The Unsolved Deaths of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers
The Unsolved Disappearance and Deaths of Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers
In April of 2014, college graduate Lisanne Froon and her roommate Kris Kremers took a six week trip to Panama as a congratulatory vacation for a freshly graduated Lisanne. The plan for the trip was to volunteer with children and learn Spanish. After only three weeks of being in Panama, both girls disappeared after a hiking trip near Baru Volcano. Nearly two months after their disappearance, Lisanneâs backpack was found containing both cell phones, her digital camera, and miscellaneous personal effects from both girls. Located within the cellular devices and digital camera was nearly 100 attempted 911 calls, suspicious photos taken of unknown landmarks and a photo depicting a seemingly injured Kris. When the partial remains of both girls were discovered four months after they went missing, it only raised more questions.
Lisanne Froon was known by those closest to her as optimistic, dedicated, and responsible. She had graduated with a degree in Applied Science the previous September and worked as a waitress in a cafe near her home. Lisanneâs roommate, Kris Kremers also worked with Lisanne and was known to be extremely creative and open minded. The two saved for six months in order to take the trip to Panama and on March 15, 2014 they arrived at their destination and planned to stay there for two weeks before going to Boquete to stay with a local family while they volunteered with children.
On April 1st around 11:00 a.m. the girls left the family home with their dog to go hiking near the clouded forests that surrounded Baru Volcano. Shortly before they left for the hike one of the girls posted on facebook about their intention of exploring Boquete for the day and were seen having lunch with two Dutch men before they walked onto the trail. The host family they were staying with became alarmed when their dog returned home without the girls and the next day, both girlsâ parents were informed of their disappearance. On April 3rd, both families and Netherland authorities arrived in Panama to perform a ten day search of the forest where they were last seen. The parents of Lisanne and Kris offered a $30,000 reward for any information leading to their location.
Ten weeks after their disappearance, Lisanneâs bookbag was located in a rice paddy near a river bank in the village of Alto Romero; inside the backpack was $83 (U.S.) in cash, two bras, Froonâs passport and both phones still in good condition.
Upon investigating the contents of both cellular devices and Froonâs camera, it was discovered that 77 attempted calls were placed to emergency services but none of them went through due to a lack of service in the area. A photo was taken around the time they entered the forest near a trail at the overlook of the continental divide; this led authorities to believe the girls potentially fell off a cliff when heavy rain moved into the area.
On the day of their disappearance, the girls were seen walking along the trail and wandered into the forest just hours after the first distress call was made at 4:39 p.m. from Kremers iPhone.
April 1st, 4:51 p.m.: A second attempt was made to reach authorities off Froonâs Samsung Galaxy SIII. (Called 112-Panamaâs distress line)-Unsuccessful
April 2nd, 6:14 a.m.: An attempt to call 112 was made from Kremers iPhone-Unsuccessful
6:58 a.m.: An attempt was made to call 112 from Froonâs phone-Unsuccessful
10:53 a.m.: An attempt was made to call 112 and 911- neither calls went through
April 3rd, 9:33 a.m.: An attempt was made from Kremers phone to call 911- Unsuccessful
1:50 p.m.: Froonâs phone is turned on to check for potential signal
4:00 p.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for a signal
4:19 p.m.: Froonâs phone is turned on to check for cell signal
April 4th, 9:33 a.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for a signal
4:42 p.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for a signal
(Froonâs phone was not turned on this day)
April 5th, 10:50 a.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for service
4:37 p.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for service
4:50 a.m.: Froonâs phone is turned on to check for service
5:56 a.m.: Froonâs phone is turned on and the battery dies- there was no further activity from Froonâs phone.
April 6th, 10:26 a.m.: Kremerâs phone is turned on to check for service but the pin was entered incorrectly and is not accessed with the correct passcode again (Does this indicate that Kremer passed away on April 5th after the passcode was entered correctly at 4:37 p.m.?) Authorities hypothesize that she slipped and fell off a monkey bridge when a heavy rainfall set on the mountain.
10:51 a.m.: Kremerâs phone is checked again but incorrect passcode is entered again
11:56 a.m.-1:05 p.m.: The final attempts at entering the correct passcode in Kremerâs phone was entered and left on for an hour then turned off and was no turned back on again.
On April 8th between 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. 90 flash photos were taken in the deep jungle possibly near a river or a ravine. A few of the photos depicted rocks with miscellaneous personal effects on the top. On one rock there was toilet paper and a mirror, on another there was a twig with candy wrappers and plastic bags and in one photo, the back of Kremerâs head is shown with blood near the temple. It is possible that Lisanne took the photos of the rocks and Kremerâs body in order to track her movements to return to Krisâs body or for authorities to locate her body in the future?
Apart from the backpack found ten weeks after their initial disappearance, nothing else significant was found to solve what happened except when a pair of Kremerâs jean shorts were found a few kilometers away from where Lisanneâs backpag was found. The shorts were zipped and folded neatly on top of a rock by a river bank.
Two months later, a partial pelvis and boot with a foot still attached was located on a river bank along the Culebra. Thirty three more bones were widely spread across the same bank and after DNA testing, it was confirmed that the remains belonged to Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers; their cause of death is still unclassified. A panamanian forensic psychologist claimed that even under intense magnification âThere was no discernable scratches of any kind, neither of natural or cultural origin- there are no marks on the bones at all.â
Despite the bones showing no signs of animal predation, Kremerâs bones were seemingly bleached and the manner in which the remains were scattered is still a mystery.
Over the years, countless independent forensic experts studied the case and concluded that Kris Kremers fell off of a âmonkey bridgeâ during heavy rainfall and Lisanne took a picture of her body in order to record what happened to her friend. However, in February of 2017 another college grad student went missing on a trail just 30 miles from where Lisanne and Kris perished. Her body was found shortly after and it was obvious she had been brutalized and strangled with her own swimsuit cover up.
Panamanian authorities detained eight people in connection to her death but no charges have been filed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation gave a press conference shortly after her disappearance that there might be a possible connection between the two cases and it is possible there might be a serial killer in the area.
