Purdue-Backed Expedition Finds No Trace of Amelia Earhart's Plane at Nikumaroro, Debunking Apple Maps 'Taraia Object'

A 17-member expedition to Nikumaroro, a remote South Pacific atoll, has concluded that a blurry shape on Apple Maps—dubbed the Taraia Object—was likely a cluster of large trees, not the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra. The team, which included representatives from Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute, conducted surveys with a magnetometer and side-scan sonar from October 2026. On October 18, they announced 'no conclusive evidence' of the aircraft. The search was prompted by amateur researcher Michael Ashmore, who spotted the anomaly in 2020 and brought it to the attention of Richard Gillespie of TIGHAR and Richard Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute. Purdue joined because Earhart had worked there and purchased the plane with funds from the Purdue Research Foundation. The expedition was billed as Phase 1 of a potential three-phase project. Despite the setback, Pettigrew remains confident in the castaway theory, while experts like retired Smithsonian curator Dorothy Cochrane doubt evidence will be found on Nikumaroro, favoring a crash near Howland Island. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937, during their round-the-world flight.