US man in Bahamian jail after wife disappears into Atlantic waters during boat trip | Bahamas

Lynette Hooker pranced on the deck of the anchored Soul Mate, smiled at the camera and declared, “We’re finally leaving Kemah,” a reference to the Texas port town.

“It’s only been four months,” she said as her husband, Brian, pulled the ropes as they prepared to set sail.

The 2023 Gulf Crossing video marked the beginning of a sailing adventure captured on Facebook for a couple who were at the center of criminal investigations after Lynette went missing in the Bahamas.

A few days after Lynette’s disappearance, police from the Atlantic Ocean island nation arrested Brian.

His attorney, Terrel Butler, said he denies any wrongdoing in his wife’s disappearance and is cooperating with law enforcement.

Butler added that Brian Hooker will remain in custody until at least Monday evening as investigators continue to review the case. He told police that his wife of more than 20 years had fallen overboard Saturday night from a small motorboat that was carrying the couple from Hope Town to Elbow Cay, a small island of islands off the eastern tip of the Bahamas.

He said 55-year-old Lynette had the keys to the boat’s engine, which had shut down.

“Strong currents then carried her away and he lost sight of her,” police said in a statement on Saturday.

Authorities who arrested and questioned him on Wednesday said he paddled to shore early Sunday and warned others.

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a separate investigation from that of Bahamas authorities.

Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, said it was unlikely her mother would “fall” off a boat.

Although the couple can be seen smiling, laughing and joking in social media videos of their trip, they have a history of bickering.

Brian and Lynette Hooker accused each other of assault in 2015, according to a Kentwood, Michigan, police report obtained by Hooker. NBC News.

The report stated that Brian Hooker, who was drunk and had a bleeding nose, told police that he hit his wife multiple times in the face. He told officers that Lynette was also drunk. He was arrested for assault and spent the night in jail. The arrest warrant was rejected because it was not clear “who started the attack”.

Aylesworth also told NBC that the couple’s relationship was volatile and had “a history of not getting along, especially when they were drinking.”

The couple’s home is in Onsted, about 72 miles (117 km) southwest of Detroit. The nearest major body of water is Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (72 km) southeast of Onsted.

Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, said Wednesday that the family “grew up on the water” and that her daughter’s life was spent “near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming.”

The couple posted videos of their years sailing in the Caribbean on the Facebook page Sailing Hookers.

In the Gulf Crossing video from March 2023, Lynette chronicles the beginning of the couple’s journey aboard Soul Mate, as the sailboat glides through the fog in Kemah, Texas, and into the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

“Pretty nice,” Lynette said as Brian blew Soul Mate’s foghorn. Later, while changing the engine alternator belt, he looks at his wife and says, “Hello, sexy.”

In an earlier video, the couple explains how they bought and fixed up the Soul Mate in the beach town of Rockport, Texas.

“After several years of traveling around the country looking for our perfect sailboat, we finally found it in Texas,” Lynette said in the eight-minute video, released in January 2023. “He was a little rough around the corners. The decks needed to be redone, but we knew we were up to the task.”

This video shows them working together, scraping, priming and painting. “The decks are complete! We’re still married! It’s party time!” is printed in a message in the video.

In a video released in 2024, they are seen using their smaller motorboats to purchase food on land. The location of the couple is not specified in the video.

“We got the belly,” Brian says to the camera, which cuts to a case of beer at his feet and grocery bags on the bow. “Delivery… is the way of life, man.”