New Developments In The Disappearance Of Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart has captured the imagination of generations since her disappearance in 1937, but as much as her disappearance has added to her mystique it also left her tragic tale without resolution.
So why haven't investigators been able to find her body?
Because they probably already did back in 1940, when a skeleton discovered on Gardner Island (now called Nikumaroro) was dismissed as male by a doctor and eliminated from evidence.

But when The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) re-examined the skeletal evidence in 1998 they determined the bones found on that island in the South Pacific most likely came from a tall caucasian female.
Forensic anthropologist Richard Jantz recently took it a step further by comparing the skeleton's unusually long forearms to Earhart's own radius-to-humerus ratio:

In the British doctor’s notes, the humerus was reported to be 32.4 centimeters long. The radius was 24.5 centimeters – a ratio of 0.756 to the length of the humerus. Statistically, women born in the late 19th century (Earhart was born in 1897) had an average radius to humerus ratio of 0.73.
In other words, if the castaway was a middle-aged, ethnically European woman, she had forearms considerably longer than average. Dr. Jantz wondered if Amelia may have had similarly longer than average forearms. To answer that question we called on forensic imaging specialist Jeff Glickman. Selecting an historical photo of Amelia where her bare arms were clearly visible, and working with Dr. Jantz to identify the correct points on the shoulder, elbow and wrist for comparing bone length, Jeff found that Earhart’s humerus to radius ratio was 0.76 – virtually identical to the castaway’s.

We'll probably never know for sure if the bones belong to Amelia Earhart, but maybe it's time to simply accept these findings and put this mystery to rest once and for all.