Investigators Reassess Lynette Hooker Case After Evidence Suggests Onboard Altercation

Overview

• Lynette Hooker, a Michigan woman, vanished during a nighttime dinghy trip in the Bahamas in early April and her body has not been found.
• Her husband, Brian Hooker, has said she fell from the dinghy and was swept away while returning to their sailboat, Soulmate, and he has not been charged.
• The U.S. Coast Guard seized the sailboat in May and the dinghy in June and investigators have taken evidence from Soulmate to an FBI facility in Quantico for forensic analysis.
• Sources and family briefings show investigators are now exploring whether Hooker may have made it back onto the sailboat and whether a physical altercation occurred there.
• Hooker’s mother has publicly alleged foul play while investigators from multiple agencies continue forensic work and decline to discuss details as the active probe proceeds.