Explosive new evidence about the fate of Amelia Earhart brought to light

Aviator was likely captured by the Japanese.

A new photo possibly shows Amelia Earhart alive, following her disappearance in 1937. She appears at a distance in the photo, but may be present with her navigator, Fred Noon, and suggests she crash-landed and was taken into Japanese custody.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- The disappearance of Amelia Earhart is one of the great enduring mysteries of the last century. In June and July of 1937, the aviation pioneer attempted to circumnavigate the globe.

Setting out across the Pacific in the early morning of July 2, Earhart became lost. She was able to communicate by radio with a ship sent to aid her, but neither she nor the ship were able to locate one another. With poor visibility, low on fuel, and plagued with communication difficulties, Earhart either crashed into the ocean, or crash landed on one of the many small islands in the Pacific.

Since her disappearance, all these islands have been scoured for evidence. Parts of aircraft and anecdotal evidence abound, but nothing conclusive has been found. Two pieces of metal, allegedly from a Lockheed Electra were found in 2015 on Mili Atoll, about 165 miles west of the Jaluit Atoll.

Metal fragments aside, the lack of evidence suggests they went down at sea, and remain in a watery grave to this day.

However, Earhart was an experienced pilot. She had time to hunt for her appointed landing site, and failing that, she had options to land on a number of different islands. All good pilots know the limits of their aircraft and have a landing spot in mind in event of an emergency. Those who knew Earhart believe she would have landed, even if the landing were rough.

But if the plane landed, then where was it?

A tantalizing photo has surfaced from July 1937. There are three clues in the image. First, there are two Caucasians, one man and one woman. The woman is sitting with her back to the camera. Her hair is short, like Earhart's was. The face of the man appears to resemble Fred Noonan, Earhart's navigator. Unfortunately, the image was taken at a distance, not close enough to be clear.

The third clue however may be the most compelling. Towed behind an anchored Japanese ship appears to be the wreckage of an airplane, possibly Earhart's twin-engine Electra. What are the odds?

The photo, which experts say appears to be genuine, lends evidence to the hypothesis that Earhart and her navigator survived a crash landing and were captured by the Japanese.

The image was captured on the Jaluit Atoll, about a thousand miles away from Howland Island, where they were supposed to land on July 2. The person who took the picture was rumored to be spying for the U.S., and he was later executed for treason by the Japanese. The spy hypothesis makes sense too, since there is nothing else remarkable about the photograph. Nobody is posing and the vessels in the image are not particularly interesting. The image was likely captured surreptitiously, to document the Caucasian pair and the wrecked plane.

The evidence is not as good as finding the wrecked plane, or bodies, or documentation from the Japanese, but it is strong.

According to the Japanese theory, Earhart was a victim of the Japanese plan to conquer the Pacific. She crash landed in Japanese territory. Although the war was still three-and-a-half years in the future, the Japanese had already banned westerners from entering their possessions. Those possessions already included the Marshall Islands where she might have crashed.

There are anecdotes from locals who say they saw her plane crash on the morning of July 2. Locals also say they saw a pair of Caucasians, a woman and a man, immediately afterwards.

Earhart and Noonan were quickly arrested by the Japanese who also seized her wrecked plane. Noonan would eventually be beheaded by the Japanese, and Earhart would die in custody on Saipan about two years later.

The Japanese have always denied taking Earhart into custody and no documentation exists to suggest the westerners were ever found or incarcerated by the Japanese.

There are several teams of investigators around the world pursuing a variety of leads and hypothesis into Earhart's disappearance. There are at least five hypothesis that don't involve aliens or claims of the supernatural. In time, further scouring and forensic examination of the evidence will probably produce an answer. In the meantime, we are left to wonder.

Still, the image is compelling, and it suggests the Japanese government has some explain to do. Unfortunately, those who are likely to know best are by now, long deceased.