Investigators with the Coast Guard are looking into the possibility that a Michigan woman who went missing in the Bahamas earlier this year may not have fallen overboard from a dinghy as her husband has claimed, but instead might have made it back to the couple’s sailboat before she disappeared, a source close to the family told CBS News.
CBS News has learned investigators are also looking into whether the couple possibly had a physical altercation aboard that sailboat.
Lynette Hooker, 55, was reported missing by her husband, Brian Hooker, on April 5.
Brian Hooker previously told authorities his wife had fallen overboard from a dinghy when the couple went for a nighttime ride from Elbow Cay and were in the process of returning to their sailboat, the “Soulmate,” which was moored off Hopetown, and which the couple had been using to travel around the Bahamas.
He alleged that Lynette Hooker “bounced off” the dinghy with its keys and was swept away by rough waters, forcing him to paddle back to shore. Her body has not been found.
Brian Hooker has not been charged with a crime and denies any wrongdoing. He was briefly detained by Bahamian authorities after his wife’s disappearance, but was released and allowed to return to the U.S.
CBS News learned Thursday that family members of Lynette Hooker have been told by U.S. authorities she may have made it back to the Soulmate, which would contradict Brian Hooker’s account.
U.S. Coast Guard investigators are also trying to determine if there was a physical altercation on board the Soulmate, the source said.
The Soulmate was seized by the Coast Guard in May about 40 nautical miles off Florida’s coast, while the dinghy was also seized by Coast Guard investigators in the Bahamas in June. Investigators have been analyzing evidence from the sailboat at an FBI facility in Quantico, Virginia, according to sources briefed on the investigation.
In an interview with CBS News in April, shortly after his wife disappeared, Brian Hooker described the experience of sailing with his wife as “fantastic.”
“We were more like co-captains,” Brian Hooker said at the time.
CBS News has reached out to Brian Hooker’s attorney for comment on the developments.