An Aluminum ‘Window’ May Solve Mystery of Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance

Researchers are confident that an aluminum fragment found off a remote island in the Pacific Ocean came from Amelia Earhart’s long-missing plane.

The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery said Monday that the fragment was a custom window added to Earhart’s Lockheed Electra plane while she took a rest-stop in Miami during her infamous final expedition in 1937. Researchers say the piece “ was as unique to her particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual,” and the patch “matches that fingerprint in many respects.”

The aluminum piece was discovered in 1991 and researchers say it could help lead to a definitive answer Earhart’s final resting place. Earhart is believed to have landed on a reef at Nikumaroro, sending out radio distress calls for as many as five nights before the aircraft was swept out to sea. The researchers are returning to Nikumaroro in July 2015 to search for more clues that support this theory.