Cochrane, who as of press time had not yet seen the History Channel special, describes the idea that Earhart was taken prisoner by the Japanese as a “ridiculous theory.”

She also insists that she’s “not aware of any missing government records [on Earhart] that could be a game changer.”

Henry stands by his team’s findings but acknowledges that Kinney’s photograph and their other discoveries open up countless new questions about Earhart and Noonan’s fate.

“It is not clear why the U.S. [government] might want to cover up what happened to Amelia,” he says.

It’s all been carefully documented on the Tighar Website.

“If in fact she was spying on the Japanese, the government may not have wanted the American public to know they put ‘America’s sweetheart’ in that situation and she was captured.”