Brian Hooker, the husband arrested in the disappearance of Lynette Hooker during their boating trip in the Bahamas, reportedly claimed that the wind blew him away from her in an apparent Facebook message to a friend.
“The wind blew me away from her and she swam towards the sailboat, and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly as it was just about sundown,” Brian told friend and fellow boater Daniel Danforth in a message sent on Monday (April 6), two days after Lynette’s disappearance, which was viewed by CBS News.
Brian, 59, made the claim in response to Danforth telling him he saw the couple’s story on ABC World News. The husband was arrested by police in the Bahamas on Wednesday (April 8), the Associated Press reports.
A Coast Guard spokesperson told the Associated Press late Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into the case, but didn’t provide further details on whether Hooker was charged in his wife’s disappearance. The reported arrest came hours after Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that her mother and stepfather had a volatile relationship.
Aylesworth said it’s unlikely that her experienced mariner mother would “just fall” off the boat and said the couple had a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.” Hooker, 55, of Onsted, Michigan, was on an 8-foot dinghy with her husband en route to their yacht, the “Soulmate,” on Elbow Cay when she went overboard at around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday (April 4), the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.
Aylesworth said her stepfather notified her of her mother’s disappearance in a “monotone and relaxed” voice during a phone call on Sunday (April 5).
“I was in shock,” she said. “I was like, my mom’s missing? Like, what?”
Recent Comments