Brian Hooker leaves Bahamas to be with ailing mother as search for wife continues, attorney says
Amid the ongoing search for his wife, Brian Hooker has left the Bahamas to see his ailing mother, his attorney told CBS News.
Hooker plans to return to the Bahamas as the search for his wife, Lynette Hooker, who disappeared during a nighttime boat ride in the Bahamas, continues, his lawyer, Terrel Butler, said. She did not specify how long he would be with his mother. A family member of Brian Hooker's mother declined to comment.
Brian Hooker, 59, told authorities that Lynette Hooker, 55, fell from their eight-foot dinghy the evening of Saturday, April 4, while they sailed from Hope Town to Elbow Cay. He said powerful currents swept her away, along with the keys to their boat, which cut power to its engine and prevented him from reaching her.
Police said Brian Hooker paddled to the island of Abacoa, where he docked at the Marsh Harbor Boat Yard around 4 a.m. Sunday, April 5. Police said he told someone that his wife was missing, and that person then informed authorities.
Hooker told several friends his account of what happened that night via text, and also sent them annotated maps of the area. In the messages, which were reviewed by CBS News, Brian Hooker said that the wind blew him and Lynette Hooker apart. He said she swam toward the sailboat, but the two "lost sight of each other pretty quickly."
Brian Hooker was arrested by Bahamian authorities last Wednesday for questioning. He was released Monday and has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement Tuesday that prosecutors "recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigations."
After his release, Brian Hooker told CBS News, "I won't be able to stop looking" for his wife. He said that "someone with more authority" will have to tell him to stop. Police said last week that search and rescue operations had turned into search and recovery, but Brian Hooker told CBS News "I want to" believe that she is still alive.
"I believe I've been told that people have lasted in the Bahamas after falling overboard for days and even weeks," he told CBS News on Tuesday.
Karli Aylesworth, Lynette Hooker's daughter and Brian Hooker's stepdaughter, has called for "an intensive review of the facts and circumstances" surrounding her mother's disappearance. According to Aylesworth, Brian and Lynette Hooker had split up and gotten back together in recent years.
Aylesworth told CBS News in a statement Wednesday that Brian Hooker leaving the Bahamas "shows he's not much of a man of his word." She plans to travel to the Bahamas on Thursday, she told CBS News.
Aylesworth has said she doesn't believe Brian Hooker's version of events, describing her mother as an experienced swimmer with more than a decade of sailing experience.
"My sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance," Aylesworth previously told CBS News.
The Hookers, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, were known to be avid sailors. Brian Hooker told CBS News the pair had been sailing together for more than 12 years.
