The husband of a lady who was reported missing within the Bahamas after going overboard on a dinghy was questioned after which launched by police with out expenses on Monday, in accordance with his lawyer.
The situations of his launch are presently unclear.
Lynette Hooker, 55, of Michigan, has been lacking for over every week. She and her husband, Brian Hooker, 58, had departed Hope City on the Abaco Islands for his or her yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay round 7:30 p.m. on April 4, when unhealthy climate triggered Lynette Hooker to fall overboard, her husband instructed authorities.
The Hookers’ boat, “Soulmate,” is seen in Marsh Harbor on Nice Abaco Island within the Bahamas, April 8, 2026.
ABC Information
Brian Hooker was arrested on Wednesday in connection along with his spouse’s disappearance and interviewed by Bahamian police for roughly three hours on Friday. Police subsequently requested an extension to offer them till Monday night to make any charging choice, in accordance with his lawyer, Terrel Butler.
He was questioned by police once more on Monday for about an hour, in accordance with Butler, who stated investigators didn’t current any new proof. She additionally stated police haven’t given Brian Hooker any updates on the seek for his spouse since his arrest.
Butler stated Brian Hooker is taken into account a suspect in his spouse’s disappearance and denies any wrongdoing.
Following his preliminary interview on Friday, Butler stated Brian Hooker was “questioned in relation to inflicting hurt, which resulted in her demise.”
“He undoubtedly denies inflicting her demise and he is nonetheless asking about her and is hopeful that she might be recovered,” Butler continued, saying they haven’t been knowledgeable of any proof that her physique has been recovered.
Brian and Lynette Hooker in a photograph posted to their social media.
the_sailing_hookers/Instagram
The lawyer stated Brian Hooker is “heartbroken” over the disappearance of his spouse of 25 years and that his arrest has been “traumatic.”
His arrest got here after a number of sources instructed ABC Information a legal investigation had been opened into whether or not there was any wrongdoing within the case. The U.S. Coast Guard is main the probe, in accordance with a supply aware of the investigation.
In an announcement posted to social media final Wednesday, Brian Hooker stated “unpredictable seas and excessive winds” triggered his “beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy” close to Elbow Cay.
“Regardless of determined makes an attempt to succeed in her, the winds and currents drove us additional aside. We proceed to seek for her and that’s my sole focus,” he stated.
Brian Hooker instructed police that his spouse was holding the boat key when she went overboard, inflicting the 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy’s engine to close off, in accordance with the Royal Bahamas Police Pressure. He subsequently paddled the boat again to shore, arriving at a marina at round 4 a.m. on April 5, and reported his spouse overboard, police stated.
The Hookers documented their crusing travels on social media beneath the identify “The Crusing Hookers.”
Brian and Lynette Hooker in a photograph posted to their social media.
the_sailing_hookers/Instagram
Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has referred to as for a “full and full investigation” into her mom’s disappearance.
She instructed ABC Information her stepfather, Brian Hooker, instructed her that her mother “fell out of the boat and that he threw a life jacket to her or one thing, and he would not know if she obtained it or not.”
Lynette Hooker’s mom, Darlene Hamlett, instructed ABC Information she hopes “we discover the reality” amid the investigation and alleged the couple have had a unstable relationship.
“I simply need the reality to come back out and I am hoping that they will try this, and I hope they discover her and that that can assist clear up all of this,” she stated.
