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FIRST ON FOX: Information from Brian Hooker’s phone has led U.S. investigators to plan a new search in 25-foot-deep Bahamian waters for missing Lynette Hooker, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.
Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker first left the beach in Hope Town in the Bahamas around 7:30 in the evening on April 4, with the husband telling local authorities that rough water had caused his wife to fall from their boat. However, GPS data on Brian Hooker’s phone obtained by authorities allegedly shows discrepancies between what he initially told law enforcement, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital.
That discrepancy prompted US authorities to seek permission from Bahamian authorities to search a new area in the Sea of Abaco with water 25 meters deep, the sources added.
LYNETTE HOOKER IS MISSING IN THE BAHAMAS: MICHIGAN WOMAN’S DISAPPEARANCE TIMELINE, HUSBAND’S ARREST
(L) Brian Hooker and his sailboat Soulmate (R) (Matthew Symons of Fox News Digital and the Coast Guard)
Authorities found information on Brian Hooker’s phone, specifically GPS data from a marine navigation app used while the couple was on the boat, sources said.
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The couple were returning to their yacht Soulmate, their lifelong retirement home, when Lynette fell overboard. They often sail in the US and the Caribbean, according to their social media pages.
Karli Aylesworth, Lynette Hooker’s daughter, told Fox News Digital that the Coast Guard has asked her family to bring DNA samples to help with their investigation.
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US Coast Guard investigators search the vessel Soulmate docked at their station in Fort Pierce, Fla., May 13, 2026. The vessel belongs to Brian Hooker and his missing wife Lynette Hooker and was returned to the US from the Bahamas by the coast guard. (Sourced by Fox News Digital)
The Coast Guard seized the couple’s boat, the Soulmate, in early May and took it to Fort Pierce, Florida, but it was recently moved to Fort Lauderdale, as authorities could not get it out of the water.
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Brian Hooker was detained for five days by Bahamian police after his wife’s disappearance, but was never charged.
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Brian Hooker’s Michigan-based attorney asked Americans in an earlier interview to give him the benefit of the doubt in an interview with ABC News.
“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would like to be treated, give him the benefit of the doubt, and consider that not all of us, or you, if you consider your relationship, the way you talk to each other, we all handle things in different ways,” said Crystal Marie Hauser.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Coast Guard and Hauser for comment.
