Gone In A Flash: The Disappearance Of Kris Kremers And Lisanne Froon

oh france chris cremas and lazanne froome were best friends fellow students and roommates from armas fort in the netherlands lausanne fruit was a positive intelligent and passionate young woman she was a keen volleyball player and loved the outdoor life chris cremas was 21 and was described as a creative reliable and responsible girl as well as living together they worked together at the same restaurant being a year ahead of chris lazanne had graduated with a degree in applied sciences from deventer and chris had just finished her studies in cultural and social education specializing in art education at the university of utrecht the girls had spent six months planning and saving up for a six-week long trip to panama this would be both a vacation and a chance to expand their skills and education they planned on spending time hiking and enjoying the views alongside volunteering with the local children learning spanish and teaching the arts this was an incredible opportunity for the young women and they couldn't wait to get there [Music] chris and lazan boarded a plane from amsterdam to costa rica and from there they boarded a bus to panama on the 15th of march 2014 the girls arrived in panama they toured for almost two weeks before settling in with a local family on march 29th just before midday on april 1st they took one of the host dogs named azel and set off for a hike near the forest that surrounded the baru volcano before they left they met for brunch with some of the other dutch tourists and were spotted by several people around the town they then headed to a route called the pianista trail not far from where they were staying the hiking trail was popular with tourists and locals alike with its breathtaking views and landscape it's easy to see why they were on social media frequently and spoke about their hiking plans for the day on facebook later that evening the dog returned home without chris and lazanne there had been no contact with the girls all day this was extremely concerning as they have both been in regular contact with friends and family via phone and social media since the start of their trip the hosts were scared that something sinister had happened and contacted the national system of civil protection or the nspc however for unknown reasons this was not followed up on straight away the first search for the girls was actually conducted by local volunteers that knew the area well the following morning both girls missed an appointment than they had made with a local tour guide and another day were passed with no sighting or word from either of them finally on the 3rd of april an official area search of the hike began volunteers were on the ground on foot and also searching the trail spanned a vast area and with a peak height of over eighteen hundred feet a thorough search would take a substantial amount of time three days later the parents of chris and lazanne arrived in panama to help find their daughters police sniffer dogs and the girl's parents embarked on a 10-day long search to find them and thirty thousand dollars was offered as a reward the girl's parents didn't believe they would have veered off the set path and it just didn't make any sense to them foreign although police and locals were searching the area and the search move quickly nothing would turn up and more questions than answers arose for 10 weeks the case was effectively cold until one of the locals found the first key piece of evidence on june 14th a backpack later identified as lazan's was found along a riverbank in alto romero this was around a 14-hour walk away from the trail that the girl had embarked on the bag was in perfect condition it wasn't wet or damp and appeared to not have been damaged by the elements the woman who found the bag said although she couldn't be sure how long it had been there she was positive it couldn't have been there long and she hadn't spotted it in the days before in the bag was 83 cash two pairs of sunglasses lazanne's passport chris's medical insurance card an empty water bottle a camera and both girls bras also inside were chris and lazan's mobile phones everything inside was in perfect condition neatly packed and undamaged by the weather the rucksack wasn't high-end or especially waterproof and questions surrounding how the bag and the contents had stayed in such good shape in a humid and wet rainforest for the last two months started to be asked there were also many sets of fingerprints found on the bag but these were never fully analyzed and it remains a mystery as to whose they were fortunately when the phones from the backpack were switched on they still worked perfectly the authorities were able to start painting a picture of the hours leading up to their disappearances only a few hours after they set off on their hike a call to 112 was made from chris's iphone 4. dialing 1-1-2 from any country in the european union will connect you to emergency services 10 minutes later lazan's samsung was used to make another 1-1-2 call it was clear something had gone terribly wrong only a few hours into the hike on april 2nd lazan and chris made four more attempts to call both 1-1-2 and 9-1-1 and on april 3rd another call to 9-1-1 was made from the iphone due to the reception only one of these calls briefly connected and that was only for a second before it was cut off it was clear that after 5am on april 5th the samsung battery eventually ran out but chris's iphone continued to hold power until noon on april 11th between the 7th and the 11th of april there were 77 attempts made to try and call the emergency services all of these calls tragically failed after april 6 the passcode to the iphone was inputted incorrectly multiple times and it was determined that the correct pin was never entered again the passcode for the iphone was entered incorrectly so many times that this possibly indicated lazan may have been attempting to access chris's phone after her own battery had died or after eight days in the wilderness dehydration and hunger could have been the reason that chris couldn't focus to enter her pin correctly but after over a week with what could have only been a few snacks in limited water it was remarkable that one or both of the girls were still able to use the phone at all on the 11th of april the iphone was turned on and then off for a final time at 11 56 am the camera in the rucksack added more pieces to the mystery at the beginning of their hike they had taken a massive amount of photos of themselves overlooking the continental divide and happily following the trail nothing appeared out of place the girls seemed happy and carefree and it was bright and warm outside [Music] so the final photo taken in the afternoon shows chris heading down the trail on april 8 a total of 90 photos have been taken using the camera flash these were all taken between the hours of 1 and 4 am the majority were pitch black the photos showed random areas of woodland water and sky the police had several theories firstly that the flash of the camera was being used to illuminate the area to guide them through secondly they were using the flash to scare away wild animals that may have been encroaching thirdly either both or one of the women could have possibly been attempting to take photographs of distinctive parts of the forest to help lead someone to them if the phone was found one of the images showed what appeared to be either plastic bags or wrappers stuck on some sticks on a large rock another photo showed what appeared to be a mirror on the ground alternatively these photos could have been for themselves to get their bearings back during the daylight and help retrace their steps the final theory is that the flash was being used to draw attention or direct anyone that may have been in the area or looking for them there was a large search party out on the 8th of april and flares were being shot up into the sky to try and locate the girls the flash of the camera was possibly being used as a distress signal to lead the party to where they were the amount of photos that had been taken looking up at the sky would further add weight to this theory disturbingly one of the photographs showed the back of chris's head with what appeared to be blood on it this raised another theory that maybe chris had fallen and injured herself early into the hike and after failing to get a reception to alert the authorities lausanne had left with chris's phone to get help on foot however chris may have succumbed to her injuries and lausanne fell victim to the elements dehydration or both out of all the images taken over the day in the early hours of the morning on april 8th only one photo was deleted and was unable to be recovered image 509 in the order the photos were taken the deleted one in question would have been around the time the flash started being used it will never be known what this image was and why it was deleted but it is possible that this photo could have been one of the keys to solving the case these photos combined with the attempts to reach help pointed to a series of terrifying and distressing days for chris and lazan following the discovery of the backpack chris's shorts were found on a rock a few kilometers from where the bag had been located there were inconsistencies surrounding how the shorts were found some reported that they were neatly folded up and others said that they had just been flung over the rock two months later a tragic finding was made a human pelvis and a hiking boot with a foot inside was discovered at least 33 human bones were found shortly after they were scattered in different locations along the riverbank almost a 12-hour walk away from where they were last known to have been suspected human remains and hiking boots found during the search for two young dutch women have been confirmed have belonged to the girls two different types of shoes and bones were found last thursday as search teams stepped up efforts to find the girls who disappeared while hiking in panama dna tests concluded that these were the bones of chris cremas and lazan froon chris's bones were bleached presumably due to the conditions surrounding them however some people questioned whether or not the bleaching was down to the natural elements or was man-made among these bones the police found the remains of three other unidentified people the final and remaining searches were often hindered due to bad weather and this also meant that using cadaver dogs drew a blank poor weather and lots of rain makes it incredibly difficult for dogs to locate and follow scents people speculate to this day that the girls were met with foul play killed along the hike and their remains were scattered over a massive area killed by locals kidnapped by a gang and even murdered by cannibals are still among the theories on the internet today but the police say they doubted any of these theories and foul play was ruled out although the full picture of what happened over those 11 long days will never be known the police believe they have come to a few conclusions investigators and locals found that it would have been virtually impossible to lose sight of the trail and wander off course due to how rigidly yet simply it was laid out it was also a very popular tourist trail so if something had happened along the way it is fairly likely they would have been found and received help at some point so if the girls did choose to totally go off the trail they would have had to have had a reason for it or deliberately taken a different turn as opposed to unknowingly making a mistake one part of the trail however was seen as a potentially hazardous spot and if you lent over too far there was a chance for someone to slip and fall over 40 meters into the riverbank below if you followed that same river along this was actually where a lot of the girl's bones were discovered a local knew the trail well and identified this area as somewhere that would have been almost impossible to get back out of should someone have fallen into it speculations that they had fallen into the river calibre were squashed by the crema's family lawyer enrique aracha with no damage to the bones and the low levels of water in the river at the time they disappeared he claimed that this just didn't stack up a panamanian forensic anthropologist said of the girl's remains there are no discernible scratches of any kind on the bones there are no marks on the bones at all the investigating officials will come under fire for how the case was conducted people wanted to know why it hadn't been investigated sooner and why certain things hadn't been analyzed for dna or fingerprints it will never be known what happened during those 11 harrowing and traumatizing days but it is obvious that the girls fought tirelessly to save themselves and get help chris cremas and lausanne froome had clearly battled incredibly hard and had seemingly strategized as best they knew how their family and friends still search for answers and have never given up hope that they might one day find out what happened to chris and lausanne on the pianist trail in panama [Music] so you

Channel: Truly Criminal

Views: 378,236

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Id: z7zGAlypJ0Y

Length: 17min 19sec (1039 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2021