What Lies Ahead: A Conversation with Dr. Richard Pettigrew

For nearly a century, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart has lived in the space between history and legend — a story told and retold, debated and dissected, yet never fully resolved. But every so often, the mystery shifts. Not because of rumor. Not because of speculation. But because of evidence.

Tonight’s conversation centers on the physical remnants left behind — fragments of a story buried in coral, sand, and time. Artifacts recovered from the remote island of Nikumaroro have forced us to ask an uncomfortable question:

What if we really have been looking in the right place all along?

Tonight we hear an update from a man that’s very much been at the center of the Earhart/Noonan search as of late — an archaeologist whose work has focused on the scientific analysis of this material evidence. His research doesn’t promise answers wrapped in certainty, but it does something far more important: it challenges assumptions, tests long-held beliefs, and brings the conversation back to what the evidence actually shows and why it matters. 

Just a few months ago, the highly publicized trip out to Nikumaroro was postponed. Now, it’s time to find out why. It’s time to slow the story down,  examine what’s been discovered, how it’s been studied, and why these discoveries continue to reshape one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

This isn’t about closing the case. It’s about following the evidence — wherever it leads.

Welcome back to Chasing Earhart. From Eugene Oregon, this is the return of Dr. Richard Pettigrew. 

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