Police in the Bahamas have arrested the husband of missing Michigan woman Lynette Hooker as authorities shift from rescue to recovery in her disappearance at sea.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Advardo Dames said Brian Hooker was taken into custody in Abaco “as a suspect” based on probable cause, and is being questioned. He is yet to be charged, and it was not immediately clear if he had legal representation.
The U.S. Coast Guard has also opened a criminal investigation into the case, a spokesperson confirmed to NTD News late Wednesday.
Search teams from Bahamian agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard earlier scoured waters between Hope Town and Elbow Cay after Brian Hooker reported his wife fell overboard from a dinghy.
Brian Hooker paddled the boat to shore, arriving at the Marsh Harbour Boat Yard around 4 a.m. Sunday—roughly five miles west of Elbow Cay—where he alerted someone, who then notified police.
"He's been taken into custody as a suspect. He's been arrested,” Dames said.
Lynette Hooker, 55, of Onsted, Michigan, was reported missing after she and her husband departed Hope Town around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday aboard the 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy heading toward Elbow Cay in the northern Bahamas, police said.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and Hope Town Fire & Rescue joined police in searching the surrounding waters. By Tuesday, rescue efforts had been called off, and recovery operations were underway. The RBDF said the U.S. Coast Guard assisted with aerial surveillance throughout the search. Only a flotation device was found along the shoreline.
Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has been outspoken about her doubts surrounding the account her stepfather provided to authorities.
Aylesworth told Fox & Friends that Brian Hooker had allegedly been physically violent with Lynette Hooker in the past and had threatened "to throw her overboard." She also told NBC News it was unlikely her mother would "just fall" off a boat, noting the couple had sailed for years and documented their trips on social media under the name "The Sailing Hookers.”
Lynette Hooker's mother, Darlene Hamlett, said she felt concern about the lack of communication she has received from her son-in-law. "I'm going to be interested in what he says, because I haven't heard from him in almost two days," Hamlett said in a phone interview while driving home after securing a passport at the Bahamian Consulate in Miami to travel to the Bahamas. "Our family grew up on water, and so Lynette, her whole life has been near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming," she said. "It would be a miracle if (she's rescued), but I'm still counting on one."
"Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart," he wrote. "We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus."