The boater whose wife vanished in the Bahamas has left the country just hours after he insisted he would stay on the island until she was found.
Brian Hooker, 59, left the Bahamas on a commercial flight Wednesday ‘because his mom is very ill,’ his attorney Terrel Butler told NBC News.
Butler said he plans to return to the islands, but did not indicate when. She also did not disclose where he was flying to.
Hooker claims his wife Lynette, 55, fell overboard into the waters off the Abaco Islands on April 4. He denies any wrongdoing in Lynette’s disappearance.
Hooker, of Onsted in southern Michigan, was taken into custody by Royal Bahamas Police on April 8. He was released Monday after being questioned by authorities.
Law enforcement freed him after consulting with prosecutors who recommended against filing charges at this time, with investigations underway.
After his release, Hooker told the media that he wants to believe his wife is still alive and vowed to go back out to look for her as soon as possible.
‘I won’t be able to stop looking,’ Hooker said, getting emotional. He also told reporters that he ‘would never harm’ his wife.
Brian Hooker, 59, has left the Bahamas on a commercial flight. His wife Lynette is still missing
Lynette, who is understood to be an experienced boater, has not been missing ever since
Brian Hooker after being released from Bahamas police custody on Monday
Despite his release, Hooker is still under the microscope as a suspect in the case, Royal Bahamas Police Assistant Commissioner Advardo Dames has confirmed.
‘At this time Mr Hooker was interviewed and he was released from custody and the matter is still being investigated,’ Dames told the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
Dames also revealed that Hooker is free to leave the Bahamas, adding: ‘He has no restrictions on his travel.’
Police Commissioner Shawna Knowles noted that Hooker can still be extradited back for questioning at a later date if he does return to the US.
‘If he leaves the country, and we need to see him again, we do know that our US counterparts will assist us with that,’ Knowles told NBC Today.
Officials from the US Coast Guard have opened an investigation separate from the one being conducted by authorities in the Bahamas.
Lynette disappeared on April 4 when the couple set out in a small dinghy from the island of Elbow Key to their 50-ft yacht, Soulmate, anchored about a mile away.
Hooker told police that chaos soon erupted when Lynette was tipped overboard in high winds and took the kill-switch key attached to her.
Brian Hooker (left) became emotional while speaking about his wife’s disappearance in an interview with CBS News, pictured above
On Facebook and Instagram, where they documented their adventures as ‘The Sailing Hookers,’ Brian and Lynette Hooker appeared to be the blissfully happy couple, enjoying the retirement of their dreams
He fought to reach her, but Lynette was blown away from him by ‘strong currents,’ Hooker told authorities.
He added that he battled for nearly eight hours with one paddle to reach shore in Marsh Harbor on the neighboring island of Great Abaco, ditching his dinghy near a boat yard and seeking help there.
After reaching shore, he alerted someone about his wife’s disappearance.
Hooker was taken into custody four days later, but the Royal Bahamas Police Force announced on Monday that he was released without charges being filed.
‘I am happy to see that justice is really working in this country. They had no evidence and they had no choice but to release him,’ Butler said after his release.
‘It’s unfortunate that they’ve had to exhaust the entire investigative period to come to the conclusion.’
The couple has been married for 25 years and chronicled their adventures sailing around the Caribbean on their ‘Sailing Hookers’ Facebook page.
They posted videos in 2023 of buying a sailboat they named Soulmate in the coastal town of Rockport, Texas, and then embarking on a cruise through the Gulf of Mexico from the port town of Kemah, Texas.
The couple, pictured above in a social media post, have been married for over two decades and frequently sail around the Caribbean
Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that it is unlikely her mother would ‘just fall’ off the boat, saying she was an experienced sailor.
The couple have a contentious past, with both accusing each other of assault in 2015, according to a Kentwood, Michigan police report obtained by the Daily Mail.
Hooker, who was intoxicated and bleeding from the nose, told police his wife had struck him multiple times in the face, the report said.
He told officers Lynette was also drunk. She was arrested and spent the night in jail. A warrant was denied because it wasn’t clear ‘who started the assault.’
