Bones that were found in 1940 on a small island in the Pacific Ocean are most likely the remains of Amelia Earhart, according to a recently published study.
Theories about the ultimate end of the noted aviator and her navigator, Fred Noonan, have been formulated for decades after the pair’s plane disappeared over the Pacific on July 2, 1937.
Three years after they vanished, human remains were found on an uninhabited island called Nikumaroro, also known as Gardner Island. At the time, an analysis of the bones determined they belonged to a stocky, middle-aged man.
The bones, which included a humerus, radius and tibia, have since disappeared, but measurements of the bones remain.
University of Tennessee anthropology professor Richard Jantz said in a study published in the journal “Forensic Anthropology” that he is 99 percent sure the bones belong to Earhart.
Jantz said he used pictures of Earhart and, in particular, a gas can she is holding in one of the photographs, to determine measurements for her arm and leg. He compared his analysis to the original analysis of the bones.
"If these bones are not Amelia Earhart, the person to whom they do belong just happened to be very similar to her, and that's unlikely,'' Jantz said during an interview with NBC’s Joe Fryer that aired Thursday on the "Today" show.
Another theory surfaced last year when an expert claimed that a photograph taken on the Marshall Islands in July 1937 that was found in an archive proved Earhart and Noonan were rescued and taken prisoner by the Japanese. That theory was later undermined by a blogger who said that the picture appeared in Japanese archives as early as 1935.
Officially, the bodies of Earhart and Noonan have never been found, and it is believed that the pair died when their plane crashed in the ocean.
This article is a summary of the story published by Ric Romo and Scott Stump. To read their full original story, go to Today.com.