N.J. Slaying, Bahamas Boater Spouses Lawyer Up as One Vanishes

Brian Hooker, the husband of missing Michigan mother Lynette Hooker, has largely stayed out of public view in the months since her mysterious disappearance.

By contrast, in another closely watched case, Conor Hanlon, the husband of slain New Jersey therapist Brooke Hanlon, has been seen twice within the same week.

The two cases are separate, but both involve husbands who have remained quiet while key questions about their wives remain unresolved. Both men have retained attorneys, and neither has been charged with a crime.

“If I was the criminal defense attorney for either one of these individuals, I would advise them to keep a low profile,” criminal defense attorney and FOX News contributor Ted Williams said.

In Brian Hooker’s case, his wife, Lynette, disappeared from the Bahamas on April 4 while the couple was on a boating vacation.

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Brian told investigators that she fell from their dinghy while they were at sea.

Following her disappearance, he was arrested and subsequently released by Bahamian authorities after questioning.

He returned to the U.S. without his wife in mid-April. He has not been seen or heard from in the months following.

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (USCGIS) has been leading the investigation into Lynette’s disappearance.

In early June, USCGIS relied on divers, underwater vehicles, drones and a cadaver dog while searching an area of Hope Town, Bahamas where Lynette was last seen alive.

They concluded the search and returned to the U.S. with the couple’s dinghy.

Brian’s attorney Matt Borgula previously told INC News, “We have been in communication with investigators and prosecutors on the case and will not discuss facts in the media while the investigation is ongoing.”

In the case concerning Conor Hanlon, his wife Brooke Hanlon, was found fatally stabbed inside the couple’s Chester, New Jersey home on June 6.

“Stabbing is a very personal direct attack where there may be physical evidence or where the person who was stabbed attempted to defend themselves,” Williams said.

He goes on to say, “I’m sure that that is certainly something that the authorities are looking into.”

The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit is investigating her death as a homicide.

Hanlon has been spotted twice in both Chester, New Jersey and in his childhood neighborhood of Brighton in Boston, Massachusetts.

INC News spotted Hanlon moving a recycling bin in a driveway then jump into a white pickup truck in Boston last week.

Days later, Hanlon’s possible vehicle, a white Volvo SUV, was spotted by a neighbor in his Chester, New Jersey driveway this week.

Conor has a lawyer and has been in communication with investigators, they confirmed to INC News. Repeated calls to Hanlon hav not been returned.

In one situation, a woman has been gone without a trace for more than three months, and her husband has not been seen or made a public statement since April.

In the other case, a woman’s butchered body was discovered inside her home and her husband called 911; he was seen twice in the last week following his wife’s June death.

Williams said, “The one question that we don’t know, and really in either one of these cases, is how cooperative they are. Are they actually cooperating with the authorities?”

He says its likely the husbands are following advice from their hired counsel.

“Law enforcement is clearly continuing to look at both of these individuals, yet they have not found sufficient evidence to date to make an arrest. The fact that they have gone underground that could very well be because their lawyers have told them to keep a very low profile,” Williams said.

Neither Brian Hooker nor Conor Hanlon have been accused of any crime or wrongdoing.