Months after Lynette Hooker disappeared in the Bahamas, her mother is publicly questioning husband Brian Hooker’s account of the night she went missing.
Lynette Hooker, a Michigan woman vacationing with her husband in the Bahamas, was reported missing on April 4 after the couple had been boating near Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands.
Brian Hooker has said his wife fell from a dinghy after dark and was carried off by the current as they traveled back to their sailboat, “Soulmate.”
Lynette Hooker disappeared during a Bahamas trip with her husband, Brian Hooker, aboard their boat, Soulmate. (Matthew Symons for INC News; Brian Hooker/Facebook)
Authorities have not recovered Lynette’s body.
Her mother, Darlene Hamlett, now says she believes Lynette reached “Soulmate” before she vanished.
The boat Soulmate sits docked at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Pierce, Fla., on May 13, 2026. The vessel, owned by Brian Hooker and his missing wife, Lynette Hooker, was returned to the U.S. from the Bahamas by the Coast Guard. (Obtained by INC News)
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“She made it back to the boat, and there was foul play,” Hamlett told INC News.
MISSING AMERICAN’S HUSBAND HAD $33K THERMAL CAMERA ON BOAT THAT NIGHT AND NEVER USED IT, FRIEND SAYS
The U.S. Coast Guard retrieved the dinghy used by Brian and Lynette Hooker the night she vanished in the Bahamas. (Obtained by INC News)
Hamlett did not elaborate on how she reached that conclusion but said she has been limited in what she can publicly discuss.
“As a mother, it’s taking longer than I would anticipate, but that’s what the Coast Guard told me to say. That’s all I’m saying,” she said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service declined to comment on Hamlett’s claims, telling INC News, “We cannot comment on ongoing investigation.”
Members of the US Coast Guard and The Royal Bahaman Police Force arrive at The Abaco Inn in Hope Town. They are in the area to conduct a search in relation to the missing American boater, Lynette Hooker, who was last seen alive in early April. (AJ Skuy for INC News)
INC News also reached out to Brian Hooker’s attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Hamlett’s comments come after U.S. Coast Guard investigators traveled to the Bahamas last month to conduct dive searches in the Sea of Abaco and land searches with the assistance of a cadaver dog in an effort to locate Lynette.
Brian and Lynette Hooker sit on a dinghy in the water in this undated image. (Brian Hooker/Facebook)
Investigators also returned to the United States with the dinghy Lynette was last known to be on. It is expected to undergo further forensic examination for potential evidence.
Brian Hooker initially told investigators he and his wife were on a nighttime boat ride when Lynette fell from a small dinghy and was swept away.
Brian Hooker leaves the Central Police Station after being released from custody, in Freeport, The Bahamas, April 13, 2026. Hooker, who is accompanied by his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler, was being questioned about the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker, who he says fell overboard from their dinghy earlier this month. (Matthew Symons for INC News)
According to authorities, Brian said he was forced to paddle back to shore because Lynette was carrying the dinghy’s ignition key when she went overboard.
After Lynette disappeared, Brian said in a Facebook post that he was “heartbroken.”
Lynette Hooker and Brian Hooker in 2023 on a small boat. (John Waters)
“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote.
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus.”
After being questioned and released by Bahamian authorities, Brian Hooker returned to the United States and has not been seen or heard from publicly.
He has not been charged with a crime or accused of wrongdoing.
