The husband of a missing American woman has been arrested in connection with her disappearance days after police said he reported she fell off a small boat in the Bahamas and was swept away by currents, according to reports.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force announced in a Wednesday, April 8, news release that a 59-year-old American man was apprehended that evening in relation to the woman’s disappearance on Saturday, April 4. Authorities did not release the names of the man or woman.
The man’s attorney, Terrel A. Butler, has identified him as Brian Hooker and confirmed to news outlets, including NBC News and CNN, that he was arrested in connection with the search for his wife, Lynette Hooker.
His arrest comes after Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, expressed that she had doubts that her mother had fallen off a boat, NBC News reported.
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“Mr. Hooker categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing and in particular the allegations recently made by Karli Aylesworth,” Butler told the news outlet. “He has been cooperating with the relevant authorities as part of an ongoing investigation.”
Advardo Dames, the assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police, told Reuters that Brian was arrested “for additional questioning based on some probable cause we have.”
In an initial news release on Lynette’s disappearance, police said that her husband reported she vanished after they took an 8-foot, “hard-bottom” dinghy from Hope Town to Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands the evening of April 4, Us Weekly previously reported.
Based on the story Brian shared with law enforcement, police said that “During the journey, his wife reportedly fell overboard with the boat keys” and was carried away by “strong currents.”
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He then told police that he paddled the dinghy to shore and arrived at the Marsh Harbour Boat Yard on Great Abaco Island around 4 a.m. on April 5, when he reported his wife went missing, according to police.
The morning of April 8, Brian shared a Facebook photo of him and Lynette, 55, that was accompanied by a caption, in which he wrote “I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.”
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus,” Brian also wrote.
Brian did not immediately return a request for comment from Us on Thursday, April 9.
He described Lynette in the post as his “soulmate.”
Brian and Lynette are from Michigan and would regularly sail with each other at sea, according to CNN. Their travels have been shared on social media.
The US Coast Guard has launched a criminal investigation into what led to Lynette’s disappearance, the outlet reported.
In a statement to CNN, Aylesworth said that her “sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance.”
Brian is Aylesworth’s stepfather and has been married to Lynette for roughly 25 years, she told the news outlet.
