CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a Wyoming man’s lawsuit claiming a group secretly found the missing airplane of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in the South Pacific but kept it quiet so it could continue to raise funds for the search.
District Judge Scott Skavdahl on Friday dismissed Timothy Mellon’s lawsuit against the Pennsylvania-based International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery and its executive director.
Skavdahl ruled there’s no proof of Mellon’s claim that the group found Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra in 2010 but kept it secret to collect $1 million from him for the search. Mellon is the son of the late philanthropist Paul Mellon.
Richard E. Gillespie, the aircraft recovery group’s executive director, says the organization wants to move forward with the search.
A lawyer for Timothy Mellon says it’s unclear whether he will appeal.