A friend says the boat in the Bahamas was too small to deal with the Hooker case
Husband arrested in Bahamas after wife Lynette Hooker disappears from boat
Police in the Bahamas arrested 58-year-old Brian Hooker after his wife, Lynette Hooker, 56, disappeared from their boat under mysterious circumstances, prompting a US Coast Guard criminal investigation. Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, alleges history of “choking her and threatening to throw her overboard,” alleging Brian’s boating accident in rough seas. Authorities are intensifying their search for Lynette amid allegations of foul play.
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HOPE TOWN, Bahamas — After the arrest of Brian Hooker in the disappearance of his wife, Lynette, in the Bahamas, a man who was friends with the couple and who knew them in the Caribbean paradise says that their small boat was “strong” and “underpowered” due to the conditions they faced.
Bahamas officials say Lynette Hooker, 55, and Brian Hooker, 58, left in Hope Town at the Abaco Inn around 7:30 pm on Saturday and boarded a small boat, called a boat, to go to their boat. Brian Hooker reportedly told officials that Lynette fell overboard with the ignition key, causing the engine to cut out. According to Brian, the current carried Lynette, and she rowed the boat into the waters of Marsh Harbour.
Brian Hooker was arrested by Bahamian authorities on Wednesday night, but has not been charged with a crime.
A man who knew Brian and Lynette Hooker in the Bahamas told Fox News Digital that the conditions the night the American woman went missing were not ideal, especially considering they were in an 8-foot boat, as authorities said. The man, who is also an American, asked that his name be withheld.
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File photo of Brian Hooker. (YouTube/@the_sailing_hookers) (YouTube/@the_sailing_hookers)
“Their boat was too small to go out in those conditions. Their 8-meter strong boat with that electric motor, you shouldn’t go out without 12 knots, max 15. The power is really low, under the condition they were in,” said the man.
Winds in the Hope Town area were gusting to about 26 knots Saturday night, according to a Fox Weather data update. Improvesailing.com states that wind speeds over 25 knots are considered “heavy on any small/medium sized boat.”
“If the wind [is] blowing 30 knots, moving four feet in one direction every one second, separated by seven and a half feet. Even an Olympic swimmer would have difficulty going back – it’s impossible for two people aged 55 and 58 to meet again,” the man said. “I’ve done three boat rescues in three weeks, really. I mean, it’s crazy.”
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An American woman went missing in the Bahamas on Saturday after she fell overboard during a cruise and was overturned by strong currents, local police said. (Fox News)
The man, who is a sailor himself and his wife, said that Brian and Lynette were a couple in a seemingly happy marriage.
“They seemed like the happiest people in the happiest of relationships. The kind of people we should aspire to in the sailing and sailing life,” he said.
A friend of Brian and Lynette Hooker told Fox News Digital that there are common misconceptions about the engine lock, noting that in bad weather it’s sometimes the light driver while the heavy one stays in the middle to provide stability.
“People are really confused about the boat key. It’s normal to wear a key – you go with an outboard motor, and you have a lanyard that you wear on your wrist as a pilot. So if you fall overboard, it stops the engine from the boat moving away from you. And that’s what everybody does. And they say, ‘why did he have a key?’ After all, he had the key because he was driving.”
Lynette’s daughter Karli Aylesworth painted a different picture of her stepfather Brian Hooker in an interview with Fox News’ Griff Jenkins earlier this week. His comments included allegations of alcohol-fueled domestic violence, which Brian denied through his lawyer. He has not been charged.
“I’ve seen him strangle one of his daughters before. We had to go to court because of that,” said Aylesworth. “So you repeat patterns.”
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Lynette Hooker and Brian Hooker are seen in a photo taken in 2023 on a small boat. (John Waters)
Aylesworth said Brian Hooker was violent towards his mother.
“There is a history that they strangled him and threatened to throw him into the sea. Therefore, the fact that this is really happening makes me believe that there is more to the story,” he said.
In a statement sent by Fox News Digital, Brian Hooker’s lawyer, Terrell Butler, said he denies the allegations.
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Lynette Hooker, 56, went missing after falling overboard during a boat trip off Elbow Cay in the Bahamas on Saturday night, police said. ((Brian Hooker/Facebook))
“Mr. Hooker unequivocally denies any wrongdoing and specifically the allegations made recently by Karli Aylesworth. He is cooperating with the appropriate authorities as part of the ongoing investigation,” Butler said.
Butler said Thursday night that Hooker voluntarily gave a statement to the police believing that he was helping them find Lynette.
Hook was first interviewed and then released, then brought back for further questioning as a witness. The police brought him back a third time and questioned him as a suspect.
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Lynette Hooker was previously arrested for domestic violence, according to police report obtained by Fox News Digital, but was not charged.
Brian and Lynette Hooker both face charges of assault during the February 2015 incident.
While Lynette Hooker was the one arrested, charges were not filed due to “insufficient evidence as to who initiated the assault.”
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Lynette Hooker, 56, went missing after falling overboard during a boat trip off Elbow Cay in the Bahamas on Saturday night, police said. ((Brian Hooker/Facebook))
In a Facebook post Wednesday, Brian Hooker wrote that he was “heartbroken” over Lynette’s disappearance.
“I am saddened by the recent boat accident in unexpected seas and strong winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small boat near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Despite our best efforts to reach her, the winds and currents separated us greatly. We continue to search for her and that is my focus,” said Brian Hooker.
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Darlene Hamlett, Brian’s mother, told the Associated Press that she had not heard from her son in several days.
“I shall be interested in what he has to say, for I have not heard from him for nearly two days,” said Hamlett.
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Members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force inspect the boat, Soulmate, docked near the shore in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. A criminal investigation has been launched after Lynette Hooker reportedly fell overboard while on an evening boat trip with her husband, Brian Hooker over the weekend. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital)
The US State Department has issued a level 2 travel advisory for the Bahamas. Americans are being urged to be “extremely vigilant” due to crime, beach safety, and jet ski and boating hazards.
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A State Department spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that the agency is aware of reports of a missing American and is working with Bahamian authorities.
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A general view of Marsh Harbor Boatyards, The Bahamas, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Brian Hooker, 58, was reportedly rowing his boat back to the boatyards Sunday morning after losing his wife, Lynette Hooker at sea. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital)
The State Department declined to share any additional details.
Boating in the Bahamas is not well regulated, and the State Department said “injuries and deaths have occurred.”
