Amelia Earhart ‘was executed by the Japanese’

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart (pictured right) and her navigator were executed by the Japanese government to avoid an international incident, and the US played along, a shocking theory claims. The theory says Earhart, who was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and navigator Fred Noonan were killed on the island of Saipan, now a US commonwealth, after their disappearance in 1937 has been around for more than 50 years now. But now claims have emerged that Earhart's body was retrieved by the US military – which may have hidden her killing to keep the peace, the Pacific Daily News reported. The theory fits the recollections of William 'Bill' Sablan, a resident of Guam whose uncle, Tun Akin Tuho, worked at the Saipan prison camp (inset). In July, a fuzzy photograph (left) emerged as part of the promotion for the History Channel documentary purporting to show Earhart and Noonan in Saipan, along with her plane, in 1937. A facial recognition expert said that it is likely Earhart and Noonan in the photo. However, investigators said the image could not be that of Earhart because it was found among a batch of pictures taken after 1940 – three years after Earhart vanished.