Voor de OP:+15-16 april 2014; enkele dagen nadat de batterij van de I-phone van Kris opraakte, besloot een dude om zelf te gaan zoeken. Hij kon niet geloven dat twee vrouwen “into thin air” konden verdwijnen. Zijn uitgangspunt in april 2014 was: verdwaald/ ongeluk/ geen misdrijf.
It was around this time that I had the bright idea to throw in my hat, and go and see if there was anything that could be done, the search was being suspended and I felt it did not make sense that you could just vanish into thin air.Vanuit David rijdt hij naar het restaurant en mikt hij op 15.30 uur, vanwege de toenmalige tijdlijn:
As the papers had been adamant that the two Holandesas as they had come to be known, had reached the start of the Pianista trail at three thirty in the afternoon, this was the time I picked to be at the beginning of the path also, for obvious reasons.Die dag lag er veel afval op de mirador:
Finally the Mirador was reached, very obvious by all the food wrappers left about by the previous searchers, it had taken exactly two hours to reach this point without stopping all the way from the restaurant.Hij besluit om iets onder de mirador te overnachten (foto) en de volgende dag de noordzijde te doorzoeken.
![DSCF3102.jpg?resize=768%2C576]()
Hij beschrijft de noordzijde als steil, zoals ook RTL late night werd verteld:
The Committee of one (=hijzelf) decided finally, that the steepest slope to the North, falling away toward the Atlantic, should be searched first and I was about to implement the decision, when an indigenous bloke appeared on the path coming up from the Atlantic side carrying a sack. I was able to talk with him for a bit and turned the subject to the lost women, he also appeared really puzzled not understanding how you could get into trouble here, and in good weather.
Hij komt dus iemand tegen.
Hij gaat een stukje via het pad omlaag en besluit
off-piste af te dalen, het deel van RTL Late night:
So I descended the path a little bit on the northern slope and chose the easiest place to plunge into the thick jungle to make a long traverse along the front of the mountain and down to a small stream .. There was absolutely no sign of anyone having pushed through the bush, no broken branches or telltale skid marks where someone would have slipped, as is normal on steep difficult terrain.
After a long traverse I descended into the small creek, which is literally part of the headwaters of the Culebra River, then descending downwards following the stream through really thick overgrowth.
Nothing, no sign of anything.Hij besluit om terug naar het pad te klimmen:
Finally after descending quite some way it just seemed obvious that no one had come this way, so I started making my way now back up to the descending ridge of the Pianista path. Hij loopt terug naar de Mirador waar hij zwak telefonisch bereik had.
Op een gegeven moment komt hij wéér iemand tegen, een gids verschijnt op de Mirador en die vertelt dat hij het heel raar vond dat de twee meiden in het niets waren verdwenen:
At around this time another person showed up, he turned out to be a guide from Boquete whom seemed quite surprised to see me, we talked at length.
He had been searching for the two women for some time, we talked of the terrain, he felt as I did that it was unlikely that they could have remained lost for very long and on the whole it was also unlikely that they would have had an accident up here, which would have proved fatal. (Dus die gids was van mening dat je in dat deel niet zomaar kunt verongelukken.)
Hij besluit hierna om in de jungle off-piste boven het pad te zoeken en vindt sporen van -wat hij aanneemt- andere zoekers:
though this time there was signs of others before me, which I took to be searching for them.Nadat in mei-juni 2014 de RHWW ook niets had gevonden, besloot hij een tweede keer te gaan zoeken:
it was also around this time that one of the guys whom worked for me decided it would be a good idea to resume the search, and that his cousin, Samuel who is also friend of mine would be perfect for the job.
Ze gaan off-piste rondom de Mirador, op verschillende hoogtes:
We had a good day and covered a lot of territory, a complete circumnavigation of the mirador had been made at varying altitudes.Er waren veel sporen van mensen die hen voor waren geweest:
There was now a lot of signs of others whom had searched before us, we tried as much as possible to pick new lines,..Half juni 2014 werden kilometers ver de rugzak en resten gevonden en hij dacht nog steeds dat er geen misdrijf in het spel was:
To me it was now confirmed that this was no criminal case, the cellphones, money and anything else of value would have been taken for sure had these young women been abducted or attacked, just the nature of the beast. (Let op: Hij beseft nog niet dat K&L al om 13.00 uur de Mirador hadden bereikt.)Totdat: There I left it and thought no more of the subject and again much later still, something really strange occurred. There is a place in Chiriqui called the Cangilones de Gualaca, where a lot of local people and tourists go to swim in the river,..Hij kent de plek goed:
For me it’s a great place to keep fit, long swims and lots of bouldering quickly gets you into shape.So it was a great surprise when it was reported in the paper that on the third of march of 2015 the body of Leonardo Arturo Gonzalez was found floating in the water. It was he whom had given the two girls the taxi ride to the start of the trail on that fateful First of April the year before.
The report simply stated that he had given a lift to three tourists to the Cangilones and whilst they were enjoying the location, he had been found floating dead.Begin 2016 ziet hij voor het eerst de nachtfoto’s van K&L en begrijpt nu pas dat K&L om 13.00 uur de Mirador hadden bereikt.
Ook ziet hij voor het eerst de ons bekende nachtfoto’s, maar hij legt géén link met de plek waar hij in april 2014 was afgedaald.Hij besluit zijn verhaal met het geven van wijs advies voordat men op hike gaat.
Deze dude heeft het valgebiedje van RTL Late Night half april 2014 doorkruisd en géén sporen gevonden.
http://www.wildxplor.com/?p=568