RESCUER:
00:00:32
How many people on board?
CRISTIAN BENAVIDES:
00:00:33
Three months after Lynette Hooker disappeared during a sailing trip with her husband, Brian Hooker, it appears Coast Guard investigators are disputing his account of what transpired. CBS News has learned family members of the missing Michigan mother have been told she made it back to the sailboat, and they are looking into the possibility there was a physical altercation on board. Her husband maintains back in April they were returning to the boat moored off of Hope Town in the Bahamas when she bounced off their dinghy. We spoke to Brian Hooker shortly after his wife went missing. You want to keep looking for Lynette? I'm going to need somebody with more authority to tell me to stop.
CRISTIAN BENAVIDES:
00:01:12
Investigators have been analyzing evidence from the sailboat at an FBI facility in Quantico after it was seized in May.
AGENT:
00:01:19
So right now, the boat's being seized. Investigators, in my mind, clearly have evidence that they're not giving yet to the public. Prosecutors will wait until they get every scrap of data analyzed to ensure they have an airtight case.
CRISTIAN BENAVIDES:
00:01:32
Brian Hooker has not been charged with a crime and denies wrongdoing. Lynette Hooker's mother, Darlene Hamlett, previously told us she believes his story doesn't add up and claims her daughter tried to leave. She says, I can't take any more, Mom. Get on a plane and come home. She says, I want my stuff. And I said, I want you. She bought a ticket, but she never came. The Coast Guard said that it could not comment on an ongoing investigation. Brian Hooker has retained a new attorney. We've reached out to him for comment about these new developments but have not heard back. Kelly. My gosh, what a fascinating update. Cristian, thank you so much for bringing us that.
