interview) or was it on her own, before going to the police together with guide F. after 19:00 PM. How about the booking she is said to have made for herself and the Dutch girls? And we also don't know why she left Boquete earlier than planned.
The only people she spoke with about this case at this point of writing, to our public knowledge, are two internet detectives/vigilantes. They are the two Canadians (Francois H. and Pierre-L. L.) who also leaked a pile of copies of the photos from the girls' camera to Juan, as well as photocopies of the diaries. She told them reluctantly that she worked in the language school that Tuesday April 1st, but that she never saw Kris and Lisanne there that Tuesday. The last time she saw Kris and Lisanne wasn’t on April 1, Eileen claimed to them, but on March 31 at one o’clock. "They got lost on a Tuesday. I saw them last (on) Monday." This clashes with what Ingrid Lommers made public very early on. Only after they press her on this inconsistency, she goes back on it and mutters that it was long ago and that she must have forgotten. That she last saw Kris and Lisanne at Spanish by the River around 13:00 PM. This then directly contradicts what Eileen told Dutch authors in writing around 2021, namely that the last time she saw Kris and Lisanne wasn't on April 1, but on March 31 at one o'clock. While telling two German authors in 2023: "Kris and Lisanne were, of course, at the school on April 1." Eileen has been acting very odd and seems unable to keep a straight story. But since she wasn't professionally interrogated over this by police, we are also left guessing what is truth and what is lies here. But she has been evasive ever since this happened (some members of the Dutch FOK forum also tried to talk with her in the past, with little result) and she clearly is uncomfortable talking.
Full conversation about this with the Canadians (screensaves from Juan):
Canadians: "We now have a key witness told us that they left the school at 1pm on april 1st which is a major contradiction with the official story reported by the authorities at the time. So we are now looking for a second witness who could confirm this".
Eileen: "Ya that's not possible I can tell you. They did not leave the school at the first of April. It was the day before".
Canadians "That's interesting. I assume you know Ingrid Lommers?"
Eileen: "Of course. The girls must have gotten lost. That's all I know. And believe." Canadians: "Between April 2nd and the time the backpack has been found, Ingrid said many times that the girls left the school on April 1st at 1pm".
Eileen: "Ya that's not possible I can tell you. They did not leave the school at the first of April. It was the day before".
Canadians "That's interesting. I assume you know Ingrid Lommers?"
Eileen: "Of course. The girls must have gotten lost. That's all I know. And believe." Canadians: "Between April 2nd and the time the backpack has been found, Ingrid said many times that the girls left the school on April 1st at 1pm".
Eileen: "Okay. And now?"
Canadians: "Well I don't wanna be rude in any way... But who is telling the truth?"
Eileen: "Okay. Listen: it's been such a long time. I don't know the exact days anymore... I would also have to read the reports again. I was the one who went to the police. What ever happened after that was out of my reach. Anyhow... It does not matter too much in my eyes. Because there will always be this gap from where no one knows what happened. A lot of people all of a sudden wanted to talk about it."
Canadians: "Alright I understand this and dont wanna be harassing. You already have been very helpful and I'm really grateful. There's this final question that I'm prettu sure you can answer me tough. People have been very speculative about this and it would be great if we could finally have a closure on this. It's been said that you left Boquete a couple days after the disparition of the girls. Is there any specific reason for this?"
Eileen: "I was working at the school for 2 weeks. And the girls went missing in the beginning of the first week... So I stayed for a longer time after that. I was there the whole time and tried to push the search. [..] I had to work there for 2 weeks. That was the purpose of my stay. Feliciano was always very nice and helpful. We got along very well. I met with Feliciano and we were supposed to go for a hike with the girls."
Canadians: "I think that you are referring to april 2nd. This would be the day you went to meet them with feliciano in the morning."
Eileen: "They got lost on a Tuesday. I saw them last (on) Monday. I just checked my old conversations here on fb."
Canadians: "Ok so you last saw them on the 31st.
Eileen: "Yes".
canadians: "Were you working at the school this tuesday morning?"
Eileen: "Yes".
Eileen: "Yes".
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
EILEEN ALSO GAVE DIFFERENT STATEMENTS ABOUT WHERE KRIS AND LISANNE WENT ON THE TUESDAY THEY DISAPPEARED
Local Boquete resident and interviewer Lee Zeltzer who did his own research early on in this case (you can read all about it here) declared that when he interviewed Eileen on April 4th, she said that Kris and Lisanne told no one where they were going. Lee noted 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 no one where they were going but they think from brochures and the internet sites they were reading that 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." However, the case report mentions that guide F. almost immediately spoke to police about the Pianista trail as the location where Kris and Lisanne had to be seen searched. Despite them being only missing persons at that point, who did not leave a note about their whereabouts. Jeremy Kryt, who possesses the official police report, also confirmed this. On Thursday April 3rd Sinaproc and the Panamanian authorities were preparing their first searches for the two missing Dutch young women and it was guide F. who told Sinaproc that day that Kris and Lisanne were seen at Spanish by the River with a map with information about the Pianista trail. He also knew to tell them that the girls did internet searches for this trail at the Spanish school. He was the only person who provided this information and this immediately was a point of interest for the police. How did he know this and why did only he inform them about these details? The guide implied that it was Eileen who told him this information. He also said the following about Eileen in an interview: "She told me that she believed that the Dutch were going to walk the El Pianista trail. At school she heard them talk and see a map of this path. Although she is German, she told me that she understood them because she studied tourism in Amsterdam." Guide F. did not specify when Eileen exactly overheard the girls at the Spanish language school. But if true, then why didn't Eileen also say this to Lee Zeltzer on April 4th? Eileen told him that the girls had gone hiking at the Los Quetzals trail. [The photos in this paragraph are of the beautiful American Catherine Johannet, who was found beaten and strangled to death in Bocas del Toro, Panama in 2017. Her case is further discussed a bit further down].
Local Boquete resident and interviewer Lee Zeltzer who did his own research early on in this case (you can read all about it here) declared that when he interviewed Eileen on April 4th, she said that Kris and Lisanne told no one where they were going. Lee noted 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 no one where they were going but they think from brochures and the internet sites they were reading that 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." However, the case report mentions that guide F. almost immediately spoke to police about the Pianista trail as the location where Kris and Lisanne had to be seen searched. Despite them being only missing persons at that point, who did not leave a note about their whereabouts. Jeremy Kryt, who possesses the official police report, also confirmed this. On Thursday April 3rd Sinaproc and the Panamanian authorities were preparing their first searches for the two missing Dutch young women and it was guide F. who told Sinaproc that day that Kris and Lisanne were seen at Spanish by the River with a map with information about the Pianista trail. He also knew to tell them that the girls did internet searches for this trail at the Spanish school. He was the only person who provided this information and this immediately was a point of interest for the police. How did he know this and why did only he inform them about these details? The guide implied that it was Eileen who told him this information. He also said the following about Eileen in an interview: "She told me that she believed that the Dutch were going to walk the El Pianista trail. At school she heard them talk and see a map of this path. Although she is German, she told me that she understood them because she studied tourism in Amsterdam." Guide F. did not specify when Eileen exactly overheard the girls at the Spanish language school. But if true, then why didn't Eileen also say this to Lee Zeltzer on April 4th? Eileen told him that the girls had gone hiking at the Los Quetzals trail. [The photos in this paragraph are of the beautiful American Catherine Johannet, who was found beaten and strangled to death in Bocas del Toro, Panama in 2017. Her case is further discussed a bit further down].
THEN TOTAL DENIAL
But Eileen later denied to have known anything about the Pianista trail or about the girls having had plans to go there. She also denied that she herself went through their internet surf history on the school's computers. Police did, later on. In the case files it is noted that according to Eileen, Kris and Lisanne had agreed on a joined coffee farm tour with her and guide F. on Wednesday, but somehow the young Dutch women never told Eileen that they went to the Pianista trail alone and without a guide on the Tuesday, when they supposedly had her book this tour. In fact, Eileen claims that they subsequently just got up and left the school that morning, without saying anything to her. (Notice that this contradicts her claim to the online sleuth vigilantes that she last saw Kris and Lisanne at the language school on Monday, and not Tuesday). Case officials point the finger at Ingrid Lommers now as the source who whispered this information about the Pianista Trail destination into the ear of guide F. Something he then forgot to tell police when he informed them about this. Ingrid herself says rightfully that she wasn't even in Boquete at the time and that from her location in Costa Rica, she only heard about the Pianista information through her staff members, Eileen and Marjolein. But Marjolein also denies that she knew anything about the Pianista trail plans of Kris and Lisanne. Marjolein had left Boquete on Tuesday the 1st already, early in the morning, and she had very little interaction with Kris and Lisanne, overall. Hardinghaus and Nenner also comment in their book what a mess of conflicting claims and statements the ladies made of it all: "We cannot clarify with certainty who is not telling the truth about the "penultimate day" and for what reason. We would have liked to interview Marjolein, but she refuses Annette's offer to talk, just like Ingrid." Let's keep this in mind. Neither Marjolein nor Ingrid ever agreed to say anything publicly to clarify this mess. While Eileen did, but she gave completely contradicting statements as far as eight years later, making sure nobody could believe anything she had to say really. What a mess, but is it by design or by ignorance?
But Eileen later denied to have known anything about the Pianista trail or about the girls having had plans to go there. She also denied that she herself went through their internet surf history on the school's computers. Police did, later on. In the case files it is noted that according to Eileen, Kris and Lisanne had agreed on a joined coffee farm tour with her and guide F. on Wednesday, but somehow the young Dutch women never told Eileen that they went to the Pianista trail alone and without a guide on the Tuesday, when they supposedly had her book this tour. In fact, Eileen claims that they subsequently just got up and left the school that morning, without saying anything to her. (Notice that this contradicts her claim to the online sleuth vigilantes that she last saw Kris and Lisanne at the language school on Monday, and not Tuesday). Case officials point the finger at Ingrid Lommers now as the source who whispered this information about the Pianista Trail destination into the ear of guide F. Something he then forgot to tell police when he informed them about this. Ingrid herself says rightfully that she wasn't even in Boquete at the time and that from her location in Costa Rica, she only heard about the Pianista information through her staff members, Eileen and Marjolein. But Marjolein also denies that she knew anything about the Pianista trail plans of Kris and Lisanne. Marjolein had left Boquete on Tuesday the 1st already, early in the morning, and she had very little interaction with Kris and Lisanne, overall. Hardinghaus and Nenner also comment in their book what a mess of conflicting claims and statements the ladies made of it all: "We cannot clarify with certainty who is not telling the truth about the "penultimate day" and for what reason. We would have liked to interview Marjolein, but she refuses Annette's offer to talk, just like Ingrid." Let's keep this in mind. Neither Marjolein nor Ingrid ever agreed to say anything publicly to clarify this mess. While Eileen did, but she gave completely contradicting statements as far as eight years later, making sure nobody could believe anything she had to say really. What a mess, but is it by design or by ignorance?
SO THERE WE GO AGAIN: WHO IS SPEAKING THE TRUTH HERE?
So again we are stuck when we go by the official information: who is speaking the truth? Why are multiple people pointing at each other as thé source who knew before police that the girls went on the Pianista trail? Guide F. points to Eileen; Eileen denies to have known anything about it; the authorities point at Ingrid as the supposed source and Ingrid points to her staff members including Marjolein, who denies as well to have been the source for guide F., who himself forgot to mention to the police altogether that someone else had given him this info until they pressed him about it later on, so the police believed early on that he was the source... Can anyone still follow who the true source was? Neither can I. The lies and blame shaming has literally started from the word Go here, as the ladies have different versions even of the Monday morning, when Aura's Maria Elena brusquely sent Kris and Lisanne away from the 'arranged' volunteer work. Hardinghaus and Nenner wrote about this: "In her affidavit to the Personería on April 10, 2014, daycare center director Maria G. says that she did not offer any internships and did not even know the language school or Ingrid. In general, she had not employed any volunteers for three years. There are contradictory statements. In a letter to head teacher Ingrid in May 2014, Marjolein claims that she arranged the work assignment for Kris and Lisanne by telephone with the daycare center on March 28. Although Marjolein claims to have gone to the daycare center with Eileen the next morning to clarify the final details, Eileen denies this to us. The head of the daycare center, Maria, also only mentions a single foreigner who came to her daycare Center. However, Marjolein writes to Ingrid that Maria had turned her down out of the blue. Surprised by this, she went with Eileen to the neighboring Esperanza daycare center to ask for a place - but the person in charge was not there. Eileen tells us that she doesn't know anything about it either. [..] We cannot clarify with certainty who is not telling the truth about the "penultimate day" and for what reason. We would have liked to interview Marjolein, but she refuses Annette's offer to talk, just like Ingrid."
At the end of the day, Kris and Lisanne appear to have told nobody about their explicit plans to walk this Pianista trail. Not even their own parents or their diaries, nor other people they were in regular contact with. Miriam did not know about these plans either. ONLY Dutch masseuse Sigrid later declared in an interview that the girls had plans to hike the Pianista Trail, since arranging replacement work at Casa Esperanza had also failed. It is unclear if Kris and Lisanne told her about these plans during the evening massage or not, but given how soon after the disappearance Sigrid was interviewed (at a time when the school computers had not even been read out to look for their internet search history), I interpret her statement as it being something the girls told her themselves at the time. She and the tour guide are the only ones who mentioned this trail. The tour guide is also the only one who is reported in the police files as having actually mentioned this.
WHY DIDN'T LISANNE AND KRIS TAKE THE ADVICE TO NOT GO ALONE?And none of this explains why the organized and careful Lisanne and Kris did not listen to the advice from school staff never to hike alone. The fact that they did go on that hike alone in the end, may perhaps be because they did not want to spend the money on it, 25 dollars (or more) per person per trip. Or because it was a last minute decision. Or because they did opt for the coffee tour with him the day of the 2nd of April, and instead thought they could easily walk this Pianista trail alone. It was marketed as a relatively uncomplicated walk after all, and in Holland women are pretty independent and proactive. Or.... perhaps some of that other information that is floating around on the internet is true, and they did actually meet the guide and he did offer them an overnight 2-day tour in his finca on March 31st already. An offer which they would have declined, saying they rather did a day tour during the week together with Eileen and they would hike the Pianista themselves. Without a guide, thank you very much.. Which.... a normal person takes well, but some other people may take very badly. What if - theoretically - the guide did not take this rejection well at all? And knew about their destination plans. Decided to follow them there, or meet them beyond the summit? He had told Eileen that he wasn't in town that Tuesday, but since the guide's phone data was never investigated we don't know if he truly was out of town. The guide or someone linked to him may have (theoretically still) told them some free of charge tips; that you could walk further than the summit for instance. That there are some wonderful things to see beyond the summit. Who knows.. It's all speculation of course. None of this may bear even a shred of truth! And since it wasn't further investigated, it may forever linger in the air as a whatif scenario. But we're just going past the most popular theories in this disappearance case.
THE GOOD GUIDE
The fact that the guide found so many remains and belongings could simply be due to the fact that he lived nearby and was sincerely doing everything he could, looking to help out. Or doing what he was asked to do by Pittí and the police, who were eager for a breakthrough - but she herself was pretty hopeless in the wild and instead delegated the boots on the ground work to locals without ties to the police or official investigators. Ughhh. His son is said by some locals to have been linked to a local youth 'gang' of sorts, which they say also comprised of a relative of the owner of the Il Pianista restaurant who spoke to the girls and lend them their dog. These youth have been named by several locals as possible suspects in all this. They were also interviewed by police but released again. Some of their friends have been accused and sometimes also convicted of brutal rapes or murders, some in the nearby Caldera area. One young man linked to this youth group (Osman Valenzuela) and whose parents also lived at the Pianista trail at the time, was found dead on April 4th of 2014, after having helped to look for Kris and Lisanne. He was murdered according to the official police verdict. And he was reportedly also seen in a picture with what are claimed to be Kris and Lisanne, out swimming. More on this in part 2. With all those fingerprints/DNA traces found on all the girls' belongings and remains, it would have been interesting to see if any were from these youth gang people. Alas, those fingerprints led to nothing. Of course, the guide being the one to have found all the remains, thanks to long and arduous searching, has an alibi. But normally researchers always pay extra attention to pivotal figures who want to stay close to investigations. Just in case. And some people say that it can be a character trait of killers to want to be close to the murder investigation. To be part of it, keep an eye on the case developments and also to relive the whole crime and the feelings it evoked. In that respect it has been flagged as odd in comment sections that the guide took a flash photo of the parents of Kris when he guided them to the Pianista.
We're also stuck with a ton of witnesses who all are either proven to have changed their stories or who's stories do not match the new official timeline and who were therefore all discarded in the investigation. Their statements have helped entangle this case even more (more about the witnesses in this upcoming blog post). So... there is a massive pile of info and not everything is correct, we can probably be sure of that. And one of the most visible people in this case, guide F., has himself been inconsistent with his statements in various media outlets. Same for Eileen; she changed her story and the details as well over time. Some interesting questions which have unfortunately not been asked, are: when did Eileen make this claimed call to F. on Tuesday to book them all a tour for the next day? Can phone records verify this? And why did Eileen supposedly decide to leave the school unstaffed and empty on Wednesday for this supposed tour with Kris, Lisanne and guide F? While it was her job to work there at the desk? Even regarding guide F's (changing) claim that he last saw Kris and Lisanne, so many questions arise that were never answered. Wouldn't the three of them have discussed why no one was in the office? Would guide F. have demonstrated his Dutch language skills with them? Wouldn't Kris and Lisanne have realised they were talking with the actual person they had planned going to Baru with on Saturday? Why was he at SbtR anyway? The Spanish School is located in an area Feliciano would have to go well out of his way for to visit. Was it a deliberate visit and did he really only wave at them and say Hola? If at all? Did Eileen already know him, despite only having been in Boquete for a few days herself? Why is there no confirmation evidence of this supposed booking with guide F.? It would also have been good to get to the bottom of why and how guide F. knew that Kris and Lisanne should be searched behind the Pianista trail. But at this point everybody keeps pointing at each other as the source of this information, yet our investigators and police have not been able to untangle the mess and verify who actually knew about the girls' plans and how so? We just don't know... Because nothing more than the absolutely bare minimum was investigated.
About the guide's public imageThe tour guide F. is at times discussed online by tourists who used his services and some say that he has been pushy. Most reviews of his tour guide services are positive. But some tourists claimed online that he was known to only take females on tours (preferably European) and having been touchy with others. Some declared he tried to go skinny dipping with them, or frolic with in the hot springs for instance. One tourist has testified that when she refused his attempts, he switched like a leaf on a tree, in a split second, and turned from friendly into aggressive. nd how frightened she was. Jeremy Kryt looked into all this in his Daily Beast series from 2016 already on this disappearance case and interviewed John Tornblom, 32, a guide with more than ten years of experience in the surrounding cloud forests.
John Tornblom said to Kryt: "Some of our female clients have complained of him harassing them. There are also claims that he had a habit of bathing in hot springs with his female clients. He ought to at least be interrogated the right way. If this happened in the States or in Europe the investigation would’ve been taken to a whole different level."
Sophie J. wrote around July 22nd 2019: "Great guide, but not for women travelling alone. - It took me almost a year to finally post this review. I strongly recommend women to not hire F as your guide if you’re by yourself. It’s a big contrast if you look at the other reviews, where F. is described as a very nice person, which he probably is for many people. I have to say, he’s very charming, funny and you can probably, as you will read in the other reviews, have a great day with him. Did a walking tour with him. He’s the guide that knows the area by heart. Not long after we left he subtly started to flirt with me and also touching me, first my hand, but also my arms, shoulder and legs, even after telling him many times to stop doing that. He wears a big machete and suggested to chop off my legs (this of course was a joke but still...). He has an obsession for Northern European women and I felt very unsafe. It’s a personal story, but google his name and you’ll unfortunately find more stories like this about him." But mostly all other reviews of this guide are very positive on that site.
Lienvoets wrote in April 2022: "I'm surprised I only read 1 negative review... It seems like Feliciano is very well protected from negative reviews. Unfortunately, I also only read the positive reviews before I left. Feliciano was super friendly, helped me, held my hand during the climbs on the Pianista trail. Until I realized that the help was only for me, not for my 3 fellow travelers. In the days that followed, I was bombarded with messages, invitations,... During a horse ride and a trip to hot springs, he suddenly turned out to be our driver (although he had nothing to do with horse riding) and he joined the hot spring. Not exactly what you expect from a taxi driver. I did not feel comfortable in his environment and was very glad that my fellow travelers had accompanied me so that I was not alone with him, which is what he was aiming for. In the 3 days I was in Boquete, I received constant messages asking to come to his home... Enthusiastic guide, but I have my doubts about his intentions... As a European woman, don't go alone..."
But a German tourist wrote this about him: "I was there 2 x weeks and will not go there again. I just do not like the weather and the rainforest. El Pianista is not difficult to walk if you stay on the road. But I would never go without a guide! We went to F. twice and spent the night with him. It is also completely inexplicable to him what the girls should have moved to go beyond the Mirador without a guide .. there are no remarkable gorges on the trail itself. I honestly have no idea what to think and believe. There are also extremely many inconsistencies in the behavior of the two :/ F. is totally trustworthy ... and if you say so, he may have something to do with their disappearance: on April 1st, he was about 20 km from Boquete, among others. at a doctor". -- So, there is conflicting information out there, as is so often the case in life. He received more positive reviews than negative ones, although all the negative ones come from solo female tourists, and the positive ones mostly from couples who booked his services. And even if he is pushy with women, that does not automatically make him involved in this disappearance case. By now, he is said to have withdrawn entirely from cooperating and the Daily Beast reporter who went to Panama for quite some time to cover this case, Jeremy Kryt, called and called but kept getting his answering machine and was refused an interview. Once bitten, twice shy?
In 2015/16, Nina von Rönne spent several months at guide F's place and that of his sister. Here you can read my much more elaborate summary of her book "Ne t'en fais pas, nous sommes amis..."(Don't worry, we are friends...), and here you can hear my book analysis on youtube. She and her boyfriend Andy were trying to set up a restaurant in Boquete at the time. Nina describes how guide F. was very touchy with her, to her displeasure. She learnt from him that because he receives promotion as tour guide in multiple European travel guidebooks, tourists tend to come by his house straight away, without interference from a tour organization. That way he does not have to pay them a portion of his earnings, he explained. His (step)son, H., sometimes helps him with the tours. Nina writes that over time they noticed and understood from F. that he only works with European tourists and sometimes Canadian ones. For some reason he has a preference for Dutch, German and northern/eastern European clients. He told Nina that Americans in his experience are always looking for a bargain and are arrogant. His clientele in particular consists of "young, sporty (northern) European women who travel solo, and sometimes couples". Nina and Andy never saw him venture off with only male tourists. When Andy spoke out this observation during a visit of guide F. one morning, he responded with big shiny eyes: "Yes, many beautiful women". He wrote down all the details of his tourists in a pink notebook. Sometimes F. also asked them if they knew whether or not a name was male or female, while going through his work emails. He does not like to host male tourists.
Guide F. is often very touchy with her and seems excited to see her. He even lifts Nina up playfully to see 'how much she weighs'. Nina does not like this type of physicality.
Nina describes guide F. as approximately 1.65 m. in height and slim but strong as an ox. "I have seen him carry super heavy bags of coffee beans and bags with fruit from his garden, as if they weighed nothing. He is a real force of nature. He is capable of walking very fast and for long times through the mountains without getting tired." The couple also report to have seen have seen 25 kg bags of phosphates at guide F's place. In November of 2015, Nina and Andy saw F. with a Czech young, pretty woman who traveled through Latin America alone and who spent four days and nights with F. They noticed the two flirting with one another and suspected that they had an affair of sorts, due to the glances and their closeness. Guide F. took her on multiple long tours and to the hot springs. Since F. charges $120 for a whole day of hiking, Nina and Andy wondered in jest if the Czech young woman perhaps paid her host with her body, so to speak. Nina also describes the stepson of the guide (H.) as a "force of nature", who shouts at neighbours and has moments of rage. During one incident Henry "rages at a neighbour about something that happened with a dog. He is really fired up by rage and even picks up a long sharp machete from the house to make death threats at the neighbour. I am afraid. Guide F. seems annoyed by his son's behaviour and does not know what to do in order to calm him down. It was a very bizarre atmosphere where family secrets and the unspoken reigned."
"It's not like with those idiot Dutch women", guide F. added snarkily. '
The couple started to feel watched by guide F., who dropped by more and more often, even when they were just up and enjoying their breakfast. When Nina had some pains, F. took her to a local doctor and guide F. stayed by her side (unasked, unwanted), even when Nina was lying on the treatment table in only her bra and knickers. It made her feel uncomfortable. And when Andy went away for some days to surf at the coast and Nina stayed in the house alone, guide F. suddenly showed up late in the evening. She describes him as a panther by now, who prowls around silently, approaching unnoticed. He stared at her also and looked her body up, head to toe, in an uncomfortable manner, she writes. Guide F. is often very touchy with her and seems excited to see her. He even lifts Nina up playfully to see 'how much she weighs'. Nina does not like this type of physicality. The wife of guide F. has since passed away, but at the time was still alive and sickly. She was miserable and after a long time confided in Andy (who spoke fluent Spanish) that guide F. has two faces. "One part of his personality is very agreeable and friendly, but he also has another side to him, one of a true demon who needs multiple sexual encounters a day." The sad wife said that he loves women so much that he visits prostitutes in David, but also has multiple relationships with women at the same time. Most of the money he earned was spent on women, not on his family. He even stayed in Europe for some time, to follow one of the female tourists he met during her visits to his plantations and their mountain treks. Meanwhile the house was crumbling, Angelica had to clean the houses of wealthy American expats to get by and didn't even have hot running water. - Shortly after a group of tourists got lost in the mountains near Boquete, guide F. told Nina and Andy with a grin on his face that they were lucky to have been found again. "It's not like with those idiot Dutch women", he added snarkily. ' or so the author claims.
JEREMY KRYT ABOUT GUIDE F.Quote from his article "Murderous Vacations: Serial Killers Stalking the Panama Highlands" about guide F. (from May 14th, 2017): "I tried to track down a local guide—a well-known and controversial figure in Boquete with close ties to the case. It’s been almost a full year now, yet this source remains a gossip-clouded enigma. Some call him the “best guide in town,” while others suggest he might be Panama’s most-wanted serial killer. I’d like to sit down with him, give him the benefit of every doubt, and get his side of the story. But it seems he doesn’t want to talk; or at least not to me, as I’ve been trying to contact him since last summer. [..] In a strange twist, one of the last people to see the women alive, was also the man who led the search party that found their fragmented bones. That alone makes him one of the most important sources in this case. A contact close to the victims’ families in Holland has indicated they’re still [anno 2017] searching for answers or new clues. The uncovered police record gives some fresh insights, such as the assertion that the cause of death was considered a “crime,” as opposed to an accident. But a palaver with the guide could help break new ground in this investigation, and perhaps give some measure of closure to grieving loved ones. Since my return to town I’ve been hunting him again, but his phone keeps rolling straight to voicemail. I’m told he hasn’t been seen for days in any of the tour shops or hotels where guides often hang around, hoping to drum up clients. Multiple media outlets have linked this guide to the case, although the exact role he played remains unclear. What we do know, based on the leaked police report and the guide’s own account therein, is that he was scheduled to take the Holandesas—as they’ve come to be known throughout Panama—to visit a nearby farm on April 2, the day after they vanished. He’s also been accused by Panamanian prosecutors of entering the room where the women stayed ahead of authorities, and possibly tampering with evidence. Based on the original maps made by the searchers, and interviews with team members, we now know the victims’ fragmented remains were discovered just a few miles from this same guide’s ranch house. Conflicting reports in the Dutch and Panamanian press offer wildly different perspectives on these events. Some accounts name him as complicit in a crime against the women—but other sources describe his own attempts to find the lost tourists and assist authorities in the search. So who’s to be believed?"
Kryt also added: "There’s another mention of that guide in the leaked police archive, which again puts him at the center of the action. The reference makes clear the criminal investigation was initiated because of “information,” he provided “about the disappearance [of Kremers and Froon] in the mountains of the Pianista.” But since since the Holandesas’ scheduled tour with him was for Alto Quiel, which is in the opposite direction, how did the guide know the Dutch women were missing in the Pianista region when officials first questioned him? It would be two more months before the victims’ remains and clothes and personal belongings would be found near the Pianista trail. Yet he described the precise location immediately following the disappearance, says the leaked report—although none of the first-strike rescue parties were able to find the two hikers alive in the early days of the search." - In the end Kryt did not get an interview with the tour guide, but he did talk with some tourists who stayed in F's finca. You can read the full quotes further down this blog post, in a subtopic dedicated to Kryt's early and extensive articles.
ADELITA CORIAT ABOUT F.
A Panamanian reporter, Adelita Coriat, said: "If a crime was involved, he would have to be the top suspect. He has a son who lives up near there too [Stepson H.]. As I understand it they were both seen in the area when the holandesas disappeared – but I don’t think the police ever looked too closely into any of that." In this local article from 2017 it is insinuated that there may be serial killer in Panama. Freely translated: "Now there are reports that American investigators found indications that a serial killer exists in western Panama, and attacks from time to time in the region, especially during the dry season and the summer. Our source declared that the FBI suspects that this is the same person who may have killed Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, who went missing in the area on April 1st, 2014 (confirmation of this FBI suspicion in this news article, in which journalists also complain about the excessive secrecy from Panamanian officials about these deaths in their country). This case was never solved, and authorities confirmed nor denied foul play. It is a mystery why the girls managed to end up 18 kilometres away from the Pianista trail, in the area of Alto Romero, without knowing the terrain or the difficult route to this place. International journalists and organizations have accused Panama since of secrecy and covering up evidence in the case of the murdered American tourist Catherine Johannet in 2017, close by. They link her murder to the missing case of the Dutch girls."F'S FAMILY CONNECTIONS
An inhabitant of Alto Romero, called Guide Tony said that guide F. had his farm for a long time. That he and his family are wealthy landowners by Panamanian standards, with a lot of influence and power. Especially over the Ngäbe-Buglé residents he employs. "The local indigenous people feel scared when they are threatened. And even more so because they work inside the community for him. He didn't have any authority he lorded over them until now. After what happened to the Dutch women." Tony adds that guide F. desperately wants to keep this case quiet. And tells everybody in Alto Romero NOT to talk about it anymore. I guess that is what the Travel Channel crew also experienced firsthand when they were there a few years ago. Tony: "He talks to others about this case, saying it was an accident. If he has nothing to fear, why is he threatening others not to talk?" Witness Martina, who lives on the Pianista trail, has also testified multiple times that guide F. came round her house to ask her about seeing the Dutch girls, and to threaten her. More about that here. And guide F's brother, Domingo Gonzalez turned out to have been the employer of the couple who discovered the backpack of Kris and Lisanne. And the one to have handled that bag, before it went to police.
NOT A PERSON OF INTERESTAuthorities never called guide F. a person of interest, let alone a suspect. The consequence of this is that he was also never really investigated. Something which in some countries would have certainly been the case, considering his involvement in several aspects of the aftermath. If only to officially declare his total innocence. But in Panama, his ranch was never forensically searched or investigated in detail for instance. No fingerprints or DNA were compared. No phone records checked. No locations and whereabouts pinged. No lie-detector tests performed. No psychological testing done. The list goes on. People wonder; why was he in such a rush to go looking for the girls at their host families place, the moment they didn't show up for their appointment with him on April 2nd? Why was looking through their bedroom window to see if they were in their room was apparently not enough? And was anything missing from their bedroom? We don't know.. It honestly seems peculiar to me, but perhaps in a small town like Boquete it is very normal indeed to personally go looking for your paying clients. Miriam's house was not practically next to the language school though, as has been claimed over time, but lies about 5 minutes walking distance away. So Eileen and guide F, had to made some sort of effort to go to Miriam's house. And why wait till the evening then to report the disappearance to the police? In an interview the tour guide said himself about this, that it was as "Not to alarm anyone." Which I find a strange argument, given the two young foreigners had not come home all night from a 'jungle' hike. But Eileen and the guide separated and did not resume contact until 5:00 PM he claimed in that same interview, thinking that "perhaps the Dutch were walking through the town." Then "As they did not appear, at 7:30 PM we decided to go to the Police". In other interviews Eileen admitted however that they did spent the afternoon at the guides' farm together. Not sure which version is correct. This interview also reveals guide F recollecting another detail: that he and Eileen not only went back to Miriam's place to look for personal identity items in the girls' bedroom, but they also went to Spanish at the River to look at the company computers for personal info about the girls.
THE AFTERMATHInterviewed by a Dutch newspaper in March 2019, F. claims that in the past he would walk this path from Boquete all the way to Bocas del Torro at times, but that he didn't do this anymore the past five years. [Quote] "I don't do it anymore. I don't want to be remembered of the case so much anymore. It happened five years ago, but it feels like it were only three or two years ago. But I am very happy with the nice Dutch people I met. Tomorrow I have again another group of six Dutch people [to guide around]". In front of him, on the table, lies a notebook full with thank you messages from Dutch backpackers. They approach him through whatsapp. Last year it were about two hundred. "I have four of such note books. Full. Some backpackers want me to tell them something about the disappearance case, others just want to make a beautiful trek." The article continues to tell that many rumours are swirling in Boquete already in 2016 about his possible involvement in the case. Considering he was so involved in many facets of the investigation. And Jeremy Kryts investigation articles who implicate him have also left their marks. "The small Panamanian with white hair and light brown eyes works as a guide for twenty years now. But since the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne he suffers from depression".
"I have never been through something like this: the allegations. Even my wife received hate messages, and shortly after she passed away." He wants nothing more to say about the investigation and the accusations. "I still have contact with the girls' parents and I don't want to make them sad. I only wanted to help. I have never seen the girls."
I find it so sad that he lost his wife and deals with depression. This all played out already way before I wrote my blog posts. Guide F. and anyone else mentioned in this case is innocent until proven guilty. For now there is no such hard evidence. Not about him and not about anybody else. But we can document what various people have said themselves, voluntarily in the media so far about this disappearance, or what they have otherwise published publicly. I do believe that Kris and Lisanne were murdered, but it is not clear at this point by who and why. Of course, in case of guide F. it is most likely that this guide was simply helping out; doing all that was within his power to help look for the girls. In this interview on tv he seems genuinely sad, tearful and distressed about their ordeal. He is also very critical about the officials by then. There is something very unjust about the notion that someone could genuinely try to help, in vain, only to be pointed out as a person of interest afterwards. But a lot has been written about him and he (voluntarily) featured in a lot of tv interviews and reports. He did put himself out there and not always in the best ways I suppose. With contradicting statements at times, or lack of explanation for behaviours such as going to their room alone with Eileen. Kris and Lisanne had only been in Boquete for only three days on the day they disappeared; they had not been in a position to meet many new people yet. Which also makes the few people they did meet (including the tour guide, who presented himself in the press as the last person who saw them) all the more interesting. I write here what is said and written about this case in the public domain, so I also cover the interviews this guide gave about the disappearance. That's just part of investigations normally, while also keeping in mind that theories aside, everyone is innocent until proven otherwise. Without hard evidence we cannot accuse people, but everyone can be suspected.
Detectives and police look at the facts and the facts are that this guide was (perhaps innocently) mentioned in many aspects of this case as it unfolded:
*He was the one they were supposed to meet on April 2nd;
*He knew of their plans and desire to go on a guided tour;
*He knew they did not have a tour booked for April 1st;
*Guide F. himself was behind the Pianista trail on April 1st according to journalist Adelita Coriat, tending to his cattle, although investigators never actually pinged him and verified his whereabouts;
*He was the person who discovered they had gone missing;
*He was the one who first rummaged through their bedroom, without police or Miriam present;
*His business card was found prominently placed on Kris' bed:
*He strangely took over the job of Miriam in a way by going to report things to police, but only in the evening (what did he do all day?);
*He was the one who told police that the girls should be looked for on the Pianista Trail, while Sinaproc had no idea yet where the girls went and were inspecting the Baru region;
*He spoke in the media within a week about Kris and Lisanne having gone missing behind the Pianista Trail, at a time when police weren't sure at all about this;
*He was the only one who went looking for them behind the Pianista on day three, again, alone, even though Sinaproc told locals not to do so on their own accord (of course, this can easily be explained by his frustration with the slow start-up of the searches);
*The backpack was found very close by his finca near Alto Romero;
*The other remains were found in the rough vicinity of his place, along the riverbanks, and at times by himself or people who worked with or for him;
*He found several bones/personal belongings, including the foot and shoe, with the help of several other locals, again not far from his jungle ranch.
*In fact: the known remains of not one but two entire human bodies that were being searched for, turned up only in the areas which guide F. and his handful of helpers looked in. They are the only people who found them, and not the hundred or so volunteers and professionals from SINAPROC and SINAFRONT, who covered close to a 1000 km of trails during months worth of searching;
*He was also said to have been called by the Alto Romero locals who found the backpack, very nearby his finca there, and to have handed the bag - which discovery and content changed the entire narrative of this case - to the police himself;
*He befriended the families and he was the one who took it upon himself to show the parents of Kris and Lisanne around;
*He said during that hike with the Kremers on camera: 'Don't say anything about....' [nobody could hear what followed] and it was never explained why that was said and with what intention;
*He already had a slightly dubious reputation in Boquete according to journalist Jeremy Kryt, who interviewed locals back in 2016 already, and some hotels and hostels did not want to work with him];
*He has given different statements and remembered different details when speaking with various press outlets. It is not sure if this was by design or because it was simply a stressful time for an old man;
*Guide F. was the one who started about Kris and Lisanne possibly having fallen from cable bridges. But in another interview he said that all those locked up houses should be searched. Then again he said that he would have seen vultures circling the sky IF those girls had been behind the Pianista and beyond. One moment he said more people needed to go out and look for them more actively, the next he said they should stop the searches because the guides' lives were "put in danger". By going over the same trails and cable bridges they take many of their paying customers on for guided tours, throughout the year.. So one moment the officials are scolded by him for not doing enough, the next moment they are scolded for putting the lives of rescue workers in 'danger' and he believed that just finding the few remains was enough to call all the searches off.
*He was also said to have been called by the Alto Romero locals who found the backpack, very nearby his finca there, and to have handed the bag - which discovery and content changed the entire narrative of this case - to the police himself;
*He befriended the families and he was the one who took it upon himself to show the parents of Kris and Lisanne around;
*He said during that hike with the Kremers on camera: 'Don't say anything about....' [nobody could hear what followed] and it was never explained why that was said and with what intention;
*He already had a slightly dubious reputation in Boquete according to journalist Jeremy Kryt, who interviewed locals back in 2016 already, and some hotels and hostels did not want to work with him];
*He has given different statements and remembered different details when speaking with various press outlets. It is not sure if this was by design or because it was simply a stressful time for an old man;
*Guide F. was the one who started about Kris and Lisanne possibly having fallen from cable bridges. But in another interview he said that all those locked up houses should be searched. Then again he said that he would have seen vultures circling the sky IF those girls had been behind the Pianista and beyond. One moment he said more people needed to go out and look for them more actively, the next he said they should stop the searches because the guides' lives were "put in danger". By going over the same trails and cable bridges they take many of their paying customers on for guided tours, throughout the year.. So one moment the officials are scolded by him for not doing enough, the next moment they are scolded for putting the lives of rescue workers in 'danger' and he believed that just finding the few remains was enough to call all the searches off.
And so people look into his actions.. Maybe he knows more, but we just don't know. Because the police did not properly and thoroughly investigate him, by the book. He was shortly spoken to by police officers after the women went missing, but no legal charges were ever brought against him. Pitti never looked into the possibilities of a criminal investigation; never looked for persons of (possible) interest. Guide F. was therefore also never investigated in any way, nor officially and scientifically reliably excluded as a person of interest.. Which he very much may deserve. But the Panamanian prosecutor did an unfortunate job by not performing forensic investigations of his finca and houses, despite the backpack having been found nearby his finca. By his two farm workers, then handled by his own brother before it ended up with police. No houses of any possible suspects were professionally and forensically searched by investigators with the use of luminol for instance, to detect trace amounts of blood. No terrains were scanned for bones or human remains. His online search history wasn't looked at. His phone was not investigated and we do not know if it pinged behind near the Pianista on the day these girls went missing or in the days following it. Because such reliable procedures could have cleared him probably of any suspicions. But this wasn't done. And thus an honest man in such a situation would have been done a disservice, by not being given the right investigation that could have cleared him of (public) suspicions. And Betzaida Pitti, could be called negligent, incompetent or corrupt, whatever option you prefer. But a guilty man would have been let off the hook by this shoddy investigation. There were no 'persons of interest' selected, nor properly investigated by the Panamanian prosecutor and her team. So we are left with a pile of questions that may never get answered or checked out. 
But he recalled to have seen them around noon on the day of their disappearance. He stated initially to Sinaproc during a testimony made on April 4th 2014, that the two women, seemingly in their mid 20's, said "Good morning". Plinio declared on record to have met and talked to Lazaro on the way back: a local inhabitant of the Pianista trail, whose lives in the last inhabited house on the Boquete side of the Pianista trail before the Mirador is reached.
DIFFERENT TESTIMONY ON DAY 5
On April 9, Plinio and his brother Elmer were summoned at the office of Personería Boquete, which acts as districts Ministry of Justice department. Elmer confirms on record that while he was in Bocas that day, his brother Plinio was in fact on the Pianista trail, guiding a group of four tourists on the trail (consisting of a couple in their late 40's and their 15 and 13 year old sons). They are said to have arrived back at the trailhead by 11:30 AM. This does not match with Plinio's first statement of passing Kris and Lisanne on the trail 'around noon'. Aside from writing the name of his paying customers down (reportedly sounding like 'Schorr'), police never ask more about these four tourists, who you'd think could be of interest here as potential witnesses on that trail. But nothing more is done with this info. Plinio also says that he saw a couple on the trail that day, resting against a tree roughly 50 meters from the trail. This couple is also never further traced or mentioned again (even though they too could have been important witnesses, you'd think). And this time Plinio slightly changed his own testimony. He now said that in fact, he is not so certain after all that it were Kris and Lisanne who he passed on the Pianista trail that fateful day. Because after reflecting on it for some days, Plinio believes 'all Europeans look alike'. "They said 'Good morning' with an European accent'. They looked like Kris and Lisanne, but he wasn't sure. "Sorry, but you all look alike: tall, white, light hair and the same clothes. And always in pairs of two. We really cannot keep all those tourists apart." Which could perhaps be seen as a bit of a strange comment, considering that if he did pass Kris, he would have had to overlook striking red hair and a figure hugging red and white striped mini shirt. Her clothes that day were rather noticeable. And Lisanne was strikingly tall. Plinio now believed to have seen two different women on the trail that day, wearing cream coloured pants instead. On page 197 of Plinio's written statement to the Personería Municipal it reads: "One wore a black lycra sweater, cram shorts and leather boots. I don't remember the colour of the sweater. One wore a green reed scarf on her head, and the other did too, but I don't remember the colour. And the taller girl was wearing a small red bag on her back". Initially he had told Sinaproc on the 4th that the two European looking women had been wearing white and black clothes. So how come he changed those clothes descriptions so radically and in such detail, five days later (and nine days after the sighting)? A bit strange.
"They said 'Good morning' with an European accent'. They looked like Kris and Lisanne"
DOPPELGANGERSSo now we are again faced with supposed 'doppelgangers' of Kris an Lisanne. (Guide P's friend even made a photo on the Mirador, much later, where he seems to mimic the same pose as Kris in one of her summit pictures, taken at the same spot). I don't buy it. The chances of two exact lookalikes doing that hike at the same time, in a country like Panama where the locals do not look like Kris or Lisanne, are very slim. Power-Pixie made an interesting comment to me: "This part strikes me as rather interesting. How does Plinio know to distinguish between accents of white Europeans with white Americans if all they said was Hello? Yet he could not distinguish two very distinct women in a remote part of the trail? How many Europeans did he see during lunchtime that day?" Yes he cannot remember a striking redhead in a red and white striped shirt ('too generic') but he could distinguish one short greeting as a 'European accent'. Guide Plinio regularly takes tourists behind the Mirador. It is his hinterland. Of course, nobody involved in their disappearance would normally admit to having passed the girls on the mountain that day, placing them in their path. But there were witnesses. Plinio did the smart thing to not lie about this. But to just downplay the entire event. Is he trying to hide something here? Did Plinio spend more time with Kris and Lisanne than he wants to admit? Or is he perhaps hiding details about witnessing other people with Kris and Lisanne when he passed them?
Plinio was deputized to run the task force that's setting forth the new regulations for Panama's trails and guides. A very knowledgeable person of the jungle terrain. He also helped the volunteers comb through the jungle for 17 days in search for Kris and Lisanne. He was near the Pianista trail on April 5th to look for them, he was present on April 8th and 9th with the Sinaproc professionals and took many photos on these days. Probably just a very dedicated person. Guide Plinio published photos on his social media accounts on April 5th of 2014, which look very much like the photos taken by the girls on April 1st. Some taken on the same Mirador spot where Kris and Lisanne took their selfies. Looking similar both in terms of the exact weather backdrop, as well as in the details in the plants in the background. Some of Plinio's photos of April 5th of 2014 show the Pianista just as it looked on April 1st.
This sleuth made a good comparison collage of the overlapping details in guide P's photos, which he put on his social media accounts on April 5th of 2014, and the photos taken by the girls on April 1st. Juan and I discovered and published these very similar photos on guide P's account years ago already, but these more recent comparison collages of the details are well made.
THUMBS UPIn their photos taken on the Mirador summit, the girls make several photos showing their thumbs up. A universal sign, but this tour guide made it his trademark sign. There are endless photos of him online making this same thumbs up sign, as well as the people he gets photographed with (often tourists who booked him), but there are no other known photos of the girls making this sign. They never before made this gesture on camera in Bocas either. Only these couple of photos on top of the Mirador, on the day they went missing, show them making this sign, seemingly towards someone behind the camera. Is it possible perhaps that guide P. did meet them in passing that day? (Or any of the other local guys who posed with thumbs up in their Boquete photos?) But that it was not on his way down the Pianista, but instead that he met them further up the mountain? Possibly even accompanied them to the summit, or beyond? The supposed tourists he was guiding around were never identified really or interviewed, so we have to take Plinio's word for it that he was back at the trailhead by 11:30 AM. Despite first declaring to Sinaproc that he passed Kris and Lisanne around noon on the Pianista trail.. Many bloggers and travellers have stated all over the net that it is not that easy to find the correct trail up the Pianista in one go. There are forks in the road without adequate signs indicating where you have to go. Most people who hiked the trail reported making wrong turns at least one. (Whereas following the road down the Pianista, on the 'wrong side' is supposed to be very easy again). Many say that Kris and Lisanne set a very quick time for their very first ascend op to the Mirador within two hours. Is it possible that someone told them how to walk? Or even accompanied them? - I have to stress here that this guide dedicated time and energy to help look for Kris and Lisanne, just like guide F. By all accounts, these guides have done a lot to help find the girls.
But with regards to the thumbs up photos: Lisanne's mother said in a RTL Late Night interview that she thought the girls may have made those photos because she herself had burnt her thumb not long before. She believed that the girls may have wanted to refer to this incident with their own thumbs up gesture.. It does not strike me as the most logical explanation because why would they make fun of Lisanne's mothers oven accident? Not once, but multiple times? As Juan puts it; that is the sort of prank you'd perhaps expect from tough guys. I don't see how those typical 'Plinio Thumbs' made by the girls, are supposed to be a message for mum. These seem typical cheerful 'we made it' thumbs ups. If your mum has a burnt thumb, wouldn't you make a selfie together, pulling a sad face, sticking your thumbs together, having an arm around the other's shoulders? Something like that? They were not afraid to act goofy and were very creative, I just wonder if these neutral and generic thumbs up photos would really be what they'd come up with if they wanted to send a message of support to mum for having burnt her thumb on the oven. But at the end of the day, Lisanne's mother will know better in this. It does tell us in any case that the gesture was an unusual one for the girls to make, or else Lisanne's mother wouldn't have come up with an incident like this one to try to explain it. Update: authors Hardinghaus and Nenner confirm that a data analysis confirms that Lisanne never received or saw Diny Froon's Whatsapp photo of her injured thumbs. They could therefore not have referred to it with their Mirador photos. BOQUETE BISTRO
Plinio's favourite hangout back in 2014 was 'Boquete Bistro'. He is said to have frequented this place a lot at the time. Sometimes to pick up customers for his tours. Kris and Lisanne had lunch there on Sunday March 30th. Could they have met Plinio there and were they tipped about the Pianista Trail there? Did more people at that place know that they were going for a hike there? Given that they were photographed with a map in front of them?
RED TRUCK OWNER
It was also claimed by Romain C. that Plinio was a driver for Mamallena youth hostel and that he drove the shuttle bus between Bocas del Toro and Boquete on Saturday March 29th, transporting Kris and Lisanne. But this has since been debunked. Plinio's brother Elmer did confess to the Personería that Plinio owned a red pickup truck. This is no surprise, as Plinio has published quite a few photos of his red truck on social media. But Elmer says that the brothers do not use that truck for their tourist tours, as it has no air-conditioning. Oddly enough though, Plinio goes back to the Personería the next day to declare that he and his brother do not own a red truck. He is never further investigated however. The red truck is a persistent detail in this case however. Various witnesses have reported seeing a red truck to come down the Pianista Trail in the afternoon of April 1st 2014. This was so unusual, as the trail is not made for trucks at all, that they all remembered this and some even made notes about it. Read more about this in the topic "Other claims; the Red Truck" a few paragraphs below this one. Guide Plinio has posted pictures of a red trucks on his social media. For instance these two photos, posted on November 27th of 2015 and October 28th of 2016 (thanks to Arthur for finding them). However, a LOT of people have red trucks over there, so this means nothing.
It was also claimed by Romain C. that Plinio was a driver for Mamallena youth hostel and that he drove the shuttle bus between Bocas del Toro and Boquete on Saturday March 29th, transporting Kris and Lisanne. But this has since been debunked. Plinio's brother Elmer did confess to the Personería that Plinio owned a red pickup truck. This is no surprise, as Plinio has published quite a few photos of his red truck on social media. But Elmer says that the brothers do not use that truck for their tourist tours, as it has no air-conditioning. Oddly enough though, Plinio goes back to the Personería the next day to declare that he and his brother do not own a red truck. He is never further investigated however. The red truck is a persistent detail in this case however. Various witnesses have reported seeing a red truck to come down the Pianista Trail in the afternoon of April 1st 2014. This was so unusual, as the trail is not made for trucks at all, that they all remembered this and some even made notes about it. Read more about this in the topic "Other claims; the Red Truck" a few paragraphs below this one. Guide Plinio has posted pictures of a red trucks on his social media. For instance these two photos, posted on November 27th of 2015 and October 28th of 2016 (thanks to Arthur for finding them). However, a LOT of people have red trucks over there, so this means nothing.
And here it is again, pictured by the guide in 2013
A red truck was not only seen on the Pianista trail around the time of Kris and Lisanne's disappearance, it was also seen in the background of the Bistro photo taken by Kris on Sunday March 30th. Over Lisanne's shoulder, down below, is a red truck visible. It appears to have a different front than Plino's truck though. And then there is another red truck visible above Lisanne's left shoulder.
PLINIO'S DIFFERENT OPINIONS ON AND OFF CAMERA
Guide Plinio has expressed on camera that Kris and Lisanne could have fallen into the dangerous river behind the Pianista trail: "I think that they tried to cross the river, because it looked good. But it's a strong river and very difficult to cross." And here in a Dutch tv interview, guide P. said: "I don't know what could have happened. It is a difficult area to walk in. There's a lot of mud where you can slip in, there are many gaps and rivers. In this type of terrain, all sorts of things can happen." Jeremy Kryt also spoke with "Boquete’s top guide" Plinio M. for his earliest Daily Beast articles about this disappearance case. Kryt wrote that Plinio knows first-hand how risky these three-cable bridges can be and quoted Plinio as saying: “You’re always afraid to cross them. The top cables move and throw you off balance. Even the indigenous sometimes die on those bridges.” “When an indigena dies in the river, they don’t even report it,” Plinio says. “And even if they did, the authorities wouldn’t do anything about it anyway.” Plinio also told Jeremy Kryt: “There are many ways to die up there in the mountains.” He listed disorienting terrain, jumping vipers, jaguars, and treacherous river crossings. “Any criminals [in the area] would face the same risks as the holandesas themselves. The general lack of mobility would cut both ways, and all the trails in the area were searched at the time.” “If a third party was involved, how come we never found any sign of them? There are a lot of ways to die up there.” “Sometimes even we get lost over there.” P. also said to Kryt: “The only thing to blame is the jungle itself.” “If a third party was involved, how come we never found any sign of them? There are a lot of ways to die up there.” But Plinio also told Kryt that: “Sometimes the turistas get lost—but they usually turn up again, or are found by search parties.” "Such gringos come back hungry and embarrassed and humbled by the jungle. But at least they come back.” Has this guide two masks on? An official one camera, and quite another off camera? "Right off the bat P. said he believed they were murdered."
But guide P. apparently had a different opinion off camera. A websleuths member and inhabitant of Panama wrote about him: "Okay, now to my revelation. My husband and I returned from Panama City a few days ago and the man who was sent to drive us from the David airport back to Boquete was P., one of the community of local guides who works for a company called "Boquete Tree Trek." [..] Now P. is not just any guide; he's the man who's been deputized to run the task force that's setting forth the new regulations for Panama's trails and guides. A reminder: tourism is BIG in Panama and this is an important task force. That makes P. a pretty credible source, in my book. So, as we spoke, the conversation gravitated to the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne (well, duh, I wasn't about to let that chance slip by), and right off the bat P. said he believed they were murdered." "Both the driver and I believe the girls happened upon some narcos, or at least some Very Bad Men, or perhaps, after becoming lost and disoriented, the girls came upon a place where drugs were stored or being used. There are many possible variations of this theory but the nub of it is that the girls and the hombres malos encountered each other, the girls were probably sexually assaulted, and then murdered. Afterward, (this is the guide’s belief) they were callously dismembered and disposed of here and there." "It’s a grisly scenario and unfortunately dismemberment of murder victims is all too common here in Panama." "It was his experience, he said, that most foreigners do not buy boots that are capable of withstanding Panama’s arduous terrain. Although next to nothing has been recovered that belonged to Kris and Lisanne, two boots were found, blue shoe one - horribly - with a foot still in it. And while one boot showed medium signs of wear, the other was almost pristine in appearance. The girls, the guide believes, were abducted soon after they began their trek, perhaps not long after they crossed the Continental Divide and headed unknowingly down the Caribbean side instead of back to their hostel in Boquete." "The boots did not show enough wear he thinks, to have endured a 15-hour trek to the place where the handful of bones, backpack, and footwear were finally discovered." - So there appears to be a discrepancy between what Plinio said about Kris and Lisanne's fate officially, and what he believes in private (or tells locals). Plinio also posted this strange photo, seemingly taken behind the Mirador, on April 5th 2014. This was during the first searches for Kris and Lisanne, which he joined. he published them together with the lookalike summit photos with the blue sky and the similar shrubbery. 
PLINIO IDENTIFYING THE NIGHT PHOTO LOCATION
When Jeremy Kryt showed Plinio some of the leaked night photos back in 2015/'16, he and other Boquete guides each independently identified "the same spot on the map". "That site is about three miles from Boquete, on the western bank of a powerful tributary that helps form the headwaters of the Serpent River. From the Continental Divide, where the last tourist photos were made, the spot is straight downhill all the way", Kryt wrote. And yet, never has this spot been properly photographed and compared with the known night photos. Make of that what you like. What Guide Plinio did do, was to make a bizarre AllTrails post on July 27th of 2020. Soon after publishing it, he removed it all again. But not before I could screen save everything. I did so because Plinio showed the exact route which Kris and Lisanne hava taken. Plus some more... You can more or less see him and his team - consisting of some locals including local farmer and guide Laureano - follow the Pianista trail and some of the spots where Kris and Lisanne took their photos. The men walk all the way to Alto Romero in the end. But in the process guide P. documented all the places of the pictures of Kris and Lisanne. Then uploaded them on AllTrails as mere illustrations of this general route. Bizarre... Juan also noticed an inconsistency in the photo numbering of Kris and Lisanne's photos, based on this new Plinio sequence. Photo #493 is positioned before the girls reached the summit for instance, but in Plinio's series the location of photo 493 appears to come after the summit. Although these green tunnels do all look a bit alike for this gringa. Below I will group P's photos which overlap in location next to the ones from Kris and Lisanne.
When Jeremy Kryt showed Plinio some of the leaked night photos back in 2015/'16, he and other Boquete guides each independently identified "the same spot on the map". "That site is about three miles from Boquete, on the western bank of a powerful tributary that helps form the headwaters of the Serpent River. From the Continental Divide, where the last tourist photos were made, the spot is straight downhill all the way", Kryt wrote. And yet, never has this spot been properly photographed and compared with the known night photos. Make of that what you like. What Guide Plinio did do, was to make a bizarre AllTrails post on July 27th of 2020. Soon after publishing it, he removed it all again. But not before I could screen save everything. I did so because Plinio showed the exact route which Kris and Lisanne hava taken. Plus some more... You can more or less see him and his team - consisting of some locals including local farmer and guide Laureano - follow the Pianista trail and some of the spots where Kris and Lisanne took their photos. The men walk all the way to Alto Romero in the end. But in the process guide P. documented all the places of the pictures of Kris and Lisanne. Then uploaded them on AllTrails as mere illustrations of this general route. Bizarre... Juan also noticed an inconsistency in the photo numbering of Kris and Lisanne's photos, based on this new Plinio sequence. Photo #493 is positioned before the girls reached the summit for instance, but in Plinio's series the location of photo 493 appears to come after the summit. Although these green tunnels do all look a bit alike for this gringa. Below I will group P's photos which overlap in location next to the ones from Kris and Lisanne.
Photo comparisons
There are around 70 photos uploaded by guide P. but I will select below only
the ones which correspond to locations where Kris and Lisanne literally also took photos, or which are otherwise extra interesting. Faces in these photos are blurred solely for privacy
The open meadow with the wooden posts, halfway up the trail
Pictures of the ascend to the Mirador
The Mirador lookout spot. Similar tree trunk in the background
Descending further down the summit
Arriving at the little stream where photos 507 and 508 were taken by the girls
The meadow where Kris' parents ended up during their retracing video.
The girls may never have reached this spot
When they reach the first cable bridge, Plinio seems to emphasize this spot
On the route to Alto Romero, ten of Plinio's photos are of this rock (so 1/7th of all the photos of this whole route are of this one rock). I don't think it is the same rock however as pictured in the night photos of the girls. Although it still could be, there have been 6,5 years passed since, which can change the way nature looks. But there are hundreds of similar looking stones out there. Regardless: Plinio had unusual interest in this one specific rock.
A SYMBOLIC BLACK PHOTO AT THE END
A symbolic photo for their deaths? A symbolic 'night photo'? A mindfuck photo, urging people to alter it in photoshop to see if there is something hidden in the darkness? Or just one of those things that make no sense? Also interesting by the way: these guys are fit and know exactly where to walk, and they were up on that Pianista summit in about an hour. That is a very fast ascend. Kris and Lisanne were already considered fast hikers and they took about two hours to reach the summit, going by their camera time. It shows us that fit people can walk up that mountain fast, especially during a day with good weather and not too much mud. And despite knowing I am a complete fool, I couldn't help running that last black photo through the brightness and contrast alterations in photoshop. Here are the results.
PLINIO'S PECULIAR PHOTOS POSTED IN 2017
When I saw the v-shaped tree branches I got the chills.. Could it be the same location, 3 years later? It probably isn't, and it probably is not the same tree, but the similarities struck me. Why did he post these photos on his social media? Just a coincidence I guess. The guide took these photos of the Sendero los Quetzales, he stated. This trail is located within the Volcan Baru National Park and connects Boquete to the east of the volcano, with Guadalupe town in Cerro Punta, to the west of the volcano, and can be hiked in either direction. It is not far from the Pianista trail and the Mirador lookout. The photos with the blue sky are from guide Plinio, the others are night photos taken with Lisanne's camera on April 8th 2014.
When I saw the v-shaped tree branches I got the chills.. Could it be the same location, 3 years later? It probably isn't, and it probably is not the same tree, but the similarities struck me. Why did he post these photos on his social media? Just a coincidence I guess. The guide took these photos of the Sendero los Quetzales, he stated. This trail is located within the Volcan Baru National Park and connects Boquete to the east of the volcano, with Guadalupe town in Cerro Punta, to the west of the volcano, and can be hiked in either direction. It is not far from the Pianista trail and the Mirador lookout. The photos with the blue sky are from guide Plinio, the others are night photos taken with Lisanne's camera on April 8th 2014.
PLINIO'S 2017 VIDEO
Then guide Plinio posted this video on his instagram on April 11th of 2017, in which he films a red haired tourist from behind.. Some see an eerie resemblance of the back of the head photo of Kris in it. Note: As with guide F. and anyone else mentioned in this case: remember that everybody is innocent until proven guilty. For now there is no such hard evidence. But we can document what various people have said in the media so far, or have published publicly. I do believe that Kris and Lisanne were murdered, but it is not clear at this point by who and why.
Then guide Plinio posted this video on his instagram on April 11th of 2017, in which he films a red haired tourist from behind.. Some see an eerie resemblance of the back of the head photo of Kris in it. Note: As with guide F. and anyone else mentioned in this case: remember that everybody is innocent until proven guilty. For now there is no such hard evidence. But we can document what various people have said in the media so far, or have published publicly. I do believe that Kris and Lisanne were murdered, but it is not clear at this point by who and why.
*La Estrella reports about a person from Alto Romero who reported that villagers tried to take the girls into a house This house was in Alto Romero, the same location where the backpack was found and in which vicinity the bone remains were found
*Another strange twist: the taxi driver's death The taxi driver who claimed to have brought Kris and Lisanne to the Pianista trail in the early afternoon of April 1st is called Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu. He claimed to police on April 11th that he picked the girls up on April 1st between 13:10 and 13:20 PM on the way from Alto Boquete to Bajo Boquete, near the language school and the house of their host family. After the "red-haired girl" told him where to go in Spanish: "A la entrada del Pianista." Underway the taxi driver received a lot of phone calls while he was driving and therefore he didn't talk much with the Chicas Holandesas. After paying him 5 dollars the girls asked him where the trail begins exactly and the taxi driver gave them some instructions. He dropped them off at Il Pianista restaurant at around 13:35 PM at the start of the Pianista trail. He even pointed them to the Italian Il Pianista restaurant, indicating them where the trail started. These times don't match with the time on the camera however, which places them already at the top of the Pianista around 13:00. But many other witnesses also placed the girls around that time at the start of the Pianista trail, which is a bit strange. And two staff members at the language school declared right after they went missing to have seen the girls leave the school that day shortly after 13:00 PM. But on April 24, Leonardo confesses to the criminal investigation department that he had not told the full truth in his affidavit. Leonardo testified now that when the girls got in the taxi, there were already two other men inside the car. A fact that he had previously concealed. He had let the men out in the center of Boquete at the Danka pharmacy on the edge of Domingo Médica Park before driving with Kris and Lisanne to the entrance of the trail. There, he had also noticed "a conspicuous foreigner, about 60 years old, wearing strange medical glasses".
Witnesses have stated that they saw the two young women get out of the taxi at this point. Could the two men in the taxi, knowing the girls' destination, have somehow followed their tracks? Police have never managed to identify them (which seems odd to me). There is zero information in the case files or otherwise that police and investigators never looked for these three men. It is not clear still if Leonardo told the truth to investigators, or if he made his story up. A journalist tried to contact Leonardo in the end of May 2014, in vain. She wrote: "It is worth mentioning that we wanted to contact the only person who saw them alive for the last time, we are talking about the taxi driver who left them on the path of the pianist, in addition to being the only one who affirms that the Dutch entered the path. He told us by phone that he used to do it before because he was a taxi driver, but that he already got another job and it would affect him if he gave statements. Unofficially we were informed that he could be called to testify in the coming weeks." In a new podcast it was revealed about Leonardo: 'He also changed his story and the date and time when he dropped off the Dutch girls.'
"Because I know if I talk, they will kill me"
But initially he didn't want to talk to police at all, unless there was security. "Because I know if I talk, they will kill me". Unfortunately the taxi driver turned up dead almost exactly a year later, on March 2nd 2015 (see his gravestone here), under officially “unexplained” circumstances. Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu (34) drowned, apparently. “It’s a strange thing,” says César Castillo, a rock-climbing instructor who was teaching clients nearby when Gonzalez’s body was pulled from the water in a shallow stretch of the mini-canyon the locals call Gualaca. “It’s easy to swim there, with no strong current,” says Castillo, who frequently takes his climbing students for a dip in the same spot. “And we never heard any cries for help, or splashing around like he was in trouble. We know he didn’t hit his head on a rock, because there was no blood or bruising,” says Castillo, who helped pull Gonzalez from the water and tried to perform CPR. Castillo also reports the presence of other cars parked near the mini-canyon that day, although he admits he can’t be sure the death was not an accident. “Leo was a good kid,” says a fellow taxi driver in town, when I ask about Gonzalez. “Always responsible. Always on time. If he got killed over the Holandesas, it could’ve been because he saw something he shouldn’t have near the Pianista,” the driver says, referring to the trail where the young women disappeared. “Not because he did anything wrong himself.” Although Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reports that Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu's body was found at a lake in the Panamese province of Chiriquí. This source specifies it as the tourist spot of Los Cangilones, in the district Gualaca.On this Boquete forum his death is also discussed. Did this taxi driver tip off someone that he had just dropped the girls off at the Pianista trail? Some people assume on online discussion forums and media comment sections that the taxi driver may perhaps have talked to police, and got killed for it. One local theorized in Spanish that "The girls were very friendly; the same taxi driver who dropped them off came back with another man to trace them and they raped and killed them." Others suggest that he came back to pick the girls up later that day, and may have seen them being taken by a third party. Or that he simply knew what happened to them and was killed for that. Not many locals believe that Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Mastinu could just slump over like that while sitting on a stone, at the age of 34, while waiting for his customers to be ready for their return trip in his taxi, and ended up drowning in the shallow water in front of him. In this local news video, it is stated that the taxi driver died from suicide. A very unique and peculiar way to commit suicide, as drowning yourself in shallow water without tying yourself or weighing yourself down is no small feat, considering the human survival reflex while under water. In part 2 of this blog series, a new photo is mentioned which shows Kris and Lisanne (although this is disputed) bathing in a local river with two young men from (Alto) Boquete. The young men have been identified and both died within a year. Could these two locals have been the ones who people saw earlier talking to the girls, either in the local restaurant, or in the street, or in the taxi? And in this news article, it is written that Leonardo Arturo González was at the time "investigated for having transferred the Dutch Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers to the Sendero El Pianista". The article ends that with the 'inexplicable' death of Leonardo "the number of victims of drowning increased already to four for the year 2015 in Chiriquí." Leonardo also mentioned by the way that Kris had red hair.
The police reported also a testimony of another taxi driver. According to the case documents, a certain Humberto G. declared at an early stage of the investigation to Sinaproc and to police that he picked up two European girls (believed to be Kris and Lisanne) at 13:15 PM and 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. So we have two testimonies from two taxi drivers, and they both said to have driven Kris and Lisanne to the Pianista trail around 13:15, but on different days. And neither testimonies match the timeline of the police and Prosecutor. So that is strange. Why did the Real Taxi driver not come forward with a more reliable 10:30 AM time for April 1st, if that is really when they were driven to the trailhead? Why would two taxi drivers who seemingly could have had nothing to do with the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne (one of whom was found drowned within the year) voluntarily go to the police and give false statements to police? I wondered if the real cab driver did not report himself with police out of fear of becoming a person of interest. But then again, you can also turn that question around and wonder: why would the real taxi driver risk becoming a suspect by not coming forward though? This is a small town, more like a village. It can't have hundreds of taxi drivers. Normally, police would have found the right one in no time. Do Panamanian cab companies not keep a log of their routes, their clients and stuff like that? Boquete does not have that many taxi drivers that police couldn't interview each and every one of them to find the right one.
Regarding these two taxi drivers who díd come forward, investigators simply cast both their statements aside as 'impossible'. Like they did with a host of other witnesses in this case who's statements didn't fit the brief. Of course it is known that witnesses can be easily mistaken, in general. But one of the arguments for investigators to dismiss these inconvenient (because not fitting) witness statements, was because they all described the girls' backpack as 'black' when it had in fact a 'dark purple' colour. While viewing them from several metres distance on a sunny day.. Lol, can you believe they would make such a glaring error? See the backpack here for yourself.... Could nobody who saw it pass by from several metres distance honestly have called it black instead of purple? But at the same time we are told that the driver of the red Toyota pickup truck was identified because of an eagle-eyed witness, who remembered its license plate. Seeing it drive by at a time when nobody even knew about Kris and Lisanne, as they hadn't been reported missing yet at that point in time. Some stellar witness that was. So police (and sleuths) basically decide which witnesses are considered Good and which ones are Bad. Depending on confirmation bias. In any case; perhaps Humberto G. wasn't lying and this is the evidence that indeed, Kris and Lisanne already explored the Pianista trail on Monday March 31st in the afternoon. And that is why Pedro recalled talking to them later that afternoon. And some other witness statements could also make sense then. But we never heard anything more about either this cab driver or the possibility of a second Pianista hike by Pittí.
*Fake taxi
There was also news reported in the Netherlands in June 2014 that Kris and Lisanne would have made use of a ' fake taxi'. Kris' brother Sjors posted about this also. These rumours were not known by the families at the time, nor the research team and nothing was done with it further.
*Other claims; The Red Truck
As mentioned above: there was also mentioning of a red car going down the Pianista trail, later in the afternoon of April 1st and around the time the girls should have been on their way back. It was witnessed by several witnesses. This Dutch newspaper mentions: "Witnesses living on the trail saw a red terrain car coming off the Pianista Trail; a pick-up type with large wheels, possibly a Mitsubishi with a double cabin or a Toyota Highlander." These witnesses had seen the girls heading up the trail around 14:30 PM, but never saw them come down again. Instead, they saw this red pick-up come down the mountain at the end of the afternoon. A rarity on the Pianista Trail. And this local reporter on the scene also mentions here that there are at least two testimonies he knows of people who declare they saw an off-road vehicle come down the mountain when the girls were hiking there.
ERIK WESTRA: THE RED TRUCK CAN BE IMPORTANT
In this Dutch newspaper former detective Erik Westra, who lives in the area, says in April 2014 that the unknown red pickup truck can play an important role in the disappearance of the two Dutch tourists: “They knew they had to walk two hours there and two hours back and that they had to be back in the village before seven in the evening because it would get dark then. If no one saw them return, they could well have gotten into with the driver(s) of the red vehicle." But nobody knew who that red car belonged to or where it was. "Incomprehensible", Westra concluded. "The police asked local residents last week whether they own a red car or know someone with such a car, but the answer was always negative. Then you go and investigate that vehicle, right?" (Here you can see an interview with Erik Westra about crime in Boquete). Some Dutch websleuths have attributed that red car to a Dutchman living over there, who apparently sold his red Toyota truck three days after Kris and Lisanne went missing. All circumstantial info however.
As mentioned above: there was also mentioning of a red car going down the Pianista trail, later in the afternoon of April 1st and around the time the girls should have been on their way back. It was witnessed by several witnesses. This Dutch newspaper mentions: "Witnesses living on the trail saw a red terrain car coming off the Pianista Trail; a pick-up type with large wheels, possibly a Mitsubishi with a double cabin or a Toyota Highlander." These witnesses had seen the girls heading up the trail around 14:30 PM, but never saw them come down again. Instead, they saw this red pick-up come down the mountain at the end of the afternoon. A rarity on the Pianista Trail. And this local reporter on the scene also mentions here that there are at least two testimonies he knows of people who declare they saw an off-road vehicle come down the mountain when the girls were hiking there.
ERIK WESTRA: THE RED TRUCK CAN BE IMPORTANT
In this Dutch newspaper former detective Erik Westra, who lives in the area, says in April 2014 that the unknown red pickup truck can play an important role in the disappearance of the two Dutch tourists: “They knew they had to walk two hours there and two hours back and that they had to be back in the village before seven in the evening because it would get dark then. If no one saw them return, they could well have gotten into with the driver(s) of the red vehicle." But nobody knew who that red car belonged to or where it was. "Incomprehensible", Westra concluded. "The police asked local residents last week whether they own a red car or know someone with such a car, but the answer was always negative. Then you go and investigate that vehicle, right?" (Here you can see an interview with Erik Westra about crime in Boquete). Some Dutch websleuths have attributed that red car to a Dutchman living over there, who apparently sold his red Toyota truck three days after Kris and Lisanne went missing. All circumstantial info however.
Police took their time interviewing the inhabitants of the Pianista trail, but finally did so on April 16th 2014. Thanks to authors Christian Hardinghaus and Annette Nenner we know in more detail what is written in those case files, and they did a good job quoting them correctly and with page numbers and all in their new book Still Lost in Panama. On pages 342-344 of the notes of the Personería Municipal, 66-year old Oliva de Kam and her 74-year old husband Dario are interviewed. They live at the start of the Pianista trail and you can hear them talk in this witness video I made. The couple declared that on April 1, 2014 they saw a burgundy red pickup truck come down the Pianista trail around 15:00 PM. The couple paid extra attention because they normally never see a pickup truck or car come down the hill: the terrain is not built or even suitable for cars, with its many rocks and very narrow walking trail, passing the river Pianista multiple times. Olivia notices that the tipper part of the car is dirty and covered in leaves and foil and that two passengers are constantly guarding it. Dario feel suspicion and writes down the number plate. Private investigator Martin Ferrara helps interview the locals and writes down the testimony of inhabitant Aristedes M. and his mother Eneida in the case files. They tell investigators that they saw a red pickup truck with tinted windows come down the Pianista trail between 16:00 and 16:20 PM on April 1st. They are also not used to seeing cars on this hiking trail. And two days prior (on Sunday March 30th), Eneida had already seen a cream coloured van with several strange, tattooed men drive up the Pianista trail, causing her irritation. The owners of the Il Pianista restaurant, Giovanni S. and Doris, are also interviewed and also witnessed the red truck with blacked out windows driving up behind their restaurant between 16:00 and 16:15 PM. They say it come down again roughly 25 minutes later, they declare. (Their son is linked to the Pandilla by the way).
Police use the license plate information they receive from Dario de Kam. It leads them to a 1993 Toyota Hilux pickup with a single cab. This car does not match with the witness testimony of Aristedes M, who stressed during his police interview on April 16th that he had seen a new car on the Pianista trail, not an old car model (like Oliva and Dario de Kam declared to have seen). And what's more, Aristedes emphasized that he had not seen a Toyota Hilux, when asked about this. But this did not deter officers. They identified the owner to be a woman with the initials A. A. She lives only about 500 meters from Spanish by the River. This may be a discovery from Nenner and Hardinghaus, as they write that "neither the report nor the subsequent search makes any reference to this fact". Well spotted. When she is questioned by police on April 22nd, A. A. states that she doesn't drive the pickup, but that her husband E. G. does. And that "he probably rented the vehicle to the Feria de las Flores de Boquete flower fair on April 1st". A. A. is strangely enough not questioned about the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. Her husband is brought in the same day and confirms what his wife said an hour prior: that the car was indeed rented to that flower show. And that he has no written record of this. It was a verbal agreement. They borrow that car and the couple can in exchange dump their household waste in the flower fair's container... For Betzaida Pittí and her biographers, this was enough convincing explanation that there is nothing to see here with this red truck. Never mind that collecting plants at the Pianista is prohibited. But the story of E. G. is that the administrator of the flower fair, Sidney Taylor Jimenez (since passed away), had some employees (including driver E. P.) pick up mosses, ferns, bromeliads and foliage at Mister M.'s place, who owns two cabins up the Pianista mountain. Sidney can show a gas receipt plus a note detailing Mr. M's address, with the task to collect plant materials and orchids there. Driver E.P. declared to have driven the truck up there around 11:45 AM and back down again by 16:00 PM. He saw no tourists on the trail that day, he says to police. He did drive back up to Mr. M's properties two days later on Thursday, to pick up some more orchids. (Sidney contradicts this). Investigators are satisfied with this and do not question the drivers colleagues who were with him in the car, nor Mister M. It appears that the witnesses only saw the pickup truck come down in the afternoon, not go up that late morning. This remains unexplained. Driver E. P. also remarked to the officer that he saw another vehicle on the Pianista trail that day, near the river. Nothing is further done with this information by investigators and neither with the fact that witnesses claim to have seen another car that April 1st on the Pianista trail. It is also not known if driver E. P. told the truth or if he was messing up when he assumed a Sinaproc car was already up there, looking for Kris and Lisanne (which was not the case on the day of their disappearance). It is also not investigated if it was truly driver E. P. who was in that truck on the Pianista that day, or if he borrowed the truck in fact to someone else again, who wants to remain anonymous.
BETZAIDA PITTÍ SPIN
.png)
This red Toyota pickup truck was supposedly identified due to an eagle-eyed witness who remembered its license plate. The witness reportedly wrote the license plate down, because it was an unknown car and there had been things stolen not long before. Odd... So this totally inconspicuous red truck on the Pianista trail (Pittí's version of events), which we are told was a totally normal sighting there considering a flower and moss producer lived on this mountain... That sighting was absolutely normal and nothing out of the ordinary. And yet someone managed to flag it as suspicious and scribble down or remember the number plate? Because they never saw such a truck before there. So given the overall AGE of these witnesses, are we supposed to believe that Mr. M. did this plant and moss and fern deal for the very first time on exactly April 1st of 2014? How very convenient for this story. Pitti concluded that there was no link between this red truck and the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. I have thought about this now and then: what witness remembers license plates from a random car driving by? At a time when Kris and Lisanne weren't even missing yet. And also: when we are told time and time again that witnesses are unreliable as a rule and normally cannot even be expected to remember the colours of someone's clothes or hair.. The people who were put on this investigation certainly made sure to nitpick which witnesses they did and did not give credibility.
RED TRUCK AT BOQUETE BISTRO
Notice also how there is a Red Truck visible over Lisanne's shoulder, down below in one of their Boquete photos. Probably taken on Sunday March 30th, while having lunch in the Bistro in town. Is this Plinio's truck? Or the same truck as was seen on the Pianista? Nobody knows as it wasn't further investigated. A jolly talk with the owner, the driver and some hand written receipts were enough seemingly to drop the hot topic of the Red Truck. And how about Edwin A. and his red truck? In a recent podcast about this disappearance case, it is claimed that Kris and Lisanne already crossed paths with local youth in town on Sunday. Sitting in Edwin's red truck to buy some weed. And that this event is linked to the later events that cost them their lives. You can read about it here. Again a red truck wriggles its way into the narrative.
.png)
MORE MISTER M.A large unit of nine investigators storms to Mister M's estate that same afternoon, by 16:30 PM. When he turns out to be away, they call him on his cellphone and wait patiently for 45 minutes until he arrives. After an inspection of his two properties, the team finds nothing linked to the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne and they leaves empty-handed. The German authors write: "We don't learn more in the files about the search of the approximately 500 square meter area, which is hidden in the forest on the mountainside and only one kilometer from the summit. [..] However, he is a potentially important witness who, judging by the files, has not been questioned about matters relevant to the case. Since his property is located exactly where Kris and Lisanne were last seen alive by Lazaro, this is an inexplicable mistake". They claim that out of all the inhabitants of the Pianista trail, Mister M. is the only person who does not have to give a sworn statement in connection with the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. Despite witnesses now claiming to have seen two girls in short pants in April 2nd in front of his property. As well as THAT red truck which has been seen by multiple witnesses.... going to Mister M's place for those supposed mosses and orchids on April 1st. But he has not had to answer any questions. But the German authors claim that poor Lazaro ("the whistleblower") told them that instead, he was called back to the police office where he was held in custody for 22 whole hours. For "intimidation purposes". And on April 21st, an anonymous caller reports to police that the girls were murdered by a foreigner and that the bodies are buried "in a field behind the Arco Iris farm". This sugarcane field borders directly on Mister M's terrain. The area is searched the same day by patrol officers, but they find nothing. But most of the farms (including Arco Iris dairy) and land on and around the Pianista belong to mafiosa extraordinaire and former president Mireya Moscoso, the authors warn. So we can be certain that searches were done halfhearted. "According to the files she is neither questioned nor informed about the case". - Interesting new information! As I have written from the start: we outsiders are dealing with the information that is made available to the public and it is always very possible that a culprit manages to stay completely out of sight. But rarely for ever. If everybody who knows more can be so kind to share it, anonymously, then we can push this case further forward.
*Screams followed by a loud bang, according to French touristsAnd there is another eerie statement: two French tourists (Boris and Edith) from the region Aude walked in the same region on April 6th, so five days after the girls went missing. And they declared that a guy on the trail told them not to get into the woods, as he had heard someone scream the day before. Screams coming from the jungle. This is their blog. Important passages translated from French: "The day after our arrival [in Boquete] we explore the place. We are desperately searching for an information office which does not exist, at least not in the center. We grab information in the tourist agencies, who each time recommend us a guide, but we know very well that the hikes in the area are quite feasible alone. The problem at the moment is that two 23-year-old Dutch girls have been "lost" for the past four days, and they put this argument forward to discourage us from hiking without a guide. On April 6 we leave early by taxi to do the Quetzal trail [Scarlet: which is west of the Pianista Trail]. The hike begins with a track that goes down. We cross the Rio Caldera and then we enter a path that sinks into the beautiful rainforest. The path is flat at first and then climbs up to another guard post, which we reach after 3h30 of walking and more than 1200m of elevation. It is then possible to go down on the other side, towards the village of Cerro Punto and to take buses to return, but it takes 3h of transport."
At the guardhouse, we meet a guy who, the day before, heard frightened screams from two girls, then a loud crash, and then saw three guys on the trail. This explains the presence today of many cops and rescuers on the trail in search of the girls.
"After the picnic we go down the same path, a little troubled by this story and the possibility that the two Dutch had a bad meeting in the area. In fact, it is almost impossible to get lost on these well marked trails, and it seems even less possible to stay lost here for the duration of 4 days... This hike, which is announced as one of the most beautiful in Panama, did not really dazzle us. We left very early to try to observe the wildlife but we did not see much, only some birds and cows, sheep, cats, dogs and hens not really shy and not really wild .. Although others stated to have walked the Pianista Trail in the night (!) of 1 to 2 April 2014, and they heard or saw nothing unusual." - The identity of the 'guy' they spoke with at the guard post isn't further specified. Recently, information about a German tourist called Marcus M. surfaced. Below you can read his testimony, which matches the story the French couple heard. It seems possible therefore that the guy they talked to, was Marcus M. himself, but more likely that Marcus told his experience to the guard, who passed it on to the French duo. But the dates are different; Marcus declared that he was there, at Cerro Punta, on April 5th. And that he told "a local forest ranger" about his experience. The French tourist couple was there the day after on April 6th. Unless either of them was a day off with their date recollections, it may seem likely that Marcus had long left that place by the 6th of April (as he was scared on the 5th, he said, and ran away then). In that case the French tourists may have heard about this event from the same local forest ranger Marcus spoke with, passing the story on. I do not know therefore who exactly the 'guy' was who warned the French couple. But it seems obvious that the German tourist Marcus was the one they heard about. We also learned in a recent podcast from Jeremy Kryt that Marcus' statement of hearing women screaming on April 5th was actually reported to Sinaproc. And that they noted it down.
*The statement of German tourist Marcus M.In the early days of the police investigation, there was a statement made by German tourist Marcus M. He claimed to local forest ranger Rolando C. at a control station that he witnessed that Kris and Lisanne had been beaten and thrown down a ravine. Marcus had arrived in Boquete on April 4th and this event had taken place on April 5th he claimed, at Cerro Punta at the Quetzal Trail, towards the Pianista (roughly the same place where a plastic bag with shoe sole and a blond hair were later found, you can read about this here). Although in the investigational report made by the SDIJ it is reported that Marcus testified to have witnessed it all on April 4th in fact, so the exact date is a bit unclear still. But he was the one who heard a female voice screaming for help. He then saw two darker skinned, slim men moving quickly. Panicked himself, Marcus hid in the bushes as the bloodcurdling cries for help sounded once more. This time followed by a loud bang. Now fearing for his own life, Marcus ran away and later told the park ranger Rolando C. about his frightening experience, as well as case investigators. Senafront received this information and did visit the spot in the evening. They searched the place for the missing women, but they found nothing (aside from the German tourists own plastic water bottle, proving that he actually had been on the scene). It is hard to imagine why a German tourist would have made up such a vivid experience, at a time when Kris and Lisanne's disappearance had not really become big media news yet and there was certainly no reward money yet. Marcus' report and statement was also reported to the authorities and to Pitti and ended up in the case files. Somehow his story did not lead to major media headlines. Was Marcus the 'man at the guardhouse' who the French tourists Boris and Edith spoke the next day? It sounds like it. Or was he a second witness of the same event? These screams were reportedly heard on April 5th (although SLIP mentions it was on April 4th). The last correct PIN code was also entered in Kris' iPhone on April 5th, at 10:50 AM. Then a few hours later, at 13:37 PM it no longer received the correct PIN codes. Could there be a correlation between the screams heard that day, and the sudden stop of correct PIN code entries in the phone?
Caldera hot springs swimming spot
*DehydrationIn a curious turn of events, First Superior Prosecutor Betzaida Pittí, who had been assigned to the investigation into the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne, actually travelled personally from Panama City by helicopter to a more remote part of the jungle to collect the initial evidence that was discovered. She reportedly only spent 4 hours in this part of the jungle and brought water, but nevertheless had to be hospitalized (!) on her return to Panama City for severe dehydration. Apparently this is not an uncommon occurrence in the jungle, because you lose so much water by perspiration that you can’t replenish it quickly enough. But she brought water and yet (and a camera team), while these girls seem to have stayed alive for 11 grueling days at least. Without any extra water. It does make you wonder; how can four hours of jungle walking (or more precise; tropical forest walking) make someone so violently sick and dehydrated? Or was Pittí perhaps making a bit of a circus show spectacle out of her supposed dangerous trip? Why were there media cameras invited along to document her ordeal? Her arrival by helicopter was aired on TV at the time and also captured her in pain. In another clip but wearing the same t-shirt, she seemed to walk without pain again.
The local press knew they had to be there, to see her come out of that helicopter with the important yellow bag with bone remains from Kris and Lisanne in hand. Remains which were found by the people of Alto Romero, because Pitti herself was completely useless when it came to retrieving anything. She called the press, while the parents of Kris and Lisanne were not notified of the discovery, and had to watch it unprepared on TV. Hans Kremers spoke out about this. Shameful. This footage understandably deeply hurt the families. Pitti defended herself against criticism from the Van Passel spokesperson of the Kremers family, by saying that she had not informed the families of the discovery and transport of these bones because she first wanted to be sure that the bones were human. Nevertheless, the end result was that the world had seen the footage of the prosecutor stepping out of a helicopter with in yellow material wrapped remains in her hands. While the parents had not even been warned about this beforehand and had to wait for the information about the discovery of bones in the tropical forest. Very insensitive. Regarding the dehydration hospitalization; by the time Pittí went to the jungle it was at least mid June. And perhaps it was by then warmer in the Panamanian jungle than during the first week of April, when Kris and Lisanne went missing. I wouldn't be surprised if she had staged the hospitalization, just to show the world that Yes, this jungle here is a Killer. Below photos of the good comrade Pitti, suffering it out for the good cause. As for dehydration being a possible cause of death for Kris and Lisanne, I personally believe that the information we have does not point to this. They had at least two water bottles with them and locals do drink the running water from those streams behind the Pianista. There may be a parasite here or there but from what I heard from people over there, you do not get immune for them, so everyone, locals included, would risk giardia for instance. It also rained a few times that week and they had water bottles to catch water in. If they were the ones who handled those phones, then one of the girls must have still been alive by day 11, when the iPhone was last activated and powered off manually. People cannot do without water for 11 days. A human can die within 3 days of dehydration in a warm climate. They must have had access to water therefore. Unless it was a 3rd party fidgeting with those phones by then of course. Dehydration may not be the most likely cause of death therefore. - Read more criticism regarding Betzaida Pittí's investigation summarized here by me.
*The head of the language school says that the girls were last seen in the school in the early afternoon
The Dutch teacher at the language school where Kris and Lisanne regularly went, said on camera here: "The last moment that they were seen by a female teacher here was really 13:10 PM; an employer of us in the office also saw them walk away then." And this is strange because by that time their camera data placed them already on the top of the Pianista trail. How could not one but two school employees get the time so wrong? When memories were still fresh? Who were these teachers exactly? Marjolein and Eileen? And weren't there any other students present at Spanish by the River at the time? Ingrid Lommers made this information public on April 2nd: the day when news of the girls' disappearance broke. So very early, when their memories should still be sharp. Were they correct or mistaken? In theory it is possible to manually change the time settings on these digital cameras, and with 30+ different fingerprints found on the camera and the backpack, who is to say if someone hasn't messed with these time settings? It remains strange that several witnesses declared to have seen the girls walking by that day, ascend and even descend apparently at such different times, clashing entirely with the time stamps on the photos. I delve much deeper into this matter in a next post, for those of you who are interested in the nitty-gritty of it.
*The girls were also said to have had breakfast with two guys in café Nelvis
shortly before their disappearance. Matt revealed that Lisanne's Samsung phone last made a connection with Wi-Fi at 10:26 AM on April 1st, the day they went missing. 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. Cafe Nelvis was a minute’s walk from Restaurant Sabroson, owned by Edwin A's parents (more about him in part 2). They run a chain of Sabroson restaurants in Boquete. One is roughly 200 meters from Miriam's house, another at the Caldera. But this particular one is situated opposite the pharmacy where Kris and Lisanne are said to have been seen on the day they disappeared. But back to the Wi-Fi connection: since only a handful of researchers managed to get copies of the case files, we cannot verify this information ourselves and are unfortunately relying on bickering authors who claim that these files either DO or DO NOT mention Cafe Nelvis as the location where Kris and Lisanne last used Wi-Fi before disappearing. An important detail..NELVIS WAS RECOMMENDED BY SPANISH BY THE RIVER
Nelvis was a catering establishment recommended by the Spanish school where the friends were taking courses. The waiter of Cafe Nelvis at the time 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. None of this is confirmed, as the case files bizarrely do not specify where exactly this 10:22 - 10:26 PM Wi-Fi use took place. So we do not know if Kris and Lisanne last used the internet and if Lisanne downloaded the local map from cafe Nelvis, or from Spanish by the River... (Or why the Pittí biographers base their 'intel' on; they refused to use any source links or explanations). This may seem a small detail, but it may not be small. Because if the Nelvis story is true, then they were seen there by some witnesses with two other guys. Meaning there would then be two guys who last spoke with them before they went missing on the Pianista trail. Of course, these two should then have been identified and interviewed. It is also interesting then to find out which locals frequented Nelvis. Information from Power-Pixie: Nelvis was a hole-in-the-wall owned by Nelvis, who was also the main cook. Restaurant Sabroson on the other hand has four locations. Sabroson #2 is located in David, #4 is located close to Myriam's former home. #1 is located closest to Aura, #3 is on the corner of the Town Square/Park where Osman later claimed he saw Kris and Lisanne inside Edwin's pickup truck drinking and puffing on cigarettes with the gang. Café Nelvis has changed menu, name (it was revamped as Los Edwin's in 2016), exterior and even location over the past ten years. Below are some photos. Nelvis Café had very affordable (roughly between $1-$5 costing) "rice and beans, meat, chicken, fish, basic salads and a choice of soup" on the menu at the time. Although its concept changed over time, back in 2013 it served both breakfast and lunch. It is unsure if the same was available in 2014.
Nelvis was a catering establishment recommended by the Spanish school where the friends were taking courses. The waiter of Cafe Nelvis at the time 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. None of this is confirmed, as the case files bizarrely do not specify where exactly this 10:22 - 10:26 PM Wi-Fi use took place. So we do not know if Kris and Lisanne last used the internet and if Lisanne downloaded the local map from cafe Nelvis, or from Spanish by the River... (Or why the Pittí biographers base their 'intel' on; they refused to use any source links or explanations). This may seem a small detail, but it may not be small. Because if the Nelvis story is true, then they were seen there by some witnesses with two other guys. Meaning there would then be two guys who last spoke with them before they went missing on the Pianista trail. Of course, these two should then have been identified and interviewed. It is also interesting then to find out which locals frequented Nelvis. Information from Power-Pixie: Nelvis was a hole-in-the-wall owned by Nelvis, who was also the main cook. Restaurant Sabroson on the other hand has four locations. Sabroson #2 is located in David, #4 is located close to Myriam's former home. #1 is located closest to Aura, #3 is on the corner of the Town Square/Park where Osman later claimed he saw Kris and Lisanne inside Edwin's pickup truck drinking and puffing on cigarettes with the gang. Café Nelvis has changed menu, name (it was revamped as Los Edwin's in 2016), exterior and even location over the past ten years. Below are some photos. Nelvis Café had very affordable (roughly between $1-$5 costing) "rice and beans, meat, chicken, fish, basic salads and a choice of soup" on the menu at the time. Although its concept changed over time, back in 2013 it served both breakfast and lunch. It is unsure if the same was available in 2014.
Back in early April of 2014, this information was shared on the Facebook page dedicated to the missing Dutch women. "In Panama, the police are looking for two boys who are said to have had lunch with the Dutch women who have been missing for more than a week. The four would have eaten in restaurant Nelvis in the city of Boquete on the day before the disappearance of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon. This is stated on the Facebook page that is managed by Lisanne's brother." In this Dutch newspaper article it is written that "Missing friends Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were allegedly approached by two unknown young men on March 31 while they were having lunch in the Nelvis restaurant in Boquete." Another witness also stated (s)he saw that the girls were approached by two local men while they had a cup of coffee. A later press release states that reveals that Lisanne's parents heard that Kris and Lisanne are said to have eaten at Nelvis restaurant on Monday. Lisanne's brother Martijn also confirms March 31 as the correct date of their visit on the Facebook page set up for this purpose.
Following this tip-off, three employees of the restaurant were questioned by the police in Boquete on April 7. They claim that two girls had consumed coffee, sausages, and pastries at the restaurant between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. The employees only describe them as "white" or "similar to those in the photo," with no concrete evidence that they were Kris and Lisanne. The owner of the restaurant in question does not believe that he saw Kris and Lisanne eating in the presence of men, however. "I'm almost certain that I saw them sitting here on the terrace," he told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. "And I can explain that they sat alone and had a cup of coffee and then left." Nevertheless Panamanian police wanted to know who those two men are. They had been in the picture before, but at the time it was still thought that they were seen having breakfast instead of lunch. Nelvis restaurant was also mentioned in April of 2014 on local Boquete forum 'Boquete Ning': People witnessed Kris and Lisanne having lunch there with "two Costa Rican boys". In another witness statement, Kris and Lisanne were seen having brunch and not breakfast with two young men, before embarking on the trail. There were also other statements made by locals about how Kris and Lisanne were seen with two young men from Costa Rica, while in Boquete: "A person who preferred to reserve his name approached and said that the girls looked like good people and that the friendship they established with two boys from Costa Rica was remarkable. "Hopefully they have run away with the boys and nothing bad has happened to them," he said. A local wrote me that Costa Ricans are the archetypal scapegoat in Panama. Something stolen? Blame it on the Ticos! (The equivalent of our 'blame it on the gypsies'). Police tried to track down the duo's identity but didn't succeed. At some point word got round that the two young men were Dutch, which was later excluded as a potential lead because it turned out that the girls met these young Dutch men earlier in Bocas del Toro in fact. They never were in Boquete at all. But police also revealed that they were still looking for the two young men who wére seen with the girls in Nelvis restaurant, which was named specifically. They were by all likelihood locals. A traveller wrote about two other men that the girls had met on her blog: "In April my Spanish teacher told me that two young women had gone missing from the sister school in Boquete, Panama. They had left all of their belongings, and not told anyone where they were going that day. The last anyone saw of them they were talking to two strange men, making plans to see the waterfall."
.JPG)
BOOK LIES BY PITTÍ?
According to the Dutch book Lost In The Jungle, co-written by Betzaida Pitti
herself, police did manage to verify the Cafe Nelvis lead. According to the book, Kris and Lisanne went there on Tuesday April 1st around 10 AM and used the restaurant's Wi-Fi until 10:26 AM. On page 192 of the Kindle ebook version of LITJ the authors write: "Kris and Lisanne take a cab to town and have breakfast at restaurant Nelvis, where the cook, Nelvis, sees the women sitting on his terrace. Edwin S. serves them their food. He remembers the brief conversation that he had with the two, in which Kris and Lisanne told him that they wanted to walk to 'the mountain': "I am almost sure that I have seen them sitting here on the terrace. I also told the police that. Although in my opinion many European women look alike. But Kris in particular was very recognizable with her reddish hair. And I can explain that they were alone,' said Edwin S. Until 10:16 am, Kris and Lisanne were on the Internet via the wi-fi of Nelvis. Lisanne is briefly on Facebook and looks at the Dutch news app (NOS). Then she opens Google Maps and downloads a map for offline use. The NFI report doesn't reveal what exactly she is downloading, but we consider it very probable that it was the map of Sendero el Pianista. At 10:26 am the last wi-fi contact at Nelvis is registered, shortly after, Kris and Lisanne settle their bill and leave. They grab a cab to Il Pianista restaurant to start their trip a little after eleven." But on page 250 of the ebook version of LITJ the authors suddenly write that Kris and Lisanne were at Nelvis between 8:30 and 9:30 AM (?). An hour difference suddenly with what they stated on page 192 (but that book is full of inconsistencies and errors anyway, for instance about an invented second SD card that was supposedly found: something they had to correct later on as it was simply untrue). "Nelvis P. April 1, between 8:30 and 9:30 AM. Restaurant Nelvis. Nelvis is the cook. He saw them at breakfast at one of the tables outside the building. One of the girls was wearing shorts. One was about 63 inches and the other taller." The German authors now stress that this last 10:26 AM Wi-Fi connection was never specified in the case files. So it is an assumption to state that Kris and Lisanne used Nelvis' Wi-Fi. It has not been specified in the case files (which is really maddeningly stupid, but that's another topic). The last verified Wi-Fi connection at Spanish by the River was at 16:44 PM on Monday. See photo above. THE WITNESSED LADS WERE NEVER IDENTIFIED
In any case: it is assumed that from Nelvis, Kris and Lisanne then headed to the Pianista trail. But we still don't know if they indeed were in the company of two guys, as claimed by witnesses. And why these young men have never been identified by Pitti, let alone investigated? What also stands out, is that Kris and Lisanne had breakfast at Miriam's every day until then. Only lunch had been enjoyed by them in restaurants. So why did they now have breakfast (or 'brunch') at Nelvis in the morning? So soon after breakfast at home? I wonder if it was because they planned to meet people there. or because others had told them about this place, located slightly away from the main street. The waiter started chatting with them about their plans to walk the Pianista trail, we are told Really? How convenient. Did they talk in English or Spanish? The two mystery men would have heard about the Pianista aim also at that moment.
In any case: it is assumed that from Nelvis, Kris and Lisanne then headed to the Pianista trail. But we still don't know if they indeed were in the company of two guys, as claimed by witnesses. And why these young men have never been identified by Pitti, let alone investigated? What also stands out, is that Kris and Lisanne had breakfast at Miriam's every day until then. Only lunch had been enjoyed by them in restaurants. So why did they now have breakfast (or 'brunch') at Nelvis in the morning? So soon after breakfast at home? I wonder if it was because they planned to meet people there. or because others had told them about this place, located slightly away from the main street. The waiter started chatting with them about their plans to walk the Pianista trail, we are told Really? How convenient. Did they talk in English or Spanish? The two mystery men would have heard about the Pianista aim also at that moment.
HOW ARE ALL THESE MEN AND THEIR RESTAURANTS LINKED TO KRIS AND LISANNE?Dave M. made an interesting observation: "What is the role of Nelvis Restaurant in this? We have the café Bistro and Vega Moises who says he saw Kris and Lisanne on Sunday and Monday. We have Nelvis and its two staff members who saw Kris and Lisanne there on Tuesday. We have Milagros and Osman (working in what I take to be a restaurant), and the missing piece that is Sabrosan's various restaurant branches. All of this might be a coincidence. Maybe it is just coincidence that Edwin Aguirre/Sabrosan happens to run a chain of restaurants in the area, maybe it is a coincidence that something went on at Nelvis' on Tuesday morning and maybe it is a coincidence that Moises is serving the two friends on the Sunday at around noon, and yet next day on Monday at around noon he somehow sees them walking through a park towards Romero supermarket (he claims). "They were in a great hurry, one of them had a phone in her hand", Vega Moises declared. [Scarlet: But 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.] Moises apparently recognized the two as the missing "holandesas" because they had been in his bistro the day before. If he saw them it is a fair bet that Aguirre and friends would have seen them around town also. You can be sure that in this very small town both Moises and Nelvis had to be very aware of Aguirre and the obvious question is whether they had any relationship or contact with him and his friends." - All these guys and the restaurants they work in are interesting. How did Kris and Lisanne ended up at Nelvis, so soon after Miriam's morning breakfast? So out of the main road... Right before disappearing? While talking to two mystery men there? Who were these men, who informed them of Nelvis, what were they doing there aside from using Nelvis' internet connection? And does it somehow link to the local gang of Henry and Edwin, as is claimed in the new podcast? It remains a question mark for now. But it could be a very important missing link.
Below are pictures from the two young Dutch men who Kris and Lisanne befriended in Bocas del Toro around March 21st; Bas van Lieshout and Edwin Cornelis. They all stayed in the same hostel and went all out together. Bas and Edwin Cornelis were not in Boquete at the time of the girls' disappearance and have been cleared from involvement. Juan found this old newspaper article, it says that Edwin Cornelis states that he got a Whatsapp message from Lisanne on April 1st, the day of the disappearance. Lisanne had heard a hostel burned to the ground in Panama City and she was worried and inquired about the boy's wellbeing. "She wanted to know if we were OK", Edwin Cornelis told a Dutch newspaper. Edwin and Bas had travelled to Panama City after they left Bocas. Luckily they stayed in a different hostel from the ill-fated one that burned down. Then Edwin asked Lisanne on Whatsapp how things were for them with the host family. But Lisanne never answered. Edwin and Bas communicated with Ingrid Lommers around April 4, and told her that Kris and Lisanne wanted to go to the hot springs near Boquete. Kris and Lisanne were supposed to have been there on March 31 at around 2:00 p.m. Ingrid called SINAPROC on April 4 and told them this information. Soon after investigators searched Caldera Hot Springs. 14 officers search the area extensively. A search dog was even said to have struck there. Investigator Abelardo A. asked SINAPROC a day later whether they already knew more about the "girls and the man in Caldera." But nothing more is known about this and this lead was not further investigated.
And another Dutchman has also talked to the media about Kris and Lisanne. Mart Huisman was travelling solo in Latin America when he met the girls in Bocas, before he left the place again on March 22nd. He shared some good times with them and described the girls as "normal intelligence, nice, friendly, careful, and not interested in doing crazy things". Mart had never seen them do drugs, or heard of anything out of the ordinary about them. After he left for Panama City and Curacao, he kept in touch with Kris and Lisanne. Mart Huisman stated to the media: "These girls weren't adventurous. Lisanne told me, it was a big deal to her to go swimming in the ocean. She hadn't done that for a long time."
*There was talk that Kris and Lisanne had an appointment on the Pianista trail On this local Boquete message board, the disappearance of the girls and the progression of the search operations were discussed by members from the community. A certain Lux wrote on April 5th, 2014: "According to a friend of the girls, they had a 2 PM appointment at the Pianista trailhead, but they never showed up. Is this common knowledge? Do we have any actual evidence they went hiking anywhere at all?" Bonnie Williams replied on October 12th, 2014: "This is old news [..]. I understand the lead was followed up by the authorities." Unfortunately nothing has been officially released about this supposed appointment at the Pianista trail, and we also do not know who the two men in the taxi from Leonardo were, or whether they knew the girls.
*Reward moneyThe families of Kris and Lisanne issued a reward very soon after the girls went missing. On April 5th already a $2500 reward was announced. A lot of money for people who on average earn $10 per day, and often less. This amount increased to $30.000 on April 30th. Reason being that the parents by then expected that a crime took place. Thirtyfive new tips came in, but none revealed where the women were. On May 13th 2014 the families increased the reward money for the last time. Dutch TV program 'Vermist' interviewed the parents of Kris Kremers that same day and the presenter announced on air that the program makers would donate an additional €10.000, making the total reward sum around $40.000. Hans Kremers also clarified their decision making: "We have also been advised about this. Look, first we thought that $2500 was a good amount of money. Enough to motivate someone to make that two day hike from beyond the mountain, to come report that you have seen something. By now we think that the disappearance is linked to a crime and we think that $30.000 is probably a more attractive sum. For instance for reporting someone from within your direct circle of acquaintances." They offered it to anyone who found the girls alive, or anyone who was able to tell about their whereabouts.
Info about this reward was widespread in Panama. Flyers were seen everywhere. The message spread through the newspapers, the TV news and online. People in Alto Romero for sure knew about this disappearance and the reward, as guide F. has a farm there and often went there. He certainly informed the locals about the disappearance and the reward money. By the time the Travel Channel went there with a helicopter, all the villagers knew about the reward money and they were in fact annoyed that the families had not given them the cash yet. Despite having discovered the backpack and some bones. They had helped guide F. find those. Jeremy Kryt also confirmed this: "The backpack was found on the banks of a river in the high cloud forest above Boquete. The pack was turned in by members of the indigenous Ngobe tribe, who had heard about the “Holandesas,” as they’re called on the local news." In any case: you would think that such an early monetary incentive would have helped to find the two tall tourists in the woods above Boquete when they were still alive.
No idea who they were exactly (some sources mention it were bones of native people and at least one child and one elderly deceased person), but local natives are said to sometimes fall and die from the unreliable monkey bridges. But there are also at least 20 missing persons declared in that same area, apparently. Also regarding those bones: the bone remnants of Lisanne were flown back to the Netherlands on September 23rd/24th, and buried in October. Some local investigators in Panama criticized this decision, because the investigation into the girls' disappearance was still ongoing at that point. They feared that the case will never be solved now, because further investigation of the bone remnants is now impossible. We don't even have an estimation of the rough time of death of either of the girls, let alone a cause of death.
*On May 16th a peculiar tip came in
Three days prior, the families had increased 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. On Friday May 16th, a peculiar tip was checked; two bodies were said to have been seen near the spot where the women disappeared. Police released a map with the spot where the bodies were 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 over the area. When the representatives did eventually arrive on the spot, 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 however. Which is a strange extra detail, considering there was a reward of 40.000 dollars by then for the person who found the girls. And it kind of excludes the possibility of the tipster being a gold-digger who was trying to troll for the reward. Betzaida Pittí also declared to the press that no person has come to her office with information that a skeleton has been found in this area. "I do not know what source or investigation office is giving this type of information, but to this I have been legally dispatched and nothing has come and we have to be responsible", she said. Pittí reiterated that in the places where they had been searching so far, no evidence or belongings of the Dutch girls has been found. "There is no evidence of anything”, she pointed out. 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 early on, before the girls' backpack and bones were found; respectively on June 11th and around June 18th.. In the same area. Unfortunately the hard to reach Culebre region had not been searched by Dutch sniffer dogs (who were trained to find living people), as they were not allowed to go there due to safety and bad weather. On a Boquete forum, a person named Allan wrote: "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." And a Boquete member called Tray wrote on Lee Zeltzer's forum on May 16, 2014: "My boss just said the news is stating the bodies have been found. So sad. [..] If so they appeared miraculously. As of 12:30 PM I was told there were no bodies. Many rumors, no facts."
On May 29 investigators also responded 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). They head 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.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
*Missed chances One wonders why the local government didn't get searchers in more quickly (during the first and most important days, no professional searches were organized) or even set up emergency cell coverage in the area. Some sort of mobile network range extender, which is technically doable with a helicopter, portable tower, or drone, from what I understand. And why were no thermal cameras used? I guess these days with drones that would have been easier perhaps than in 2014. Dimi B. also wrote in a youtube comment: "It is not a big deal to find someone who got lost in the jungle and who carries a mobile phone. 3-4 Helicopters with an IMSI Catcher/stingray on board or an other device that can detect radio signals and a big loud speaker on board should have been enough to find them within a few days." - That speaker idea seems so simple and yet it wasn't done here. Mind boggling.
And have authorities tried to call the girls' phones, while they were missing? It is possible that Lisanne's Dutch sim card did not have coverage in Panama, making it impossible for others to call her on her phone, but what about Kris' phone? And why wouldn't even Eileen or Miriam have tried to call them on or after April 1st? Why were not even their phone locations provided by the telecom operator in the area? Did Pittí not properly request for them? And why didn't she look into the phone use of other people in that area at the time? Telecom providers can map out exactly who were in the Pianista area on April 1st, based on their phone locations. But nobody seems to have investigated this... That is basic investigation stuff these days; checking surrounding phone activity, checking the phones and internet activity of potential people of interest. No checks of guide F's online searches for instance or investigation of his phone use. The official case documents unfortunately confirm that none of this was done by authorities. It's enough to make a grownup cry, this investigation.
And have authorities tried to call the girls' phones, while they were missing? It is possible that Lisanne's Dutch sim card did not have coverage in Panama, making it impossible for others to call her on her phone, but what about Kris' phone? And why wouldn't even Eileen or Miriam have tried to call them on or after April 1st? Why were not even their phone locations provided by the telecom operator in the area? Did Pittí not properly request for them? And why didn't she look into the phone use of other people in that area at the time? Telecom providers can map out exactly who were in the Pianista area on April 1st, based on their phone locations. But nobody seems to have investigated this... That is basic investigation stuff these days; checking surrounding phone activity, checking the phones and internet activity of potential people of interest. No checks of guide F's online searches for instance or investigation of his phone use. The official case documents unfortunately confirm that none of this was done by authorities. It's enough to make a grownup cry, this investigation.
And why wasn't there a case official sent to accompany the locals who were searching for the girls' remains? Can you imagine the FBI asking locals to do the work for them, without even a single officer in place to oversee the operation? Why were the houses of potential suspects never checked with luminol for traces of blood? Private land of people of interest should have been scanned for the presence of bones. Local soil samples were never properly commissioned. The fingerprints and DNA discovered on the bag and belongings of the girls were never identified and linked to any one person. Partly because the search parties should have given their fingerprints before the search started. But Pitti never asked for those... Dutch search and rescue dogs were somehow never allowed or able to search beyond the Mirador. We also don't know what type of water remnants were left in the plastic water bottles that were found in the girls' backpack, because the forensic testing was never requested by Betzaida Pittí. We should have known where they last filled their bottles; was this in a river? Was it filled with tap water in a house? Was there still commercial 'supermarket water' inside? Why do we not know these things? And yet, some people keep it up that the investigation was very thorough and professional... Read more criticism regarding Betzaida Pittí's investigation summarized here by me.
*IF there was a 3rd party involved, why would they allow the girls to make so many emergency call attempts with their phones?
By some accounts up to 77, but in reality it appear to have been only around seven. Dutch investigators themselves have stated that it looks to them that after April 5th, someone other than Kris used her iPhone. This could have still, technically, been Lisanne, but even investigators doubt why she would not have know both the PIN codes of her friends' phone? Wouldn't she have memorized or scribbled them down earlier, considering her life may have depended on it? And with the back of Kris' head being pictured on April 8th, why didn't she give Lisanne her PIN code herself if she was still conscious then? Or was there a 3rd person trying to get access to the iPhone? That is what some investigators think. If we go by the Lost scenario, it must have dawned on Kris and Lisanne at some point that the situation was dire and that they were maybe not going to get rescued. Leaving some message behind, some explanation for loved ones, seems logical to do then. Especially when you are so far from home and alone in the tropical forest for as long as they seemingly did. And with Lisanne significantly homesick in the days before they went missing. You may even decide to only record your voice, if you fear your parents will be shocked from seeing your face..
BOYFRIEND CLAIMS LAST CONTACT WITH KRIS ON TUESDAY AT 14:00 PM
Kris had a boyfriend in the Netherlands and she and Stephan did have contact by phone on Tuesday April 1st at 14:00 PM local Panamanian time. It is not specified if this was a phone call or a text over the phone. Here Kris' parents recall this fact, very early into the disappearance. This is a problem with the new timeline, because by 14:00 PM the girls were already at the stream of photos 507 and 508, and by all accounts there is no mobile reception there. So how come they managed to have contact at that time? This was never further discussed or even mentioned by investigators, let alone explained. But after the girls went missing, Kris didn't try to contact Stephan through messaging or phone once... Never. Very striking. They could have left a Dutch draft message or any personal message, but they didn't. But they did shoot approximately 100 photos for the duration of almost three hours in the middle of the night, a week later. None taken in daylight (despite the sun coming up only about 2 hrs after the last photo was taken that night). There is nothing in the photos that makes it possible to identify this place easily. Most are repetitive pictures of the same night's sky. All that effort, only to end up with more vagueness. If the girls could do that after a week out there, they could probably also have found a way to give off a clearer message. Make a text draft in their phone, take a selfie or make a video with their functioning digital camera. Draw a message in Dutch on the ground with a stick and take a picture of that. The possibilities are there. Instead of picturing abstract pieces of plastic on a branch. That is the sort of stuff you can also expect from a third party in my opinion: someone who cannot create Dutch messages in the phones, who cannot make selfies, who cannot do anything but the most vague of vagueness to make it look like Kris and Lisanne were out there, alone, on the 8th night of their disappearance. Taking non definitive photos in the dark in order to create a fake visual 'lost' narrative. Kris and Lisanne didn't even make notes about landmarks they passed, to serve as extra memory of where they came from. No photos to check for bug or mosquito bites on themselves, for instance. Nothing personal, except for a mysterious photo of the back of Kris' head.
BOYFRIEND CLAIMS LAST CONTACT WITH KRIS ON TUESDAY AT 14:00 PM
Kris had a boyfriend in the Netherlands and she and Stephan did have contact by phone on Tuesday April 1st at 14:00 PM local Panamanian time. It is not specified if this was a phone call or a text over the phone. Here Kris' parents recall this fact, very early into the disappearance. This is a problem with the new timeline, because by 14:00 PM the girls were already at the stream of photos 507 and 508, and by all accounts there is no mobile reception there. So how come they managed to have contact at that time? This was never further discussed or even mentioned by investigators, let alone explained. But after the girls went missing, Kris didn't try to contact Stephan through messaging or phone once... Never. Very striking. They could have left a Dutch draft message or any personal message, but they didn't. But they did shoot approximately 100 photos for the duration of almost three hours in the middle of the night, a week later. None taken in daylight (despite the sun coming up only about 2 hrs after the last photo was taken that night). There is nothing in the photos that makes it possible to identify this place easily. Most are repetitive pictures of the same night's sky. All that effort, only to end up with more vagueness. If the girls could do that after a week out there, they could probably also have found a way to give off a clearer message. Make a text draft in their phone, take a selfie or make a video with their functioning digital camera. Draw a message in Dutch on the ground with a stick and take a picture of that. The possibilities are there. Instead of picturing abstract pieces of plastic on a branch. That is the sort of stuff you can also expect from a third party in my opinion: someone who cannot create Dutch messages in the phones, who cannot make selfies, who cannot do anything but the most vague of vagueness to make it look like Kris and Lisanne were out there, alone, on the 8th night of their disappearance. Taking non definitive photos in the dark in order to create a fake visual 'lost' narrative. Kris and Lisanne didn't even make notes about landmarks they passed, to serve as extra memory of where they came from. No photos to check for bug or mosquito bites on themselves, for instance. Nothing personal, except for a mysterious photo of the back of Kris' head.
WHY WOULD A KIDNAPPER CALL 911
Phone wise, I understand some of the main arguments against foul play: Why would a criminal try to connect with 911 or 112 for days? Or why would he let them keep their phones so they could try to connect to emergency services? Why would a criminal create the night time photos? Or if Kris and Lisanne somehow took those while the kidnapper was away, why wouldn't they photograph something useful instead of trees? Why wouldn't a kidnapper have taken their camera and phones away from them altogether and make them disappear? But Power-Pixie wrote something very true and interesting in that respect: "Every argument about any aspect of this case requires it to go through a regurgitation of the preceding events, whatever facts associated and any references. It is easy to argue without basis or pick on something and ask poignant questions, at times with the intent of upending the theory even when it is a work in progress. I saw this a lot on Reddit as it started to become toxic." Indeed, singling out isolated examples from this case, while trying to forget the entire chain of contextual events and details can be interesting, but it can also give a distorted discussion. There are equally illogical behaviours to explain in a Lost/Accident scenario. Regardless, we will always continue to question why Kris and Lisanne didn't do this or that.
Phone wise, I understand some of the main arguments against foul play: Why would a criminal try to connect with 911 or 112 for days? Or why would he let them keep their phones so they could try to connect to emergency services? Why would a criminal create the night time photos? Or if Kris and Lisanne somehow took those while the kidnapper was away, why wouldn't they photograph something useful instead of trees? Why wouldn't a kidnapper have taken their camera and phones away from them altogether and make them disappear? But Power-Pixie wrote something very true and interesting in that respect: "Every argument about any aspect of this case requires it to go through a regurgitation of the preceding events, whatever facts associated and any references. It is easy to argue without basis or pick on something and ask poignant questions, at times with the intent of upending the theory even when it is a work in progress. I saw this a lot on Reddit as it started to become toxic." Indeed, singling out isolated examples from this case, while trying to forget the entire chain of contextual events and details can be interesting, but it can also give a distorted discussion. There are equally illogical behaviours to explain in a Lost/Accident scenario. Regardless, we will always continue to question why Kris and Lisanne didn't do this or that.
NO INDICATION OF PANIC
And how come their behaviour appears so non-frantic and organized? Powering your phones off on that pivotal first night in the jungle and leaving them powered off for 14 hours?! That goes against any normal human urge to get help NOW. And never using their phones to look at Google Maps*... Or for the torch function.. They may have been adults technically, but it would have freaked them out to the moon and back if they really were lost and all alone in that forest. Turning off both your phones in such a situation, without checking for reception even once at night, takes some seriously iron nerves. I personally can't think of anyone who would actually do that. Who thinks for two weeks ahead during such a stressful first night, battery wise? And if they díd act all hysterical or petrified, I would have expected even more uncontrolled use of those phones. Instead of the methodical powering on/off behaviour we saw instead. So they were either ice cold and controlled (German style), or not alone and free to do so.
And how come their behaviour appears so non-frantic and organized? Powering your phones off on that pivotal first night in the jungle and leaving them powered off for 14 hours?! That goes against any normal human urge to get help NOW. And never using their phones to look at Google Maps*... Or for the torch function.. They may have been adults technically, but it would have freaked them out to the moon and back if they really were lost and all alone in that forest. Turning off both your phones in such a situation, without checking for reception even once at night, takes some seriously iron nerves. I personally can't think of anyone who would actually do that. Who thinks for two weeks ahead during such a stressful first night, battery wise? And if they díd act all hysterical or petrified, I would have expected even more uncontrolled use of those phones. Instead of the methodical powering on/off behaviour we saw instead. So they were either ice cold and controlled (German style), or not alone and free to do so.
More about Google Maps. A developer emailed me with the following: "In the blog you mention that the girls used Google Maps. Google Maps keeps track of a user's location at all times, even when the phone is not connected to Google services, or even to the internet. Once the phone connects to the internet, it synchronizes with Google servers. If the phone never synchronized, Google never got the location data, but the precise location data and the full movement of the phone would still be stored on the phone. Regards Developer" - Thanks! I verified this myself by keeping google maps open on my tablet while driving and without Wi-Fi or network connection available, and indeed, it continues to show your location as you move with a moving dot. And if such data is still stored on the phone, it begs the question why none of this was reported on by the NFI, who read out those phones... So this sort of information should indeed have been unearthed by the investigators. Thanks so much for pointing this out. I wonder why we never heard anything about this from investigators? Did they not obtain this Google ap-related location info once they read out the phones? Especially the Samsung phone of Lisanne should have given very important insight, as we know she downloaded Google Maps on her phone that morning of April 1st. The absence of that vital information seems very strange. RapaNui also wrote something in this respect on FOK forum not long ago: "Lisanne had downloaded Google Maps on the morning of April 1, at El Sabroson. She did that using the internet. She also downloaded a map. Downloading a map is intended for offline use of GPS. We know there's no phone coverage behind the Mirador. But you can use Wikiloccen, Alltrailen, Google Maps etc. No phone coverage is required for this and no SIM card is required. If Lisanne and Kris had been feeling lost, say, around three or four in the afternoon, why hadn't they turned on Google Maps to get their bearings? And the next morning? Because they were near the Mirador. In a ravine or not. Or perhaps because they were accompanied by someone who knew the way very well, making Google Maps unnecessary? The girls never once made an attempt to orientate themselves with GM after 13:14 and that says a lot." - Indeed: Google Maps was never used by Kris and Lisanne after they crossed the Mirador... For anyone lost, wouldn't this interactive map that can be used offline have been checked at least at some point since, realistically? By the way: Unfortunately investigators could not find or extract ANY GPS data from both phones.... Very peculiar and it raises the qurestion whether or no the GPS function was manually disabled. This was not further investigated, so we don't know what happened there.
THE NIGHT PHOTO LOCATION REMAINS A MYSTERYNobody till this day has been able to lead these night photos back to one location. The night photo location has not been identified so far; those photos are thát abstract and unclear. Power-Pixie wrote about this night photo location: "It was never meant to be revealed. I mean why would Feliciano and Henry and any locals who have been harassed not be so determined to prove to the world that this place existed and shut us all up about it? I would, if I needed to close this issue and give everyone who opposed my "expert" theory of them getting lost and stranded here true. But if they allowed this location to be found, it would mean more people investigating and asking even more questions." And you can even wonder if those night photos suddenly stopped after 04:10 AM because whomever took them had to be somewhere again in the early morning. If it were the girls who took them, there is no reason why they wouldn't have also taken a couple of photos after 6:30 AM, when the sun came up. There were no helicopters flying at night or active search troops moving around (the argument that they would have tried to flash a plane etc etc). As David Mullen put it in a comment to me: "After April 1st all we have is two ghosts - ghosts working the phones, and working the camera. Are these two still alive after the first day or two? It's very debatable whether they were..." No more photos (or videos) had been made with their phones or camera in the week before. Despite having a fully functioning and battery-filled camera.
PEOPLE TEND TO REACH OUT TO LOVED ONES
ONLY DURING OFFICE HOURS
The daily call attempts and 'checks for a signal' also all took place more or less within office hours, and never in the evening or night. But be reminded here that Power-Pixie and also later Hardinghaus and Nenner established that technically, the very short switching on and off's of the cell phones were too short in fact to be able to read a signal. There simply would not have been enough time for an entire cycle of iOS events to complete in time for the signal to be determined by the antenna and iOS network protocols. Also without a SIM card you cannot read the signal bars, after you have entered the SIM Pin code. So this makes the very short phone powering on and off's even more strange. - And why not try to ring the host family who was so close by and tell them that they had an accident? In the afternoon of day three (April 3rd), someone even looked Miriam's phone number up in Kris' iPhone. At 15:59 the iPhone4 was powered on and the contact “Mytiam, 00 507 679xxxxx” was looked up on WhatsApp (this is not a typo). Then the phone was powered off. Miriam's number was looked up, but never called... Neither were the phone numbers of the parents. It were just the emergency services which were called. Is that because those were the only numbers you cán in fact call when you cannot enter the phones with a correct PIN code? But the phones wére correctly activated until day 5... Why didn't they try to send out text messages, telling loved ones what was going on? Cell phone text messages may go through even when there appears to be no signal, in part because text messaging is a store-and-forward service. Why did Lisanne keep her Samsung phone powered on all through the evening and the night of April 2nd to 3rd, without trying to call even once? Only a weather app was consulted in the middle of the night.. Isn't that a waste of a slowly dying battery? And doesn't this discredit the argument that they were completely focused on saving battery, to the point of not wanting to call more than a handful of times, and only to emergency services? If they truly were so careful with their phones' battery, why leave one phone powered on overnight without using it to call home (or to call at all in fact)? The girls were said to have been avid mobile phone users and eager to stay in touch through it with their family. Although the benefit of potentially reaching the emergency numbers 911 and 112 is that the police have the equipment to 'read' your location then, even during a very short connection...
The daily call attempts and 'checks for a signal' also all took place more or less within office hours, and never in the evening or night. But be reminded here that Power-Pixie and also later Hardinghaus and Nenner established that technically, the very short switching on and off's of the cell phones were too short in fact to be able to read a signal. There simply would not have been enough time for an entire cycle of iOS events to complete in time for the signal to be determined by the antenna and iOS network protocols. Also without a SIM card you cannot read the signal bars, after you have entered the SIM Pin code. So this makes the very short phone powering on and off's even more strange. - And why not try to ring the host family who was so close by and tell them that they had an accident? In the afternoon of day three (April 3rd), someone even looked Miriam's phone number up in Kris' iPhone. At 15:59 the iPhone4 was powered on and the contact “Mytiam, 00 507 679xxxxx” was looked up on WhatsApp (this is not a typo). Then the phone was powered off. Miriam's number was looked up, but never called... Neither were the phone numbers of the parents. It were just the emergency services which were called. Is that because those were the only numbers you cán in fact call when you cannot enter the phones with a correct PIN code? But the phones wére correctly activated until day 5... Why didn't they try to send out text messages, telling loved ones what was going on? Cell phone text messages may go through even when there appears to be no signal, in part because text messaging is a store-and-forward service. Why did Lisanne keep her Samsung phone powered on all through the evening and the night of April 2nd to 3rd, without trying to call even once? Only a weather app was consulted in the middle of the night.. Isn't that a waste of a slowly dying battery? And doesn't this discredit the argument that they were completely focused on saving battery, to the point of not wanting to call more than a handful of times, and only to emergency services? If they truly were so careful with their phones' battery, why leave one phone powered on overnight without using it to call home (or to call at all in fact)? The girls were said to have been avid mobile phone users and eager to stay in touch through it with their family. Although the benefit of potentially reaching the emergency numbers 911 and 112 is that the police have the equipment to 'read' your location then, even during a very short connection...
NONE OF THEIR DIFFERENT CHARACTER TRAITS ARE REFLECTED IN THOSE UNIFORM PHONE LOGS
The different character traits of Kris and Lisanne are not reflected in these uniform phone logs: these phones seem to have been handled almost by one and the same person, instead of by on the one hand the boisterous, risk taking and direct Kris and on the other hand the more insecure, worrying and structure-loving Lisanne. The phone logs do not demonstrate anything of their personalities: no differences in call patterns, no different apps that were attempted to be used by either of them and there is also a lack of desperation reflected in the phone logs, which surely would have set in over time. Why do we see little difference between the use of both their phones? They are almost interchangeable. They both look generic.
Footnote: I personally don't trust the local authorities blindly at this point in time. It is not a Bible Verse to me for instance that their phones supposedly never connected to the cell network again after they went up the trail. The information may simply not have been provided (just like the phone ;pgs fail to explain why there was a huge battery drop of Lisanne's phone during the afternoon of April 1st, with no connectivity or background activities... That info is simply missing from the phone logs). Or some of that info could even have been altered by a 3rd party or the authorities in theory (far-fetched), before sending the phones to the Netherlands for analysis. Anything could in theory have been done with its data. The log info does also not seem complete, but mainly showing the highlights. The phone logs already proved to be fallible and not have registered everything in this case. (See part 4 for more on this). Perhaps the girls powered their mobile phones off when they [theoretically] returned down the mountain again and this bit of information was overlooked or not logged by the phones. Their phones' batteries were already low and they were known to have wanted to avoid unnecessary roaming costs and to sometimes use flight mode to ensure no extra telephone costs. Perhaps Kris and Lisanne wanted to avoid Wi-Fi from people living along the trail on the Boquete side of the mountain. It appears that the phone logs indicate that neither of the girls' phones were set to flight mode on and after April 1st. However, for unexplained reasons the investigators failed to document whether the girls' phones were set to flight mode or not on the last day when the iPhones was powered on, April 11th. It is simply not mentioned in the NFI report. Even though for all the other moments when the cell phone was on long enough, it wás recorded that flight mode was off. But for the critical last day when the iPhone was powered on, this information is inexplicably missing in both the case files and the phone log. Like so many other things, it remains unanswered. - Brian also messaged me that when he was in Costa Rica, people would sometimes toggle airplane mode on and off when mobile phone reception was poor. The theory was that mobile phones tried harder for a connection afterwards. This was most commonly used trying to get a text to be send out. And Betzaida Pitti meddled with the night photos, before sending them to the Dutch NFI; who knows what she and her team did to the phone logs before sending the mobile phones to the NFI? We have to work with the phone logs which the authorities came up with, without the possibility of letting neutral specialists do a second opinion on them.
The different character traits of Kris and Lisanne are not reflected in these uniform phone logs: these phones seem to have been handled almost by one and the same person, instead of by on the one hand the boisterous, risk taking and direct Kris and on the other hand the more insecure, worrying and structure-loving Lisanne. The phone logs do not demonstrate anything of their personalities: no differences in call patterns, no different apps that were attempted to be used by either of them and there is also a lack of desperation reflected in the phone logs, which surely would have set in over time. Why do we see little difference between the use of both their phones? They are almost interchangeable. They both look generic.
Footnote: I personally don't trust the local authorities blindly at this point in time. It is not a Bible Verse to me for instance that their phones supposedly never connected to the cell network again after they went up the trail. The information may simply not have been provided (just like the phone ;pgs fail to explain why there was a huge battery drop of Lisanne's phone during the afternoon of April 1st, with no connectivity or background activities... That info is simply missing from the phone logs). Or some of that info could even have been altered by a 3rd party or the authorities in theory (far-fetched), before sending the phones to the Netherlands for analysis. Anything could in theory have been done with its data. The log info does also not seem complete, but mainly showing the highlights. The phone logs already proved to be fallible and not have registered everything in this case. (See part 4 for more on this). Perhaps the girls powered their mobile phones off when they [theoretically] returned down the mountain again and this bit of information was overlooked or not logged by the phones. Their phones' batteries were already low and they were known to have wanted to avoid unnecessary roaming costs and to sometimes use flight mode to ensure no extra telephone costs. Perhaps Kris and Lisanne wanted to avoid Wi-Fi from people living along the trail on the Boquete side of the mountain. It appears that the phone logs indicate that neither of the girls' phones were set to flight mode on and after April 1st. However, for unexplained reasons the investigators failed to document whether the girls' phones were set to flight mode or not on the last day when the iPhones was powered on, April 11th. It is simply not mentioned in the NFI report. Even though for all the other moments when the cell phone was on long enough, it wás recorded that flight mode was off. But for the critical last day when the iPhone was powered on, this information is inexplicably missing in both the case files and the phone log. Like so many other things, it remains unanswered. - Brian also messaged me that when he was in Costa Rica, people would sometimes toggle airplane mode on and off when mobile phone reception was poor. The theory was that mobile phones tried harder for a connection afterwards. This was most commonly used trying to get a text to be send out. And Betzaida Pitti meddled with the night photos, before sending them to the Dutch NFI; who knows what she and her team did to the phone logs before sending the mobile phones to the NFI? We have to work with the phone logs which the authorities came up with, without the possibility of letting neutral specialists do a second opinion on them.
And back in 2014, local youth in Boquete already possessed similar types of smartphones as the Dutch women. It's not like they were all stuck with flip phones and were technologically 'backwards'. Power-Pixie pointed me toward this picture, posted by Vega Moises on June 1st of 2014. Juan first posted it in his extensive google case album. Vega Moises was a local waiter of Bistro Boquete that year and has claimed to police that he saw Kris and Lisanne walking toward the local supermarket Romero just after noon on Monday March 31st, the day before their disappearance. How Vega Moises managed to see Kris and Lisanne walk in the park towards supermarket Romero, in a hurry, is not known. Was he working while spying that with his hawk eye? Vega Moises was well acquainted with the other local Boquete youth, including Henry and Edwin. He was also a Facebook friend of Milagros Peña, who (according to Osman's mother) helped lure Osman to the place of his death and to his killers. You can read more about that in this blog post of mine. So Vega Moises tried to sell a Samsung S4 mini in June 2014. Power-Pixie wrote: "Lisanne's phone model and mine are the Samsung SG3 mini. So a revision older than what Vega is showing off here. It only makes me wonder about two things: firstly all the locals use Whatsapp. Secondly the young kids at the time, like Vega, Henry, et al, are quite familiar with these phone models." Yes. Just like Feliciano and Plinio's own online photos proved us that they are savvy with cameras and computers and photoshopping, this picture shows us that regular people in Boquete at the time had similar type of phones as Kris and Lisanne, and would have known how to use them (or manipulate them). Even if the Dutch phones were set up in the Dutch language, quite a few locals would have habitually and instinctively known how to navigate them through general knowledge of those phone types. In fact, some of these local young Boquete men may even have owned a Samsung SG3 mini, as well as an iPhone. There has been so much said and claimed online about what Boquete people would or would not have known or been able to back in 2014. But this truly cements the evidence that they were not all technologically illiterate.
Dave M wrote: "The use of the phones that week is difficult to fathom obviously, there are hints there that make me think Lisanne might be the one handling them, but then there is a list of reasons against it being her. If we now know people were very familiar with the Samsung and iPhone at the time then it does alter my thinking at least. It means that whoever is handling them, the I-Phone especially, is quite possibly being so quick and confident with their use because they already know its layout, and where to access the Apps and tools within. I mean we can deliberate on whether Lisanne or Kris could have thought of, and found, the 3G function so quickly, but if a more determined and motivated person had a reason then they too could have gone straight into that feature and activated it. The same goes for the curious screenshots of the Clock and keypad - these are the result of a speedy and clumsy shutdown of the phone. An experienced user like Kris probably wouldn't be creating so many of these screenshots as you do get used to how these are created and learn to avoid it for the most part. Of course, if it was Lisanne using the phone, that might explain why these screenshots are being created like this, but the one-minute switch-ons and great rush involved here is hard to explain as being Lisanne, it's more in line with someone anxious not to accidentally connect to signal, and so shutting the phone down as quickly as they can. That's a reason these screenshots are being made. Imagine someone with these phones, and they are using their own phone to check there is no signal in the area they are currently situated in. No signal detected they open up the Samsung or iPhone and go through the motions of making an emergency call attempt. But in the back of their minds they are still nervous enough that they won't leave the phone on for more than a minute or two, just in case." - Indeed, did Lisanne really know what 2G or 3G boost was, and where to find it on the iPhone 4? Without misheps? Remember that this happens very quickly on phone boot up.
SO WHY WOULD ANY VILLAIN LET THE GIRLS USE THEIR CELLPHONE?Back to the main question: why would any villain let the girls use their cellphones? Instead of disabling them or destroying them. Perhaps it was a set up and a 3rd party knew there was no cell reception, wherever they were holed up. Allowing Kris and Lisanne to try in vain. They could even have taken the phone card out of the devices.. Then the phone still registers call attempts, but those will never get through. Or a 3rd party could just stage all those calls themselves: many different fingerprints not belonging to the girls were found on the phones and camera after all, but they never led to a suspect. It is also easy with these phones to manually alter the time and date. Then make a string of phone calls, only to restore the correct time and date afterwards. Then you will have the staged calls with the staged times recorded in your phone log. It can be that easy to fake this data. Other people with the same iPhone4 found out just that: it is possible with these phones to set a false trail of usage, for future or past dates and times. Or perhaps the girls only made the first emergency calls and the rest were staged.
Phone logs show that their phones were not powered off until just after 17:52 PM on April 1st. But after that, they could have gone anywhere undetected, of course. Or maybe someone handed Kris and Lisanne their phones at set times to make mock call attempts, knowing the calls wouldn't go through. Setting a trail for police, insinuating the girls were lost. Just because something is atypical, does not mean it cannot happened here. One can argue that if Lisanne in fact used Kris' phone over time, or vice versa, we would expect either girls to have explored the new phone's abilities more, trying to make contact more... Instead we have two phones who according to the phone logs were operated in exactly the same minimalistic way. We don't even see curiosity in terms of the one-bar signal which both phones had at times. The phone logs show that both phones listed one-bar, The only way to tell for sure if this one-bar allows for calls or messages to go through, is to try. Yet neither of the two friends appears to have tried to send messages (MSM, whatsapp), which would have needed only short connectivity to be sent. And according to what we know of the phone logs, the one bar receptivity wasn't tested on April 1st before 16:39 PM either. And even then there was only one call attempt each. Why? Why did they give up that easily if this was their first realisation they seemed to have no connectivity? That realisation alone would trigger a panic attack this late in the day.... but Lisanne leaves it to dawn next morning to panic, and try three times to call out.
.jpg)
.jpg)
THE BAG, PHONE AND CAMERA DISCOVERY WAS ESSENTIALWithout the backpack discover, the parents would never give up and leave locals alone. All this may sound a bit far-fetched for some people, and I understand that. But the facts in this case are that it was the discovery of the backpack, the phones and the camera that in the end swayed the opinions of investigators and the public from a crime to an accident. Not only did Panama’s initial attorney general declare this case before the bag's discovery “a homicide” and “a crime against personal integrity” in the Chiriquí Judicial State report, and was the terminology 'investigation within the context of deprivation of liberty' used. Only for Pittí to literally call pending criminal house searches off ON THE SPOT when the news of the discovered backpack came to her (making her in turn declare the case an accident and close most investigations....). But without the phone logs and the day and night photos, the disappearance of these western tourists - who seemed to to have gone up in smoke just like English tourist Alex Humphrey did in 2009 - would actually make people suspect they fell in the hands of cartels. Planting these personal belongings of Kris and Lisanne redirected public opinion towards an accident. Because cartels would make everything disappear. And criminals would have stolen the money and the phones, people reason. Some people believe that the phone and camera data were staged and that the bag and some bones were planted in a spot where they simply hád to be found. By the direct employers of the brother of tour guide F. by the way. Small place.
"Dear Lisanne and Kris. Please know that we will stay here in Panama until you have been found. We will wait as long as it takes, until you are found. And we will not give up! Really, we won't. Have faith in us, we will keep looking for you, for as long as it takes, we will stay here."
If that bag had not been found, the families of Kris and Lisanne would also have continued to upheave the area with euro-paid search operations. Not something which drug smuggling locals were all too keen about. In this video, Lisanne's father Peter Froon literally says before the remains were discovered: "Dear Lisanne and Kris. Please know that we will stay here in Panama until you have been found. We will wait as long as it takes, until you are found. And we will not give up! Really, we won't. Have faith in us, we will keep looking for you, for as long as it takes, we will stay here." And: "There are plans from us to constantly have one of our families present here from now on. We will stay present here, until this is solved. We don't want to leave them alone." I believe that it was clear to most people at the time that the parents of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon were not going anywhere, as long as the fate of their daughters wasn't discovered. They would never give up or leave, unless something was found that gave them closure. They had the financial means also to keep turning that stretch of wilderness upside down, again and again. Their next step could have been to push the authorities (with the help of the international media) to start searching all the finca's in the area. I am sure that some locals would not have been happy with this. So making it all disappear - their bodies, their belongings - could have had some serious negative consequences. Aside from the incentive of a decent reward for whomever found these girls.
.jpg)
IT HAPPENED BEFOREAnd despite what some Lost defenders like to claim: all of this staging is not even that far-fetched and happened before. Just a few examples now. The infamous 'Backpacker Killer' Ivan Milat also planted belongings of one of his victims far away along a highway, wanting them to be found. This backpack with a camera from James Gibson (19) was found 80 miles north of the forest where his bodily remains were found years later. As one of my favourite real crime youtubers, Mike Oh from That Chapter, described it: "Those items, it was like his camera and a few other bits and bobs, they'd been placed on a guardrail of a road, way from where his body was. And they were laid out like..somebody wanted them to be found. And so the police began to speculate that maybe somebody was trying to mislead the police." - And the police turned out to be right about that. And at the end of my blog part 4, you can also read about the case of the young German woman Frauke Liebs, who was kidnapped and murdered in 2006. Her captor(s) allowed her to use her cell during certain intervals to call/msg a friend, probably while driving her around the area just to make sure to mess up the investigation. This went on for a week. There are indications that the killer(s) even instructed her to use her phone, threatening her about what she could and could not communicate, as she never was able to tell her loved ones where she was and what had happened exactly. So yes, the odd use of the women's phones by creating a pattern may even be linked to foul play, although such a scenario would be unusual. But it seems also very odd that two young foreign tourists would be lost, trapped in wild nature and yet their use of their phones shows a very calm, cool and minimal pattern. No signs of panic can be discovered in their phone logs. But if they really were in such a calm state, wouldn't they have stayed put wherever they were around 17:00 on April 1st, instead of supposedly wandering downhill, further and further away from the Mirador summit? Even their phone reception bars would have shown them that they were getting further and further away from civilization.
*The changing facial expressions of Kris
I have been brainstorming a bit with Juan, a fellow Dutch hobby searcher, about why the girls may have continued to walk past the Pianista summit. And why the facial expressions of Kris seemed to change beyond the Mirador. Although this is just an interpretation and overall there seems little wrong with Kris' facial expressions in the last photos, aside from her not broadly smiling in them. It could simply be a context-coloured retrospect interpretation by us to think she looked worried. But I want to explore all possible theories here. What if the girls had some words between themselves?
LET'S GO ON A THOUGHT EXPERIMENTLet's go on a thought experiment: we know that Lisanne was not feeling entirely well. Her host family stated that she had been dealing with cold-like symptoms the days prior and also had a sore throat. The girls were seen in a pharmacy in Boquete on April 1st. Lisanne was also upset about not being able to start working in the local children's school already, as planned. The girls seemed hell-bend on making every day count during the rest of the week. Lisanne and her parents were no globetrotters; the furthest she had travelled was the Schwarzwald in southern Germany. But Kris was the exuberant of the two and had already visited Peru with her parents. It is not difficult to imagine that she was the firecracker of the two, and that Lisanne didn't want to let her friend down and agreed on a string of excursions that week. Now, the local man who spoke with the girls before they got themselves a taxi to the Pianista trail, has declared that Lisanne had told him she wasn't feeling well physically that day. And that it surprised him that the girls decided to climb the Pianista trail nevertheless. Miriam Guerra also stated to a well known Dutch 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 climb the local volcan Baru. So it is fair to assume that Lisanne was not feeling 100% on April 1st. Yet, she looks radiating in the photos made that day on the Pianista summit. When you suffer from even a cold, a climate with high humidity as Panama has - I read on average about 80% which is significant - can make you feel more out of breath. As will exercise. So considering all this, it is already wonderful of her to motivate herself to climb this mountain, with a smile. Yet, for some reason this achievement was not enough. One of the two girls had most likely more of a say and a push in the decision to walk onward. And knowing that Lisanne was a quiet girl, more introverted and more shy, I imagine (totally subjectively) that Kris may have been the one to push for making some more metres. Wanting to explore some more. She had been in Latin America before and had no health issues as far as we know.
KRIS' CHANGING FACIAL EXPRESSIONWhat also strikes both Juan and me is the changing expressions on Kris' face in all the photos taken after the summit. She also started to walk further ahead of Lisanne. The distance between them had increased literally. Could Kris have convinced Lisanne to go on? May the practical and preparation-savvy Lisanne have felt that she needed to compromise some more and please her friend by not turning around on a beautiful sunny day? We now know that Lisanne checked google maps on her phone on the summit, around 13:15. Was she feeling restless about the plan to keep walking? Lisanne had written in her diary that she felt homesick and had doubted the entire Panama trip since arriving in Boquete. But she made the effort to have some fun anyway on the day of their Pianista hike. Juan said about this: "Yes such psychological insights are all that are left at this stage, with the case as good as closed. Online forums will ridicule you over such statements, but I think you may have described the situation well here. Online people like to make a daredevil out of Lisanne because she was the athletic one of the two, and apparently jumped out of a plane with a parachute once, but it was Kris who had travelled through the Andes before. The Froon family never made it further than that Schwarzwald. They seem cautious people. Her dad also suffered a stroke in the past, which may have made them more cautious in general. I imagine myself that they must have been so on edge about the whole Panama trip of their daughter. They must have probably told her 110 times to take good care of herself and to be careful. Kris was the extroverted one, who loved music festivals. Lisanne was sweet, thoughtful. Like the host Miriam told the papers: Kris was reading in their bedroom while Lisanne kept Miriam company. Out of politeness perhaps. I wouldn't be surprised either if Kris was the driving force behind the excursions and activities that week. Even on the photos of March 30, when they are out in Boquete to eat chips and toast on that balcony, Lisanne already looks subdued. The fact that Kris walked so far ahead in the end photos, it is very well possible that she wanted to walk on and Lisanne was cautious and wanted to return. Lisanne may also have struggled at that point with her asthma. If I was walking with someone who had a painful throat and asthma symptoms, I would have let her decide how far to go. Lisanne may have put her own issues aside to be a good friend to Kris. I wished that the disappointment about the children's school hadn't pushed them to do these extreme walks; why didn't they just make a short tour in the valley there or something?"
Me: "I agree actually. The vibe in those last daytime photos seems to have changed after the summit. The girls seemed to have very different personalities and energies. You also notice it when you hear their respective parents on TV; one very sweet, soft spoken, with a subdued demeanor, whereas Kris' parents are combative and outspoken and full of energy. (My own parents are just like that by the way). Lisanne is not feeling well, and I know from experience that when you don't feel entirely chipper, it is easy to feel like a log on someone's back; a millstone around the neck of whomever you are out with. They also had another 4 weeks left together, so keeping the peace was important. Kris' own parents called her direct and outspoken about what she thought and felt. In such a dynamic between friends, the shy and introverted one of the two can be prone to compromise sooner to keep the peace. I actually feel bad for Lisanne, as she wrote in her diary how homesick she was and how hard the trip was for her. Yet she pulled herself together. She must have felt so terrible after April 1st.. So many 'signs' she seems to have felt that this trip didn't feel good for her.. How awful must she have felt in the next few days. Kris too of course. But the one who pleased the other and went further along may have felt a particular grudge perhaps? Lisanne studied to become a psychologist, yet may have had to teach herself to put her foot down and stick to her gut feelings? It's all speculation, of course. But this is the feeling I get. What if Lisanne wanted to walk back to Boquete but Kris wanted to see some more down the trail, and this caused her to no longer smile warmly but instead walk ahead of Lisanne and look stern?"
Juan: "I also get a bad feeling about this. Those photos after the summit are pretty horrible actually, when you look more closely at them. (Also when you zoom into Kris' expression; her mouth is one horizontal unhappy line in this photo). I walk in nature so often, also with other people, but I would never walk so far ahead of the person I'm with. It's not good for morale and the mutual atmosphere to walk more than a few metres ahead, I think. Unless it was for the photo. And where these girls were, it may not have been the safest option either. They kept walking further away from civilization there. And then comes photo #505, where Kris stands in the distance, turning around with a surprised look on her face. Or is it boredom? Lisanne may have called her, because the woods close in on you quickly there and Kris is quite far ahead already, despite the road moving upwards. Perhaps Lisanne struggled to keep up? She may have been athletic but asthma is no small feat. Or perhaps they had quarreled and the careful Lisanne had encountered a Kris who had lost her patience and walked faster ahead, so that Lisanne simply had to follow? When you are angry, it is a natural urge to walk faster and further away from the other. Or perhaps Lisanne had become grumpy? Did she not feel good due to her asthma and leg injury (she was said to have one from her volleyball sport**). Such a state of mind also brings extra risks when out in the wilderness; when you are relying on sound decision making. Being upset or miffed or angry can cloud your general judgement capacities. Maybe Kris felt rowdy and took more risks than she should? Even in the last photos in the small river stream, Kris had walked quite a bit ahead of Lisanne. It may be for the photo, but I am not so sure that was all it was about. The jungle is no longer quaint and lovely here either, in fact with those narrow trenches and thick vegetation it looks rather hostile to me here. Like one big ambush. Or perhaps there was in fact a 3rd person with them already at this stage, and thát explains the strange looks from Kris. We just don't know with certainty. But I would put my money sooner on some animosity between the two girls at this point. Which may have made them more reckless, or an easier prey to a 3rd person perhaps even with bad intentions. I read that people on forums compare her posture in #505 to the Spider Walk from the Exorcist even.. On photo 491 that small water bottle was stuffed in the pocket of Kris' tight shorts; that picture was taken an hour before they reached the summit, and already it seems near empty there. They must have been thirsty. On photo 507, in the small stream, you can see some mud on the calf of Kris and on the back of her shorts. She must have slipped already prior, perhaps maybe because she had a temper, or wasn't paying close attention. And then... in trouble, but only calling emergency numbers twice? All afternoon and evening? I don't know... if that were me I would have called hundreds of times and would have tried sending text messages to my parents right away.. Not decisively only make 2 call attempts." [1st photo on the left: 'PanamaResearch' made this AI-type of image improvement of photo #508... I think it may be too artificial to be correct, but it definitely shows some apprehension and worry on her face for sure.]**See this close-up from Lisanne's left foot for instance; a photo taken the week prior to their Pianista hike. She seems to have a red swelling on the bridge of her right foot. In her diary Lisanne confirmed also to have suffered from circulation problems due to the heat: "I have such thick legs. It must be from the heat that my feet look like rhino legs".
ZODIAC SIGNSPower-Pixie wrote me: "Lisanne was a Libra and Kris was a Leo. Some of their traits do cross paths with what would be described for their respective zodiac signs. I don't believe in all this stuff, but some inherent traits are evident in their behavior and personality. Libras and Leos can connect well. They have some complementary traits that help initially, but I don't know if this is true for the long haul. It matches with Lisanne being a good listener. It takes some skill to be like this and especially towards someone you hardly know. Lisanne also studied psychology and she might have gotten Kris to talk more. Kris was a stage actress in a way and being a Leo she would love nothing more than to have her ego stroked. I can see Lisanne retreating into her shell when there was trouble, writing instead in her diary where she felt safe. Someone who may not have liked conflict, wasn't sure how to handle conflict. Kris on the other hand seemed a matter-of-fact person and larger than life, even in her diary. Carefree Kris having fun". Interesting to look into star signs. Their signs seem a match. Kris loving the limelight, being an easy socializer. Fiery, as her parents confirmed. Lisanne seems such a calm counterbalance. I looked up Libra characteristics and the first thing that pops up is that Libra's are friendly and want to avoid conflict at any cost. "Their self-sacrificing nature can be great for their loved ones but often leave Libras feeling burnt out and unappreciated." I can see how their complementary natures could go very well together, but could also clash at times of stress. When you look at their friendship compatibility, online info says: "Leo and Libra are capable of being good friends, as long as they don’t let their differences and arguments get the best of them. A Leo is powerful and wild while a Libra is peaceful–these differences can balance each other out. Leos like to dominate and be the center of attention. Libras, as people pleasers, will let them have their way as long as it keeps the peace. Libras won’t mind blending in with the background. They will allow a Leo to take center stage and get all the attention they crave. As friends, these signs will attend plenty of social events. They will have a great time getting dressed up together and meeting new people. They will also enjoy shopping together since they both love to look nice. When they’re upset, a Libra will act out in a self-pitying or passive-aggressive manner, and a Leo will get stubborn, brutally honest, and selfish. Libras are passive-aggressive and will drop subtle hints that they are upset. Meanwhile, Leos are too busy worrying about themselves to pick up on such small clues. They will never notice when a Libra is giving them the silent treatment. Plus, Leos are stubborn. They aren’t going to change their opinion unless they are pressured. A Leo could end up walking all over a non-confrontational Libra, and it could slowly destroy their friendship." - I think this can be be a (non-scientific) clue as to how they both would have handled stress and conflict, behind the Pianista trail.. Going by their diary entries and overall demeanor, these general characteristics don't seem too far off.
THEY WEREN'T ALONEAnd Paul M. wrote: "I get the vibe that the photos with them not smiling, someone or some other people are there with them or close by on the trail behind them. Like, maybe they are walking behind them and walking along with them pretending to be nice, or maybe they are bugging them. Kris and Lisanne are uncomfortable and scared to take a picture of the strangers because they don't want to alert them that they are considered suspicious, being that there is no way of getting help. They probably weren't 100% positive that the people meant them harm, but the people wouldn't leave them alone. They eventually got spooked and ran off trail to lose them and hide and then got lost. You can tell something is making them uncomfortable, unnaturally. If they were just tired and uninterested they would have turned around and gone back. They were probably followed to the trail and didn't know it until they were into the jungle where they were out of sight from any witnesses."
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
THEY WERE WORK COLLEAGUESJuan also highlights that Kris and Lisanne most of all seem to have known each other from work. Kris had a group of close friends who were not Lisanne's friends. They were no long term childhood friends and Lisanne had not yet moved into the student apartment she planned to share with Kris - this would happen after returning from Panama. Their parents met each other for the first time at the airport, waving their respective kids goodbye. Although Peter Froon has stated in a Dutch interview on TV that Kris and Lisanne knew each other for four years prior to making plans for Panama. In an interview, Lisanne's brother Martijn also said that he does not rule out the possibility that Kris and Lisanne got into an argument at the point of photo 508. Or that they even split up physically by then, as a result. He thought that Lisanne would not have enjoyed a jungle hike, knowing her as a homely person who liked security. Lisanne also went through some sort of mini-breakdown, the days before the girls went missing. She did not feel good in Boquete, she was in tears and wrote in her diary that she thought she made the wrong decision in going to Panama. "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 naïve 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." Lisanne was really upset about the cancelled volunteer work, while Kris sounded more matter of fact like; 'oh well, we'll find something else'. And in a fiery manner she wrote that she had no interest in returning to Aura anyway, after the way they had been treated there. A different way or responding to this setback. Back to this Pianista hike; Miriam was surprised that the girls went out for a hike at all. because Lisanne had not been feeling good the day(s) prior. They had visited the pharmacy that morning of April 1st. But nevertheless Lisanne went up the mountain for a hike and smiles.
PREMONITION
As for me: also in light of the work disappointments in Boquete, my feeling is that perceptive and sensitive Lisanne picked up on things not being as they should for them in Boquete right after they arrived there. She didn't have a meltdown for nothing, so soon after the happy weeks in Bocas. Her diary shows a total 180 in her mood. Nothing had really happened yet at that point. It was just meeting and being at Miriam's family and seeing Boquete and the SbtR school that was enough for her to cry and desperately want to go home to her parents. That remains the most sad and chilling part of this entire case for me. Having first hand info from Lisanne how panicked she was feeling there. In light of their later disappearance and death over there.. I think that Kris was made of entirely different cloth, the go-getter type who would have ushered her friend to get her shoulders under things and get going. Same with the reaction to being sent away at Aura. Lisanne sounded really down and upset, whereas Kris was like: Ok. Fine b*tch, we won't come back at all then. We will look for something else. So Kris may have fired Lisanne up a bit and make her feel like staying and trying for something else instead. Honestly, without Kris there I wonder if Lisanne would have been out of Boquete by Monday evening already, going by her mood as described in her diaries.
As for me: also in light of the work disappointments in Boquete, my feeling is that perceptive and sensitive Lisanne picked up on things not being as they should for them in Boquete right after they arrived there. She didn't have a meltdown for nothing, so soon after the happy weeks in Bocas. Her diary shows a total 180 in her mood. Nothing had really happened yet at that point. It was just meeting and being at Miriam's family and seeing Boquete and the SbtR school that was enough for her to cry and desperately want to go home to her parents. That remains the most sad and chilling part of this entire case for me. Having first hand info from Lisanne how panicked she was feeling there. In light of their later disappearance and death over there.. I think that Kris was made of entirely different cloth, the go-getter type who would have ushered her friend to get her shoulders under things and get going. Same with the reaction to being sent away at Aura. Lisanne sounded really down and upset, whereas Kris was like: Ok. Fine b*tch, we won't come back at all then. We will look for something else. So Kris may have fired Lisanne up a bit and make her feel like staying and trying for something else instead. Honestly, without Kris there I wonder if Lisanne would have been out of Boquete by Monday evening already, going by her mood as described in her diaries.
*The rabbits, local cannibals, are also named as possible perpetrators
Probably because some of the girls' bones were found relatively close to other bone fragments from animals (cows). It could be that this area was a dumping ground for used bones. One theory is that 'cannibals' found the girls, caught them and ate them, cooking some of their bones, then tossing their backpack along the river where it was found by other locals. It is purely speculation however. Primitive cannibals wouldn't bother with lime or lye though, and just cut the bones off. The cutting marks on the bones would have been detected then under the microscope (and there were no such marks found). Indigenous people from the jungle are also said to have a protected status in Panama. They can use their own local law. And in this excellent youtube video on the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne, the maker of Top Mysteries says something interesting about the Indigenous Ngobe people. He says literally: "The Ngobe people also use these trails, and they are situated about 12 hours away from the dividing stream. While the Ngobe people do tend to live in seclusion from modern society, they are friendly. I'm not sure if the Ngobe people knew of this disappearance, or even said anything about it, but I thought it was interesting to have a quick look at their folklore. Similar to legends that span across the southern Americas, the Ngobe people seem to believe that the Duende reside in the forest. This is similar to a disappearance I wrote about a while ago, in the Bolivian rainforest, where many of the local natives and tour guides actually blamed the Duende. Which was just a fascinating thing to come across. The Ngobe people think that the duende are spirits that lurk hidden in the forests and caves. They believe that they like to lure people away, especially smaller people, and hide them in the forest. And after a while, people would find the body of the missing. Now obviously I'm not making the claim that any of that is true, but I do find folklore interesting, especially when it is spread across various cultures who talk about the same thing." Alexandra Cubilla wrote: "Well I am from Panama, from Chiriquí, and most people here believe that the Indian 'rabbits' who live in the forests of Boquete got the girls and killed them. [..] This theory is widely supported by the people living in the vicinity of the Pianista Trail, and it is said that the local 'rabbits' eat humans."
*A German tourist was kidnapped and raped by three local rescue members in 2017
Interesting detail: this German tourist, Valentina, had gotten lost in the jungle of the Panamanian province of Veraguas near the El Bermejo waterfall, on a popular trail roughly 140 kilometres east of Boquete. The hostel owner where she was staying alerted the authorities after she hadn’t returned for several days. A search bloc was immediately assembled through the Joint Task Force, local authorities and villagers. José Donderis – Director of the National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc) - was also involved in the searches. Valentina was found less than 3 hours after searches began, on the fourth day of her disappearance. Task force members found her wandering along the banks of the Mulabá River. She was brought to the hospital and later told police that she had been lost for three days, but was then found by men from a search operation. Only for them to take her hostage and sexually abuse her. "Unfortunately for the tourist, the first to find her were three men from the area who were in the jungle, supposedly in rescue action but at the same time consuming alcoholic beverages. The three of them held her down and one of them sexually abused her. In addition, some of his belongings and money were stolen.” So the three locals who abused her were part of the rescue operation. When they found her, they hid her in one of the wooden sheds in the jungle and managed to keep her hidden there from the other searchers for three days. In which she was raped and abused... This brave woman managed to escape her captors by using a broken liquor bottle and whack one of the men over the head with it. Héctor Abrego, her main attacker. was hit in the head, the face and the abdomen by her. The attacker ended up in hospital due to the wounds she gave him while trying to defend herself with a broken rum bottle. If one of the three thugs hadn't been bleeding so heavily in the arm, belly and thigh that he was at risk of bleeding to death, she may never have lived to tell the tale. The others fled with him and rushed him to hospital to save his life (and indirectly hers I believe). Things may have ended very differently for this brave young woman otherwise. After her escape, she fled the area and walked along the Mulabá River where she was found by rescuers. Only three days later the three assailants were given their sentences: Héctor Abrego was sent to 15 years in prison. Emilio Virola was sent to prison for 12 years and Diómedes Abregoas well. - So not that unheard of eh? Héctor Abrego was actively searching for the missing German woman before they found her and sexually assaulted her. And she was not found by the larger search teams at that point. Just goes to show someone can actually disappear in such places, despite scores of people looking for her. And that a lone woman is never just safe, out there on her own. Makes you wonder if such type of gems also helped in the search actions for Kris and Lisanne.. And very recently an American tourist was found dead in a hostel in Boquete.
*The cases of Alex Humphrey and Catherine Johannet Crime occurs here, like in most other places in the world. There is for instance the case of an American girl called Catherine Johannet being beaten and strangled to death in Bocas del Toro, Panama in 2017. This happened just 35 miles from where Kris and Lisanne's remains were found. It turns out that she had suffered blunt-force trauma to the back of her head, and been strangled with her own beach wrap by a young man from the area. Or let's put it this way: a young man confessed to the murder. Her body appeared to have been dragged a few hundred metres from the trail and left in heavy brush. She had also gone on a short hike that day, alone, leaving most of her personal belongings behind in her hostel room. And she was also a young, attractive, slim and tall foreign woman in her early twenties. Her photos are posted a few paragraphs above from here.
ALEX HUMPHREY
Also in Aug. 2009, a British backpacker, care worker and poet named Alex Humphrey went missing in the same Boquete area, one week into a three week holiday. Here is a Facebook memorial page for him. Alex vanished from Boquete in August 2009, aged 29, after checking into a local hostel. He also hadn't been long in Boquete yet. Alex left his hostel on August 14th 2009, for a hike towards what this newspaper details as the Balneario Majagua waterfall, approximately 4 kilometres away. He has never been seen again since. An experienced hiker, his family believes he was a victim of a crime. Despite several police searches, a Panamanian media campaign and the offer of a $5,000 reward, no clues to his whereabouts have emerged. Just like Kris and Lisanne, he just vanished into thin air apparently. Not even a single bone of Alex has ever been brought back until this date. Which makes some people think he may have run into a criminal gang of sorts, used for his organs perhaps, but most certainly made to disappear for good. No body, no murder case, after all. Dutch Ambassador in Panama Wiebe de Boer made the shocking comment that 'Alex was autistic most likely, so well' ... there you go. His mother confirmed that Alex had high functioning Asperger Syndrome, and that he had travelled solo since his teens. Previously he had also backpacked through Europe and the United States without any problems, so his parents were not worried about their son's 3 week Panama backpack holiday. This is an excellent article and it's horrible these poor relatives have nothing to go on. No body, no bones, no witnesses really, nothing. Alex' mother said about this: "It is very difficult because all possible hypotheses have been investigated. If Alex had been abducted, ransom would have been requested. In a wrong robbery, his body should have been found a long time ago already, because the perpetrators are not going to drag with a corpse, or so the Panamanian organization that coordinated the search told us at least." His parents consider an accident along the way the most likely scenario, but Sinaproc told them this is not an option for them, because they would have found Alex then during their many extensive search operations. And they did not.. So all that is left for the family is that Alex was at the wrong place at the wrong time, or got into the wrong type of adventure (aka: foul play). - In the press and in Panama, journalists long referred to his mild Aspergers (autism), as if that would be the reason why he just left off, never to be seen again. But it seems that he just went for a hike: all his belongings were still in his hostel, and his parents know that Alex would never just leave them behind. Some shocking passages from that article stand out for me: "The Humphrey family then turned to Greater Manchester Police but officers were blocked from travelling to Panama by authorities in the country. “I think permission was refused on the basis that no crime had been committed, that it was just a missing persons report,” Denver said. The Panamanians didn’t want to admit a crime could have been committed in case it killed tourism.” The Humphreys now rely on quarterly checks made by the Foreign Office on their behalf to see if there is new information on Alex’s whereabouts. There hasn’t been any."
INTERVIEW WITH ALEX HUMPHREY'S FATHER
Missing Alex Humphrey's father gave an interview. In the video below, you will find an interview with missing Alex Humphrey's father from April 15th, 2014. He told Dutch TV program 'Een Vandaag': 'This is history repeating itself. The circumstances are so chillingly the same. In a small village where everybody knows everybody". "The thing which does really concern me, is that it's the same pattern, and the same belief that the police are doing all they can. Whereas in fact all they do is produce thick reports. So I don't have much faith in the Panamanian police. They are very good at appearing active, but in fact are very low on results." "One of things they did, is that they found a badly burned body. We had given DNA samples. It took them 12 months to proof that that body wasn't our son. -So 12 months you were thinking... 'It could be. Yeh. 12 months".
ALEX HUMPHREY
Also in Aug. 2009, a British backpacker, care worker and poet named Alex Humphrey went missing in the same Boquete area, one week into a three week holiday. Here is a Facebook memorial page for him. Alex vanished from Boquete in August 2009, aged 29, after checking into a local hostel. He also hadn't been long in Boquete yet. Alex left his hostel on August 14th 2009, for a hike towards what this newspaper details as the Balneario Majagua waterfall, approximately 4 kilometres away. He has never been seen again since. An experienced hiker, his family believes he was a victim of a crime. Despite several police searches, a Panamanian media campaign and the offer of a $5,000 reward, no clues to his whereabouts have emerged. Just like Kris and Lisanne, he just vanished into thin air apparently. Not even a single bone of Alex has ever been brought back until this date. Which makes some people think he may have run into a criminal gang of sorts, used for his organs perhaps, but most certainly made to disappear for good. No body, no murder case, after all. Dutch Ambassador in Panama Wiebe de Boer made the shocking comment that 'Alex was autistic most likely, so well' ... there you go. His mother confirmed that Alex had high functioning Asperger Syndrome, and that he had travelled solo since his teens. Previously he had also backpacked through Europe and the United States without any problems, so his parents were not worried about their son's 3 week Panama backpack holiday. This is an excellent article and it's horrible these poor relatives have nothing to go on. No body, no bones, no witnesses really, nothing. Alex' mother said about this: "It is very difficult because all possible hypotheses have been investigated. If Alex had been abducted, ransom would have been requested. In a wrong robbery, his body should have been found a long time ago already, because the perpetrators are not going to drag with a corpse, or so the Panamanian organization that coordinated the search told us at least." His parents consider an accident along the way the most likely scenario, but Sinaproc told them this is not an option for them, because they would have found Alex then during their many extensive search operations. And they did not.. So all that is left for the family is that Alex was at the wrong place at the wrong time, or got into the wrong type of adventure (aka: foul play). - In the press and in Panama, journalists long referred to his mild Aspergers (autism), as if that would be the reason why he just left off, never to be seen again. But it seems that he just went for a hike: all his belongings were still in his hostel, and his parents know that Alex would never just leave them behind. Some shocking passages from that article stand out for me: "The Humphrey family then turned to Greater Manchester Police but officers were blocked from travelling to Panama by authorities in the country. “I think permission was refused on the basis that no crime had been committed, that it was just a missing persons report,” Denver said. The Panamanians didn’t want to admit a crime could have been committed in case it killed tourism.” The Humphreys now rely on quarterly checks made by the Foreign Office on their behalf to see if there is new information on Alex’s whereabouts. There hasn’t been any."
INTERVIEW WITH ALEX HUMPHREY'S FATHER
Missing Alex Humphrey's father gave an interview. In the video below, you will find an interview with missing Alex Humphrey's father from April 15th, 2014. He told Dutch TV program 'Een Vandaag': 'This is history repeating itself. The circumstances are so chillingly the same. In a small village where everybody knows everybody". "The thing which does really concern me, is that it's the same pattern, and the same belief that the police are doing all they can. Whereas in fact all they do is produce thick reports. So I don't have much faith in the Panamanian police. They are very good at appearing active, but in fact are very low on results." "One of things they did, is that they found a badly burned body. We had given DNA samples. It took them 12 months to proof that that body wasn't our son. -So 12 months you were thinking... 'It could be. Yeh. 12 months". Manchester police wanted to travel to Panama, to help with the search, but were refused to do so by Panamanian authorities. 'They were stopped'.
"A private detective managed to gather more information than the police could. Denver believes that help from your own country is essential. 'In Panama it is my impression, that policing is 20 years behind anything in Europe. They don't have the technical abilities. They don't have the foresight and intelligence to follow things in the way in which I know the Dutch police do very successfully.' Manchester police wanted to travel to Panama, to help with the search, but were refused to do so by Panamanian authorities. 'They were stopped'. Several times. 'Yes. Nobody could change their mind.' And the embassy's couldn't help on that, or wouldn't help on that. I have every reason to suspect that the same is happening now with the Dutch police.' But Dutch police says in a reaction, that they for now have no reason to travel to Panama. 'We have seen what they [the authorities] do there, and how they do it. That's going perfect. We have trust that they have done everything that's in their power... And that we ourselves cannot do a better job. So for us, there is no reason to go to Panama."
ALEX' MUM WEIGHS INAlex' mother, Gill Humphrey, wrote on on online forum: "We heard yesterday that the Panamanian Government has refused to issue an invitation to the British police to go to Panama to collect evidence for a UK inquest. "5 months totally wasted, when we could have had a Private Investigator filling in the gaps in the ‘comprehensive investigation’. Nothing done in all that time, because we thought that the police were going out there. All that time wasted because it takes 5 months for the Panamanian Government to make and communicate their decision. Alex was a human being: he deserved better. There’s nothing we can do, but if you can afford the time and the price of a stamp, you could make your feelings known to the Panamanian Ambassador in London – Sr. Gilberto Arias, Panama House, 40 Hertford Street, London W1J 7SH. It won’t change their minds – too much face would be lost – but it might make you feel better, and it would certainly make me feel better. All I can say is that we feel Alex has been completely betrayed by the system. What seemed like a promising collaboration between two local police forces pooling their expertise, has been sabotaged by desk-bound diplomats. We tried, but they beat us.”
UPDATE FROM ALEX' MUM
Alex' mother, Gill Humphrey, wrote in August 2016: "Tomorrow is Alex's birthday. It is now seven years since he disappeared, and I promise you that not one day has gone by when we have not thought about him with love and with pride. The authorities in Panama are no longer supplying the Foreign Office with any information. I do not know if they still compare my DNA with that of any unidentified bodies they find, but I doubt it. There is no more we can do. And so it is time to draw some sort of line. Andrew and I are going to begin proceedings for a Declaration of Presumption of Death - which is like losing him all over again. And I don't think I will write on this site again unless a miracle happens. I want to thank every one of you both here and in Panama for the support you have given us over the past seven years. But especially, I want to thank Matt Searle of the charity Missing Abroad who has been with us every step of the way. For one last time, please raise a glass tonight and wish Alex 'Happy Birthday'. Love and best wishes to all, Gill/D."
Alex' mother, Gill Humphrey, wrote in August 2016: "Tomorrow is Alex's birthday. It is now seven years since he disappeared, and I promise you that not one day has gone by when we have not thought about him with love and with pride. The authorities in Panama are no longer supplying the Foreign Office with any information. I do not know if they still compare my DNA with that of any unidentified bodies they find, but I doubt it. There is no more we can do. And so it is time to draw some sort of line. Andrew and I are going to begin proceedings for a Declaration of Presumption of Death - which is like losing him all over again. And I don't think I will write on this site again unless a miracle happens. I want to thank every one of you both here and in Panama for the support you have given us over the past seven years. But especially, I want to thank Matt Searle of the charity Missing Abroad who has been with us every step of the way. For one last time, please raise a glass tonight and wish Alex 'Happy Birthday'. Love and best wishes to all, Gill/D."
WE BELIEVE WE NOW KNOW HOW ALEX DIED
And Gill updated in November 2016: "We believe we now know how Alex died. He was riding on a flat-bed truck, fell off and received fatal head injuries. The driver panicked and drove down to the coast and left Alex where the ocean could take him. No space here to tell you how we know: there is no proof, but in my heart I believe it is so. Not the outcome we all hoped for but better than some we had imagined. We will love and miss him every day of our lives, but we must all move forward. It's what Alex would have wanted. Thank you for your support and God bless you all, Gill"
"Departing Panama only a few days.
After you arrived at your hostel.
Like a river crossing warrior in your sandals.
Your smile hiding a welcome escape.
For what awaited when you came home.
Of course, however, you never came back.
Disappearing after only a few days.
Leaving clues all over your room.
Your wardrobe and your bed.
Devoured in an unsolved mystery.
Breaking your neck. Rumours unofficially claim.
Falling off a van a few miles out.
Plaited in tragedy in seconds.
And the panic of a terrified driver.
Casting out a shaken plea.
All the way down to the ocean.
Sundered alone in the dawning grey.
Dead within seconds of falling off that van.
And laid into the waves like a feather.
Leaving the truth as a matter of rumours.
ILLUSTRATIVE OF PANAMA'S LAZY APPROACH
I post this much about Alex Humphrey, because we are talking about another poorly researched and unsolved missing (tourist) person case here in Boquete. As Power-Pixie wrote me in this respect: "Just the above mentioned manner in which Panama conducts its lazy approach towards doing anything concerning real investigations into people who go missing. With Kris and Lisanne they had no choice but to wake up and do something, due to the manner in which the case became so widespread.However I believe similar tactics were used to test and overcome the parents’ resolve to pursue the case, with the Froons just buying into Pitti’s theories in order to give themselves closure. Similar to the Humphreys family - they were exhausted. The Kremers still persisted, but once they left, you know how Panamanians fell asleep at the wheel." - Well said. This is not a one-off, but a systematic downplaying of local crime and systematic underwhelming police work in Boquete and surroundings. Not to mention the rude manner in which the relatives of slain or disappeared tourists are being treated by the Panamanian officials. They were just 'unlucky' with the way in which the Kris and Lisanne case blew up in the international media; something which did not happen with the Alex Humphrey case. And as Dave Mullen said: "It's a very common tactic. Stonewalling until the complainants drop from exhaustion and become disillusioned, then admit defeat...".
GUNA CRIMEAnd in another part of Panama, Guna Yala, 'pirates' have attacked a family from New Zealand - Alan en Derryn Culverwell and their two twin children - on their boat, approached them on their boat, killed the father (apparently shot him, although there is also mentioning in other newspapers that he was stabbed) and seriously injured the mother and one of the children with a machete, early May 2019. Three local Guna people have been arrested now. The local media were quick to state that Guna's were never before linked to a crime like this, but forgot to mention that a 28 year old female Italian tourist was killed by Guna people, in the province of Chiriqui again. Her name was Lidia Santoni. She was violently beaten and strangled and then dumped in the sea, trying to make it look like she accidentally drowned. During autopsy it was found that she was hit savagely on the head and body with a blunt object before she died. Not all Panamanians are said to be equally happy with the influx of tourists, foreign volunteers and expats in their region. Foreigners buying their land, putting dams in the water and taking away their local jobs. Alcoholism is apparently also a problem in the country. But local girls have also gone missing in Panama of course (like in any country). Here you can read for instance about the disappearance of Rosa María Robles Martínez (16 years old), who left her family's house in Pedregal, David to go to family in Dolega. All that is known is that a taxi passed her by and after that, nothing was seen or heard from her. Her body was later found near a private property near Alanje. And Connie Madeleine Cianca Córdoba (15 years) left her family home on the 12th of November 2017 in David to go to Boquete to meet someone she met through social media, but she never arrived there and nothing has been found of her. In 2018 Panama had a recorded (so not total) amount of 172 murders in 5 months.
PIANISTA TRAIL ROBBERY IN 2014
Near the end of 2014, an American tourist couple was robbed at gunpoint on the Pianista Trail, on the same stretch which Kris and Lisanne walked. While walking on the Pianista trail above La Pianista restaurant in Palo Alto. In collaboration with the victims, who had since left the country, a private investigation was conducted, which resulted in the identification of two suspects, whose names were handed over to the police by Alto al Crimen. Unfortunately, because the victims had already left the country and because only untraceable cash was taken from them, no further action was possible at the time. Since then, the home of Carol and Tom Hurst was broken into in the same neighborhood, and a failed break-in was attempted of the Rock Restaurant. And a few weeks later another tourist couple was robbed at gunpoint on the same trail. These victims reported the incident to the police, and immediately the previous suspects were brought in and positively identified. Unfortunately, the victims also had to leave the country before they could testify and the suspects were let go and allowed to run free again. In addition: the two turned out to be two brothers who lived along the Pianista Trail, or so I read. Also, a woman has been physically attacked nearby the Pianista Restaurant, several burglaries took place (example of an armed robbery here) and several foreigners living nearby have been murdered. And that is only for the year 2014, there has been a lot more crime in the years prior. It is clear however that known criminals walking around in Boquete, of which police know that they have committed crimes in the past, who either were or were not prosecuted. Another example: August 8, 2012. BREAK-INS – PALO ALTO LOOP AREA. "Unfortunately, over the last two weeks, we have seen an eruption of break-ins on the Palo Alto loop between The Rock restaurant and the area of the Palo Alto bridge. We can confirm the following: About a week ago, a single female walking on the road was assaulted in the vicinity of la Pianista restaurant. She was attacked from behind by a male Panamanian 15-19 years old, but was able to kick him in the genitals and scream, which ended the attack. Apparently the objective was to steal her backpack, which commonly have laptop computers in them."
MORE MURDERS AND DISAPPEARANCES IN THE BOQUETE REGIONAnd here are photos and stories from local women in the Boquete region (province of Chiriqui) who were murdered or who disappeared. This local newspaper quotes a report from the Public Prosecution Service, stating that in 2014 alone 51 people disappeared in Chiriqui. Italian Cristiano Zeviani was declared missing on May 10th, 2016, in a place very close to Boquete, namely David in the (same) province of Chiriqui. His empty car was found, but there was no trace of the wealthy businessman (and said to be a record producer on some sites) and heir from a rich family from Turin ever since. He had been living and working in real estate in the Chiriqui region for several years, and left his house on May 10th to show clients some houses in the area that were for sale. In this article from 2018, updates are given on the case. The Panamanian police have been investigating whether or not he was murdered, but no breakthrough has come and some people speculate that the 51-year old is still alive. His wife Marcella (a singer from Milan) is now pleading with the Italian government to bring more evidence in this case. The article also reveals some known details of this case: Cristiano's SUV car was found with its doors closed and all four tires slashed. Blood spores were found on the door handle. Cristiano is also said to have acted strangely in the days before his disappearance, according to his wife. He seemed more on edge, angry and to give signs that he felt his life was in danger. In the days prior he had increased the security of his villa with camera surveillance and dogs. She didn't know who he was afraid of, specifically, however... And the journalist of the article states that two years after Cristiano's disappearance, several strange things have taken place. Two anonymous phone calls (a female voice) have been received by Panamanian police about the place where his body is said to be buried. He was claimed to have been buried "on an open spot close to his home; you dig and you will find him." Nothing was found however. A self proclaimed friend of Cristiano emptied - absurdly enough - one of his apartments and took all his belongings out, claiming to have gotten the task from his mother to look after Cristiano. And a Sicilian convict called the family to say that Cristiano was taken hostage by people with whom Cristiano had been in the real estate business (including a Panamanian lawyer), after their cooperation turned out to be a swindle, which didn't end well for him. People wanted money from him. The inmate-friend could tell that Cristiano had had an appointment with a woman on the day he disappeared, regarding a big business deal. Also real estate has been sold in his name. His wife found falsified documents, dated after the day her husband disappeared, trying to sell her husband's land illegally. Not only Cristiano's (falsified) handwriting was under it, but also that of a notary. Yet upon questioning this notary said that he knew nothing about the document and never gave his handwriting for it. Of course, those who supposedly were buying the missing man's property were interrogated by Panamanian officials. Nothing came out of it. We only know that someone has pretended to be Cristiano and tried to sell his property after he went missing. And when his wife went to Panama to check on the property that was her own by now, she was welcomed by gun shots from local farmers, the article states. Obviously she thinks her husband's disappearance is linked to foul play, and that someone is trying to snatch his property. After all, a woman pretending to be a Panamanian lawyer had already extracted several thousands of dollars from Cristiano's family, promising information in return. That never came and the woman vanished after cashing in.
On the other hand there are people who think that Cristiano voluntarily went off radar, and is hiding for someone. But Panamanian investigators are convinced that he was murdered. Nevertheless not a single breakthrough has been made in this case in over three years. Interestingly, in the Kris and Lisanne case people regularly came with the argument that the girls could not have run into foul play 'because their phones and wallet weren't taken off of them'. In this case, the victim Cristiano didn't get his SUV car stolen either. Whomever made him disappear had therefore no interest in his car... Showing us that criminals can have other motives. Lust to name one, rape and abuse cravings. Revenge possibly. Or interest in someone's real estate and lands, instead of a meager car. And leaving the stranded car out there (just like leaving the backpack and phones and wallet out there) then helps to create a vague trail away from a crime motive. Cristiano may have encountered flat tires and taken a lift.... he may have continued on foot. None of that can be excluded after the third party responsible for his disappearance allowed it to stay there. Fingerprints and DNA samples are thrown out the window by police anyway in the Chiriqui district.
USELESS
Another returning thing in both cases; his wife also deems Panamanian officials "useless" in the investigation, and thinks they wasted two years of precious time with their investigation which left her with no news. This is a particularly dirty case. It took place relatively close 'to Boquete and it also never got solved. Panamanian officials are also said to have been 'useless' here, despite having so many things to latch onto: a car with slashed tires, a falsified sales document, a person who signed it illegally, a person who officially wanted to buy this missing man's land, a notary who was involved. Yet, nothing came out of it. And the diplomatic powers of the victims homeland (Italy here, The Netherlands in our story) are left frustrated yet powerless to change anything. Sounds familiar. Another case in "peaceful Boquete" that is not getting solved. And there are many, many, many, many more.. An American engineer (24) found murdered in Boquete. (I mean, he slipped of course.. Can happen.. Or maybe suicide, at best), sparking local expats in Boquete to wonder out loud on message boards: "Another murder? Do we have a serial killer in or around Boquete? How many times now has this happened? And what has been the outcome? Nobody caught, nobody in jail except the gringo nutcase Wild Bill who was caught by the NIca military after he passed untouched all the way thru milksop Costa Rica.........." And one Dutch traveller went to Boquete also, about a month after Kris and Lisanne had gone missing, and wrote: "May 4th 2014, just found paradise: Bocas del Toro in Panama! Complete with tropical fish (and private service!). May 6th 2014, arrived in Boquete. And then you see the desperation everywhere.... Sad.. Trekking in the surroundings of Boquete was cancelled; appears too dangerous after all, because of secret drugs laboratories in the jungle... May 7th 2014, bizarre; everybody here in Boquete avoids discussing the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. May 8th 2014, we're getting out of here! The past years several children and tourists have been murdered here in Boquete for the organ crime trade. And this is the travel advice the UK gives about Boquete: "If you’re hiking in the hills of the town of Boquete in the Province of Chiriqui, you should do so with an experienced guide. Don’t go hiking without taking the necessary precautions."
USELESS
Another returning thing in both cases; his wife also deems Panamanian officials "useless" in the investigation, and thinks they wasted two years of precious time with their investigation which left her with no news. This is a particularly dirty case. It took place relatively close 'to Boquete and it also never got solved. Panamanian officials are also said to have been 'useless' here, despite having so many things to latch onto: a car with slashed tires, a falsified sales document, a person who signed it illegally, a person who officially wanted to buy this missing man's land, a notary who was involved. Yet, nothing came out of it. And the diplomatic powers of the victims homeland (Italy here, The Netherlands in our story) are left frustrated yet powerless to change anything. Sounds familiar. Another case in "peaceful Boquete" that is not getting solved. And there are many, many, many, many more.. An American engineer (24) found murdered in Boquete. (I mean, he slipped of course.. Can happen.. Or maybe suicide, at best), sparking local expats in Boquete to wonder out loud on message boards: "Another murder? Do we have a serial killer in or around Boquete? How many times now has this happened? And what has been the outcome? Nobody caught, nobody in jail except the gringo nutcase Wild Bill who was caught by the NIca military after he passed untouched all the way thru milksop Costa Rica.........." And one Dutch traveller went to Boquete also, about a month after Kris and Lisanne had gone missing, and wrote: "May 4th 2014, just found paradise: Bocas del Toro in Panama! Complete with tropical fish (and private service!). May 6th 2014, arrived in Boquete. And then you see the desperation everywhere.... Sad.. Trekking in the surroundings of Boquete was cancelled; appears too dangerous after all, because of secret drugs laboratories in the jungle... May 7th 2014, bizarre; everybody here in Boquete avoids discussing the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne. May 8th 2014, we're getting out of here! The past years several children and tourists have been murdered here in Boquete for the organ crime trade. And this is the travel advice the UK gives about Boquete: "If you’re hiking in the hills of the town of Boquete in the Province of Chiriqui, you should do so with an experienced guide. Don’t go hiking without taking the necessary precautions."
KILLINGS, ROBBERY AND KIDNAPPING ARE RAMPANTSlashed tires and subsequent crime is something you read more often about in Latin American countries. For instance in the case of the murdered Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear, who also died in 2014. "Former Miss Venezuela and her ex-husband were shot and killed and their 5-year-old daughter wounded when they resisted robbers by locking themselves inside their car after tire punctures disabled it on an isolated stretch of highway. The slaying of Monica Spear, 29, a popular soap-opera actress, and Thomas Henry Berry, a 39-year-old British citizen, was the latest high-profile crime in a country where killings are common in armed robberies and where rampant kidnapping has ensnared even foreign ambassadors and professional baseball players. Monday's killings followed a pattern in Venezuela of late-night assaults carried out by disabling cars with obstacles placed on roadways or by removing sewer covers. Spear and Berry were returning from vacation to Caracas on a badly maintained stretch of highway that is lightly travelled at that hour. Their four-door sedan hit "a sharp object that had been placed on the highway" which punctured at least two of its tires, the director of the country's investigative police, Jose Gregorio Sierralta, told reporters. Two tow trucks arrived almost immediately afterward, said Sierralta, and the attack occurred after the car had been lifted onto one of the trucks. Seeing the assailants coming, the travellers locked themselves inside and the assailants fired at least six shots, he said. "They fired with viciousness," President Nicolas Maduro said of the attackers in comments to state TV. Police in Puerto Cabello arrested five suspects, some under the age of 18, Sierralta added. It could not immediately be determined if Spear and Berry had called the tow trucks, or if any of the drivers were among those arrested for suspected involvement in the killings."
TOURIST GETS RAPED IN BOCAS AND THEN MISTREATED BY POLICEAnd this is a rather chilling blog entry from a tourist who encountered a rapist in Bocas del Toro in 2016, and describes what atrocious police treatment she got and how she was sabotaged consistently. Part 2 of her story can be read here. "The two sides of the dubious paradise called "Bocas del Toro". I wanted to like Bocas del Toro. I was sure it was going to be a simple task. Who would not be fooled by those long beaches of fine sand delineated by coconut trees on one side and a blue Caribbean Sea on the other? [..] But, sometimes, the place is not the physical space itself, but what happens to you in it. And what happened to me in Bocas del Toro ruined everything. [..] It's so hard for me to separate Bocas del Toro, as a beautiful tourist space with palm trees, fine sand beaches and postcard islands, with the dark, shameful and horrible experience I had. I am going to tell you the two faces of Bocas del Toro according to my two impressions in those 6 days I spent there." This blogger then goes on to describe how she met two German sisters, aged 21 and 23, that noon in her hostel. They don't speak English very well, but it becomes quickly clear that one of them, Ruth, is in a bad state. "For the first time Ruth leaves her mummy posture on the bed and turns on her side, almost in a fetal position, and looks into the eyes of her older sister. Julianne confesses: "They raped Ruth last night." My breathing stopped. I looked at Julianne and seconds later at Ruth. "Where? Who?" Ruth told her in very basic English the bare minimum, without going into details. It turns out that a certain Diego from Venezuela who worked in the Coconut hostel had done it. It had happened the night before in the room she shared with five other people. Ruth had gone to sleep after chatting and drinking a bit with a group of travellers on the terrace of the hostel. When she lay down on the bed, there was no one else in the room. She didn't know how much time passed until she woke up suddenly and very confused. There was a person on top of her, penetrating her. She tried to push the man away forcefully. She saw his face and recognized him. He was one of the Venezuelan guys who were helping out in the hostel: he painted in exchange for bed and breakfast. She managed to get up and flee to another part of the hostel, crying.
Then this blogger goes on to tell how she could not stay passive like the sisters, but felt a burning drive to confront the local police, who had in fact been called for the German girl, but who had only noted down Ruth's story, without sending her to a medical facility for evidence and general inspection. Secondly, the rapist was still free to move in the hostel and she feared he would attack another innocent girl again the next nights if police didn't arrest him. So she goes to the police herself.. But she ran into a lot of walls of unwillingness, ranging from the hostel staff who were afraid and who wanted her to forget about the whole thing, right up until the local police, who played mind games with her. She was told by the hostel staff to lower her voice and not to scare the hostel guests. They said the police was involved and that was all that could be done. And asked her to leave. Then she calls the police agent who talked to Ruth prior, a certain Antonio. She calls him and tells him that she knows who is the rapist and where he is, and to please come to pick him up. Antonio the police agent in return tells her to stay out of this and that it is none of her business. Then before he cuts off the line, he tells her to come to the police station. When she arrives there, she is mocked by other policemen: they tell her Antonio is not present. He knows nothing, he cannot refer her to anyone and he does nothing with her story. When she gets emotional and asks him if he has no sister of mother and that a rapist is walking the street freely, he laughs in her face. Antonio himself knows of no crime whatsoever and another policeman tells her that Diego is a friend of him and a 'good kid'. When she speaks to locals, it becomes clear to her that police do nothing with these crimes, especially not when it involves tourists. Young female tourists who don't speak Spanish properly and who are about to leave the country again are preferred targets for sexual crimes. And everyone she speaks knows about these things; knew about men like Diego. Nobody did (or could do) a thing. Police apparently protected the locals and everybody there knew about it, but kept their mouths shut due to the risks of speaking out. Although Diego the Venezuelan does get jailed eventually.
Local Boquete expat Lee Zeltzer wrote an ominous blog post
Lee Zeltzer was a local in Boquete. An American ex-pat who was involved in a local anti-crime unit. Once the news broke about the disappearance of Kris and Lisanne, lee came to action right away and conducted a lot of early interviews with people living on the Pianista trail, trying to find out more. He wrote an ominous and telling blog post on April 3rs 2014. He stated that: "Panama has an old Civil Code, under the criminal law you are presumed guilty unless proven innocent. This very concept when correctly employed means that police and prosecutors should have a very strong case to arrest anyone. In Panama this seems to have gone to extremes that unless the police witness a crime it is virtually impossible to have someone arrested. This scores a lot of points for the criminals, particularly white-collar crime, which is seemingly beyond comprehension in Panama. I want to focus on what seems to be a growing issue in all of Panama, violent crime. This past week there was an armed robbery at Fletes Chevales in Boquete, something unheard of in the past. There was one more murder in David, this one of an eighty year old radio reporter who recently denounced gang violence on his program. Gangs are growing in Panama, gang violence is growing and there are reasons; immunity with impunity. The governor of the Province of Chiriqui has announced a curfew for minors in an effort to curtail increasing problems. [..] One reason to try prevention is that minors are almost never prosecuted under the law in Panama. A minor can kill and will too often walk away. Politically connected people are virtually free of prosecution in Panama. Those who threaten prosecutors can escape prosecution. Here, too often the Criminal is more powerful than the law; reminiscent of Al Capone is old Chicago. Many might remember the armed robbery near Coronado that prompted the creation of an organization, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, (NHN) in the beach area. In that robbery people were beaten and robbed in a hotel. Despite a photo of one of the perpetrators taken with a stolen Iphone and sent up to iCloud, the prosecutor refused to do anything. Later the NHN group involved the National government. Meetings were held and the community and was told action would be taken. They were told the prosecutor would be fired and replaced, they arrested the alleged perpetrators and then… Here is a quote from a recent email from the NHN group, bolding is from the email, not me. “The icing on the cake for NHN members was the announcement that despite the Attorney General’s promises of serious action – and our filing of a lawsuit against him – the prosecutor in San Carlos was not fired or removed from his post – his punishment was three days suspension without pay! [..] The DIJ often does not show up when called, or if they do show up, they perform a perfunctory investigation, and any evidence taken at the scene is either lost or discarded by the prosecutor – as in the case of two Canadians attacked and robbed at gunpoint in their home in Coronado – they had to walk to the police, then to the DIJ as the robbers stole their car – and then the fingerprints they insisted the DIJ take were mysteriously lost and the case closed by the prosecutor in San Carlos without any investigation". You can read all of Lee's blog posts about this disappearance of Kris and Lisanne in this separate blog post I made about his work. And Suzanne Miller Moreno wrote on April 8, 2014 (so a week after Kris and Lisanne went missing) about local gangs murdering a young lad in Boquete. She also refers to 4 youth held in jail, which may be the same 4 who were at that time interrogated by Boquete police over the Kris and Lisanne disappearance: "I am unhappy to report the death of a young man Friday who was robbed of $300 by gang members here. I will be able to tell more about this after the forensic report which the policia will give tomorrow. He was beaten to death with rocks and died a horrible death. This is all I can say as I knew him when he was 14 and had always been a great help to me with bathing and rough housing with Tigger who loved him very much as I did. I will add more information when I am up to it as I am very upset right now. He was a good boy who loved his mother and worked hard to help her. This was a local gang known to the police here. Perhaps someone should have a talk with the four who are in jail, plus the other two girls involved."
And this is a gruesome statement from forum member Skidawayme from Boquete, about the deranged cruelty of some local young men in Boquete: (Quote) "I've debated whether to mention this or not. [..] There have been references every now and then to a possible psycho killing Kris and Lisanne, but usually to debunk the notion. I work with a Boquete animal welfare group and there have been 2 instances of severe animal cruelty here in the last 6 months or so. Both times it involved dogs and both times they were horrendously mutilated. One dog had to be put to sleep; the other was saved after intensive medical intervention. In both instances, the conclusions of the vet, the rescuers and, I believe though I'm not certain, the police, were that more than one person had to have been involved in order to hold down the dog while the other person used the machete. In the States, this kind of behavior is a marker for later violence against people. Certainly, it takes psychopathic behavior to disembowel one dog and horribly cut another. We do have in Boquete two young men capable of unimaginable violence against helpless animals. So -- how likely is it that there is a sick psychopath here? Answer for yourselves. sk" - So.. who are these two young men? Is one the son of the tour guide, described by some other locals as pretty psychologically 'different'? He has posted some provocative stuff on his social media accounts, from a video of someone hacking off his penis, to pictures of himself posing behind a knocked out/sleeping woman covered in ashes from a fireplace, mimicking to hack her head off with a stick. Skidawayma also replied: "I only told the story to address the question of how likely it would be for our small town and surrounding area to have a psychopath in residence. I think I've answered that. We have at least one and probably two. [..] Actually, if there were a crime in the girls' case, I'd think it highly unlikely they'd use machetes, at least initially. Too unwieldy. I can see rape, beating, strangulation, THEN I can see using the machetes to dismember the bodies. Remember, 28 bones have been found out of a total of 412 (206 per human adult) and none of them, I believe, are where you might cut apart a body. [..] I asked my surgeon husband how the foot could have separated from the rest of the body and he said there's no way except cutting or severe abrasion (the river scenario). I grilled him a bit more and he did say later that an explosion might do it, too. :bombshell:"Next video is an interview with the father of Kris, which aired on July 25th, 2014. He has doubts about the theory that his daughter got lost. I added subtitles in English:
What was the weather like during the first week of their disappearance?Here you can see stats of the weather in the first weeks of April 2014 in Boquete, Panama. It was warm in the first week of April, 2014 in Boquete Panama. During the day temperatures rose to an average of 33 degrees Celsius (91 F.) according to this weather site, and at night it would drop to around 24 degrees (75 F.), sometimes higher. However, these temperatures are for Boquete, the little town. In the cloud forest higher up, where the girls climbed to, the temperatures are cooler. Sometimes as much as 12 to 14 degrees cooler, this article states. But usually the temperatures are only about 4 to 5 degrees cooler up on the Divide than in Boquete. In the tropical forest north of Boquete the weather also quickly changes and there is often quite a bit of wind, making it potentially cold at night and in higher parts. On websleuths, a local says that these weather forecasts are often incorrect and that in Boquete temperatures rarely exceed 26 degrees Celsius/80 Fahrenheit. And that normal temperatures there are 21C/70F during the day and 15,5C/60F at night. So it won't be as warm as indicated by the weather station archives likely, although the first week of April 2014 was said to be a week with extraordinarily nice weather, something we also see back on the photos taken by Kris and Lisanne. But even a temperature of 15,5C/60F at night would have chilled Kris and Lisanne to the bone, as they had little clothes on, had little to no food and were tired most likely. Now, the site I checked when I wrote this blog post indicated more detailed info, but it is no longer accessible now and the only other info I can find is here. But I first wrote this paragraph down based on the info from the initial site: On April 3rd, around 17:00, first light rain is said to have started, going by that data. But in any case there was rain on Friday April 4th, starting in the afternoon and lasting throughout the evening/night. On April 8th, there again was more rain with some thunder, but that lasted only a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening. But the photos taken on the night of April 8th also show rain drops, something that's not reflected in the weather forecast. So perhaps the rain continued overnight, behind the mountains that separate Boquete from the forests. In the Dutch media, Lisanne's brother stated that it already started to rain heavily on April 2nd, so the day after the girls started their walk and didn't return to their host family. But this appears to be incorrect. And overall it was dry weather with warm temperatures this first week of April 2014. It had been unusually dry in Boquete for a long time already, certainly for weeks, making the rivers shallow and calm and the trail dry and without mud. - Update: Power Pixie also found some more historical meteorological sites with the weather data for the first week(s) of April 2014 in Boquete and in Bocas del Toro. This site indicates there was only rain on April 8th between 02:00 - 04:00 AM. Which seems to match the time and rain drops visible in the night photos.
And in this interesting hitchhike post, the unnamed author spoke to people in Boquete and came with chilling information January 23rd, 2018
"The Lost Girls of Panama were two Dutch women who went for a hike up the Pianista Trail in 2014 and never came back to Boquete. Their scattered remains were found many weeks later. Reading the available literature online, you would conclude that they got lost in the jungle, perhaps injured from a fall, and never emerged from the thick mountainous jungle. But foul play is suspected. And according to one expat who gave me a ride, investigators discovered some bone fragments that had clearly been sawed into pieces and doused with bleach. He claimed that a group of 5 or 6 indigenous Panamanians was likely to blame, and that they have all been forced to leave Panama in the years since the incident. It may seem like a conspiracy theory, but this is a fact: weeks after the bones were found, one of the girls’ backpacks appeared miraculously in one of the nearby indigenous villages – and the woman who found it swore it had not been there the previous day. The backpack had the girls’ phone, passport, wallet, etc. So yes, clearly someone who had possession of the backpack had decided to return it anonymously. Or simply consider the extreme negative impact that the Lost Dutch Girls had on Panamanian tourism. And my experience with Panamanian tourism and government officials is that they will lie in order to maintain a positive image of Panama. Is it possible that the medical examiner lied in his report on the bones, omitting the part about bleach and sawed-off edges? Regardless, Boqueteños today continue to handle this tragedy in a childish manner. They discourage anyone from even hiking the first few miles of the Pianista Trail, which is the most beautiful trail in all of Boquete, Volcano Trail included."
Read here more about the many problems with a crime scenario... as well as with a lost scenario!
.jpg)
I have read all the post on two 23 yr old dutch girl incident and I have no words to say.i have to say something about "guna indians" you said, please recheck your source it is just "guna".
ReplyDeleteThank you anonymous, I corrected it.
DeleteThank you Scarlet, for the most comprehensible and detailed investigation.
ReplyDeleteHi Scarlet, thanks for this blog! It's very thorough and well written. I have some thoughts about the phones and emergency calls: you can actually call emergency numbers even without sim card inside the phone. I am not entirely sure that works in Panama and with their specific phones, but generally removing phone cards wouldn't ensure the bad people that emergency calls wouldn't get through.
ReplyDeleteAlso if they changed the time and made false calls "in past or future", wouldn't it be visible in the smartphone history? I mean, the investigators know that the girls (or someone else) used weather app and made screenshots, they would certainly see that settings were changed multiple times. The same goes with charging - if the guide F. took charging cable from girls' room and charged Kris' phone, so that the battery would hold up longer, wouldn't the charging be visible in smartphone history? Both changing time and charging would make it clear that someone third meddled with the phones.
"Owing to a peculiar optical illusion, the sun here appears to rise in the West, not the East. If the women were not aware of this peculiarity, they would be pulled in the wrong direction, away from town, further into the jungle."....
ReplyDeleteI don't buy that. Whatever the sun 'appears' to be doing, most people know it actually rises in the east wherever you are on Earth and that whatever direction the sun rises in is genuinely east by default. If you wanted to head south, you head off in a direction 90 degrees to the right of the rising sun.....and 90 degrees to the left of the setting sun.
The truly mysterious part of this entire case is the sudden taking of photos, in the middle of the night, and at a location only a few miles from the Pianista summit. That does not suggest an entire week of travelling in the wrong direction. One has to ask...these are the questions people should be asking :-
1) Why take photos in the middle of the night, when it would have been daylight just a few hours later ? Why, after an entire week of no photo activity even during the day, was it suddenly necessary to take photos in the middle of the night ?
2) Some have suggested the camera was used as a source of light and that the photos were accidental. But why would they have been doing anything in the middle of the night that would have led to such a situation ? And why is there no commentary ? I mean...the Canon Powershot SX270H camera takes video too ! Something almost every commentator has overlooked.
3) What were they doing for an entire week before the night photos...and if they did travel beyond the stated route, why are there no daytime photos of that ? Why is there absolutely nothing recorded in that period ? Their camera could take video too, yet there is no 'we appear to be a bit lost' video.
All of these things together suggest foul play. The total lack of any daytime photos beyond the summit, or of any route on which they may have gotten lost. The lack of anything at all for an entire week....followed by mysterious photos in the middle of the night, and that in turn followed by nothing more. If one of the girls had died in the night, you'd expect some daytime photos the next day. My view is the night time photos were staged....to make it look as though the girls were still lost in the jungle.
Eu imagino q elas foram estupradas , assassinadas e tiveram os corpos removidos para alguma fazenda próxima. As chamadas para a emergência, as fotos noturnas, tudo não passou de pistas plantadas...assim como a mochila e os ossos encontrados depois. Quando do desaparecimento todas as propriedades próximas a trilha deveriam ter sido investigadas. É o q penso.
ReplyDeleteis that true about the photo in the sex bar of the girls...
ReplyDelete