Last year, Matt, Romain and I decided to unite our efforts in researching the disappearance case of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, the two women that disappeared in Panama in 2014. Altogether, we’ve written numerous articles, discussed the case for dozens of hours, and even have a trip to Panama planned for later this year.
After a lot of collaboration and persistence, our team has finally unearthed new case data.
In this article, Matt breaks down the new photo data that’s never been seen publicly until now. The photos he’ll discuss are the daytime photos – the photos that Kris and Lisanne took while hiking the El Pianista trail prior to their disappearance. This is new information, directly from the original photo’s EXIF records. Further, he discusses the content of the missing “day photos” and lays out the entire timeline in graph and table form.
This new case information, in conjunction with our trip to Panama later this year, should yield some important conclusions.
New Photo Data Released
This article discusses the day photos, which were taken on April 1st, 2014. I like to thank Romain (romaincleo@outlook.fr) for providing comparable photos of El Pianista Trail and information of image locations on the trail. Please also check out Romain’s article on the day photos (link here) where he wrote from the perspective of having hiked the trail twice.
The data provided in this article is based on the original images and their time stamps, which I was given access to for review. The data from those images is presented below. Any intentional or unintentional errors in the original data will be present in this article. I will refer to the timestamps as “correct”, which refers to the data in this article matching official data.
Please note that, many details around those images have been discussed exhaustively and I will not re-discuss those same points. I may only mention those points briefly. The scope of this article is to make the new data available, rather than discussing new and old theories.
The new data is:
- Correct image number for all images
- Correct time stamp for all images
- Description of content of unpublished images
A total of 33 photos were taken on April 1st 2014. Of those photos, 22 photos (66%), have been published or leaked before and can be seen on Juan’s or Scarlet’s sites.
The remaining 11 images or 33% have never been made available to the public.
Some of the existing public images had embedded meta data, while the majority did not. With new data available to me, I was able to assign times to all 33 images and place them on a timeline.
Please note, that I am not able to publish the actual missing 11 images. However, I will give a description of what they show and since all images were taken in groups of at least two images, it is very easy to visualize what the missing images show.
Table 2, shown at the bottom, shows a summary of all 33 images, the time they were taken and a description of the content. The table also shows the correct image numbers for the previously available images.
Firstly, I will review the images for possible signs of manipulation. For images to be manipulated there would have to be a motive. Since a lot of speculation has been around this case and the images in particular, I will not elaborate too much on it and can simply say that if someone had tried to cover up 3rd party involvement, they would have motivation to manipulate some or all images to obscure evidence or to mislead investigators.
If a motive exists, the ways discussed below of manipulating the images are possible. Evidence of image manipulation, depending on its degree, would be suspicious and may indicate 3 rd party involvement. No evidence of image manipulation could mean that it is either undetectable or was not done but on its own is not evidence against 3 rd party involvement.
1. Cropping
One can crop out parts of an image that shows anything unintended. This can be detected in two ways. First if the cropped image has lost relevant content compared to the original, it is an obvious sign of manipulation, assuming an unedited original is available. In addition, the image pixel size of the image will reduce every time it is cropped. This is not easy to detect if the image is upsampled again and if only small portions are cropped off.
If the image is not cropped carefully, it is possible to change the aspect ratio of the image. An absence of change in aspect ratio is no evidence that the image was not cropped but a change in aspect ratio is evidence that the image was cropped.
The Canon SX270HS that was used to take all 33 images produces images of 4000 x 3000 pixel at highest quality and an aspect ratio of 1.33. Thus, any image with an aspect ratio other than 1.33 was obviously cropped.
Of the 22 previously available images the following images have an aspect ratio other than 1.33:
Images 476, 481: 485, 489 are screenshots of a TV screen and obviously cropped and no further investigation is necessary. The original that I have reviewed do not show signs of being cropped.
Image 497, 498: Those images were very slightly cropped. In comparison to the originals, nothing of interest was cropped and is likely that they were cropped for “artistic” purposes or to fit an image template better. The originals do not show signs of being cropped.
It can be concluded there are no signs of manipulative cropping and compared to the originals, no relevant image portions were cropped off the known images. However as mentioned above, I can only compare to the originals available to me and assume those were not slightly cropped. In summary, it is very unlikely that images were manipulated by cropping and what we see on the images is the complete image.
2. Image Deletion
One can delete entire images out of a series of images to make unwanted content disappear. For this to go unnoticed one has to either delete the first or last image or if deleting images within a series of images, one would have to renumber all images subsequent to the deleted image(s).
It is possible that this was done with image 509 which is missing and was not even recoverable from the memory card. It is unknown if this image was deleted by Kris or Lisanne after image 510 was taken or if it was secure deleted to make restoration impossible.
It does not appear as if Kris or Lisanne deleted images since no other image numbers are missing. In image 495 Kris has her eyes closed and appears to be moving her hair with her right hand. This image would be one she would have wanted to delete, especially since there are several like images taken right after that look acceptable. It is therefore unlikely that image 509 was deleted by Kris and Lisanne because they didn’t like it, simply because they did not seem to have deleted other images that seem unlikeable. Image 509 might have taken at a time where there was a problem and under those circumstances there would not be motivation to delete images.
The other option is that the image was deleted by a 3 rd party. We then must assume that the motive was to prevent anybody from seeing what was shown in this image. This on its own is not evidence of 3 rd party involvement since someone may simply not have wanted to be the target of an investigation, however it makes some 3rd party involvement a possibility.
Lastly, the image could be missing due to accidental deletion or technical defect, but those are both rather unlikely. Digital cameras are essentially computers and it is not likely they just miss count of images. Accidental deletion also seems unlikely since for that the Canon SX270HS requires 4 small and rather hard to locate buttons to press, including one to acknowledge a delete warning. For this to happen unintentionally is nearly impossible.
A further problematic detail is that this image was taken between the last day photo, image 508, the first 112 call and before the distressing Night photos. It is therefore entirely possible that image 509 showed something that someone did not want to be seen. In summary, it is possible that at least one image was deleted and possibly more (see 4).
3. Pixel Manipulation
It is possible to manipulate images on a pixel level (“photoshopping”), however this is very difficult to do in front of busy backgrounds and with hair showing in the image. Hair is notoriously difficult to photoshop with and if subjects are to be placed into images, it is the biggest issue to get the hair to look right. It is possible for someone with expert knowledge to make some manipulations, however I do not see any evidence for this to have happened.
So either it was done extremely well by an extremely good expert or it was not done. I believe the latter is true and there was no pixel level manipulation done.
Especially since one image was deleted, one could have deleted another one without raising any more suspicion. It is much easier to simply delete images with unwanted content rather than performing difficult to do and relatively easy to detect pixel manipulation. The only motivation for pixel level manipulation would be to place something into the image that wasn’t there originally. However there would be little motivation because there are enough natural images of Kris and Lisanne at the Mirador.
In summary, it is very unlikely that images were manipulated on a pixel level.
4. Meta Data Manipulation
All digital images contain meta data that the camera writes into the image. In this case the most interesting would be the date and time the image was taken based on the camera’s clock as well as “last edited” data (to me only the time the image was taken was available).
This data can easily be manipulated, and this may not be detectable by anybody. It is possible that the camera writes checksums or other identifiers into the meta data to allow detection of manipulation. But this knowledge would be privy only to Canon experts or possible government Intelligence Services.
Another possibility of detecting amateurish meta data manipulation would be if it is impossible to place the image timeline in the physical environment. For example, if the data of two images shows them being taken at two places that can not be reached within the time difference between them that is taken from the meta data.
Thus, if the original meta data was manipulated, it might not be possible for us to detect it.
One example where the time difference between images is difficult to align with physics is image 500 and 501. Only 12s lapsed between those two images were taken, which is not much time since Kris and Lisanne had to switch spots, trade the camera, focus and take another image. Which is pretty not much time to do all those steps.
I have conducted an experiment. The assumption is that, the subject is approximately 4m ±1m away from the camera. At normal pace but with effort taken to be quick, it took two test subjects 14s to take comparable images of each other. It can be concluded that the time of 12s that Kris and Lisanne took is possible but very fast and one wonders if there really was such reason for the haste to save seconds.
Another explanation could be that those images were taken by a 3rd party, which on its own is not evidence for 3rd party involvement as it could have simply been another hiker. Also noteworthy about images 498, 500 and 501 is that Kris and Lisanne are making, for them, untypical and probably for young people their age rather untypical “thumbs up” hand signals. Could this be a connection with a 3rd party who took those pictures? It can not be said and has been discussed before, so I will not discuss this theory further.
Meta data manipulation would also need a motive which could be that unrelated images are being inserted or removed from a series and the time and date and subsequent images are corrected to fit.
This however was not with image 509 that seems to have simply been deleted. If someone deleted one image without correcting the meta data of the remaining images why would they have put more effort into deleting other images?
It is also possible to manipulate image data and time data to make it appear as if they were taken at a certain date / time while in reality they were taken at a different date / time.
For this to be done realistically with only a few images, it would be required to match the locations, lighting conditions and looks of persons shown and it would be easier to manipulate an entire series of images to make it appear as if they were taken on a different date or time. While the former appears unlikely, the latter is not impossible but not likely.
One such example is image 501 (left) where it has been speculated that it does not fit with the other Mirador images because of the clouds not matching and the light being wrong since it appears that there was no harsh sunlight when images 501 was taken.
I do not believe those points to be a concern. The clouds do in my opinion match reasonably well as we can
seen in the following collage:
The images are 501 (left) and 499 (right), taken 18 seconds apart, so in regards to cloud movement, virtually at the same time. It appears as if one image was taken under cloud cover and the other under blue sky. However when looked at closely we see that the clouds in the image to the left end in three “fingers” and the image on the right has also three pieces of clouds that could connect together. In my opinion the clouds do match reasonably well.
Another problem is the light. It appears as if Kris is under diffuse light under clouds while Lisanne is lit by harsh sunlight from the right.
A possible reason for the discrepancy could be the “flat” colors in the left image caused by the low contrast in the image and I have manipulated the colors to make the image look more as if it was taken in sunlight.
If we look at this image it looks like similar lighting conditions as the right image. We also see harsh shadows on Kris’ face. Kris and Lisanne face in different directions which explains while Lisanne is in sunlight from her right side and Kris isn’t.
Although the lighting and clouds can be explained, I am not fully satisfied that everything is right in those two images, but it is not in the scope of this article to explore this further.
I would also encourage the reader to review Juan’s analysis (link) on some of the bushes where it appears as they are in different stages of rolling their branches. This is difficult to explain and I recommend reviewing Juan’s excellent analysis on this subject.
Another concern are images 493 and 494. Romain suggests those depict locations AFTER the Mirador, however on the timeline they are placed BEFORE the Mirador. Since those images were taken approx. 1.5h after start of the hike it would be nearly impossible that Kris and Lisanne passed the Mirador and then returned to the Mirador as the image time could not be placed in the physical environment due the fact that it is impossible they reached the Mirador so quickly. However, I do not have confirmed evidence about where those two images where taken and therefore do not want to speculate further until their location is established.
It is also noteworthy that Kris and Lisanne reached the Mirador exceptionally quickly. Romain who has hiked the Pianista twice, estimates that it takes between 1:40h and 3:00h to reach the Mirador (his fastest time was 2:00h).
Based on his experience, there is one location (see image 3) where it is possible to take a wrong turn and the wrong turn (red arrow) could be more intuitive to most hikers (it happened to him on his first hike) since it leads uphill, while the correct path (green arrow) lead downhill and looks like a creek rather than a trail.
It took Kris and Lisanne 1:52h, since they would have started at 11:08 and took the first photo on the mirador at exactly 13:00. This also assumes they reached the Mirador and took photos right away, while in reality they may have spent a few minutes first enjoying the view.
The time they took is very short and required that no wrong turn on the trial is taken. Although it is possible to have happened, there is some doubt and it can be wondered if they had someone with them that knew the trail and also paced them.
In summary, it can be concluded, that there are some areas of concern about the timing seen in those images. This alone is not evidence for 3rd party involvement though as there might be explanations for the issues I have pointed out.
5. Fake Image Insertion
In order to manipulate a series of images one can insert unrelated images to suggest that the photographer was at certain times and certain places. This would have to go along with point 4 (Meta Data Manipulation) and therefore does not need to be discussed further here.
Descriptions Of The Missing Images
All 33 images were taken in 8 groups of 2 – 10 images each and show the same subjects or scenery from slightly different angles within those groups. Therefore, if there is one image from a group available, it is very easy to visualize what the missing ones show.
Since I cannot publish those images, I am giving a description of what they show.
| Found Photo | Photo Description |
|---|---|
| 478 | This image shows scenery very similar to 481. Please refer to Table 1 to find the group of images 478 belongs. It shows the same landscape and features. |
| 480 | This image shows scenery very similar to 481. Please refer to Table 1 to find the group of images 478 belongs. It shows the same landscape and features. |
| 487 | This image shows a small creek |
| 488 | This image shows a small creek. |
| 490 | This image shows the same location as 491. |
| 491 | This image shows the trail and the same stream as 491. |
| 495 | This is the first image taken on the mirador This image is a selfie like 498. Kris touches her hair/neck and has her eyes closed. |
| 496 | This image is a selfie like 498. |
| 503 | This image shows the same scenery as 504 |
None of the previously unpublished images shows anything that is particularly noteworthy or not visible in a
subsequent image.
Image 5 shows the timeline of the events on 01 April 2014. Since all images are taken in groups, they are placed in groups on the time line. The green arrow shows the time window in which a person who started the hike at 11:08 should have reached the Mirador. Kris and Lisanne reached the Mirador very quickly.
I also indicated a possible time span in which image 509 could have been taken. Take in mind though, that this is pure speculation and it could have been taken much later. I assigned a general description of the general area the images were taken in. The location of images 493 and 494 is described as “unknown” until established on site. The timeline places them before the Mirador however Romain believes they could have been taken after the Mirador.
Table 1, below gives an overview of all images and all times.
Note: Table below updated June 19, 2021. Some times were off by a second.
| Image | Event | Location | Time of Day (Panama) | Lapse Time from Start [hh:mm:ss] | Time between Events [mm:ss] | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Start | Trail Head | 11:08:00 | 0:00:00 | N/A | Time estimated |
 | Image 476 | Creek | 11:18:24 | 0:10:24 | 10:24 | Image previously published. This mage is actually portrait orientation and cropped into landscape. The sky and mountain top is missing. |
 | Image 477 | Creek | 11:18:34 | 0:10:34 | 00:10 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 478 | Creek | 11:18:39 | 0:10:39 | 00:05 | This image shows scenery very similar to 481 |
 | Image 479 | Creek | 11:18:44 | 0:10:44 | 00:05 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 480 | Fields | 11:25:05 | 0:17:05 | 06:21 | This image shows scenery very similar to 481 |
 | Image 481 | Fields | 11:25:11 | 0:17:11 | 00:06 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 482 | Fields | 11:25:27 | 0:17:27 | 00:16 | This image shows scenery very similar to 481 |
 | Image 483 | Fields | 11:25:31 | 0:17:31 | 00:04 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 484 | Fields | 11:25:33 | 0:17:33 | 00:02 | This image shows scenery very similar to 485 |
 | Image 485 | Fields | 11:25:35 | 0:17:35 | 00:02 | Image previously published |
 | Image 486 | Fields | 11:25:45 | 0:17:45 | 00:10 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 487 | Open Trail | 11:42:14 | 0:34:14 | 16:29 | This image shows a small creek |
| Image not published | Image 488 | Open Trail | 11:42:18 | 0:34:18 | 00:04 | This image shows a small creek |
 | Image 489 | Open Trail | 11:42:26 | 0:34:26 | 00:08 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 490 | Jungle Trail | 12:02:40 | 0:54:40 | 20:14 | This image shows the same location as 491 |
 | Image 491 | Jungle Trail | 12:03:08 | 0:55:08 | 00:28 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 492 | Jungle Trail | 12:03:16 | 0:55:16 | 00:08 | This image shows the trail and the same stream as 491 |
 | Image 493 | Unknown | 12:42:25 | 1:34:25 | 39:09 | Image previously published |
 | Image 494 | Unknown | 12:42:32 | 1:34:32 | 00:07 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 495 | Mirador | 13:00:23 | 1:52:23 | 17:51 | This image is a selfie similar to 498. Kris touches her neck and has her eyes closed. |
| Image not published | Image 496 | Mirador | 13:00:36 | 1:52:36 | 00:13 | This image is a selfie similar to 498. |
 | Image 497 | Mirador | 13:01:06 | 1:53:06 | 00:30 | Image previously published |
 | Image 498 | Mirador | 13:01:14 | 1:53:14 | 00:08 | Image previously published |
 | Image 499 | Mirador | 13:01:38 | 1:53:38 | 00:24 | Image previously published |
 | Image 500 | Mirador | 13:01:44 | 1:53:44 | 00:06 | Image previously published |
 | Image 501 | Mirador | 13:01:56 | 1:53:56 | 00:12 | Image previously published |
 | Image 502 | Mirador | 13:02:01 | 1:54:01 | 00:05 | Image previously published |
| Image not published | Image 503 | Mirador | 13:06:15 | 1:58:15 | 04:14 | This image shows the same scenery as 504 |
 | Image 504 | Mirador | 13:06:20 | 1:58:20 | 00:05 | Image previously published |
| Image not available | IMG_2125 iPhone4 | Mirador | 13:14 | 2:06:00 | 07:40 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | IMG_2126 iPhone4 | Mirador | 13:14 | 2:06:00 | 00:00 | |
| Image not available | IMG_2127 iPhone4 | Mirador | 13:14 | 2:06:00 | 00:00 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | 20140401_131420 Samsung S3 | Mirador | 13:14:20 | 2:06:20 | 00:20 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | 20140401_131424 Samsung S3 | Mirador | 13:14:24 | 2:06:24 | 00:04 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | 20140401_131430 Samsung S3 | Mirador | 13:14:30 | 2:06:30 | 00:06 | This image shows similar clouds and scenery as Image 502 |
| Image not available | 20140401_131456 Samsung S3 | Mirador | 13:14:56 | 2:06:56 | 00:26 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | IMG_2128 iPhone4 | Mirador | 13:15 | 2:07:00 | 00:04 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
| Image not available | 20140401_131513 Samsung S3 | Mirador | 13:15:13 | 2:07:13 | 00:13 | Based on timing similar to 20140401_131430 it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador |
 | Image 505 | Continental Divide | 13:20:33 | 2:12:33 | 14:13 | Image previously published |
 | Image 506 | Continental Divide | 13:20:39 | 2:12:39 | 00:06 | Image previously published |
 | Image 507 | Continental Divide | 13:54:50 | 2:46:50 | 34:11 | Image previously published |
 | Image 508 | Continental Divide | 13:54:58 | 2:46:58 | 00:08 | Image previously published |
| N/A | 112 Call | Continental Divide Past Mirador (assumed) | 16:39:00 | N/A | N/A | First 112 call. Note that the official time that this time is based on might be off by 1h. This is not relevant for this article. |
Closing Statements
I’d like to thank Matt and Romain for their excellent work on this research. We’ve all spent dozens of hours analyzing this information and preparing it for publication.
After photo 508, the last day-time photo shown above, photo 509 was deleted from the camera entirely, for unknown reasons. Beyond that point, the peculiar night photos were next in the camera. Matt discussed the night photos heavily in his other article: A Deep Analysis of The Night Photos.
Matt can be reached by emailing: researchtt2@gmail.com.
We have more information coming out in the coming weeks. A big thank you to all of our readers and supporters for helping us to keep this investigation alive. Feel free to post a comment or send us a message.
Please note: Our team is committed to accuracy of information and respecting the privacy of those involved with this disappearance case. If you have any supplementary information regarding the case, or if you were involved in this case and feel that the information available in this article impacts your privacy, please contact our team.
I don’t know, but I find it very hard to believe that picture 499 is original (Lisanne on top of Mirador). It may be true that photoshopping hair is tricky, but just look. Her left shoulder is much wider than her right shoulder, and her left breast is way bigger than the other, unlike all her other pictures. All proportion is lost. (Minor detail: in every other picture of her with loose hair, it is to the left; this is the only one where it’s to the right). I don’t know why it was pixel manipulated, but that picture screams photoshop. And the implications are quite enormous. Proof of one picture that has been tampered with, means that nothing can be trusted about these pictures, unless proven otherwise. No time stamp, no number, no order, no content, nothing. All we know then is that there is somebody who shows only what they want us to see and tell us a story – that needn’t be true.
Two things to mention here.
1. There is no dog on the photos. Girls would take a dog photo during the trip. This tells me the dog did not go with them.
2. Assuming that girls left mirador and went continental divide, where L. took a photo of K. (508) When you continue to walk that way, in 20 minutes there is another stream (https://youtu.be/cF_9AfrKWKg). Given girls kept taking photos during the trip, they would probably take next photo. They did not unless it is a photo 509. Why?
Something must have happened in between photo 508 and next stream location on continental divide. What happened?
1. They decided to step off the trail because they saw something
2. They lost way.
3. There was an injury, accident etc
4. They met someone
5. They realize they left something behind.
1-4 were mostly analysed, in these sitautions intensive search should occur between photo 508 and next stream.
5. If they realized they left something behind, they decided to go back which would explain why no more photos were taken. Did they then decide to start walking back through continental divide or decide to take the same way as they reached the top? It would delay their trip.
Does it matter? any ideas?
Something must have happened between photo 508 and the first emergency phone call, if the data is accurate. That means it looks like 2 hours and 45 minutes hike in any direction from the location of photo 508. Inside that circle, is the scene of the initial problem. That deserves the most critical detailed analysis to determine what possible paths and hazards are within that circle. I think it’s unlikely they decided to simply walk forward on the trail to explore up to the the time of 4:39pm, knowing they would have to hike all the way back. And they were able to use the phone at the mirador, so if one was injured, the other could hurry back to where there was phone reception.
If they started at 11:08 am, and reached photo 508 at 1:54, it’s interesting that it’s roughly the same period of time they needed to go from the start of the trail to photo 508, isn’t it? 2 hours, 46 minutes.
So do you disagree with the “backpack theory” posed on the “Kramers and Froon abducted” youtube that the timestamps were manipulated?
He claims according to evidence, and from the images themselves, that the girls reached the peak, passed it and went down to the continental divide. Then TURNED BACK up to the peak again, this time returning towards home. Once on the peak they continued back the way they came, to the beginning of the trail. (and from there were even back in town, at the pharmacy and in their room, then taken to the Caldera springs).
He puts the backpack on Lisanne throughout the whole first direction, with her hair down, a sunny start and strong sunlight.
Pics 476-491 are travel on way to peak.
Pics 499-502 are first time up on peak.
Pics 505-507 are continuing ahead and down to continental divide.
Pic 508 is turning back with Kris showing path back up towards peak.
Then on the way back and all the way to the end at the trail entrance with Kris carrying the backpack, Lisanne wearing her hair up after the second time on the peak, the sunlight deminishing and the sky filling with clouds.
Pics 496-498 are back on peak for second time. This time on way back.
Pics 489 is end of day. Time perhaps tampered to look like beginning.
Hi Imperfect Plan, especially Chris and Matt in this case
For several months, I have been waiting for a couple of successful special additions (or corrections) to your current, otherwise excellent, article here (mainly written by Matt) about some of the daytime photos, but in vain, it seems. So, here are my suggestions regarding two of the pics.
# 478. Twice in the article (all of which is allegedly based on ”[C]orrect time stamp[s]”) this photo is described as being almost identical to 481:
”This image shows scenery very similar to 481. […] It shows the same landscape and features.”
478 is listed, by you, with ”Creek” as the location, and ”11:18:39” as ”Time of day (Panama)”.
Well, that doesn’t make much sense, does it? According to the article, image 478, resting neatly between its creek mates 477 and 479 (dated five seconds earlier/later, respectively), is nevertheless supposed to be a close relative of pic 481 (which, if the time stamps are still correct, was taken app. 6½ minutes later, near/at the ”Fields” location…
Now, I haven’t seen image 478 myself, obviously, but something strange is clearly going on here. Maybe you would like to clarify your position (or the photo’s)?
# 475 (Yes: four-seven-FIVE):
This very first image (at least in our connection) was included (hopefully it still is) on a generally reliable (I think), and well organized website offering an overview of the case. All the missing (not leaked) photos were just black/empty, naturally. Nobody & nothing on the website presented any clues as to the ‘contents’ of 475; the first photo was exactly as ‘invisible’ & without any substance whatsoever as the rest of the unknown (daytime) pictures- but it was there.
Now, I do believe image 475 exists/existed, and I also have a fairly good idea of its motif (I know what it shows, basically), but much more important: Do YOU know? You (Matt) claim to personally have seen ALL of the previously recorded photos, right?
And why isn’t # 475 mentioned in the article at all?
How come you didn’t post the photo of 496 Image? It was previously published.
How could most of all the numbers of the photos be wrong? I’m not trying to dispute your work. I just don’t understand how all the numbers got so mixed up?
Looking forward to all the new data.
Hi BackPackerCoach,
The photo numbers posted in this article are accurate and were derived from official sources.
Thank you for your interest in our work and the case.
Cheers
Hi, this is my first contribution. I’ve been following the case for some time, however I always refrained from expressing myself here.
As a Brazilian, used (in a way) to know that the majority of land in my country is practically composed of jungle and its natural beauties, in the position of a tourist from another part of the continent, I say that the landscapes in the photos that were taken.
I wouldn’t take pictures of a road with a fence. What’s the point? Think for a second: imagine the background of the photos. It doesn’t make any sense that they were taken if we analyze the aspects of landscape/background/playful sense/scale and proportion.
You have to take into account all the logical sense of the photos since they arrived. Realize that there are portraits of natural wonders, beautiful beaches, landscapes with a logical sense of panorama, in addition to the get togethers and intimate moments of the trip to be shared with the family.
However, this playful line of perception changes drastically as an exponential function if we analyze the set of photos of “Sendero El Pianista”. Honestly, it doesn’t make any sense in the semantic imagery term of the locations where the photos were taken. With so much natural beauty, what’s the point of taking selfies in the middle of a mediocre road? Nonsense.
Also, check again Image 502: Kris holds his right hand with the intention of showing the splendor of the Mirador landscape. What is the sense of his hand going towards a set of vegetation of trees? The logical sense would be to show the “Grande Panorama”. By the way, I suppose that this misallocated position for a photo of a unique and so special trip would even be observed by the person who took the photo, in this case, Lisanne.
In other words, Lisanne would supposedly tell Kris that she would be a little “out of place”, so that the portrait would come out following a morphological pattern of the sky’s breadth contrasting with the vast valley of abundant green color.
In this sense, I believe that the work of the video in question that was mentioned in some comment makes sense. However, I emphasize that I have no experience with photographic images.
YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-VVv2ZSz5g
Is it possible that an original 510+ were deleted before the next set of photos was taken, and 509 was deleted during or after taking night photos? Odd that a couple hours elapsed after 508 with no photos before emergency calls. Those pics would have shown the course they traveled. 2: where is the coffee plantation they were allegedly invited to? 3: how did a tour guide know to search the trail? Did they tell anyone they were going there? If they didnt show up for a scheduled tour i wouldve assumed they disappeared somewhere else and still planned to hike the next day if they did not cancel the tour. 4:isnt it interesting that no sign of human decomposition on the shorts or rucksack, and only remains found were about as much as would fit into a rucksack to carry out and dump, and in odd position and condition? They left no breadcrumb trail for themselves and trackers to follow if they were lost. They did not use the camera to try to recall where they walked for days. They left no last message for family. Possibly the missing pics showed they were walking home on the trail when they had the emergency.
There are only 2 basic scenarios: forward or backward. Either they continued forward and became disoriented, or they began return on the pianist and were ambushed or diverted on trail. If the night photos were snapped by them, then they show they were lost and attempting day and night signaling. If a third party set up the night photos, seems irrational to do that in the search area at risk of being seen. Here is my question. After 1 april, during the week following, as the women had no light or ordinary means of firemaking and did not burn the paper shown in night pics, did a forensic analysis show that they used the phones or camera display during hours of darkness as a light source? If not then they sure as hell were not lost in the jungle.
…the following link shows possible photoshop error on photo at 10:30 mark on video…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-VVv2ZSz5g
i believe its 498 thumbs up both of them together…photoshop/background hole between kris’s arm and lisanne’s neck….calls it a “smoking gun”
Kris had a black stud in one ear and a clear one in another. A well-known fact.
The dark triangle on her arm is a shadow.
Problem is that on one photo the black stud is in her right ear, and on the other it’s in her left ear.
After reviewing the picture of Chris’s hair, going to a pixel level framing I found grass in the Lower Right and Upper right corners and Possible grass in the Upper left corner.
Photos 507 and 508.
I think it is interesting (but may mean nothing), that Lisanne must have had to back up a bit to take the second photo, as Kris is almost in the same spot, but more distant in shot 508.
She was maybe trying to get a shot including more jungle. But the fact that it is the last “living” photo is why I mention it. Also, I think any photo that is not the raw data photo (3000×4000) with correct aspect ratio are suspect. I am a Photoshop professional since 1988, so I know a bit about how a person can manipulate photos. I have extreme kung fu at manipulation.
I notice that since I made my comment on 28th March, you have since added the ‘times of the photos taken with their two phones’ (so a total of nine photos taken by those two phones in slightly over a minute between 13:14hrs and 13:15:13hrs) that are supposed to follow the last two photos taken with their camera at 13:06hrs, and then before the next camera photo which was taken at 13:20hrs?- Does that timing not come across a bit far-fetched or difficult to believe?… Add to that the description you have supplied for these unseen camera photos: ‘…it is assumed the image was taken on the Mirador/This image shows similar clouds and scenery as Image 502’ – with image 502 (which was from 13:02hrs) then showing Kris on top of the Mirador, but my guess here is that the reality/truth is that all the photos taken with the phones (9 in total) only show scenery and none with an actual person (Kris or Lisanne?)… please confirm either way?
I had hoped that at least one of the phone photos would have shown one or both of the girls? (This would help make camera photos genuine)
Please see my previous post/observation last month when it was just about the camera photos: it actually comes across now like somebody could have orchestrated a presentation of camera data to show a particular route… they (the photos) were taken to present and prove that a certain route was taken on a certain day/time.
And now we have the added phone photos… but if no person is visible on any of those photos and they are only of landscape/clouds then this then makes that entire series of photos look manufactured/staged?! – It is then like somebody walked that route in under 2 hours and took photos along that ‘presented route’ to prove to the World it had been taken, only problem being; the 2 girls weren’t even present when person took those photos! – So in other words they are fake.
But my mind is open, so hope you are up for a small challenge here; using two of your comments in this article, and then to help clarify any doubts, please provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt that:
1 – ‘there are enough natural images of Kris and Lisanne at the Mirador’
So in other words, define ‘natural images’ please, and how we now know with 100% certainty that those camera photos at top of Mirador, or on that day are genuine?
2 – ‘None of the previously unpublished images shows anything that is particularly noteworthy or not visible in a subsequent image’
Please confirm or show that one of those phone photos has either Kris or Lisanne in any of those images? – because ‘similar clouds and scenery’ could also just mean photos taken at same spot by somebody using Kris or Lisanne’s phones?
And to finish, will call it food for thought; I also have an issue with the clothing they are seen wearing on these photos presented with the 1st April date. It is of course possible (nobody can prove different) that they were wearing those green and red/white striped tops that day, but using common sense and gut feeling this is more the type of clothing you would wear on a night out? or when going out, etc. Just can’t see them wearing those types of shirts to climb up to top of Mirador on a sunny day? ?
All the 33 timestamps of the daytime photos are even numbers. The probability is 1 in 8,589,934,592. The probability of all the 33 timestamps are even numbers or all the 33 timestamps are odd numbers is 1 in 4,294,967,296.
We are talking about one in several billions!
That is really telling to me that someone who is very knowledgeable about photo manipulation but necessarily clever, manipulated the shots. Unless of course the system on the Canon camera takes pictures only at even times.
All the 33 timestamps of the daytime photos end on zero or even number. The probability is 1 of 8,589,934,592. The probability of all the 33 timestamps end on zero or even number or all the 33 timestamps end on odd number is 1 of 4,294,967,296.
We are talking about one of several billions!
can i ask: why you can’t publish the new photos? what’s the reasoning behind this, especially if they’re so similar to already published photos? I feel like im missing something…
When watching the photos 493 and 494 I get the feeling they are taken in the same area but (definitely?) not very near each other. I can’t understand how they managed to take them within an interval of only eight (!) seconds. In addition, I find both photos (very) interesting. The interval between 493 and 494 is only one of many / the most on April 1 which I think is very striking and very suspicious.
Hi, Audun. I think this is a back and forth photo from one position in the canyon. I do the same.
If you enlarge as much as possible all the photos on the 1st I promise you’ll do many (very) interesting observations. It’s essential to watch each of them slowly and focus on every part of each photo.
Source: https://koudekaas.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-disappearance-of-kris-kremers-and_11.html
@Matt and/or Chris – excellent analysis and summary with the camera data… I had initially been looking at this case back in 2014 when only limited info was available. And then when the backpack and contents (camera and phones) was discovered it was like a complete new scenario was then set in motion and all actual witness statements discarded.
Reading your latest updates and using these camera times, a few things simply don’t add up anymore. Its not just a question of the timeline (the speed in which 2 novices were able to cover the distance) but also ‘the type of photos’ taken when compared to their previous photos prior to 1st April (examples being photos 487 & 488 of some small creek or ‘the scenery shots described as open fields without either of the girls), and then the question mark surrounding photos 493 & 494? .., apart from the ones at the top of the mirador, a lot of these photos were simply not really worth taking… unless they were taken to present and prove that a certain route was taken on a certain day/time?
So when you now take a step back and view this timeline from 11:08hrs onwards… it actually comes across now like somebody could have orchestrated a presentation of camera data to show a particular route to tie in with the phones losing their network connection around 13:38hrs?
Please lookout to this collection of photos and videos related to that case:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOaDcK-zyudR_UXP4xNvvSpKhbEUNHFkl1cvaGaZrvkiKqkgSL0BK5mjUL2SGcDjw/photo/AF1QipP2eyuG0Dh1cs5hXqsqwjzRKN6u5vXstQaEJhTq?key=UjkzUHpsRmtLNUc2RlphdjVTWHRZSVEySjNYS0NR
Especially this video (taken 11th April 2014): https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOaDcK-zyudR_UXP4xNvvSpKhbEUNHFkl1cvaGaZrvkiKqkgSL0BK5mjUL2SGcDjw/photo/AF1QipP2eyuG0Dh1cs5hXqsqwjzRKN6u5vXstQaEJhTq?key=UjkzUHpsRmtLNUc2RlphdjVTWHRZSVEySjNYS0NR
Hi, thanks for this outstanding work! Is it possible to relate the photos to specific positions? Maybe as gpx or kml overlay?
I´m new to this case, but I´ve read a lot of information already. But in total it´s pretty confusing. Maybe it could help to visualise the known places.
Time stamps of missing day photos
Thank you to Chris, Romain, and others who gathered and published this important and useful new information. Six questions:
First, at the end, “Note that the official time that this time is based on might be off by 1h”. Can you explain further? Does this mean that the first call to emergency services could have occurred as early as 3:39 or as late as 5:39?
Second, in Table 1, the thumbnails are so small, that it’s difficult to see which photo they are referring to. A larger thumbnail, or a reference to a larger photo, would help.
Third, I had previously thought images 476, 477 (water on left, tree on right), and 479 (tree on left, water on right) were taken right after each other; it is interesting that there is an intermediate photo 478, yet the Note to 478 says “this image shows scenery similar to 481” because 481 was taken about seven minutes later.
Fourth, for 492, it is stated “shows the same stream as 491”. I did not see a stream in 491; just a log over where a stream might have been. This being dry season, and in the middle of a drought, the stream had likely dried up so the log allowed Kris to cross over, turn, and pose, in a jungle setting. That’s how I had seen the 491 photo. Where is the stream?
Fifth, is it correct that there were ten photos at the top of the trail; the Mirador; ending at a time of 1:06?
Sixth, the gap between 503 and 504 is rather large, at about 4 minutes, compared to the gap among the other photos at the top. Was this possible because the ladies were taking photos with their cell phones? Have any cell phone photos been made available to the public, to your knowledge?
Thanks a bunch!
One thing I’d like to add is: were the cell phone and camera clocks set to the time zone in Panama or were they set to the time in the Netherlands still?
Hi Chris, thank you for sharing this new information.
So you have seen ALL the photos? I read that Kris’ parents didn’t want all photos released because some “showed girls in disheveled state”. This is not the case then? None of the unreleased photos show them?
The fact that there was no evidence of them being alive past Day 1 would certainly strengthen the possibility of foul play.
Tbh, I’m struggling to see the girls going anywhere remote with local men, even if they briefly met them before. However, if the 3rd part was Dutch – it’s a different story. When abroad, one always feels safe with people from their own country…
Look forward to more updates! Thank you.
@Alice (comment on 1st March 2021) When looking at the wider picture, and taking into consideration this timeline and speed they are supposed to have reached summit then I believe your observation ‘…I’m struggling to see the girls going anywhere remote with local men, even if they briefly met them before. However, if the 3rd part was Dutch – it’s a different story. When abroad, one always feels safe with people from their own country..’ is spot on! IMO somebody gave somebody a lift on way up or way down.
and to add to my observation on Alice’s comment on 1st March and ‘Just can’t see them wearing those types of shirts to climb up to top of Mirador on a sunny day’… the only way they would have been at the top wearing that type of clothing would be if they got a lift in a vehicle on way up and/or down.