Voyager, episode “The 37s”
Yes, but I was thinking that she was on an episode of Torchwood, but some googling proved my memory faulty–it was some other random people in a plane from the past.
I’m just speculating, but I think it’s a combination of things:
Celebrity;
It’s in a sweet spot where there’s some hard evidence, but nothing conclusive, and a real (if very small) possibility that more hard evidence could be turned up, so there’s room for speculation and searching for more evidence;
The fact that the most likely explanation does not have, and by its nature probably never will have, hard conclusive evidence, and is therefore the most likely explanation is kind of intellectually unsatisfying;
and maybe most importantly, the most likely explanation is too brutal and mundane to be emotionally satisfying. Amelia Earhart was a celebrity, a main character in a story, a hero we aspire to be. Heroes don’t die from simple boring things like getting lost and running out of gas over the ocean; heroes manage to reach land and would have survived had the search times just found them in time.
Elvis would be 82.
James Dean would be 85.
Marilyn Monroe would be 91.
Elvis’s health and habits would be such that he was going to die around that time no matter what. But the other two might easily still be alive if circumstances were different.
OTOH, Hitler would be 128 and we can definitely put a nail in that coffin. So we know right away this guy is a nut job.
I have nothing in particular to add to this discussion except to note that when I went to the linked article, the name of one of the reporters jumped out at me.
The reporter was a student of mine when I taught first grade lo these many years ago! Small world huh?