Coast Guard plans new search in Bahamas for missing Michigan woman Lynette Hooker


The U.S. Coast Guard will reopen the search for Lynette Hooker, the Michigan woman who has been missing since April after she fell overboard in the Bahamas, according to a U.S. official familiar with the investigation.

The search will resume because GPS data from the boat she and her husband, Brian Hooker, were on appears to contradict his account of his whereabouts the night she disappeared, the official said.

Hooker’s account caused investigators to search “in the wrong area” of the Sea of Abaco while they were looking for Lynette, 55, the official said. The Coast Guard is requesting permission from Bahamian authorities to allow divers to re-search the sea, the official added.

Hooker’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Her client has denied any wrongdoing in relation to his wife’s disappearance.

Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that she provided DNA to the Coast Guard on Wednesday to aid its investigation into her mother’s disappearance.

U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service officers seize the Soulmate, the boat Lynette and Brian Hooker were on the night she disappeared.
U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service officers seize the Soulmate, the boat Lynette and Brian Hooker were on the night she disappeared.U.S. Coast Guard

The FBI is processing evidence at its facility in Quantico, Virginia, according to the U.S. official.

Hooker told Bahamian authorities that his wife fell out of their 8-foot dinghy with the key to the engine on the evening of April 4 as they were traveling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay.

He said he paddled the vessel to shore, arriving around 4 a.m. April 5 at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard, where he told someone what had happened, authorities said. That person then informed police.

The Coast Guard took possession of the couple’s boat, the Soulmate, this month.

The Soulmate, which was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Soulmate, which was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Hooker was arrested in connection with Lynette’s disappearance on April 8 and released five days later without being charged. At the time, Royal Bahamas Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said he would remain a suspect.

Hooker has denied harming his wife and has returned to the U.S.

“I’ve never harmed Lynette, and I would never harm Lynette, and I want to find Lynette,” he told NBC News last month.

Aylesworth previously told NBC News that her mother and Hooker had “a history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”

In 2015, Lynette was arrested on charges of assault and battery/simple assault. A Michigan police report from that night said she and her husband accused each other of assault.

The warrant was denied for “insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.”



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