Investigators to comb Brian and Lynette Hooker’s sailboat and new search zone in Bahamas disappearance

A close associate of Brian Hooker has revealed a potentially crucial phone call that could alter the narrative surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Lynette Hooker. The call, recorded just days after Lynette vanished, suggests that Brian may have been in the water with her on that fateful night, contradicting his earlier statements.

According to Brian Hooker, the couple set off from Hope Town in the Bahamas at approximately 7:30 p.m. on April 4. He reported that turbulent seas caused his wife Lynette to fall from their dinghy. Brian claimed he managed to paddle to shore, finally reaching Marsh Harbour by around 4 a.m. on April 5, as per official records.

The Hookers were en route back to their sailboat, aptly named Soulmate, which served as their primary residence during retirement. The couple often documented their sailing adventures across the U.S. and Caribbean on social media.

Brian Hooker was photographed leaving the Central Police Station in Freeport, The Bahamas, on April 13, 2026, following his release from police custody. Authorities had been questioning him in connection with Lynette’s disappearance, which he attributes to her falling overboard earlier in the month.

In a significant development, fellow sailor Blaine Stevenson recounted to News Agency a conversation with Brian two days after Lynette went missing. Stevenson highlighted a moment in the call that seemingly placed Brian in the water that night, a detail that conflicts with his claim of remaining in the dinghy while Lynette drifted away.

A poignant photograph from 2023 captures Lynette and Brian Hooker aboard a small boat, a snapshot of happier times. (Photo by John Waters)

“I mean she’s a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she’s f—— determined, and she was hit with a flare pistol I had slid down one of the Sponsons down towards the stern and the dinghy. I took so many waves over the dingy. I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the the inside also got wet and so, and the dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were f—— around trying to get back in the boat,” Hooker said on the call.

Divers with the Coast Guard Investigative Service search for clues in the search for missing woman Lynette Hooker. (Petty Officer 1st Class Riley Perkofski)

On the same call, on several instances Brian Hooker said he was inside the dinghy.

“The waves were three foot and I was trying to ship the oars and one of the pins on the oars broke and that f—– dropped over the side and I was yelling for her the whole time and I yelled to her that I lost the oar and I threw the anchor out and anchored the dinghy. And just yeah I yelled I couldn’t see her anymore…the moon has not risen yet. And the waves were doing their thing and you know, you I saw her I think twice I threw her a flotation cushion that we used to sit on the dingy, you know right after she went in, but I didn’t I couldn’t tell if she got it or not.”

Kenneth Engerrand, an adjunct professor of maritime law at the University of Houston Law Center and shareholder in the Brown Sims law firm, told News Agency that Brian Hooker’s story is “inconsistent” and said the case is “getting more damning by the minute.”

“He’s saying they were in water, but at the same time, he’s bailing. And at the time, she’s quickly, immediately away from him by the waves and the wind and whatnot. Everything about this is inconsistent,” Engerrand said.

The boat Soulmate is 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 reportedly brought back to the U.S. from The Bahamas by the Coast Guard. (Obtained by News Agency)

“He’s telling five different stories, and none of them are consistent. So it’s as if he’s just making stuff up as he goes,” he added.

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Services concluded their four-day renewed search for Lynette Hooker’s body on Monday after GPS data from Brian Hooker’s phone obtained by authorities allegedly shows a discrepancy between what he first told law enforcement, sources familiar with the investigation told News Agency. During their renewed search, the Coast Guard took possession of the dinghy.

Lynette Hooker standing outdoors wearing a hat and sunglasses

Lynette Hooker disappeared after going overboard during a boat trip in the Bahamas, according to local officials. (Brian Hooker/Facebook)

That discrepancy prompted federal U.S. authorities to seek permission from Bahamian authorities to search a new area in the Sea of Abaco with 25-foot-deep waters, the sources added. Investigators are treating the case as a homicide, according to a U.S. official.

Brian Hooker’s Michigan-based attorney previously asked Americans to give him the benefit of the doubt in an interview with ABC News.

“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would want to be treated, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to consider that not all of us, nor you, considering your own relationships, the way you speak to one another, we all handle things in different ways,” Crystal Marie Hauser said.

News Agency reached out to Hauser for comment.

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