Search Ends for Lynette Hooker as Bahamas Investigation Heats Up

The search for missing American Lynette Hooker is over, or at least the Coast Guard has ended its mission months after she went overboard in international waters near the Bahamas. But still, the questions prevail. Could her husband be charged with murder? Are the secrets of her disappearance hidden deep in the waters? This is Scandal, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Sierra Gillespie. The United States Coast Guard announces it's ending the search for Lynette Hooker, the American woman who went missing back in April while in the Bahamas with her husband Brian. In the weeks since Lynette's disappearance, we've had more questions than answers. What's up with the discrepancies in Brian's story? What about the past history of alleged abuse? And above all, where is Lynette and what happened? Only Brian Hooker really knows the truth. Was it a tragic and unpredictable accident, or could this be something far more sinister? Today's Scandal takes us to the Abaco Islands, a group of islands in the northern Bahamas. And that's where Lynette Hooker and her husband Brian were sailing in early April. According to Lynette's daughter, the couple was married for about 25 years, and sailing together for more than a decade, their most recent trips taking them all the way to the Bahamas, where they documented their amazing travels on TikTok and YouTube. But things changed on Saturday, April 4th, when Lynette went overboard. According to Brian, that evening, he and Lynette were aboard their 8-foot dinghy, traveling back to their yacht, Soulmate. As they sped along Elbow Key in the northern Bahamas, Brian says the waves really picked up, causing Lynette to topple out of the boat. After that, he says a strong current came out of nowhere and started to drag her away. CNN reports that Brian claims he last saw Lynette as the current was carrying her away and she was trying to swim toward the shore, but at some point, he says he completely lost sight of her. And things kind of got worse from there. According to investigators, it took Brian until about five o'clock the following morning to report Lynette missing. And this could be considered suspicious, but there also could be good reason for it. At the time Lynette reportedly went overboard, Brian claims she had the engine safety lanyard around her neck, meaning the key to the dinghy was with Lynette. So when she allegedly went into the water, the boat stopped working, meaning Brian had to paddle all the way back to shore. Brian later sent a friend this text message recounting the incident. He wrote in part, quote, "The wind blew me away from her and she swam towards the sailboat and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly as it was just about sundown. I drifted and tried to paddle with one oar for the next seven hours until I washed up behind the shore of the next island over and was able to get some help, finally." Lynette's disappearance was then reported at 5:12 a.m. on Sunday, April 5th. After that, an extensive search began to rescue Lynette. According to CNN, Lynette did not have any sort of flotation device with her when she reportedly went overboard. But her daughter, Carly Aylesworth, said that Brian left her a voicemail alleging that he threw Lynette a flotation device as she was being drug away. And things get weirder from here, too. According to Carly, things could get tense between her mother and Brian. There were even reports that Lynette tried to leave Brian in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. Here's what Carly told Lauren: "I just said that they have had a rocky relationship. I told the Coast Guard this when we talked. And I said the relationship has been rocky and it gets worse when they drink. So I'm just concerned that he made threats in the past. So I'm just trying to make sure that his anger didn't overtake him and he's done something that he can't undo." So I just want to make sure that it was just a freak accident before I think my suspicions are true. Law and crime also spoke to Brian's friend, a man by the name of Blaine Stevenson, who met the hookers while boating. He says they've become friends years ago and maintained that relationship. But after Lynette's disappearance, Blaine called Brian and recorded their conversations. "She basically just bounced off the dinghy in the middle of a little blow, like 20-some-not wins. They popped up and on a pretty cool half-mile maybe trip back to the dinghy. And single thing failed. Every single thing. We weren't wearing life jackets. It was sundown. And the sun set like basically 10 minutes after she fell over. Um, dinghy key were with her because it wasn't clipped to anything or anybody. And she had the spare dinghy key in her dry bag, which was with her. Uh, the wind blew us apart so fast that I think, I think she tried to swim back to the sailboat, back to our sailboat, which was probably, I don't know, a thousand yards or something. But the waves were three foot and I was trying to ship to oars. And one of the pins on the oars broke and that dropped over the side. And I was yelling for her the whole time. And, uh, I yelled to her that I lost an oar. And I threw the anchor out and anchored the dinghy. And, uh, just, yeah, I yelled. I couldn't see her anymore." After a few days of searching, the Coast Guard announced the mission had switched from rescue to recovery, meaning they believe that Lynette has likely died. But the mystery here continues. Carly, her daughter, says there were alleged trouble between her mom and stepdad in the past. And again, these are her words and her allegations. "I have heard from other friends from hers that she stated that it's not safe to be with him. Uh, cause when he gets angry, he can get scary and violent. Um, I haven't seen him like full force hit anybody, but he does go for the neck and chokes. I wish I would have paid more. I don't know what I could have done honestly here, but she said, she sent me a voice message with her sounding very drunk at 11:30 at night. And I was just, she's like, I'll talk to you in the morning. I was like, Oh, LOL. Okay, mom. And I just kind of didn't do anything about it, but I should have, I don't know. That was like a sign that yes, they've been drinking and it's a lot. And I know they were sober for about a year and a half to, because I knew the problems that happen when they drink. So now that it's happening more, I'm just concerned that something did happen. Then on April 8th, Brian Hooker was taken into custody in the Bahamas. A spokesperson for the Royal Bahamas police force told Reuters quote, he was arrested for additional questioning based on some probable cause we have. Meanwhile, Brian is completely denying any sort of wrongdoing. His attorney had released a statement to CNN that reads in part quote, Brian Hooker categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing. He has been cooperating with the relevant authorities as part of an ongoing investigation to this day. At the time of this recording, Brian still has not been charged with anything, but Lynette's death is reportedly being investigated as a homicide. It's Fox news digital that's reporting this, but the coast guard and FBI have not made a public statement about all of this, but that does lead us to the newest information that we have, which is the us coast guard announcing this week that they stopped the search for Lynette on Friday, June 5th, they released a statement in part reading quote, the us coast guard concluded its mission to the Bahamas in support of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Hooker Friday search operations employed a range of specialized capabilities, including divers remotely operated underwater vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, and a cadaver dog to thoroughly examine newly identified areas of interest. And I will note by the way, that while the search for Lynette has wrapped up the investigation into her death is still ongoing. And once again, that brings a lot of questions. For instance, the inconsistencies in Brian's story, CBS news reports that GPS data from Brian contradicts what he told investigators on top of that news nation reports that Brian failed to use the $33,000 high-tech thermal camera after Lynette was missing. So if he was really searching for her, why not pull out all of the stops? Brian's friend, Daniel Danforth told news nation investigators were interested to hear about the thermal tracker, not being used. He said, quote, everything points to it, not being an accident at all. There's never been a consistent story. So that's where the investigation stands right now, but I want to talk to an expert who's making waves in this case. It's former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, Julie Rendelman, friend of the show, Julie, thanks for coming on scandal. It's great to see you as always. And let's start with the news info. We have that the us coast guard has announced they've officially ended their search for Lynette Hooker. And I'm wondering why now? I mean, they make this announcement in June, she went missing back in April. What are your thoughts about that? So we know that Brian Hooker, at least what we're being told, gave inconsistent statements and those inconsistent statements related to potentially where Lynette Hooker might be found. And it seems to be that initially when they were looking for her, they were looking in a certain area. When they came back, I think this was a few months later, they began looking in a different area, thinking potentially they would be able to find some sign of Lynette Hooker. Again, she had been in the water a very long time. So it'd be difficult to imagine, and I hate to be graphic, that her body would be fully intact. But they made an effort to locate her in the area they thought the intentionally she might be. I agree with you because it's really hard to have to think about like the water of it all, what it could do to somebody's body, especially it's after months, weeks that she would have been in the water. So do you think it's possible that they kind of were thinking, okay, not that it's a waste of resources necessarily, but I don't know really what we're going to find. We might as well kind of stop the search. Well, I think there does come a point where a search ends. There has to be a point in time where they realize that it's not going to be effective anymore in terms of searching. I think it's both things. I think one is, I think they recognize that the body will likely not be intact, but because they had this new information, I thought it was, I think they thought it was imperative to make sure they made some effort to look in that location. Okay. And you know, what's interesting to you, Julie, about all of this, we've covered this case literally since the beginning of the pandemic. And I think it's since Lynette went missing, we were, you know, following the search, the updates, and then eventually Brian Hooker is taken into custody. So we're all thinking, oh my God, is he going to be charged what's happening here? However, he has not been charged. I know that homicide has kind of been thrown around there. There's been like reports that maybe this is being investigated as a homicide, but he hasn't been charged. So from your experience as a prosecutor, why do you think he hasn't been charged? I think, you know, from the investigators and the prosecutor's point of view, it might be premature that Brian Hooker would be charged. Remember, Sierra, in order to charge someone in the first place, you have to have probable cause. But in order to be able to present this case to a jury, to make a decision as to his guilt or lack of guilt, you have to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt. We know, at least from what we're being told, and again, everything we're being told is in a sense piecemeal, meaning we don't know for sure exactly what the investigators know and what they don't know. We are told that it seems that he did because they went back to the location where they believe potentially the body could be, which was different than where he had said before. So we know he gave potentially inconsistent statements. We don't know the full extent of those inconsistent statements, but it seems to be the case that he did do that. There are theories, there's discussions now from neighbors that he was, and I believe Lynette Hooker's mother, that there was domestic violence between the two people. I don't know. I think one of the things that, whether it be law enforcement or the, sorry, the prosecutor's office are potentially looking into is, what is the motive? Is this someone that had a girlfriend and no one knows about? Is it someone that, I talked about this the other day, that did he create a life insurance policy two weeks before? I mean, different things that may at least circumstantially prove that he had a motive to kill her. Okay. You brought up a couple of things that we talked about in this episode and I want to dig a little bit deeper. So let's start with the discrepancies here. You talked about this where he said, okay, she went overboard here on the dinghy in this area, nothing was found. And then they kind of looked in a different area and they kind of, you know, got a sniff that maybe it's this way instead. There's also discrepancies involving, you know, the GPS, what time he reported her missing, things like that. So what are your thoughts about this? I mean, because you have both sides, you've got the prosecutorial side, but then also the defense attorney. So if you're his defense, couldn't you say something like, hey, this is a really stressful moment. His wife goes overboard. He's really stressed. Of course, he doesn't remember things exactly down to this second. But as the prosecutor, couldn't you say like, okay, shouldn't you be paying attention to these things? I mean, does it kind of go both ways? It does. I think you're right. As a prosecutor, the response to inconsistent statements is this is a guy who's on the water all the time. His wife is on the water all the time. He knows GPS. He knows location. There could be one reason that he's on the water all the time. He knows GPS. He knows location. He knows GPS. He knows location. There could be one reason that he's not being truthful. And that is because he doesn't want them to find the body. If they find the body, they'll find that she's been shot. She's been stabbed. She's been, you know, brutalized in some way. And so that's the theory on the prosecution side. The defense side is, well, we know that they drank a lot. That's at least one of the things that we've heard about. Maybe he was so drunk, he doesn't remember where they were. What you argued, which is maybe he was so distraught, he's just not remembering exactly where things are. I think the inconsistencies in and of themselves, if we didn't have more, would be a problem for prosecutors going forward. What about the threats, too? You mentioned this. We actually did an interview. My coworker, Chris Stewart, spoke to Lynette's daughter, who said, yeah, the relationship, you know, I've heard tell that maybe there was domestic violence in there, that in the past, Brian has been abusive. These are all allegations. We haven't had this confirmed. But is this something that investigators and prosecutors would want to take a closer look at? Absolutely. And there was an allegation that there had been an arrest of Brian Hooker years before. I think it was either his 12-year-old daughter or stepdaughter. I can't remember what. There was accusations of an assault. I believe he was acquitted in regards to that. There were accusations of domestic abuse regarding him and Lynette. But I believe, and please, if I'm incorrect, there was an indication that Lynette had been arrested for domestic abuse, but nothing came of those charges. But of course, the prosecutor law enforcement must look at any indication of domestic abuse. Anything that he might have said that would indicate that this was not an accident. I do have to wonder, though, because you talked about motive in all of this, that potentially, and this is speculation, of course, but, you know, did he take out a life insurance policy? Did he have an affair? All of these things that we talk about on different episodes of Scandal that could lead to a motive. And I don't know how familiar you are with the law there in the Bahamas, but is that something that they would want to talk about? I mean, here in the United States, obviously, we don't need a motive to bring charges or prove a conviction or anything like that. But does that kind of, would it bolster the case for the prosecution? It's a great question. And so a motive is never a requirement. Again, I don't know Bahamian law specifically, but it's certainly in the United States, it's not a requirement. But a jury likes to hear a motive. They like to have a reason why someone would want someone dead. It doesn't have to be clear. It doesn't have to be the life insurance policy, but it can be something as simple as, I didn't really like the way she looked at me, so I killed her. Those are motives, but they're not required. They just help the prosecution. I'll also note, Sierra, that there is speculation that if this case went forward with an arrest, it would not be in the Bahamas. It would be in the United States. And there is federal law that potentially would enable that to happen. Yeah, that's something that I've talked about in some of my past episodes this happened in water, on the water rather, in the Bahamas, but probably would be taken back to the United States. But I guess that kind of leads to my next question too, that if you're prosecuting, let's say this is a murder case, because that's kind of what we're getting reported of a little bit. We don't have any charges or anything, but let's say speculation, there's murder charge. Isn't that kind of tricky, the fact that at this point there hasn't been a body found? So we've talked about these no body homicide cases for years, Sierra. And we've seen no body homicide cases that led to convictions. The problem with not having the body is what? A, we don't have proof that the person's actually dead. And B, most significantly, we don't have proof as to the cause of death. And so this is something that the defense can really hone in and put their teeth into, if you will, by saying, A, jurors, we don't know if she's alive, living on another island. And B, we don't, if we don't know the cause of death, how do we prove that this person took her life? So those are the problems with no body homicide cases. That's why that circumstantial evidence, the evidence outside of the body is so important in making out these types of cases. I guess I'm wondering about that too, because obviously we've covered cases, I'm sure you have too, where there are no bodies and they successfully have some sort of conviction. But in this case, we don't even have charges yet. So what do you think is the stalling situation here? Do you think that prosecutors will eventually bring charges against Brian Hooker? So that's where I am on the fence. I think there's a difference between thinking Brian Hooker killed his wife, even thinking he probably killed his wife, versus proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And as a prosecutor, as law enforcement, you're going to be darn sure that you're dotting your I's and crossing your T's before you make an arrest and accuse an individual of murder. So I think there's a difference between thinking Brian Hooker killed an individual of murder. And so I think, A, they were looking to see if they could recover the body. I think they're exploring all avenues right now to make a determination is, do we have a case against him? And do we have a case that could really stick? Yeah. And there's differences too here also. I mean, it could be a first degree murder charge, but at the same time, what if this was a freak accident and there was negligence? Because we've talked about, there have been reports that these people drink alcohol somewhat heavily. Could it have been an instance where, and this is speculation, but she goes overboard. He's just so drunk. He can't help her, but they're driving a boat. Both of them were drunk. Obviously you're not supposed to be drinking and driving of any vehicle of any sort. So could this even be a manslaughter situation or a negligence charge or something if there isn't a first degree murder charge? That's it. That's again, such a good question. Um, and yes, anything is possible, but remember, um, it really is all about what he says. Um, because the minute he opens his mouth, anything he says is going to be used against him. So we don't know if he admitted to being drunk. We don't know. Obviously it's hours later before he reports it, which is an issue that has been raised by investigators. But I don't know that we're going to be able to ever figure out what his tox level was at the time of this incident. And we don't have her body, so we don't know what her tox level would have been at the time. So any of these things to make them out, you're really going to need more than just what you have so far. You're going to need additional statements. And by the way, maybe he made additional statements and we don't know them, but it's certainly possible if he did, then they could make out some type of reckless. Okay. So we do have some of the additional statements, so to speak. In our episode today, there was one French who had a couple of phone calls with Brian and he recorded them. So we have that number one, text messages. Then we have a voicemail that he left to Lynette's daughter, all of these things. How does this come into play in terms of, you know, court, whether these things are allowed with the defense push to have these things excluded? Where does hearsay fall? Can you kind of break that down? So, you know, if you make, leave the phone call, I could be wrong too. One of the family members was that she was lost. Um, I might be incorrect. I don't recall, but I might be wrong that there were any admissions, for example, of alcohol being involved. Um, so, so in terms of the statements, remember the defense has is viewing it two different ways. Some of those statements are helpful to the defense, so they would want them in. Um, and those statements that are not helpful are the ones that they're going to argue our hearsay and shouldn't come in. It's a little different with, with a defendant because many times when a defendant makes a statement, the argument is that it's not hearsay because it's an admission. It might not be an admission of the crime, but it could be an admission of something around the crime that allows it to come in. But again, I think each statement would be dissected for its value. And that's really the job of the defense attorneys to go through and say, yes, we want this. No, we don't. Here's what we're fighting for to have it in or out. And again, still no charges. So this is the last question I'm going to have for you, Julie. What do you anticipate is going to happen? Do you think there's going to be some sort of law enforcement action that's going to happen here? I mean, I know that people want justice. We still don't have answers where Lynette is. You mentioned something that the defense could say, you know, did she willingly leave? Is this a gone girl situation? Is she on a different island with, you know, somebody that she was with who's to say that's all speculation, but what would you expect? Would there be any sort of charges brought the investigation? I know that the coast guard is no longer searching for her or a body per se, but the law enforcement side of things is still kind of investigating and moving forward there. So just overall, what is your hypothesis for what's ahead? So I think it depends. So remember that they're finished searching there, but they're not finished their investigation. And we do know that they were looking at the boat and the dinghy to see, I assume, any type of forensic evidence. I'm not sure if there's going to be any. Remember, they lived on the boat. So for example, if there was a spot of blood, I don't know that that would define that an assault took place. But I think that they're like for me, I keep saying it's premature. It's premature for me to assume that he's getting arrested. What I know, so far, without anything more, seems to be that they don't have enough. But I am not in their shoes. I would expect, I hope, that they have a lot of secrets that they haven't told the press and that they're keeping it close to the vest because that's normally how an investigation goes on. And if there's evidence that exists that we don't know about that points in his direction, then maybe we'll see an arrest. Time will tell. Yeah, I think that's kind of the way that it should go. Right. Because you want to maintain the integrity of the investigation to make sure if something really did happen, that we can use everything in court. Officers, investigators, detectives, whoever, really want to make sure that they're keeping everything in line, their ducks in a row. And then prosecutors would want all that info, too, to make sure that they could use it. I mean, I think overall, it's just a tragic case with still so many questions that we have. Julie Rendelman, thank you for coming on Scandal and giving us your two cents about the case. Thanks for having me, as always. If you have any information about Lynette Hooker's whereabouts, or a tip in the case, please contact the U.S. Coast Guard because the investigation is still ongoing. And that's where today's episode of Scandal leaves us for now. If you like what you saw and you want to see more or connect with me on social media, you can find me on places like Instagram @sierragillespie. Thanks for watching today's episode of Scandal. As always, I'm your host, Sierra Gillespie, and I'll see you next time.