Missing Dutch tourists in Panama. The disappearance and tragic death of tourists Lisanne Fron and Chris Cremers (43 photos). Spouses from the Czech Republic
There was already a post about these girls on Gossip Magazine in 2015. Here he is:
But then the search was not over yet and a new search expedition was planned. New facts also constantly emerged. I remembered this story and decided to find out the news.
Let me remind you briefly. In the spring of 2014, two Dutch students disappeared in Panama. They went on a hike without a guide and did not return. Later, a backpack with their belongings and some remains were found. It was never possible to reconstruct the full picture of what happened. And the search continued.
The girls decided to follow the “pianist’s path” to the Baru volcano. The trail leads from Boke to the Baru volcano (height 3474 m), highest point country, although it does not reach it. Usually the guides finish the hike along the “Pianist’s Trail” at observation deck at an altitude of about 1900 m above sea level, although the trail continues further and passes from the eastern slope of the volcano to the western. The route is characterized by elevation changes and very scenic views- mountains, rivers, tropical forest, in general, flora, fauna, fresh Mountain air and exotic in one bottle. Hiking along the “pianist trail” does not require any special equipment or preparation. It is impossible to get lost on the “pianist’s path”, it is visually well defined, you simply don’t need to leave it. That is why a guide is not required. You can complete the round trip route in one day; its length is slightly more than 6 km. (shorter in a straight line, but the path winds a lot).
According to the version of events initially voiced by the Panamanian authorities, the girls were supposed to meet the conductor Feliciano Gonzalez there, however, they did not meet. Only much later did it become clear that there could be no meeting - the day before, Lisenne and Chris had already met with him and had not agreed on anything.
For a long time this guide was one of the suspects. And it would have been bad for poor fellow Gonzalez in the end, if not for one detail that the Panamanian authorities also did not report for a long time. The point is that Chris Cremers kept a diary, which fell into the hands of the police. In it, Chris left a note in which she said that the agreement with the conductor was cancelled. This detail, on the one hand, explained why the meeting with Gonzalez did not take place, and on the other hand, it made us suspect that the guide had informed some third parties about wealthy Dutch tourists who would go on a hike unaccompanied.
The tourists took to the mountains a husky dog named Blue, who lived with the owner of a cafe located at the very beginning of the “pianist’s path.” The owner spoke with Chris and Frunn and allowed them to take the dog on the road. About an hour later the dog came back, but the girls did not.
Since the skulls of the missing tourists could not be found, this served as one of the arguments of supporters of the criminal version of their death in favor of reprisals committed by certain attackers. It should be noted that the policy of confidentiality and silence adopted by Panamanian law enforcement agencies to a certain extent contributed to the invention of conspiracy theories.
What is it about? Law enforcement agencies, with the sanction of Prosecutor Pitti, stubbornly concealed or distorted important information, namely:
Having announced the discovery of a backpack with the belongings of the missing tourists, representatives of the investigation did not provide a complete list of things found in it. In particular, they concealed the fact that Lizen and Chris had cash and a camera with a large number of saved photographs in the backpack;
It has long been reported that the missing took photographs on their phones, although in fact they had at their disposal a Canon Powershot SX270 camera, which was used to take the vast majority of the photographs.
The existence of the camera was hidden, but when journalists became aware of it, law enforcement agencies said that its memory card was damaged and the photographs could not be read. This was not true, the memory card was unharmed, and from the very moment of discovery, everything necessary to investigate what happened was available.
Although almost from the very moment the phones and camera were discovered, it was known that they contained a large number - many dozens - of photographs, only a small part of them was presented to the public. Representatives of the investigation do not name the exact number of photographs taken by the missing even now (i.e., 2.5 years have passed since the incident). The vast majority of these photographs are still secret
When it was necessary to explain how the investigation periodically gets more and more new photographs, a rather awkward explanation appeared, as if some experts had managed to “read” the damaged memory card of the camera and were gradually extracting the saved frames from it.
The investigative authorities hid the fact of the existence of Chris Cremers' diary, although the relatives of the victims were informed about its presence and contents.
There was certainly logic in the actions of the Panamanian prosecutor's office. By concealing significant information, the investigative authorities retained the ability to assess the integrity of witnesses and distinguish possible self-incriminations from true confessions. In addition, if tourists became victims of a crime, there was a chance that the culprit would somehow make himself known in hopes of receiving the promised $30,000 reward.
Dutch search engines who visited Panama in May could not find anything, because... During one of the exits into the forest, local wasps bit me severely; the dogs almost died after their attack. In addition, the Dutch search area did not extend beyond the restrictive sign at the observation deck. All search engines a priori believed that the missing tourists would not go further, but should have turned back to Boke. Meanwhile, the belongings and bone remains of the disappeared were found over a distance of almost 11 km. along a small river called Serpent west of this limit sign.
By the way, the path did not end there, but continued further to the west. Therefore, it was logical to assume that Lisanne and Chris continued moving along it. Why and for what purpose they decided to undertake this fatal campaign is unclear, but there can be no doubt that they acted of their own free will without any coercion.
Photographs from the camera of the dead tourists, which came into the possession of Jeremy Kryt, a journalist for the American "The Daily Beast", allow us to say this without any doubt.
First of all, raindrops are clearly visible in some of the night photos. Although the rainy season technically begins on April 1st in Panama, in 2014 the first spring rainfall occurred in the Boke region late in the evening on April 8th. The same date turned out to be set on the camera timer.
But that's not the most interesting thing. Upon careful study of previously unknown photographs, it became clear that the tourists in trouble (or at least one of them) took rescue measures. They posted toilet paper on a large stone there is the abbreviation “SOS”, and a mirror was placed in the center. The flashes of a triggered camera in the dark should have attracted the attention of those loitering in the area extinct volcano helicopter. These flights began just in the afternoon of April 8.
Obviously, the criminals who kidnapped Lisanne and Chris - if they really existed - had no need to engage in such tricks. The tourists themselves did this.
Most likely, one of the girls was either already dead by that time, or was somewhere off to the side, since she was not in the frame.
When processing one of the photographs taken in the dark, straight horizontal lines stretching into the distance caught our attention. Their origin was difficult to explain by natural causes, since such structures are almost never found in living nature. It has been suggested that this is one of two suspended rope crossings across the River Serpent to the west of the lookout.
When The Daily Beast journalists, accompanied by guides from Boke, arrived to inspect these crossings, their attention was involuntarily drawn to a large flat stone that perfectly matched the one on which the installation with toilet paper and a mirror was arranged.
In principle, Jeremy Creath's findings perfectly explain what happened to Lizanne and Chris. It is clear why the Dutch search engines did not find them, it is clear why their things ended up on the opposite slope of the volcano... Finally, it is completely clear why the things and remains of the tourists were found along the Serpent River downstream of the suspension bridge - they were carried there by the current during the rainy season April-May 2014 Everything is coming together.
We are unlikely to ever know how exactly the young women died, but there could be many reasons, ranging from snake bites or the wasps mentioned above, to, say, a trivial fall on rocks in the river. What, someone will seriously say that it is impossible to kill yourself on such stones by falling from a height of 1.5-2 m? Yes, it’s elementary - an uncontrolled fall (even without serious fractures or bruises), shock, reflexive inhalation, choking... If after a minute you don’t pull the person ashore and don’t perform artificial respiration, then you don’t even have to try to save him. Are you sure that one of the tourists could pull the other out of the mountain river in a minute?
If some attackers had kidnapped Dutch tourists from the observation deck on the eastern slope of the Baru volcano and forcibly taken them further along the “pianist’s path,” the captives would obviously have lost their things. They would not have had a camera or phones with them.
When we travel, we are often careless. I don’t want to create paranoia, but this is a fact: documents are often stolen, a wallet is snatched from your hands, and your life itself may be at risk. Over the past 20 years, the world has become a less safe place for tourists traveling abroad or even within their own country. We remembered 15 shocking and sometimes ridiculous cases of missing tourists. Unfortunately, these guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
1. Chris and Lisa
Dutch tourists Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, aged 21 and 22 respectively, went missing in Panama in April 2014. The girls went to Panama on a humanitarian mission - social work with local children. One day they went hiking through a dense forest near the Costa Rican border and went missing.
Rescuers found their belongings in the forest. Among other things, they found cell phones with numerous attempts to call 911. The phones also contained numerous photos taken between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m., approximately every two minutes; the girls probably used flash to see anything in the pitch darkness of the forest.
Almost two weeks after this, fragments of human bones were found in the forest; DNA testing confirmed that these were Dutch girls. So far there is no definitive explanation of what happened to them, but most likely, not having time to leave the forest before dark, they panicked and fell off one of the many steep cliffs that abound in that area. Their complete remains have never been found.
14. Amber Tucarro
The missing person case of Amber Tucarro was later upgraded to a murder investigation. This is one of the worst kidnapping cases.
The girl was traveling from her home in Fort McMurray, Canada to Edmonton with her boyfriend and 14-month-old son on August 18, 2012. They planned to stay overnight on the outskirts of Edmonton to save on hotel costs and visit the city the next day.
But for some reason, Amber suddenly decided to hitchhike to Edmonton alone that night, leaving her son with her friend. She was picked up by an unknown driver and was not seen again until her body was found nearly two weeks later.
While she thought she was getting a ride into the city, Amber called her brother, who was in the Edmonton Correctional Institution, or rather, in a pre-trial detention center, where all telephone conversations are recorded.
After Amber's body was discovered, police released a recording of the minute-long telephone conversation, hoping that someone would recognize the voice of the perpetrator. It turned out that during the telephone conversation, Amber realized that she seemed to have been kidnapped and was being taken somewhere to the wrong place, she got scared and began to ask the driver where he was going. He says a few phrases in response, his voice can be heard quite clearly. However, to this day, no one has been arrested for the murder of Amber Tucarro, and the killer remains at large.
13. Lars
German citizen Lars Mittank, 28, was on holiday in Bulgaria when he got into a brawl on the beach and was hit in the head. He was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured eardrum and given a prescription for medication. Under doctors' orders, Lars needed to avoid flying for the next few days and told his friends to fly home without him. Lars himself remained in Bulgaria, waiting for his condition to improve.
Then some inexplicable series of events begins: Lars called his mother from his hotel room, claiming in a panic that four men were watching him. He asked to call the bank and block it credit card. He spoke in a confused and chaotic manner: he believed that the medications prescribed to him were doing something wrong to him, affecting his ability to think clearly.
Lars was last seen on security cameras at the airport. He fled from the airport building into the nearby forest, abandoning his luggage; No one ever saw him again, and his body was never found.
12. Tom
22-year-old British backpacker Tom Billing went missing in the North Shore Mountains on November 25, 2013. Billings had planned an 8-week tour of North America, but his plans were interrupted by a fatal accident that occurred while trying to pass a dangerous route.
Billings told two fellow travelers that he planned to take a risky and difficult route to national park Lynn Headwaters.
Tom was not reported missing for a week, and the alarm was only raised when he failed to arrive at his next destination.
His body was found almost three years later, in April 2016. He appears to have died of natural causes (such as exhaustion or dehydration).
11. Yuri and Natalya
On one of the beaches of Fiji island Pacific Ocean human remains were found. It soon became clear that parts of the bodies belonged to people from Ryazan who moved to the island five years ago - Yuri Shipulin and Natalya Gerasimova.
On the Fijian beach of Natadola Beach, police discovered the remains of Russians - body parts were scattered along the shore. Local media wrote that the remains were washed ashore by the surf, where the killers could have thrown them out after the massacre. A number of publications also draw attention to the fact that a chainsaw appears to have disappeared from the house of the murdered. According to journalists, it could have become the murder weapon.
The killers were not arrested in connection with this double murder, and some fragments of the couple's bodies have still not been found.
Fiji authorities are worried that the reputation of their paradise could be greatly damaged by such a brutal murder, because crime on the island is very low and such cases are extremely rare.
P.s.: the source does not explain what travel and dangers for tourists have to do with it.
10. Eliza
On January 26, 2013, Columbia University student Elisa Lam, originally from Vancouver, left the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles and went missing. 18 days later, her body was found under strange circumstances. The girl was going on a tour of West coast, planned to visit Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Diego and San Francisco. Her trip seemed to go smoothly, judging by the photos Eliza posted on social media.
Everything was fine before arriving at Hotel Cecil. It’s something like a hostel, where she shared a room with several neighbors, who immediately began to complain to the hotel administration about the girl’s strange, chaotic behavior, and the manager moved her to another room.
CCTV footage from February 1: Eliza squeezed into a corner in the hotel elevator, looks out into the corridor and quickly returns to the elevator again, as if she is hiding and afraid. Actually, this is the last that is known about her.
Eighteen days later, her body was found in a water tank on the roof of the hotel, the cause of death being drowning. It is still unknown how she got onto the roof (the door was locked), or under what circumstances she drowned. Her disappearance and death were hotly discussed in the media and social networks, everyone was scratching their heads and theorizing, but to this day there is no definitive explanation.
9. Gareth Crowe
In February 2016, 36-year-old British tourist, Gareth Crowe from Scotland, died while riding an elephant in Thailand. Crowe was on vacation with his family when the accident occurred.
Crowe and his 16-year-old stepdaughter, Eilidh Hughes, were riding on an elephant when the elephant's mahout climbed down to photograph them. The elephant began to ignore his commands and then threw Crow and Hughes off its back and trampled them. After which he ran away. The girl was hospitalized, and her stepfather died.
The driver blamed Crowe for the incident, saying he had teased and angered the animal. Hearing these accusations, Hughes completely denied them - there was no such thing!
A spokesman for the charity World Animal Protection said the tragedy was a reminder that elephants were never designed to ride. The animals are domesticated for the entertainment of tourists, but they are often under great stress, both physically and mentally. The elephant's owners caught it, but weren't sure what to do with it. We hope he won’t take tourists on rides anymore.
8. Anne
Chicago television producer Anne Swaney, 37, was visiting a farm in Belize while on vacation in January 2016, where she was killed. This was Annie's second visit to this farm, where she rode horses, and the owner of the farm described her as a very nice and friendly person.
That day, Anne went down to the nearby river to do yoga. When she did not return to the hotel, hotel staff notified the police of her absence a short time later, and her personal belongings were then found near the river.
Her body was found the next morning and an autopsy revealed that she had been strangled. Police say the motive for the attack is unclear. This place is located about a mile from the border with Guatemala, perhaps the criminal killed the girl and fled to Guatemala (the border is open there).
Belize's murder rate is ranked third in the world, although the area where Annie was killed is not considered to be particularly dangerous. The killer has still not been found.
7. Max Mendoza
American citizen and Arizona State University alumnus Max Mendoza visited Brazil in July 2014 to cheer on the FIFA World Cup.
The investigation claims that Mendoza and two of his friends went on a hike to the world-famous statue of Christ the Savior, and their path ran through the forests. At some point, Mendoza became separated from his friends and disappeared. The body was discovered by Brazilian police near the Waterfall of Souls: Max fell from a great height. How and why this happened - no one will ever know.
The police notified the US Embassy, and the body was quickly identified by its belongings. No signs of violent death were found; it was officially recognized as an accident.
Max was loved very much by his friends; they expressed their condolences on social media over the tragedy.
6. Denis
An Arizona woman, Denise Pikka Thiem, went missing on April 5, 2015. She quit her job to travel. Denise visited many countries such as the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam, and then decided to go to Europe, on a pilgrimage - from El Camino de Santiago. Tens of thousands of people undergo this test of physical endurance and religious spirit every year.
Before and after Thiem's disappearance, numerous tourists and locals reported being disturbed by a strange girl who had strayed from her pilgrimage route. And then she disappeared.
Miguel Angel Muñoz, 39 years old, a hermit who lived in a shack along the pilgrim route, was detained on suspicion of murdering Denis. After being taken into custody and charged with Thiem's murder, Muñoz led police to her remains. Why he killed the American woman is not reported.
5. John and Robert
Back in September 2015, Canadian tourists John Riedel and Robert Hall were captured. They were captured at gunpoint by the Islamist militant group Abu Sayyaf.
Riedel and Hall were vacationing at the Oceanview resort, which is located on Samal Island in the southern Philippines.
The Philippine military said it was no accident and that the foreigners were the target of a raid by an Islamist organization. The Abu Sayyaf terrorists demanded a ransom for each captive, threatening death if their demands were not met. They posted several heartbreaking videos online of the captives' pleas, and Canadians appealed to their government and the leadership of the Philippines. But no one was going to buy them.
Unfortunately, a few months later, in April 2016, Canadian authorities confirmed that John Riedel was dead and his family was mourning his senseless death. In turn, almost a year after their capture, in June 2016, Robert Hall was also executed.
4. Bo Solomon
Study abroad programs are highly regarded, and prestigious education at the world's best universities is an excellent choice. However, Bo Solomon's foreign education did not end well. He went to Rome to study at John Cabot University.
In July 2016, 19-year-old Solomon from Wisconsin went missing shortly after arriving in Rome.
His roommate reported the American's absence, and officials began searching for him. Three days later, Solomon was found dead in the Tiber River. CCTV footage helped identify the three men who led Solomon to shore after robbing him. The criminals are wanted, but young Bo cannot be returned.
3. Spouses from the Czech Republic
On July 26, 2016, a young couple from the Czech Republic set out on a twenty-mile trek that usually takes about three days. The trekking took place in an area that is famous as a tourist attraction, but in severe winters, as a rule, only experienced, properly equipped climbers go there.
On the second day of the hike, a man died after falling down a steep slope. The woman, frightened and confused, survived in the cold for three nights, and then found a hut. She suffered minor injuries and frostbite and decided it was better to stay in the hut rather than try to find help.
Almost a month passed before the couple's abandoned car was found and the alarm was raised and a search began for them. And the woman lived that month in fear and loneliness, eating what she found in the hut.
2. Lane
This tragedy shocked the whole world. On June 14, 2016, the world famous Disneyland Park in Orlando generated chilling headlines around the world with the death of 2-year-old Line Graves from Nebraska. The boy was standing in about knee-deep water, at a shallow depth, when he was attacked by an alligator, which instantly dragged him under the water. Graves' father tried but was unable to save the boy, suffering injuries to his arms.
The boy's body was found only two days later.
The investigation found his body completely intact, with minor wounds, and concluded that the cause of death was drowning.
Alligators are not uncommon in the area, but attacks on humans have never occurred in Orlando before. This story served as a terrible lesson for both the park administration and all parents.
1. Madeleine
Four-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal in 2007 under mysterious circumstances. Her parents put her to bed in the hotel room, and they went to a party with friends. When they returned, they did not find their daughter there, while the other two children were in their cribs and did not hear anything.
At first, the parents searched on their own, then they turned to the police. A few months later, the first suspects were detained, allegedly associated with a pedophile ring. However, there was no evidence against them. The detainees were released, and suspicion fell on the parents themselves. But soon the Portuguese police again admitted that there was no evidence.
At the same time, various private investigators began to speculate on the incident, every now and then declaring their own investigations, the threads of which lead to various secret societies of pedophiles: Belgian, French and even pan-European.
Recently there were reports in the media that the remains of the most wanted girl on earth, Little McKen, were allegedly discovered in the Australian city of Wineark. But no confirmation has yet been made public.
The search for the child has reached a truly global scale. Various celebrities (for example, David Beckham), writers and musicians got involved in the cause. However, to no avail, and Madeleine McKen's case remains open to this day.
Madeleine has a special feature: the pupil of her right eye seems to “flow” onto the iris. Her parents do not lose hope - someday the baby will be found.
Three years ago, the media wrote one after another about the girls who disappeared in the Panamanian jungle. But neither officials, nor rescuers, nor journalists have yet been able to give a clear answer to the question of what happened in April 2014. The versions put forward by the police, upon careful examination, crumbled almost faster than the sand from the beaches of Bocas del Toro (this is where the students first vacationed) in their hands.
Incredible, but true: the more the authorities knew, the more strange this case seemed. Evidence designed to shed light on what happened only added to the mystery of this tragedy. Two pretty students from Holland wanted to improve their Spanish in the summer, and at the same time relax a little in Panama - you must admit, this desire looks absolutely harmless and is in no way associated with extreme sports.
But no one could have predicted how this trip would end. If we omit the details and present only the essence of the events, we get literally the following: the girls went to the mountains, recording their ascent on camera, and then something inexplicable happened, which led to their death. This plot somehow reminded us of the story that happened to Dyatlov’s group at the Mountain of the Dead. Alas, despite the fact that the police have at their disposal a technical arsenal that operatives never even dreamed of in Soviet times, this has not brought the investigation one step closer to the solution...
So, Lisanna Frohn and Chris Cremers from the small Dutch town of Amersfoort carefully planned their trip to Latin America.
Their vacation began at the Bocas del Toro resort, where the friends simply relaxed - swam, sunbathed, flirted with guys and laid out beach photos on social networks.
Two weeks passed, on March 29 the girls moved to Boquete - away from the ocean and closer to the mountains, to begin studying at language courses. However, soon after their arrival it turned out that Spanish classes would start a week later. Lisanna and Chris decided to spend the free time exploring the picturesque surroundings - the jungle was just a stone's throw away - and met guide Feliciano Gonzalez, from whom they ordered and paid for two tours. It was he who sounded the alarm when his clients did not show up for a meeting on April 2.
This is tragic and misterious story disappearance of two tourists from the Netherlands who went to Latin America. Lisanne Frohn and Chris Cremers decided to visit Panama to get to know the country's culture and traditions better. local residents, but disappeared without a trace in the jungle. After a long search, the girls were finally found, but, unfortunately, it was too late.
Two students from the small Dutch town of Amersfoort, Chris Cremers and Lisanne Fron, have long wanted to visit Latin America. Their choice ultimately fell on Panama. They planned a six-week trip: the first two weeks they would live in the resort province of Bocas del Toro, and then for the remaining four weeks they would go inland to a small locality Boquette, where there was a Spanish language school aimed at tourists from Europe.
Spanish training was supposed to take place in practice mode, in other words, the girls had to perform various social work with local schoolchildren. On February 15, 2014, the girlfriends will arrive at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The parents who saw off the girls will take a photo of their children before the long separation. Lisanne and Chris will go through customs control and disappear behind the doors of the waiting room. Their parents won't see them again.
Little is known about the girls themselves. Chris Cremers was to become an art critic upon graduation. She was an open, sociable person. She paid for the trip to Panama from her own savings, saving for it for at least six months, working as a waitress in local restaurant, where I met Lisanne.
She was a fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Lisanne studied to become a psychologist. I dreamed of working abroad in southern countries, which in turn required knowledge of other languages, especially Spanish. The trip to Panama was partly a gift from my parents, a kind of advance payment for my future diploma. With a height of 184 cm, Lisanne successfully played for the student volleyball team. Favorite music: Coldplay
Chris and Lisanne will spend the first two weeks of the trip as planned in Bocas del Toro
Lisanne posed for photos with the parrot and wrote rave reviews about Panama on social media.
Chris posted photos from Bocas on her Facebook page, with the standard resort theme: beach, sea, starfish.
On the twenty-ninth of March, as planned, Chris and Lisanne move to Bocquete.
The town of Boquette. Photo from the top of the mountain.
Despite the fact that Bocquete is located far from the sea, it is still large tourist center Panama. The main attraction is the more than three-kilometer mountain of volcanic origin, Baru. IN good weather, the most high peak Panama is visible from both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Although Baru is a fairly flat mountain, climbing to a three-kilometer height is naturally associated with certain difficulties, so most of the hiking routes in the vicinity of Bochette are not laid on Baru, but on nearby hills and hills. There are also several observation platforms (in Spanish they are called the sonorous word “Mirador”) with views of the city and the volcano, which last erupted in 1550.
And of course, not a single tourist who finds himself in Central America can pass up the opportunity to take at least one look at the jungle. Formally, they begin immediately after leaving Boquette; in fact, the town itself lies in the middle of the jungle, but on the slopes from the city side, the jungle is quite civilized, one might even say “sham”, with hiking trails, or even just small roadside cafes, for the convenience of tired tourists. This is what the jungle looks like three kilometers from Boquette.
But in order to appreciate real beauty tropical forest, it is necessary to go to the outer slopes of the mountains from the city. 6-7 kilometers from the city, the jungle already looks like this:
The first surprise awaits the girls in Boquette: the Spanish course has been postponed until April 8th. Thus, Lisanne and Chris had a whole week of unplanned free time. It was decided to devote this time to exploring local attractions and surrounding areas. Fortunately, the choice of one-day tourist routes around Boquette is truly impressive.
Starting the story directly about the most criminal component of this story, it should of course be said that attempts to mass media and researchers to clearly reconstruct the events of March 31st and April 1st, ended in complete collapse, due to the complete discrepancy between the testimony and some facts that will become known a little later. But there is nowhere to go, so the events of these days will be presented in exactly the same sequence as they sounded in the reports of the Panamanian police and the press.
March 29, 2014, Saturday.
Lisanne and Chris arrive in Bochette. By prior arrangement, they rent a room in the annex of the house from a woman named Miriam. She rents out a room under a contract with a Spanish language school. The room apparently has a separate entrance. Girls receive two pairs of keys.
March 30, 2014, Sunday
After breakfast together, the girls leave to explore the city and return in the evening. Miriam did not notice anything unusual or the presence of third parties with the girls.
March 31, 2014, Monday
The girls go to the language school early in the morning, where they receive news that practice will begin a week later than planned. According to some accounts, the girls, especially Lisanne, became upset. At the school, they talk with the school manager and then with the local guide, Feliciano Gonzalez.
They order an escort from him for two walking routes. On Wednesday to the so-called “strawberry farm” located at the foot of the Baru volcano, and on Saturday directly to the volcano itself.
On the same day, the girls have last contact with their parents via Whatsapp. “We’re fine. We’ll talk later,” was Lisanne’s last message.
April 1, 2014, Tuesday
9.00-11.00
The girls are seen in a cafe near the school, in the company of two young men
13.00
According to guide Feliciano Gonzalez, at this time the girls leave the Spanish language school. Subsequently, Feliciano repeated more than once that he was obviously the last person to see the girls in Boquette
13.30-13.40
Taxi driver Leonardo Mastino sees girls voting on the road, not far from the Spanish language school. He gives them a ride for five dollars to the start. walking route"El pianisto."
Before 15.00
Giovani, the owner of the cafe located at the start of El Piano, sees the girls. They ask him some questions about the route.
15.00-15.30
One of the workers (obviously a cafe) sees the girls leaving along the route and gives them his dog “Blue” as a guide. According to the cafe owner's wife, Doris, Blue will be back in an hour. One.
17.00?
A certain Pedro Capon, perhaps the owner of one of the cafes or shops near El Pianista, sees two girls returning from the route. They ask him how they can return to the city. He shows them a place where they can catch a taxi or take a bus. But in which direction the girls went, Pedro did not see.
17.00?
An American living near the start of El Piano sees two girls returning from the route. They are talking with the owner of one of the cafes, apparently asking how to get into the city
As many who have visited Panama say, using dogs as guides is a common practice. If tourists lose their orientation and the correct direction, the four-legged guide can give the command “Home!” and he will lead the lost back to the city without any problems. This is perhaps the main witness in this case, a husky named Blue:
Guide Feliciano Gonzalez. He repeatedly criticized the local police for the insufficient activity of search activities, and after the disappearance of the girls, he gathered a small volunteer detachment from local Indians and went into the jungle himself. In addition, in one of his interviews, he told the Dutch press that in the jungle, on the other side of the mountains, there are many abandoned huts and dugouts that are not marked anywhere on the maps. Whether anyone lives there or not is unknown even to him.
Taxi driver Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez Martinez, who gave the girls a lift supposedly on April 1 before the start of El Piano, will die a year after the events we describe. Not suspicious, but a very ridiculous death. A young thirty-four-year-old man will feel ill, fall into a pond and drown.
On April 2, Chris and Lisanne had an appointment with Feliciano Gonzalez. His services have already been paid for. The girls did not show up for the scheduled meeting. During the day, the guide will make inquiries at the Spanish language school and at the place of residence of the family where the girls are staying. And by the evening of the same day he will report his suspicions to the police. On the morning of April 3, the Panama police will begin search operations. Searches will be carried out at the Spanish language school and at the apartment where the girls lived. In the room you will find two laptops belonging to Chris and Lisanne. After studying the data, the police will establish that early in the morning of April 1, the girls made many requests on Internet search engines about hiking trails in the Boquette area. They were especially interested in the El Pianisto route.
The search and rescue operation begins on the same day.
By April 5th, police and rescuers will complete their search at El Pianisto and nearby tourist routes. And they go beyond them, to the trails located on the outer slopes of the mountains around Boquette. The first helicopter takes off into the air, so far not so much for the search as for coordinating the rescue teams. The targeting of girls goes to neighboring Costa Rica.
On April 7, one of the largest international tour operators offering holidays in Panama, Lonely Planet, strongly recommends that tourists refrain from solo hikes beyond the observation platforms, paying attention to the increasing incidence of robbery.
On April 8, the search begins with the help of helicopters. According to Panama police, the search operation for Chris and Lisanne was the largest in the history of this country. On April 10th, Chris's parents arrive in Panama. The active part of the operation will be completed by April 14th. All search efforts were unsuccessful. Neither the girls themselves, nor their remains, nor traces of blood were found. Typically left behind by the lost, various markers on trees or scratched arrows on rocks were also not found. A map from the Panamanian Police search headquarters shows what work was done during these search days:
On April 30, a reward of $30,000 was set for information about the whereabouts of Chris and Lisanne. Later, one of the television channels of Panamanian television will add another ten thousand to this amount.
At the end of May, a Dutch police detachment consisting of eighteen employees and twelve dogs of various profiles flies out to help their Panamanian colleagues. The first three days of their stay in Panama, the Dutch police team focused on inspecting residential premises in Boquette and around El Pianisto. It is clear that the police did not have any legal rights to such actions, however, according to the police: “the majority of local residents with whom they dealt agreed to inspect their premises.”
Naturally, one of the main versions of the disappearance of the girls was the assumption that Chris and Lisanne could simply get lost. The El Pianisto route began on the northern outskirts of Boquette, at an altitude of 1270 meters above sea level. Over the first one and a half kilometers, the route passes along coffee plantations, small groves, and through a fairly calm landscape. The ascent on this section of the route is only about 200 meters.
Further, the trail narrows, the route becomes a little more “wild”, rising to a height of approximately 500 meters and after four and a half kilometers in length, it ends with a small observation deck, expressed in Spanish as a “mirador”, at an altitude of 1890 meters above sea level. At this stage, so to speak, the official route indicated in Google earth and some "conservative" guidebooks. The trail continues further, going down the mountainside to the so-called “Caribbean side” of Panama. This unofficial part of the route, in different sources, is called slightly differently, but roughly translated into Russian it can be designated as “Caribbean Descent”.
It leads to a sparsely populated area under autonomous Indian rule, with complex name Ngobe-Bugle. The area is inhabited by two Indian tribes, one of them is called Ngobe, and the second, as you probably already guessed, Bugle. The terrain into which the Caribbean Descent leads is initially somewhat rugged and then mostly flat, divided by the Rio Caldera River and its tributary called Culebra.
On the map it looks something like this:
For a long time it seemed that the details in the story of the disappearance of the girls would remain forever unclear. However, two and a half months later, on June 14, 2014, there was an unexpected twist in this story. On this day, a local Indian living on the “Caribbean side”, while working in a small rice field, discovered a blue backpack in the shallow bed of a nearby river. The contents of the backpack were as follows:
Foreign passport in the name of Lisanne Fron
-Insurance medical card in the name of Chris Kremers (according to some sources, cards of both girls)
- 83 US dollars
- Two pairs of cheap sunglasses
- Two mobile phones
- Two bras
- Water bottle
- Canon camera.
Judging by the initial press reports, the position and condition of the backpack was such that it was not possible to unambiguously determine whether the backpack had been left in this place or whether it had been carried by the current.
By the way, photographs of the girls’ belongings showed how different the approach to covering a criminal story in the media can be. The fact that these photographs appeared in the Panamanian press without any consent from the girls' parents caused violent protests from the Dutch justice system. The Panamanian side did not understand the objections of their European colleagues, declaring that such cooperation between the investigation and the media is an absolutely normal practice. True, subsequently, in many Panamanian and Dutch newspapers there was information that this photograph was not taken by the police at all, but by the Indian himself, at home, immediately after he discovered this find.
As a result of various examinations of the found items, it will be established:
The backpack itself will contain the DNA of two unknown females, as well as two slightly incomplete "male" DNAs. Nevertheless, one of the men can be identified, but the police will not say who it is and how he left his genetic imprint on the girls’ backpack.
-According to official data, “more than a dozen” different fingerprints will be found on the girls’ mobile phones. According to unofficial estimates - thirty-six. Three of the fingerprints found on the phones will also be found on the camera. One of these "repeating fingerprints" will arouse the suspicion of the Panamanian police and will be entered into the fingerprint database of wanted criminals.
The police did not report anything about the condition and technical serviceability of the mobile phones and cameras. However, the data from mobile phones and cameras was subsequently decrypted and published. Most likely, the camera's SD card was slightly damaged.
-At the place where the backpack was found, the police will take six samples to extract DNA. Five tests will not give any result. The DNA of the sixth sample belonged to an employee of the Institute of Forensic Science, where this examination was carried out.
-Remnants of soil and plant material will be found on the backpack. According to Dutch police, this material was never compared with the soil composition of the area in which the backpack was found.
A new search operation was launched along the Culebra riverbed. During the second search operation were discovered:
- Black boot. Discovered June 16. It belonged to Lisanne. The shoe was located near the river bed, behind a tree. Part of Lisanne's leg was found in the boot. According to police, it was separated as a result of "natural processes." Subsequently, on August 29, not far from this place, smaller bone remains will be found on which skin will be found. The leather material showed the first stage of decomposition, leading police to conclude that it had been stored in the shade, in a cool place, at low temperatures. Some black dots and many holes were found on the skin, apparently left by insects, as well as some red stripes that were traces of hemoglobin from the muscles.
Hip bone. More precisely, part of it. She was found nearby, also on June 16th. Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the bone belonged to Chris Cremers. The bones showed no signs of decomposition. Police assumed that the bone had been chewed off by predators, although no obvious signs of animal fangs were found on it.
-Blue shoe. It was discovered on June 18. Police initially believed the shoe belonged to Chris. However, no evidence of this, in the form of DNA examinations or other studies, was provided. Moreover, after deciphering the photographic material, it will become clear that Chris was wearing different shoes that day.
-Denim shorts belonged to Chris. They were found at the end of June. They lay on a small rock near the mouth of two rivers. There were no traces of blood or tears on the shorts.
On August 3, more than fifteen kilometers (as the crow flies) from the start of El Piano, new bone remains will be discovered. Most of them belonged to animals, but one fragment of bone material turned out to be the rib of Chris Cremers. Even during a visual inspection, experts noticed the unusual completely white color of the bone. Upon subsequent analysis, Chris Kremers' rib was found a large number of phosphates, as a result of which the rib got its color.
The complexity of the landscape, the area where the things and remains of the girls were found can be judged by the fact that the journey alone, of the investigator of the Panamanian Prosecutor's Office Bazaida Pitti, for the found skeletal remains of Chris Cremers, lasted about ten hours, and at the end of this “business trip” she needed medical care due to dehydration of the body.
After these finds, the Panama police voiced one version according to which the girls could have become victims of predators. The main suspect looked like this:
However, Puma was not the only suspect from the Panamanian fauna. Many local media noted that reptiles could pose a much greater danger to the girls who went into the jungle. For example, the Bushmaster is the largest venomous snake in South and Central America. Some individuals can reach a length of four meters. Despite its impressive size, the Bushmaster is a very “shy” snake, avoiding meeting people and settling, as a rule, far from its habitat. But many of its younger brothers of the viper family are more aggressive towards people.
The police naturally placed their main hopes that the cause of death of the girls would be established on data from mobile phones and a camera found in the backpack. These hopes were not destined to come true. On the contrary, photographs and printouts of mobile data will completely confuse this story, turning it into one of the most mysterious crime stories of our time.
But before moving on, a few words about the reliability of the data that will be discussed below. Firstly, it appears that the camera's SD card was slightly damaged by being in water for a long time or for some other reason. Therefore, some police data had to be restored.
Secondly, after studying the photographic material, the police handed over the photographs to the girls’ parents and the latter, naturally, did not want to make a photo gallery from this material, publishing only some of the photographs. Well, thirdly, the time and serial numbers of the photographs were published only in the Panamanian press, and were partially confirmed only by the girls’ parents. But the data from the mobile phones of Chris and Lizan was published by newspapers around the world, the Dutch police referred to them, and therefore the likelihood of an error in them is minimal.
So let's fast forward again to April 1, 2014...
The timing of the photographs contradicted all eyewitness testimony. According to the photographic material, the girls began their journey to El Pianisto not after 14.00, but much earlier, approximately at 10.45.
The first published photo of IMG_491 was taken at 12:03:08, apparently somewhere halfway to the mirador. In the photo is Chris, in her hands she is holding an object that looks like a plastic bottle, which will later be found in a backpack.
The next published photo is IMG_493, taken at 12:22:45, by this time the girls had already been at El Piano for about two hours. Apparently, this walking route did not evoke any special emotions in them, as we can see they took only three photographs during the two-hour hike. The photograph shows one of the canyons, “barranco” in Spanish, located somewhere in the immediate vicinity of the observation deck. This is apparently one of the restored photographs. Its place in the general chronology causes heated debate among researchers of this case. The fact is that in the parents’ video there are no canyons up to the mirador (later, parents Chris and Lisanne will walk along this route, filming the path with a video camera). In addition, many people notice that the photo is slightly blurry, as if it was taken on the run.
The next photo is IMG_499, taken at 13:01:44. Everything is simple here - Lisanne is on the mirador.
IMG_500, taken at 13:01:50. 6 seconds after previous photo, Lisanne takes a photo overlooking the opposite side of the mirador. The differences in cloudiness in both photographs are frankly surprising.
IMG_XXX, around 13:00, exact time unknown. The only photo taken on a mobile phone. Or the only one published. Chris on mirador.
IMG_505, taken at 13:20:33. The beginning of the Caribbean Descent. Chris in the steering wheel. The number of photographs increases sharply. Based on the numbering and time, it is clear that in 19 minutes the girls took 5 photos.
IMG_507, taken at 13:54:50. This is the so-called "Kverbada". Crossing the stream. There are two of them on the Caribbean Descent. This is the first one.
IMG_508, made 13:54:58. Eight seconds after the previous photo, Chris is photographed on the other side of the stream. Both the police and the girls’ parents have confirmed more than once that this is the last photograph taken by the girls on April 1st.
What the girls did over the next almost two hours is unknown. At 16:39 Chris will dial 112 on his mobile. This is the emergency number for the rescue service in Holland and many other European countries. Twelve minutes later, at 16:51, Lisanne will follow her friend’s example, also dialing 112 on her Samsung.
The telephone number of the rescue service in Panama is 911. However, the fact that the girls tried to call the more familiar number 112 for them was, in principle, not an error, since when dialing this number, cell phones are automatically redirected to the rescue service number of the country in which the owner is located phone in this moment. The real problem was that in the place where the girls were calling, there was obviously no network coverage and neither Lisanne nor Chris could reach the rescue service. Moreover, that day they made no further attempts to call.
April 2nd This time, at 06:58, Lisanne was the first to try to call. Chris makes his attempt at 08:14. and no longer uses his iPhone that day. Lisanne tries to call again at 10:53 and 13:56. This time she not only dials 112, but also tries to call 911 directly.
April 3 At 09:33 Chris tries to contact 911 again. However, the network coverage was insufficient to establish communication this time. This was the last call to 911. During the day, the girls turned on their phones a couple more times, but made no attempts to call or send a text message.
On April 4th, Chris turns on his mobile phone twice, at 10:16 and 13:42. There was no activity recorded on Lisanne's phone that day.
April 5th Lisanne's phone turns on at night, at 04:50 and remains on for 10 minutes, as a result of which it is completely discharged and turns off. Chris's phone turns on twice at 10:50 and 13:37.
April 6th At 10:26 Chris's phone turns on again, but for the first time, the one who turned on the phone does not dial the PIN. Next switch on at 13:37.
According to information broadcast on the RTL television channel, from April 7 to April 10, Chris’s phone was turned on a total of 77 times.
On the eleventh of April, Chris's phone will be turned on first at 10:51, again without a pin. And then at 11:56 and about an hour later it turns off.
Weather conditions were approximately the same for eleven days. During the day the thermometer rose to 30-36 degrees, and at night it dropped to 24-20 degrees Celsius. The only torrential downpour with thunderstorms began on the evening of April 3, at 5 p.m., and ended on the night of the fourth, at about two o’clock. There was also rain and thunderstorms on April 8th, but not for long, from 18:00 to 19:00. On other days, no precipitation was observed.
And on the night of April 8th, someone suddenly turns on the camera and takes exactly 90 pictures with it within three hours. That is, on average, one photo per two minutes. Unfortunately, 87 of them will be taken in complete darkness, without flash. As the Dutch police will state, despite the fact that the photographs were certainly taken with an open lens, it is impossible to see or recognize anything in them. Of the three photographs taken with flash, only two will be published initially.
This is IMG_542, at 01:38:12
The next “resulting” photo is IMG_550, taken at 01:39:54
In February 2015, the Dutch police will publish a report on research work, carried out by them on the death of Lisanne Fron and Chris Cremers. The point of the report is, of course, not an attempt to prove one or another version of the death of the girls, but rather an attempt to determine the most probable cause. So, according to the Dutch police, the girls died as a result of an accident: “First of all geographical conditions on the last section of the route "El pianisto" (meaning the "Caribbean descent", and the last kilometers) show that the accident is the most possible reason the subsequent deaths of Lisanne and Chris.
The opinions of experts on this report were naturally completely polar, and many subjected it to serious criticism. A word from Panamanian criminologist Octavio Calderon: “There are no facts at all on the basis of which we can say that the girls were near the river. Two bones found, of two different people, from two different parts body, on different areas rivers, rather indicate that someone put them there..."
Almost six months after this, Chris Kremers’ parents finally decided to show the last, “third” photograph. The photograph was shown in one of the Dutch television programs.
Map with localization of finds and photographs taken.
The remains of the girls were handed over to their parents and buried in Holland.
This is where the “official” part of the post ends, and then we will try to sort out the inconsistencies and incomprehensible points.
1) Why does the timing of the photographs contradict all the testimony?
Officially, neither the Panamanian nor the Dutch police give an answer to this question. Doesn't match, that's all.
Knowing that the journey to the “mirador” takes at least 2 hours, and the girls took pictures on it at noon, or so, it means that they set out on the route around 10 o’clock in the morning. Why do witnesses claim that they saw them leaving for the route around 14:00-14:30? And at about 17:00, at least two people claim that they returned from the route, although this is impossible, if only on the basis that at approximately this time there was an attempt to call the rescue service from phones located on the other side of the “mirador”, on "Caribbean descent".
Did the witnesses confuse them with other European girls? Or are they deliberately deceiving, misleading the investigation? But again, why?
How more people deceive and participate in a conspiracy (and here there are about six people), the greater the likelihood of letting it slip, or allowing inconsistencies with the testimony of another person. If there was intent and there was a criminal background, then it would be much easier to say that “I didn’t see anything and I didn’t hear anything.”
In fact, although official version and says that the girls died as a result of an accident, crime is more than possible here. In Panama, as in many countries Central America, in addition to the drug trade, the slave trade in the sex services industry is also thriving. Many girls are kidnapped or tricked into this area. It is quite possible that interested parties could pay attention to foreign girls who are different from local ones.
2) Why did the girls only call the rescue service, without ever trying to reach their family or friends?
On the one hand, there is a logical explanation that, seeing the futility of trying to call 911 and 112, they did not want to waste time charging their phones. But it is also puzzling that not a single attempt was made to send SMS to the same friends or parents, especially in the early days, when the phones did not turn off and the battery power was not yet saved. There is always a possibility (and not a small one) when, in the absence of a network, an SMS “hangs” on sending, and then, when a minimal signal is received, it is still sent. Moreover, it is sent even when it is impossible to get through.
However, the girls might not have known about this if they lived in a place where cellular communication was always stable.
Also, for some reason, there are no phone records or photographs of the incident. For at least eleven days, the girls were alive (one for sure, in any case), and not a single phone contains a record of what happened (neither voice nor text), and not a single photograph that sheds light on what happened. Neither on the phone nor on the camera.
3) Time to turn on the phones and try to call.
For several days, from the second to the sixth of April, the girls turn on their phones at the same time intervals - between 10-11 and 13-14.
Where does such selectivity and time reference come from?
By the way, iPhone Chris lasted 11 days. A very good time for a modern smartphone, even taking into account the fact that part of the time it was turned off. When turned on, mobile phone tries to find a network, and if there is none, or it is weak, a lot of energy is spent searching and maintaining the network.
4) Chris shorts.
The shorts found during the search operation added another mystery to this case. According to the Panamanian police report, the shorts were lying neatly on a large rock near a creek bed. There were no signs of ruptures or any other damage on them. The police also said that no traces of blood were found on them.
Actually, the question is: why take off your shorts in the jungle and leave them on a rock?
Versions put forward by forum users (both Russian and Dutch):
a) The shorts were stained with mud, they were taken off to wash, they were laid to dry on a stone, but something scared the girls, they ran away and did not return.
- It’s quite possible, but it’s unlikely that soiled shorts will be washed in such a situation. Well, they got dirty, so what? This is not a city where everyone is looking at you. In the jungle, values and priorities are somewhat different.
Alternatively, the shorts were not stained with dirt, but the owner began to have “menstrual periods.” In such a situation, washing is quite logical, but the police officially stated that no traces of blood were found on them, and it is impossible to wash off blood in plain water of a mountain stream, without detergents. However, the examination easily determines the nature of the blood, and the investigation could have bashfully kept silent about such an intimate fact, considering it not relevant to the case.
b) The girls wanted to swim in the stream, undressed, but something scared the girls, they ran away and did not return.
“You can’t really swim in that stream.” This is a stream, not a river. He's small. You can drink from it, wash your hands, but swim... Moreover, why then were there only shorts left? What about the rest of the clothes? In addition to shorts, Chris was also wearing a T-shirt.
c) Chris took off her shorts because she was hot and decided to get rid of them.
- It’s hard to imagine a person willingly walking in his underwear through the jungle. Moreover, it was more rational to put the shorts in the backpack that the girls had with them.
d) The shorts were removed because Chris was injured.
- Why then carefully lay them out on the stone? Wouldn't it be easier to put them in a backpack? Moreover, if the injury had been open, there would have been blood on the shorts. If it was closed (fracture or dislocation of the hip joint), then Chris would not have gone far from the shorts. The body would have been found nearby.
5) The remains of girls found at a considerable distance from each other, and their condition.
a) Lisanne's boot. The shoe was located near the river bed, behind a tree. Part of a leg was found in the boot. According to police, it was separated as a result of "natural processes." Subsequently, not far from this place, smaller bone remains will be found (it is not specified which ones), on which skin will be found. The leather material showed the first stage of decomposition, leading police to conclude that it had been stored in the shade, in a cool place, at low temperatures.
These findings speak in favor of the criminal component of the incident. As a result of what “natural” processes could the foot be separated from the lower leg? The ligaments will not rot even in such a hot climate in three months. Also, the police do not say anything about the marks that must have remained on the joint during separation, as a result of which the nature of the injury would have been clear. And how does this relate to the discovery made very close by: “small bone remains” on which the skin was preserved, which was in the first stage of decomposition? How can a leg decompose, even to the point of destruction of the joint, while the skin remains virtually intact? In what refrigerator were these bone remains located, and who brought them to the shoe and planted them?
b) Part of Chris's hip bone, not far from Lisanne's boot. The bones showed no signs of decomposition. Police assumed that the bone had been chewed off by predators, although no obvious signs of animal fangs were found on it.
The police did not put forward any versions (at least officially) of how the pelvic bone could burst, and what the nature of the fracture line was, from which one could judge the nature of the injury. To break the pelvic bone during life, you had to fall from a very great height, and extremely unsuccessfully, on your back or side. The version about gnawing by predators does not stand up to criticism. Predators of the cat family (puma), do not gnaw bones. This could have been done by a wolf or a hyena, but they are not found in this area. And, according to the police, there were no traces of teeth on the bone.
If we assume that this place was still the place where the girls died, then how could their backpack end up much further than this place, downstream of the stream? Who brought it there?
c) On the third of August, more than fifteen kilometers (as the crow flies) from the start of El Piano, the Chris Cremers rib will be discovered. Even during a visual inspection, experts noticed the absolutely white color of the bone. During subsequent analysis, a large amount of phosphates were found on the rib, as a result of which the rib received this color.
Where did the phosphates on the rib come from? According to the police, it was in the stomach of a predator. But firstly, what kind of predator was this that could swallow a rib whole? and secondly, how was this rib able to leave the stomach without being digested and pass through the intestinal tract? And the hydrochloric acid in the stomach does not precipitate any phosphates on the surface of the bone, but, on the contrary, dissolves inorganics, as a result of which the bone becomes soft and is digested...
6) A backpack found in a stream bed with things.
Some surprise is caused by its good preservation, and the safety of the things contained in it. It is also unclear whether the girls themselves left him here, or whether he swam with the current (during rain, the water could rise, and theoretically, a backpack left above could be brought to this place by the stream), but if he was carried by a mountain stream, throwing him against the stones, then he the safety is amazing. If the girls left it, then how did their remains end up upstream? So they came back?
It’s also strange that the phones and camera were well preserved. And in general, the very fact of their presence in the backpack is surprising. By the tragic end of the eleventh of April, the last time Chris's iPhone was turned on, the one who turned it on (Chris or Lisanne) was clearly already in a state close to insane (as indicated by 77 turns on/off of the phone). A person in such a state will clearly not carefully pack things into a backpack.
Jack London has a very powerful story, "The Love of Life." It very well describes the behavior and state of a person desperately fighting for his life, and the change in his preferences, values and priorities in the process of struggle. Although the story is artistic, everything is described very reliably, and on the verge of death, it is unlikely that the girl will pack her phones and camera in her backpack, especially since there is no information on them that can shed light on what happened.
7) Night photos on April 8.
A series of 87 photographs taken with a camera in complete darkness without a flash, and three with a flash.
There are different versions of the origin of these photos, such as someone falling asleep with his head on a backpack with a camera, and periodically pressing the shutter button, and an attempt to scare away a predator in the dark with the sound of the shutter.
But if the camera was in a backpack, and took photos there on its own from random clicks, then how did it later end up “on the street” after a series of these pictures, where three more pictures were taken with a flash? All these 90 photos (87 in the dark, and 3 with flash) are one “photo shoot”. Lay your head on your backpack, sleep, and then wake up late at night and start filming? Highly unlikely. If this was a conscious shooting, then why was it necessary to click in the darkness for several hours, and then at the end, take pictures with a flash? Scare away a predator? The shutter sound (or simulated shutter sound) is quiet enough to be intimidating. And in the photographs with flash, there are no predators.
It is quite possible that the button was pressed by a person who was in stagnation, poorly understanding what he was doing at the moment.
8) Three night shots with flash
These pictures were examined microscopically by many forum users. They were enlarged, brightened, and whatever else was done to them, trying to understand what exactly was photographed on them, and most importantly, why.
In the first picture, for example, some saw... a leg.
With the proper imagination, in principle, you can really see it there.
The second photo of a branch with something red is also controversial. The red things are plastic bags. Such bags were found in the girls' room and can be seen in the photograph. It is quite possible that they wrapped something in these bags and put it in their backpack when going for a walk. Why did they just hang them on a branch? There are two explanations: they waved a branch to the rescue helicopter, and the bags were to attract attention, or they hung them on the branches to collect rainwater or morning dew for drinking.
Also, it is not clear what kind of piece of paper is lying near the branch, and what is written on it, and whether it has anything to do with what is happening.
By the way, the localization of this night “photo shoot” was never established.
The third photo, which shows Chris's hair, is causing greatest number disputes.
His parents didn’t initially want to show the girl, and in the end they showed him only six months later, and then, in a TV show, where another photo lay on top of him, hiding part of him. Full photo was never published, and it is unknown whether part of the photograph was hidden accidentally or intentionally. If intentional, then what is depicted there?
Many note that Chris's hair looks clean, which is strange for the eighth day of wandering through the jungle; opponents answer them that this is a flash effect, in which even dirty hair can look relatively clean. Even experiments (amateur) were carried out to confirm this statement. Well, who is right, and whether the hair in the photo is clean or not is unknown.
Later, information appeared that there was also a fourth photograph with a flash. The edge of the cliff is visible on it. Although initially, the primary sources spoke of three photographs. It is quite possible that this picture was also not shown to the parents at first, and then they posted it publicly.
There are many more mysteries in this story than answers, and whether it will be known what really happened in the jungles of Panama in April 2014, or whether this case will be included in the treasury of unsolved tragedies and incidents is still unknown.