In April 2014, the world was rocked by the enigmatic case of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, two young women who disappeared while hiking in the thick forests of Panama.
What started as an exciting adventure quickly spiraled into a nightmare, and their tale continues to haunt anyone who hears it.
Dressed in shorts and tank tops
On April 1, 2014, Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, both in their twenties and hailing from the Netherlands, embarked on a hiking trip near Boquete, Panama.
The Dutch friends wore shorts and tank tops as they departed from the village.
The only item they brought along was Lisanne’s small backpack, which contained their cell phones, a camera, and a water bottle.
They intended to be away for just a few hours.
Their hiking goal was to reach a viewpoint called Mirador in the mountains.
One of the final images of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers retrieved from one of the women’s phones / Youtube
“We’ll return before it gets dark,” they assured the woman who rented them the room.
What transpired next remains an enigma.
Six months of saving
Kris Kremers, 21, and Lisanne Froon, 22, had always dreamed of traveling the world.
Kris Kremers was recognized for her creativity, open-mindedness, and a strong sense of responsibility. In contrast, Lisanne Froon was an optimistic, intelligent young woman who had a deep love for volleyball.
Kremers had recently completed her studies in cultural social education, with a focus on art education at the University of Utrecht. Meanwhile, Froon had just graduated with a degree in applied psychology from Deventer.
Just weeks before their trip to Panama, Lisanne Froon moved in with Kris Kremers in Amersfoort, where they both worked at a local café. After saving for six months, they planned their trip to Panama as a special holiday — a graduation gift for Froon.
Their objectives were to learn Spanish, volunteer with children, and make a positive difference in the local community.
Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon arrived in Panama on March 15, 2014. After spending two weeks touring the country, they settled in Boquete, Chiriquí, on March 29 to stay with a local family and volunteer with children for a month.
On April 1, around 11:00 AM, they went hiking on the El Pianista trail near the clouded forests surrounding the Baru volcano, just outside Boquete.
With their host family’s dog accompanying them, they set off to explore the area. However, just hours after saying goodbye to their host family, they vanished without a trace.
Their disappearance wasn’t immediately noticeable. That evening, their host family became worried when the dog came back without them.
They found the camera.
The family first decided to wait until morning, but as the hours went by, it became obvious that something was seriously wrong.
By April 2, the authorities were notified, and a search commenced. Locals, police, and even Kremers and Froon’s families, who had traveled from the Netherlands, searched the area for days.
Weeks went by. Nothing. Then, almost two months after they went missing, there was a breakthrough — of a sort.
A local woman found a blue backpack in a rice paddy by the riverbank. Inside were a few personal belongings: sunglasses, cash, a water bottle, Lisanne’s passport, and two bras. But it was the finding of the women’s camera and phones that would change everything.
A chilling reality.
The phones told a chilling tale.
Even though they were out of service for most of the time, the devices had tried to call emergency numbers 77 times in the days after their disappearance.
The initial calls came just hours after their hike, but the thick jungle prevented them from getting through. The most unsettling part? One of the calls actually connected for a brief moment — but it only lasted two seconds before it was cut off.
Then, on April 6, the phones attempted to unlock Kremers’ phone with the wrong PIN code, showing that someone — maybe Kremers herself — had tried to access the phone in a frantic effort to get help.
The phone never accepted the right PIN.
The last moments were even more terrifying. Both phones had died by April 11.
The eerie photos.
However, the real nightmare was hidden within the camera. The images it held revealed a haunting glimpse of what might have occurred to Kremers and Froon after they vanished.
The first photos seemed innocent enough, showing the women during their hike — their bright smiles and carefree looks gave no indication of the horror that was about to unfold.
However, it was the pictures captured on the night of April 8, between 1 and 4 AM, that gave chills to anyone who looked at them.
The photos were strange and disturbing: personal items scattered on rocks, plastic bags and candy wrappers oddly stacked, piles of dirt arranged in unusual shapes, and a creepy close-up of Kris Kremers’ head.
The two girls are not seen in any of the night photos, except maybe in one. It’s a close-up of blonde hair, probably showing the back of Kris Kremers’ head. Some people think the image might show blood in the lower right corner.
On April 1, 2014, at around 2 PM, Lisanne took the last pictures of Kris.
One of the photos has been thought to possibly show the girls sensing what was about to happen — or that something had already occurred.
Kris is leaning forward, with a look of pain on her face, and it seems like her hands are tied behind her back.
The night photos brought up a lot of questions.
Why weren’t there any pictures taken during the whole week after they went missing, until the night of April 8? What triggered the frantic photo session that lasted three hours? Why is there no photo showing either of the girls’ faces? Why didn’t they leave any message for their families, especially since they must have known they were likely to die in the jungle?
One of the pictures shows toilet paper laid out on the ground next to a mirror. Some people think the girls might be trying to spell out “SOS” with the strips of paper.
Human remains
As the authorities kept working to solve the mystery, more disturbing findings came to light a few months after the backpack was discovered.
Kremers’ clothes were found neatly folded by the riverbank. Then, two months later, the most horrifying discovery of all — a pelvic bone and a foot still in a boot were located nearby.
The remains were unsettling. Lisanne Froon’s bones seemed to have decomposed naturally, with some flesh still attached.
However, Kris Kremers’ bones were alarmingly bright white, almost as if they had been bleached, which can occur naturally from sun exposure.
In total, only about 10% of Froon’s bones and 5% of Kremers’ bones were found.
A forensic anthropologist from Panama later mentioned that under magnification, “there are no visible scratches of any kind on the bones, neither from natural causes nor human activity — there are no marks on the bones at all.”
Yet, despite thorough investigations, the most chilling question remains unanswered: What happened to Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon?
There were no eyewitnesses, no suspects, and no clear cause of death.
The photos, call logs, and the finding of their remains brought up more questions than answers.
Was it a tragic accident?
Even now, the mystery of what happened to Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon is still unsolved. Was it just a tragic accident, or did they get lost in the jungle? Or could there be something much darker going on?
The exact cause of death for Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon is still unknown. Dutch authorities, working with forensic experts and search-and-rescue teams, first thought that the two women might have accidentally fallen off a cliff after losing their way in the thick jungle. But even after a thorough investigation, no clear answer was found.
Their families in the Netherlands, along with Panama authorities and many others, are still trying to put together the chilling pieces of their last moments. We all wonder if we will ever really find out what happened to the two young women who went on an adventure and never came back.