Husband released without charges as wife remains missing in Bahamas
Bahamian authorities released Brian Hooker, the husband of missing Michigan boater Lynette Hooker, after a Monday evening deadline to charge him or let him go in connection with her disappearance, his attorney said.
A bartender who served the missing American woman in the Bahamas one day before she vanished revealed one detail that got his attention.
A bartender at the Abaco Inn, identified as Ken, 38, told the New York Post that Brian and Lynette Hooker were at the hotel's pool during the early evening hours of April 3 drinking rum and Cokes. One day later, the couple took a small dinghy from Hope Town to a different location on Elbow Cay where their boat was, according to local police.
Brian Hooker told Bahamian officials that his wife fell off the dinghy after leaving shore at around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, adding that Lynette fell off with the ignition key. Local authorities said that Brian Hooker arrived at a marina at Marsh Harbour at around 4 a.m. on April 5 after paddling to shore, roughly eight hours after Lynette Hooker went overboard.
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Lynette Hooker and Brian Hooker seen in a picture taken in 2023 on a small boat. (John Waters)
While Ken was serving the Hookers, he said Brian thanked him for getting their drinks quickly.
"He was like, ‘Oh man, thank you for getting me served kinda quick’ … because we were crowded," Ken said.
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Brian Hooker leaves Central Police Station after being released from custody, Freeport, The Bahamas, Monday, April 13, 2026. Hooker, who is accompanied by his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler, was being questioned over the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker, who he says fell overboard from their dinghy earlier this month. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
Ken noted that he didn't see anything unusual with the couple, though he never actually saw Lynette Hooker while they were at the pool for around two and a half hours.
"When I heard about it the next day, I was shocked, definitely. But then again, I didn’t see the lady, I didn’t get to talk to her or anything like that," he said.
A map of key locations as Bahamian police investigate Brian Hooker and his wife Lynette's disappearance. Created on April 12, 2026. (Fox News)
Ken, who's from the Bahamas and knows the area well, said, however, one detail doesn't add up.
"It’s weird … for him to be going from here to there, then ending up in Marsh Harbour and nobody sees the lady, it’s weird," Ken said. "What catches my eye is they left here at 7, 7:30 and [her going missing] supposedly happened right after they left here, and he didn’t make it over there until 4 a.m. or something like that, in 25-mph winds."
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General view of the boat "Soulmate," owned by Brian and Lynette Hooker, in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas, April 16, 2025. (Matthew Symons for NY Post)
"It’s only four miles that way. It shouldn’t have taken eight to 10 hours to get there. Even if he was only floating, it should have been a much quicker time," he said.
While Brian Hooker himself flew out of the Bahamas on Wednesday to be with his mother, who's reportedly very ill, according to his attorney, Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, flew to the island on Thursday to help with the search.
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Brian Hooker leaves the Central Police Station in Freeport a free man after the police let him go in the disappearance of his wife on April 13, 2026. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
Aylesworth told NBC News she questions Brian Hooker's version of how her mother went missing, adding that she spent three hours talking with police.
"I feel like this was probably preplanned, if anything, like, it doesn’t seem like just some accident," Aylesworth said.
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Brian Hooker hasn't been charged with a crime and was released from jail by Bahamian officials, who declined to charge him at the time, but left the investigation into Lynette open.
"When I first got here, I sat up there and looked at the boat and started talking to her like she was here. I was like, ‘Hey Mom, I’m here. Wherever you are. I just want to talk to you and see you again,'" Aylesworth said. "It’s making it a little bit more real."
