The U.S. Coast Guard will search for evidence related to Lynette Hooker’s disappearance on the sailboat she shared with her husband, according to a new report.
Lynette Hooker vanished last month while she and her husband, Brian Hooker, were vacationing on their sailboat in the Bahamas.
The American woman vanished while the couple was riding back to their sailboat in a dinghy in the Sea of Abaco.
The U.S. Coast Guard seized the couple’s boat, named “Soulmate,” after it departed from the Bahamas. It was docked in Fort Pierce, Florida, before being moved to Fort Lauderdale, and will be searched for any clues concerning Lynette Hooker’s disappearance.
“Any sort of digital devices that you can take, any computer systems that you can extract, anything of that sort, will be taken in,” Nicole Parker, a former FBI special agent and Fox News contributor, told the network.
Bahamian officials also reportedly approved the U.S. to send a dive team to investigate the waters where Lynette Hooker vanished, according to Fox News Digital.
The team is being sent to search for evidence and, to retrieve Lynette Hooker’s body, if possible.
The new search area was selected based on GPS data recovered from the boat. According to investigators, the GPS data contradicts the location Brian Hooker provided, which pointed them to a different part of the Sea of Abaco.
He told investigators that his wife fell out of their dinghy during their trip back to their sailboat. Brian Hooker said had the key to the engine on her when she fell out, forcing him to paddle the vessel to shore before he could report her missing.
Brian Hooker, who denies any wrongdoing, has been released from Bahamian custody since the incident occurred. He was detained on April 8 during the initial investigation and was released five days later.
“I’ve never harmed Lynette, and I would never harm Lynette, and I want to find Lynette,” he told NBC News in April.
Karli Aylesworth, Lynette’s daughter, told NBC News that her mother and Hooker had a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”
Lynette Hooker was arrested on assault and batter/simple assault charges in 2015. A police report stemming from that incident showed that both she and her husband had accused each other of assault.
A warrant for her arrest was ultimately denied for “insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.”
Brian Hooker has not been charged with any crimes nor has he been accused of wrongdoing.
The Independent has requested comment from his attorney.
Terrel Butler, Hooker’s attorney, previously told The Independent that he “categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing” and that he has been cooperating with authorities.
“His primary concern and source of intense frustration is his inability to continue the search for his wife of 25 years,” Butler said. “The trauma of her disappearance, coupled with his current detention as a suspect, has left him in an extremely fragile state.”
Before the tragedy, the couple ran a YouTube travel called “The Sailing Hookers” in which they documented their travel experiences.
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