CATHERINE Johannet, the  23-year-old American backpacker  whose body was found in a wooded area Isla Bastimentos, in Bocas del Toro, on Sunday February 5, was strangled after receiving a blow to the back of her neck with a blunt object.

A preliminary report  from the Instituted of Forensic Science in Panama City indicated  that she had been strangled with a piece of her own clothing and dragged to the wooded area where her body was found after an extensive  search by the Civil Assistance authority (SINAPROC), National Police and volunteers.

She had  arrived at the South Beach Hostel in Bocas Del Toro on Thursday February 2, and left to visit the Island and Red Frog beach soon after 10 am, and never returned.

The  5ft 11 young woman had traveled the world after graduating from New York’s Colombia University and had interned in Portugal  and taught in a school in Hanoi, Vietnam for over a year.

Relatives arrived in Panama on Monday. A full scale police  search for the killer is underway and the government has promised full support in the investigation.