Lynette Hooker husband, Brian released from custody by Bahama police with no charges as wife’s body continues to remain unaccounted for as her mother alleges missing daughter wanted to leave husband and sharing images of alleged domestic violence injuries.
The husband of a missing Michigan boater has been released from police custody in connection with her disappearance after allegedly falling off a dinghy boat in the Bahamas.
The release comes after authorities failed to recover Lynette Hooker‘s body amid ongoing suspicions that her spouse caused her death along with the recent sharing of disturbing images showing the missing woman with bruising across her body.
Brian Hooker, 59, was released as a Monday night deadline for his ongoing detainment passed, days after his arrest by the Royal Bahamas Police Force on Wednesday. The release comes after authorities were granted a 72 hour extension on Friday as they desperately sought to recover Lynette Hooker’s body.
Brian Hooker escapes charges amid ongoing speculation of involvement in wife’s disappearance and possible death
To date the missing woman has not been found and is now considered deceased.
‘The decision to release the individual was made following consultation with the Department of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigations,’ Bahamas police said in a statement, Monday night.
Bahamas cops didn’t identify Brian by name, but his attorney, Terrel Butler, confirmed his release to NBC News.
The husband who is alleged to have had a fractured relationship with Lynette Hooker, 59, including accusations of domestic violence by his step-daughter has denied any wrongdoing in Lynette’s disappearance. The couple have been married just on 25 years and had in recent years taken to sailing their boat as ‘they dropped out of society.’
As he left Grand Bahama’s central police station, Brian Hooker declined to respond to reporters’ questions amid persistent speculation that he is involved in his wife’s disappearance and may have caused her death and potentially gotten away with murder.
Swept out to sea by currents?
Police said an initial investigation revealed that Lynette, 55, was swept away by currents after falling into the sea from their hard bottom dinghy she was in with Brian while trying to reach their sailboat, the Soulmate.
During the couple’s excursion from Hope Town to Elbow Cay, Lynette reportedly fell overboard with the boat’s keys — causing the vessel’s engine to shut off, police said.
Brian told cops he lost sight of his wife in the rough surf and paddled the small boat back to shore, eventually arriving at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard some seven hours later around 4 a.m. Sunday.
Bahamian authorities had to decide by 7:20 p.m. Monday whether to issue charges after filing an extension on Friday that kept him in custody over the weekend and subject to interrogation.
Brian and Lynette Hooker fractured relationship
His release comes as Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that her daughter left her husband multiple times after several instances of alleged abuse — including one instance that left her with visible bruising on her back.
‘With the lifestyle that my daughter and her husband live, I had been preparing for that phone call for a long time,’ Hamlett told Banfield of the moment she learned her daughter was missing.
‘There was a lot of good times and bad times in my daughter’s relationship with her husband. A lot of highs and a lot of lows. When it was fun, it was really fun, and when there were bad times, they were bad times,’ the mother added.
‘I think they loved each other, but they were not good for each other,’ she said, noting Brian tended to be ‘mean’ and ‘hateful’ and sometimes got physical with her daughter when he drank alcohol.
Did Brian Hooker get away with wife Lynette’s murder?
Lynette often took photos documenting her abuse, reminding her ‘not to go back’ to Brian, despite typically returning to him, the mother stated. Hamlett added that she consulted battered women’s shelters for advice on how to get the couple to separate.
She had even booked a plane ticket a month ago to go home to her mother after indicating that Brian’s abuse was accelerating, Hamlett claimed.
Lynette had also confided in a friend that she was scared of being at sea with Brian.
Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has also been outspoken that she believes ‘something might have happened’ involving her mom and her stepfather when the avid boater vanished at sea Saturday night.
‘I do believe something might have happened to her,’ she previously told Fox News .
‘There’s history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard. So the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there’s more to the story.’
Michigan husband who dropped out of society to go sailing professes his innocence, denies any wrongdoing
Despite the ongoing claims, Brian Hooker has ‘categorically and unequivocally’ denies any wrongdoing linked to his wife’s disappearance, his attorney has said.
Before his arrest, Brian had taken to Facebook where he said he was ‘heartbroken‘ his ‘beloved’ wife had gone missing, saying the ‘winds and currents drove us apart.’
‘I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,’ the husband shared.
‘Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus.’
The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. They had documented their yachting excursions online for the past three years under the moniker, ‘the Sailing Hookers.’
