LYNETTE HOOKER SHOCK GPS, HUBBY ‘IN THE WATER” WHEN WIFE VANISHES

Summary

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Episode: BRIAN HOOKER FRIEND: "ALL LIES" (June 15, 2026)

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Episode Overview

Nancy Grace and her expert guests dissect the latest developments in the disappearance of Lynette Hooker, focusing on damning GPS evidence, contradictory statements from Lynette’s husband Brian Hooker, and the critical role of electronic evidence. The panel explores whether Brian’s changing stories and the mysterious loss of GPS/cell signal point to foul play, and how the boating community is personally impacted by the case.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Disappearance of Lynette Hooker – Background

• Incident Narrative: Lynette Hooker vanished during a dinghy trip with her husband Brian in the Bahamas. Brian claims she fell overboard with her iPhone in a dry bag and was never seen again.
• Emerging Doubts: Investigators and guests question Brian’s shifting timeline, differing accounts, and missing electronic evidence.

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2. GPS Data as Damning Evidence

• Objective vs Subjective: Nancy and Vanessa Walsh (Unmasked True Crime) stress that GPS data doesn’t lie—contradicting Brian’s narrative about Lynette’s disappearance.
  • "People lie and GPS evidence is objective. The digital evidence...has become such a major focus." — Vanessa Walsh [05:07]
• Discrepancies: Brian reportedly gave different versions of events to various people, but GPS tracking tells another story, showing a path inconsistent with his claims.
  • "The GPS data the Coast Guard have for Brian Hooker is different than Brian Hooker's story." — Nancy Grace [14:48]
• Cell Phone Tracking: Lynette’s iPhone, supposedly in a sealed dry bag, stopped transmitting just as she disappeared—suspicious given the dry bag should (according to some panelists) allow signal through.
  • "That phone should have broadcast until the very last minute… dry bag does not block cellular signal." — Daniel Danforth [13:07]
• Key Timeline: An unexplained 11-hour gap when the GPS and phone went dark, aligning almost exactly with Lynette’s disappearance [47:35].
  • "It had to be manually turned off… it was manually turned off and manually turned back on." — Daniel Danforth [48:59]

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3. Contradictory Statements and Inconsistencies

• Multiple Stories: Brian’s statements differ between witnesses, sometimes putting himself in the water with Lynette, other times insisting he wasn’t.
  • "He used me as a pawn in the very beginning to try to establish a baseline… again, it was even another version of it." — Daniel Danforth [07:02]
  • Notable contradiction: Told Vanessa it happened outside a restaurant in shallow water, but GPS tracked him on a long, circuitous route south and east of the area [16:26].
• Boating Terminology & "Slip-Ups": Brian's language (“cockpit” in a dinghy, “trying to get back in the boat”) suggests possible slip-ups indicating they may have returned to their main yacht before Lynette vanished.
  • "Most people don’t ever call a dinghy a boat. A dinghy will always be a dinghy, maybe a tender. …That confirms that they made it back to Soulmate that night." — Daniel Danforth [50:50]

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4. Physical and Electronic Evidence

• Seat Cushion: The only item recovered matching Brian's claim is the seat cushion he said he threw to Lynette, which washed up near where Brian landed—something guests find suspiciously convenient.
  • "It’s interesting that we’ve never been able to find anything else to corroborate his story.…but they conveniently find the one piece he does bring up in his statement close by to where he landed." — Vanessa Walsh [27:16]
• Dry Bag and iPhone: Despite the alleged presence of Lynette’s iPhone and crucial items in her dry bag, nothing has been recovered—raising more questions.
• FLIR Infrared Camera: Brian’s yacht featured a high-end FLIR system (Forward Looking Infrared), which records heat signatures and has a specific “man overboard” function. Panel suggests this might yield evidence if operational at the time.
  • "What he had was called FLIR...one of the main features...has a man overboard feature." — Daniel Danforth [58:32]
  • Investigators are now seeking data from the camera’s cloud storage [57:50].

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5. Expert and Legal Commentary

• Defense Position: Criminal defense attorney Josh Colesrud offers alternative explanations: some dry bags could block signal, battery might have died, and Brian’s “I was in the water” comments may be out of context.
  • "There are dry bags, thicker dry bags that do block cell phone signals...Also, how do we know that the battery didn’t die during that time?" — Josh Colesrud [36:36]
  • He adds, "That was taken out of context… the friend literally asked him, so you were swimming? And he says no." [37:53]
  • On repeated GPS loss in April when Brian was in custody: "On three other occasions… the GPS went down but Brian was in custody at the time." [61:26]
• Pushback: Nancy, drawing on prosecutorial experience, remains skeptical about the defense’s technological counterarguments.
  • "Bring your dry bag… because I would have so much fun… Is that what you said?" — Nancy Grace [37:11]

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6. Emotional Impact on the Boating Community

• The case has shaken trust among boating friends, and has personally affected those close to Lynette, including triggering PTSD in Danforth’s wife.
  • "She already had PTSD… that was one of the few people that she kept very close in contact with and that this has happened." — Daniel Danforth [33:50]
  • The case is seen as “damaging to the lifestyle and the boating community.” [33:31]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Vanessa Walsh: "People lie and GPS evidence is objective. The digital evidence can provide investigators with where exactly Brian was and when exactly he was there." [05:07]
• Daniel Danforth: "He used me as a pawn in the very beginning to try to establish a baseline… The biggest thing is that… the lies just keeps coming out and keeps coming out." [07:02]
• Nancy Grace: "The GPS data they. The Coast Guard have for Brian Hooker is different than Brian Hooker's story. Let's just let that sink in for a moment. Ooh, I can't wait for Josh Colzra to explain how the GPS data is different from what he says happened that night." [14:48]
• Brian Hooker (audio): "I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong... when we were around trying to get back in the boat...” [27:59, 40:16, 45:43]
• Josh Colesrud: "There are dry bags, thicker dry bags that do block cell phone signals... Also, how do we know that the battery didn’t die during that time?" [36:36]
• Daniel Danforth: "He hasn't done nothing but cause hurt and pain and lies in every single person's life since we've met him, since till now." [32:21]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Damning GPS & Electronic Evidence:

  • GPS vs Brian’s Story: [04:01], [12:17], [14:48], [16:26], [23:40], [47:35]
  • 11-Hour Gap in Data: [14:09], [47:35], [48:59]

• Cell Phone & Dry Bag Details:

  • Phone should have pinged: [05:07], [09:10], [10:36]
  • Defense: dry bags can block signal: [36:36 – 37:53]

• Contradictions & “Slip-Ups”:

  • Brian’s shifting statements: [07:02], [13:07], [16:01], [26:21]
  • Flare pistol, “back in the boat” comment: [27:59], [40:16], [45:43]

• FLIR Infrared Camera Evidence:

  • System description/use: [53:18–56:10]
  • Investigators pulling data: [57:50–58:17]

• Seat Cushion & Recovered Items:

  • [26:39], [27:00], [51:59]

• Boating Community Impact/PTSD: [33:40–34:45]

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Flow & Tone

The episode is high-energy, analytical, and direct—reflecting Nancy Grace’s prosecutorial style. The team balances legal, technical, and emotional perspectives, openly challenging each other’s interpretations.

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Conclusion

This episode makes a compelling case that the disappearance of Lynette Hooker is filled with troubling inconsistencies, with GPS and electronic evidence pointing to significant discrepancies in Brian Hooker’s account. The panel underscores the value of digital forensics, community trust, and relentless questioning when uncovering the truth in complex cases. For listeners, it’s clear that technology might hold the key to unraveling what really happened that night in the Bahamas.

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Transcript

[Nancy Grace]

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[Vanessa Walsh]

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[Nancy Grace]

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[Daniel Danforth]

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[Josh Colesrud]

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[Nancy Grace]

Overboard, Lynette Hooker tonight, damning GPS evidence emerges. This as her husband, Brian Hooker seems to be tangled up in his own words where he states he was, quote, in the water trying to get back into the boat with his wife when she vanishes. What? That's the first I've heard of that. Good evening, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us.

[Daniel Danforth]

It was windy, yes, but not to

[Nancy Grace]

the point where someone can just bounce out. I did talk to a captain and

[Daniel Danforth]

he said he was working that night and he doesn't remember the waves being that bad. I'm just wondering, why was she swimming away from the dinghy and why didn't she try to get back on it? Why did she grab the key on her way out?

[Commercial Announcer]

It doesn't make any sense.

[Nancy Grace]

Bombshell tonight, does Lynette Hooker's husband, Brian Hooker, who according to some reports has left the country? I'm not sure about that. Does he place himself in the water with his wife Lynette the night she falls overboard? Seemingly. He seems to admit he was in the water with her and trying to get back into the boat. But first, damning GPS evidence emerging. Straight out to special guest Vanessa Walsh joining us. She's the star of Unmasked True Crime. Vanessa, what about the GPS evidence do you consider to be damning?

[Vanessa Walsh]

Well, Nancy, what I think is so important is that people lie and GPS evidence is objective. So the digital evidence can provide investigators with where exactly Brian was and when exactly he was there. That's why the reported discrepancy between the GPS data and the original account that Brian gave to investigators has become such a major focus because as this investigation moves forward, it's obvious that this is a technology driven investigation now and it's more about reconstruction. One of the things I keep coming back to is Lynette's cell phone because according to Brian's own account in the recorded statement, Lynette allegedly entered that water with her iPhone that was protected inside a sealed dry bag. So if that Is true. One of the investigative questions I've had since day one is whether or not that iPhone generated any usable GPS information after she allegedly went overboard. That would be useful to invest.

[Nancy Grace]

Let me see Vanessa, please. Vanessa Walsh, you're brilliant. It's staring everybody in the face. It's right under our noses. But you're right. The iPhone, her smartphone in a dry bag, and I've. I have dived all around the world before the twins were born in a dry bag. Everything remains intact. If her cell phone had been in a dry bag. Let's talk to an expert. Dan Danforth joining us. Friend of the hookers. That's why we have a dry bag. He says her phone was in the dry bag. There's no reason she would have cut it off that night. She had been in a restaurant, according to him. And they got into the dinghy to go to the soulmate, their yacht.

[Daniel Danforth]

And we have no photographs.

[Nancy Grace]

Should have been transmitting, Dan.

[Daniel Danforth]

And it should have up until the moment. There's a lot of questions we have, but I feel like that's where the authorities are kind of keeping that part of the, you know, the investigation more private. You know, the biggest thing is, you know, anytime you have an investigation like this, it's the lies. The lies just keeps coming out and keeps coming out. You know, he used me as a pawn in the very beginning to try to establish a baseline. When he talked to Blaine Stevenson, shortly after, the story was completely different. Then when he talked to the investigative services, again, it was even another version of it. And so the biggest thing is that, like she said, the electronic evidence is a big factor in this, and we can, you know, that there was a lot of electronics on the boat, including FLIR systems, tracking systems, navigation systems. So we're hoping that the investigative services will be able to use some of this to their benefit.

[Nancy Grace]

Dan. Dan. For those people that have not used a dry bag, I mean, I had never heard of one until I learned to dive in the YMCA pool in Queensland. I didn't know about it. Explain why it's so important to divers, to fishing, to fisher people, to everybody out on the water.

[Daniel Danforth]

A dry bag is a kind of like a backpack or a purse or something like that that carries all your electronic devices, the things that you don't want to get wet. Sometimes we carry our boat paperwork. We carry, you know, like your passports and stuff inside the bag so something don't happen to it. They're very convenient, and they're kind of a creature of habit. You get to where you carry them with you all the time. It's second nature to have your dry bag. In fact, you'll watch all the videos online. They're always notably in the photos. Whether you're out touring on the land, whether you're walking on down the docks, whether you're back in your boat, you pretty much always have it on you. It's your issue. It's a creature comfort for protecting your valuables while you're traveling because you don't want your phone to sink.

[Nancy Grace]

Dan when my son goes fishing or sailing, he's a real water enthusiast. He puts a dry bag with nothing but his phone and his ID in it. And there's a zipper thing on his vest right here. And the dry bag just big enough for the phone and the ID goes right here and it's zipped in and it's. You said people carry them everywhere with them. It's the same. Let me, let me put it like this. It's the same way people do with their cell phones. I mean, nobody's ever a foot away from their cell phone.

[Daniel Danforth]

Land. Your cell phone is part of it in the water. We have a different lifestyle as a live aboard. We carry all a lot of electronics and stuff with us all times for tracking purposes, for connect. So you always want to have that with you and you don't want it getting wet. Dry bags come in many different styles, but the style they had was called a fold over dry bag, which you put all your stuff in it, zip it shut, you fold it two or three times, and even if a little water does intrude in it, they don't sink, they float. And it keeps a way for you to be able to retrieve your objects if they do fall overboard. You don't want your phone going straight to the bottom. And so it's a way to be able to retrieve all your important, you know, your identification and stuff like that. It's just common. It's common practice in the boat world.

[Nancy Grace]

Let's go to veteran trial lawyer. I can't wait for this. Josh Colesrud, as I said, criminal defense attorney, former assistant Prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office, founder of Colesrude Law Offices, Colesrud. He states, this is why you tell all your clients, shut your pie hole. Take the fifth. He has gotten all tangled up in his statements and we have been studying them for days and comparing them and looking for information inconsistencies. He states his wife, Lynette Hooker, had her iPhone in a dry bag that she went overboard with the dry bag. So why didn't the phone transmit? As Vanessa is pointing out, there's no reason it shouldn't have.

[Josh Colesrud]

Well, you know, I mean, the recording is interesting for a variety of reasons. And, you know, I think that the recording is devastating, but not for Brian, but for the people trying to turn this into a murder. Because when you actually listen to the recording, what do you hear? Now, you hear a man blaming himself. You hear a man, you know, he's listing every single mistake that he made. You hear a man who's clearly devastated. And that's what survivor sounds like. You know, a guilty man minimizes. A guilty man hides the bad facts.

[Nancy Grace]

Put him up, please. You know what if I did? If I didn't only have one hour to analyze the latest in Lynette Hooker's disappearance, I would let you go on and on and on. But that was not my question. You are not being responsive. I asked you about the cell phone, so I'm going to give you a few moments to come up with some zany defense about why the cell phone suddenly shows quit transmitting. Just like the GPS, it just quit. There's a big 11 hour gap where it just quit. Coincidentally, when Lynette goes missing, I'm going to think about that because I know you're going to come up with a great response. Vanessa, I got off track when you pointed out what was right under our noses about the iPhone, which was brilliant, by the way. Vanessa, the gps, you consider it to be the most damning evidence. Please, in lay people terms, explain what you mean, and then I'll circle back to Danforth.

[Vanessa Walsh]

Well, what I mean by that is that he, this story, he was very specific. When Brian told this story, he was giving out maps to his friends who was giving out very specific locations. He actually even circled the point on the map where he says that Lynette went overboard in this four to seven feet of water. And as far as the cell phone goes, I do think that that could be one of the most important clues in this case. And as you know, in a case with very few witnesses, many times the digital evidence and GPS evidence can become one of the most important witnesses.

[Nancy Grace]

Dan Danforth joining us. He's joining us out of Shreveport. He is a friend of the hookers. Dan, again, thank you for being with us tonight. Dan, explain what Vanessa's talking about, about the GPS evidence.

[Daniel Danforth]

I know what they're talking about. The GPS evidence story he told, he was trying to coordinate was a planned story. He told, you know, one version to me, and he told another version of blame, but it Kind of puts him in a different area. So when the electronic evidence came out that it puts him in a completely different area, it shows that, you know, it's another inconsistency to the story. They had multiple tracking items on them. Like you said, her phone should have been tracking a. A dry bag does not block cellular signal. If your cellular phone is in a dry bag and it rings, you'll hear it ringing, you'll open up your dry bag, get your phone out. So therefore, she makes a very valid point. That phone should have broadcast until the very last minute of that phone working whether it was turned off manually, whether it was sunk underneath the water. But one way or another, it should have had a GPS signal on it. On Find My Phone, there's many. There's multiple tracking activities. Most apps track you as well, so there should have been something on there. And I think that that's going to be a lot. But I also know that the federal investigators don't always show their hand until they get an indictment. And after an indictment comes out, then there'll be a lot of discovery for everybody to find out what they do and don't have.

[Nancy Grace]

Now, you have spoken with the Coast Guard, and they search exhaustively. Isn't that true, Daniel Danforth? They search exhaustively, not only in the area where Brian Hooker says his wife Lynette went overboard, but far, far beyond that. And they came up dry. Nothing. No sign of Lynette.

[Daniel Danforth]

What we call coming up dry is very unfortunate for the family because we did not recover Lynette's body at the time, but also to the purpose of that investigation was try to validate the GPS track. They have a known track that was different from Brian's account. And so going along that track, that they could have located anything, and they may or may not have. That's not.

[Nancy Grace]

Whoa, hold on, Nelly. Do you hear what you just said? See, that would be my first argument in an opening statement that the GPS data they. The Coast Guard have for Brian Hooker is different than Brian Hooker's story. Let's just let that sink in for a moment. Ooh, I can't wait for Josh Colzra to explain how the GPS data is different from what he says happened that night. Okay, you just, like, trilled off the tip of your tongue, man, I would hammer that. Bam, bam, bam. What do you mean the GPS is different than what he said?

[Daniel Danforth]

We'd like to validate that GPS track by finding something of Brian or Lynette's, whether it be a. Or whether it be a Rope or anything from that dinghy to verify that those electronic trails are correct. Kind of give it a tangible. Besides just being so. That's why it was so important for them to follow the track that they have.

[Nancy Grace]

You said that his story was different than the GPS story, Dan.

[Daniel Danforth]

Yes. His story was just to send everybody off on a wild goose chase. And I told everybody from the beginning, if you just take out his story,

[Nancy Grace]

how is it different?

[Daniel Danforth]

Well, because from the timeline that she went missing, and I feel like they originally made it back to the boat. There's not a doubt in my mind they made it back to the boat that night. Now, what happened after the electronics went off and they've changed. And that's where this part of the investigation will reveal. But even the systems that he had on his boat have reserved.

[Nancy Grace]

What I'm saying is what's different? What are the differences in his story and what the GPS reveals?

[Daniel Danforth]

A completely different track around Lubbers Island. You know, he goes up south. The GPS track goes south around Lubbers and goes back over. East toward Elbow Cay. But. So he told me it happened right outside the Abaco restaurant, and they were only a thousand feet from the sailboat. And that she was trying to swim back to the sailboat when he got blown away. That he was more of a victim when he talked to me.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, can you slow down? Because I got. I gotta understand. Before I can argue one way or the other, I need to understand what you just said. The GPS says that the dinghy or him or the yacht went south.

[Daniel Danforth]

I'm not sure which form of. I think that the GPS track they have came from. Came from his personal electronics, which that would have put the GPS track is where his physical body went. Not where the boat went or where the dinghy went is. But where Brian Hooker went that night. And his story states that he went from A B to C. And then the GPS track takes him to a completely different route, contradicting everything that he said in the story.

[Nancy Grace]

Where does the GPS show. You said south. Around.

[Daniel Danforth]

Around Lovers and then back east. See where. If you see where it says the yacht, that's documented. Yeah, he took the. He took the track straight across the bay. He got blown straight across the bay over to Marsh Harbor. And so. But he didn't. The GPS track actually carries him down between the island, down south, back around to all the way across the bay, then back north where he's, you know, is landing that. And then I feel like he's landed before. And that's where they found the cushion and stuff because even on that seat cushion wasn't found. Everything of Lynette's was completely missing and it's never been recovered. Only the items that you know, if you look that he sits on his cushion was recovered. You know, his dry bag was recovered, but nothing of Lynette's. And I I think the most valid information we've heard lately was try to track the end last time that her phone pinged, you know, when was it cut off? And if we don't necessarily know a location, at least we know a timeline. Did it happen at 7:30? Did it happen at 9:30? And you know, so the investigation going back to the Bahamas this time was to try to confirm some of that data. The electronic EV

[Josh Colesrud]

foreign

[Nancy Grace]

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[Nancy Grace]

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Dan I want to understand. I want to make sure I have this, right. The actual GPS that we believe is attached to his body, which could be a cell phone, it could be his iPhone. But it's him. It's him.

[Daniel Danforth]

Yes.

[Nancy Grace]

Not the yacht, not the dinghy. It's him. Takes him south to Lovers island, then east, then southern and north. Is that what you said?

[Daniel Danforth]

He comes south right around the south side of Lovers, is straight east all the way across, and made landfall two times before ending up where he reported his original landfall.

[Nancy Grace]

Wait, so he goes to land two times before he. What?

[Daniel Danforth]

He reports two times before he got to the party, Reported it, makes contact with land.

[Nancy Grace]

No. Oh. Oh, no. Okay, this is bad. Brian Fitzgibbons bad for Lynette because his story, as Daniel Danforth, as we all have heard the story, because he goes on, and I'm. That is that they left the restaurant, they get into the dinghy, they get out on the water, and then suddenly two to three foot swells come along. She falls in the water with her dry bag, I. E. Phone. He throws her a seat cushion. Although there are life jackets there. They're in the boat right there. He could have thrown them. And she's never seen again. That's what he says. And that he is blown straight across the bay and paddles, I guess, the two teacups, as I like to say, and ends up at Marsh Harbor. Completely different route than what the GPS reveals. That is huge. Vanessa Walsh is right. That is damning.

[Josh Colesrud]

Yeah. This is a wildly different story than Brian Hooker first recounted.

[Daniel Danforth]

And it.

[Josh Colesrud]

And it adds a lot of credence to what many folks are reporting and saying online that he did indeed return to the soulmate. And I think what this brings into play, because, you know, that trap, that direction of travel, would corroborate some of the eyewitness statements of seeing things happening on Soulmate. Lights turning on, flares being lit off at strange angles around 9pm this adds a lot of credence to those firsthand accounts.

[Nancy Grace]

Now, one thing I believe that Hooker told Carly, Lynette's daughter that the, quote, flotation device he threw out, I believe is seat cushion was found. Let's listen. Let's listen.

[Brian Hooker]

I just got call from Booktown Search and Rescue, and I found a flotation device that I threw to mom when she fell overboard. They haven't found her yet.

[Nancy Grace]

That's my friends at cbs. So, Vanessa Walsh, that is one thing we think was found. The seat cushion.

[Vanessa Walsh]

Yes. And reportedly and conveniently the seat cushion washed up not far from where Brian ended up at Marsh Harbor.

[Nancy Grace]

Why do you say that? What's convenient about that? What is coincidental about that? I agree with you, but I would like you to explain.

[Vanessa Walsh]

The thing that stuck out for me from the beginning is that's. I always thought it was strange that that's the one thing he threw out in that shallow water. But it's interesting that we've never been able to find anything else to corroborate his story. Most importantly, the dry bag with the, you know, dinghy keys and her cell phone and his passports and all that. They've never found any trace of that. But they conveniently find the one piece he does bring up in his statement close by to where he landed. I. To me, that seems a little suspicious. Just my opinion.

[Nancy Grace]

And tonight, does Brian Hooker place himself in the water with Lynette when she falls overboard?

[Brian Hooker]

I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong, you know, I mean, she's a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she's determined and she was head. The flare pistol I had had slid down one of the sponsors down towards the stern and the dinghy. I took so many waves over the dinghy, I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit. But the. The inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were around trying to get back in the boat, some of the sun was falling wet. It kind of dropped off. It was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor. It was a cascade of failures. And there's something I'm never going to forgive myself for.

[Nancy Grace]

So that's him. From our friends at Fox News Digital and Unmasked true crime podcast. First to you, Daniel Danforth. She was hit with a flare pistol.

[Vanessa Walsh]

What?

[Nancy Grace]

She was hit with a flare pistol. I'm looking right at it, what he said on the phone call. And then he goes on to say we were effing around trying to get back in the boat. What do you make of it?

[Daniel Danforth]

I feel like they were possibly trying to get back. There's a couple of contradictions in that. He said he was on the stern and the cockpit was filling full of water. That's talking about the sailboat, not necessarily talking about the Dean. And so this is kind of like. It's kind of new information. I hadn't heard this account yet.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, to you, Dave Mack, joining us, crime stories, investigative reporter. He and Vanessa have been on the case from the very beginning when we heard Lynette went overboard. Dave Mack, do I have that statement? Correct. And Who? To whom was Brian Hooker speaking?

[Daniel Danforth]

Brian Hooker called fellow boater and friend Blaine Stevenson two days after Lynette vanished in the Bahamas. Now, Stevenson related this story to Fox News Digital that at a moment in that phone call, Brian places himself in the water that night. This contradicts his account that he stayed in the dinghy while she drifted away. It is exactly as you just quoted Nancy. He says that I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but that the inside also got wet. And so the dinghy key was not attached to me. You know, so when we were effing around trying to get back in the boat, word for word, Hooker to Blaine Stevenson.

[Nancy Grace]

Dan, you're right. There is no cockpit in a dinghy.

[Daniel Danforth]

No, it's just a little open tub. And they didn't really have a baling device. You know, it has a bilge pump that pumps out automatically.

[Nancy Grace]

I just see so many red flags with this. What does it mean? She was hit with a flare pistol. I mean, to me, that sounds like the pistol accidentally fired and hit her. Or is he saying the pistol rolled down the dinghy and hit her in the leg? What is he saying?

[Daniel Danforth]

It's kind of odd because most people don't carry flares in their dinghy. You know, like, the flare is more for the sailboat that, you know, to carry a flare gun on a dinghy that you're just going to and from shore. They're not like you're out cruising around or out in the ocean. A flare is used for, you know, search and rescue, to try to get attention brought towards you. So it's kind of odd that there would even be a flare gun brought up. I feel like a lot of it is he's just the stories kind of mixed up. And that's what's happened when you don't tell the truth, is that the stories start to overlap each other and that, you know, there's so many contradictions to what happened, what he told me, and then what he told, you know, the other, you know, witnesses, somewhere, another, the truth will finally be revealed. You know, that's what I'm hoping comes out.

[Nancy Grace]

You know, everyone was disappointed when the Coast Guard called off their search in the last few days of that area where they were looking for Lynette. But I was not surprised because I did not think they were going to find Lynette in the area where he said she fell overboard. So that was no big surprise to me. Daniel Danforth. In fact, they had found her.

[Daniel Danforth]

We don't know that the Bahama Bahamians may only allow them seven days to come search. We don't know what the criteria of being allowed to search that they had to ask for permission to enter another country to perform the search. And therefore, it's like so many days into the search, the Bahamian government wouldn't let them hire private captains anymore. They could only charter the Bahamian government vessels. And so there was a lot of legal red tape between the two countries. So we don't really don't know what went down and what don't went down until, like I said, until it all kind of comes out later. We can only go upon what we see and what we presume. But I feel like they went down there on a very particular mission. And I feel like we have one of the best investigative services there is on this mission. And I'm praying that we can find something to validate the GPS track. And it would blow Brian Hooker's story out of the water. Because he hasn't done nothing but cause hurt and pain and lies in every single person's life since we've met him, since till now. And the family, I can only imagine what the daughter and the mother are going through because this caused a major toll on my wife, where she's kind of now she has PTSD from the past, and she's not wanting to go back out sailing again because, you know, it's a community you have to trust your fellow boater on. And this is really, really damaging to the lifestyle and the boating community.

[Nancy Grace]

You know what, Dan? You're absolutely right. I learned that diving, you have to trust the people you're with. They save your life.

[Vanessa Walsh]

Okay.

[Nancy Grace]

There was one instance they saved my life, and I didn't even know them. That said, this has affected your wife to the point she's got ptsd.

[Daniel Danforth]

She already had ptsd. And it's really, you know, she's been treated and trying to take care of for years. And that's why we got into boating and so we could be alone out on the water. We didn't have to deal with the conflicts of land. And since this happened, she's very leery because she's real close with Lynette. Her and Lynette met in 2023. And my wife don't make very many friends. She's a very, very private person. And so it kind of hurt her a lot that that was one of the few people that she kept very close in contact with and that this has happened. And we had actually, they've been Begging us to come down to the Bahamas with them. We actually have a motor yacht, not a sailboat. So it costs a lot more fuel for us to go. And so now it's kind of like she don't trust another boating couple. You know, it's kind of hard to, you know, to have a buddy boat when this happened to one of the few buddy boats that we've ever had. So it's like she opened herself up a little bit and somebody. I feel like Brian Hooker took advantage of that and really, you know, put her in a bad emotional state. And another, you know, it really triggered her ptsd. Again,

[Nancy Grace]

you stated that Hooker has been nothing but heartache since you met him. And see, I didn't know that. Why do you say that?

[Daniel Danforth]

Well, I enjoy them because we met. Like I said, we originally met in 2023 and we spent a month together in New Orleans. And they were very motivated like us, you know, that kind of give up on the land lifestyle, want to travel. We had a lot of the same maritime desires, but me and Brian Hooker, we had completely different views on every other thing in the world. But it was nice to be able to talk to somebody and say, why do you feel this way? Without having an actual argument. And I could get see the life from a different perspective, from a more liberal perspective, where I'm more of a conservative perspective. And so it kind of opened my eyes up to a lot of things. But, you know, as we traveled, it was great to have another. We call them buddy boats. Somebody that acts. Where are y' all anchored at tonight? So we know you're safe. So that way if you go missing, you have some kind of a track and accountability of people keeping in touch of like, oh, no, you know, the Danforth were up in, you know, this bay here. So that was our last known place. And we did the same with the Hookers. So during their time, they have had some problems in their relationships. But as my wife was real close with Lynette, I never tried to get involved because you don't want to damage, you know, a co friendship like that. You know, you have the wives or friends. And then me and him were friends. But it was. It was just kind of hurts me a lot that he used me in a Paul in the very beginning of this to try to establish a fake story. You know, he shouldn't have never like, I guess the last interview he did when he said that he wasn't going to leave the Bahamas until a higher power told him that he had to leave. I guess that higher power turned out to be his attorney.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, unleash the lawyer. Josh Coles. Rude. Have you had time to come up with a defense for that pesky GPS saying something completely different than what Brian Hooker says?

[Josh Colesrud]

I have an excuse for that. And also for the statement about Brian swimming. So I'll get to them both. So the first one, you know, there are dry bags, thicker dry bags that do block cell phone signals. So I disagree with my colleague saying that, you know, the dry bags don't do that ever, because that's simply incorrect. I'm a diver, and I know that my cell phone does not work in my dry bag, which is a thick dry bag. Second, you know, how do we know that the battery.

[Nancy Grace]

Wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Wait. Okay, Josh, I had planned not to interrupt you, but you're saying that a car, that a cell phone can transmit through these walls in this studio, through a car, you're gonna get WI fi on a plane, but you're saying a dry bag stops a cell phone from transmitting? I just want to make sure I understood what you just said because I would have so much fun. Oh, I may have to go back to the courtroom now that you said that. Is that what you said? Bring your ex your dry bag. Okay.

[Josh Colesrud]

Yeah.

[Nancy Grace]

All right, go ahead.

[Josh Colesrud]

Yeah, the thicker dry bags can block cell phone signals, period. And when you're out on the water and the cell phone signals aren't as good as they would be on the land with 5G networks, you know, it's not out of the realm of possibility that that signal was lost. And what about the battery on the phone? How do we know that the battery didn't die during that time? You know, there just are too many alternative explanations that can explain the probity away from this piece of evidence. And then secondly, Nancy, you know, let's talk briefly about the recorded conversation that you brought up where Brian said that he was in the water. You know, that was taken out of context. If you look at the 330 mark in that statement, the friend literally asked him, so you were swimming? And he says no. So, you know, you know, to be fair to the recorded conversation, you know, he gives a mixed answer. You know, it's certainly nothing definitive about him being in the water. And because, you know, the. The statement was given to a friend. It wasn't given in a way where he was preparing for, you know, trial or something like that. This was a genuine comment about somebody who's genuinely cared for and looking for the wife. So, you know, I think that this is much to do about nothing. And, you know, there's no there there.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay? And I quote Brian Hooker, I had to bet. Wait, I want to start with her getting shot with a flare pistol. She was hit with a flare pistol. I had slid down one of those sponsors down toward the stern, which there's not really a stern. And a cockpit. Well, there's not a cockpit in a dinghy. I took so many waves over the dinghy. I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit. There's not a cockpit in a dinghy. In a dinghy. But the, the inside also got wet and so. And the dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were around trying to get back on the boat, those. You know what, let's listen to it from the horse's mouth.

[Brian Hooker]

I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong, you know, I mean, she's a regular swimmer. Not like a athlete or anything, but she's determined and she was head. The flare pistol I had had slid down one of the sponsors down towards the stern and the dinghy. I took so many waves over the dinghy. I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were around trying to get back in the boat, the sun was falling when it kind of dropped off. It was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor. And it was a cascade of failures. And this fungal thing I'm never gonna forgive myself for.

[Nancy Grace]

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[Nancy Grace]

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

[Brian Hooker]

I was keeping a very stiff upper lip cuz she is strong. You know, I mean she's a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she's determined and she was head the flare pistol I had had slid down one of the sponson down towards the stern and the dinghy. I took so many waves over the dinghy I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the the inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were around trying to get back in the boat some, the sun was falling when it kind of dropped off. It was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor. And it was a cascade of failures and it's something I'm never going to forgive myself for.

[Nancy Grace]

So that's him. From our friends at Fox News Digital and Unmasked True Crime podcast starring Vanessa Waltz, who is joining us tonight. He absolutely said we were trying to get back into the boat, Vanessa. I mean, I just heard it.

[Vanessa Walsh]

He did, Nancy. And I've listened to that call between Brian and Blaine countless times over the past two months and I did immediately notice that part of the statement as well the very first day I listened to it and I did kind of stop and go, whoa, was that some type of slip up? What was that exactly? Unfortunately, whether he doesn't really have a chance to clarify it or he chooses not to really circle back to that because the conversation is kind of bouncing all over the place. We can't be 100% sure of what he means there, but he does say, you know, you were swimming. Then Blaine says, and then he says no, but he jumps to the next sentence. So it's really hard to discern what exactly he was saying there. I wish they would have kind of dove into that deeper and got some more clarification.

[Nancy Grace]

We alluded to this at the very beginning regarding an 11 hour gap in the tracking, coincidentally, when Lynette goes overboard. Take a listen to Kenneth Engoran, maritime law professor.

[Daniel Danforth]

There are ways that it can stop transmitting catastrophic power failure. It doesn't just go off

[Brian Hooker]

and then

[Daniel Danforth]

come back on in a situation like this without some sort of deliberate action.

[Josh Colesrud]

I believe there's evidence that the tracking of the boat was turned off at a time that closely parallels around the time that she went missing. All of those things are highly suspicious.

[Nancy Grace]

And the guy you see talking right there is Tad Debase. He's a former federal prosecutor, veteran attorney, and the first one was a maritime law professor, as I mentioned, Kenneth Ingrand. What are they talking about? Daniel Danforth, how does it relate to this case? Oh, that's where our friends at Fox News Digital. I'm referring specifically to an 11 hour gap where the GPS just turns off.

[Daniel Danforth]

I don't think that accidentally happened. It had to be manually turned off. The type of battery systems that they had, the solar system, they even has an emergency reserve. So unless something like he said, a catastrophic power failure happened, then it wouldn't have just accidentally turned off. And if a catastrophic power failure did happen, it wouldn't be automatically turned back on when Brian Hooker and the volunteer, you know, Research and Rescue, made it back to the boat the next day when it came back on. So that tells me that it was manually turned off and manually turned back on because if you had a catastrophic power failure, you're not going to go back to the boat, you flip it back on.

[Nancy Grace]

Well, you just said that it was battery or solar powered, not connected to power on the mainland. Right?

[Daniel Danforth]

It was, it was completely powered. Everything on Soulmate was powered from Soulmate. They actually had a lithium, lithium battery pack, and then they had solar and generators to recharge the lithium solar pack. And so if you had a major meltdown, that would actually power off that nobody on the boat, you're not just gonna be able to just turn that back on when you got there. You'd have to correct whatever problem there was, then turn it back on. But when hopetown Search and Rescue took Brian Hooker back to the boat the next day, and it's been logged at the same time that they got to the boat is when the power came back on. But now you got a critical component failure that says, okay, I can no longer run the electronics, I'm shut down, I had electronic failure. You're not going to go back in there the next day and just turn it on. The system came back active the same time that Hope. Hope Town Search and Rescue took Brian Hooker back to the boat. I think it was logged at 8:30 or 9:30am and that's when the system was powered back on. And that it wasn't a long delay. It was like he went in the boat, flipped the switch, the power came back on, and another gentleman stayed on the boat with him for about an hour, kind of looking around. And then they would come back off at the hotel. Search and rescue left then.

[Nancy Grace]

Oh, my stars.

[Daniel Danforth]

And another thing I wanted to point out, too, is I'm not trying to rewind, but they said in that phone call, he says, that we were, you know, effing around trying to get back on the boat. Most people don't ever call a dinghy a boat. A dinghy will always be a dinghy, maybe a tender. But so it sounds to me like he slipped up and said, we got back to Soulmate, and we were, you know, kind of fighting around trying to get back on, you know, the talk about what the way he describes that was, sounded like they're trying to get back on the big boat, which would have been Soulmate. And I feel like that was a little bit. That's where he crossed the conversation off to something different real quick. Because you're not gonna call, like, if you're say, if I fell overboard, I'm trying to get back in my dinghy. I'm not trying to get back in a boat. You never really call a dinghy a boat. There's. There's just a normal person who don't. Who's a land person would call it, you know, oh, look, a little boat and a big boat. But in the nautical world, a dinghy is a dinghy and a boat is a boat. So if he's made the comment, we were trying to get back on the boat, we were effing around trying to get back on the boat. That confirms that they made it back to Soulmate that night, that it's a lie that he said that they didn't make it back. I think that he did. He told himself right there that they did make it back to Soulmate, which

[Nancy Grace]

would explain a lot. Daniel Danforth, when he keeps referring to the stern and the cockpit. You don't have that in a dinghy.

[Daniel Danforth]

And if you also hear the water got into the boat, so it got into the cockpit also, it got inside and got the inside wet. There's no inside of a dinghy. You got the cockpit of a sailboat. The door was open. Water went inside the cell. So you see that he almost. It's describing the sailboat. He's not describing the dinghy. When that phone call. And then you can see he called himself and that's where he started switching it back up to, oh, let's go back to playing, you know, poor Brian Hooker here. And. But I also wanted to point out the cushion that he supposedly threw to her. It was found. That's his cushion you see him sit on in every video. Where's her cushion at? How come her cushion was never recovered? Not what you know, but there's not one video of them ever in the dinghy that she don't have her cushion with her. And that's a guaranteed flotation device. It does not sink. So how come it wasn't ever recovered in the same general location or even to this day that, that, that that cushion was. I think they made it back to the sailboat. And that confirms that they made it back to the cell boat. With his very words of them saying we were effing around trying to get back on the sailboat or try to get back on the boat. He would have said we were effing around trying to get back in the dinghy if they had fallen overboard. And then that's why when Blaine said, well, was y' all swimming? Oh, no, no, because they were going from the D back into the big boat, which would have been the sailboat salt makes. So he just confirmed right there that they made it back to the boat that night.

[Nancy Grace]

Then there is the whole issue of the infrared.

[Josh Colesrud]

He showed me.

[Daniel Danforth]

He has something called a FLIR system, which is a forward looking infrared camera. He said if any person comes up in a boat or a kayak or something like that, or walks down the dock, it immediately set off alarm and it'll self track them as they walk around the boat. If it's at nighttime and it's in the dark, the, the flare is going to immediately capture the heat of that person's body.

[Josh Colesrud]

Seizing a vessel is a great piece

[Daniel Danforth]

of evidence because all these electronics are digital evidence. And it doesn't go away. And you can't delete it. You can't erase it. It's there forever.

[Nancy Grace]

First you were seeing our guest, our friend Dan Danforth on CBS News. Then you were seeing our longtime friend and colleague Robert Crispin, private investigator, speaking at CBS News as well, Dan Danforth. What to what are they referring about the infrared?

[Daniel Danforth]

What he had on his boat was a very unique system that most people don't have. It's actually considered a high end luxury item. Most times it's for search and rescue or military boats. But what he had was called FLIR Forward Looking Infrared. And as you can see in the photo, it was mounted pretty high up the mast. And so the key features that it has is the auto detect and auto self track. And when I was getting an experience of system and stuff, my wife was walking down a dock and it actually picked up her heat signature and it tracked her going all the way back over to our yacht and her boarding our yacht. And I thought that was pretty neat. And he said, don't worry, he goes, you can set the temperature for whatever you want, and anything above that temperature, it'll automatically self track. And so that night, if the system was working, it should have automatically self tracked them. If they got anywhere near the dinghy within, I guess within 100 yards or so, it should have self tracked. Especially if somebody was in the water, you exert more energy, so you're going to create more heat, you know, so it's going to be an easier target for it to find. The Coast Guard said that the system wasn't really registered to Brown and Annette, but once they got the serial number off of the system, that they were going to be able to access the FLIR systems cloud and that regardless whether or not Brian and Lynette subscribed to the cloud, that once they had that serial number, they would be able to access all the information off of that. So that was part of the reason to get a warrant to be able to pull a serial number off of that FLIR system.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, Other people hate it when I do this, but I have got to have you explain that again and speak very slowly because I've never dealt with a FLIR front forward looking infrared. And I see it up on the mast. We're showing it as you can speak. I don't know if you see your monitor or not, but there it is. It was registered to the previous owners, not the hookers. Okay, tell me one more time. You were saying it could track your wife.

[Daniel Danforth]

What it is, is it's basically like a camera, but instead of seeing it like as a video camera or a cellular phone camera, where you're gonna see an image on the screen, it picks up and strictly in heat thermal. And so it's kind of like when you're watching a movie, like the old poltergeist movies and stuff, you would see that thermal image, but you couldn't see a person. It was almost invisible. So if somebody was invisible, you could still track them with this camera because it Reads heat temperature. If there's anything that changes temperature around the ambient temperature, it's going to show up a different color. And so when like my wife was leaving Soulmate headed back to our boat, I was inside a soulmate. And the camera automatically detected her movement because it was higher than 80 degrees where he had the temperature set that day on the system. So the camera tracks her and it don't show her as my wife. It shows her as like a red walking human, you know, but she's all red. You can't tell like a picture of her, you know, they don't show you the, you know, like her skin color or her hair color. It's just strictly a red figure walking down the dock. It just strictly reads in thermal imaging. And it's a very high end system and they're great for search and rescues. But I even asked, you know, during this time when Lydette was first missing, how come they weren't using that as part of the search and rescue to be able to search Abaco C because it's such a high end system to be able to locate. And that's the purpose of having something like that, is to be able to see at nighttime, to be able to see in bad conditions, to be able to track things that you can't see in the black and the darkness of night.

[Nancy Grace]

So it's my understanding, Vanessa Walsh, the star of Unmasked True Crime, who has done a lot of investigative work and the disappearance of Lynette Hooker, it's my understanding that the camera is currently being processed as part of this probe.

[Vanessa Walsh]

What do you know, they're standing as well, and they're specifically interested in the potential icloud capabilities, as Dan was just saying. And I think, I mean, this camera is specifically designed to detect if someone goes overboard, one of its main functions. So I think the big question for investigators will be, was this infrared camera operational when Lynette went missing and did Brian try to use it to find Lynette?

[Nancy Grace]

And if not, why Dan Danforth, I was looking through all the information we've amassed. And isn't it true that that Hooker showed off the infrared device while you were all docked in New Orleans back in around 23?

[Daniel Danforth]

Yes. And like I was telling you, my wife has ptsd, so she gets very nervous anytime that we're in contact with land and that she don't really know who's accessible to come get us, because when we're on the water, nobody can really come get us unless you drive up in another boat or come up in some scuba gear. You're not really going to get to us. And so when we were at the dock, I was telling Brian about, you know, my wife's ptsd. He said, don't worry, this is the best security system you can have. And my wife and Lynette were out on the dock talking. And so as they departed, my wife was going back to the boat. He, you know, set the camera and said, you know, set it for alarm for anything above 86 degrees. Well instantly the camera spun around and started tracking my wife as she walked back down. Because on the dock she was the only other thing, you know, higher than 86 degrees at the time, the size of Lynette. And so any kind of like movement or something like that that has a higher temperature, the cameras don't self detect like it could be, can pan 360 degrees up and down 180 degrees and so it can look around. It's a self searching feature. Your other guest and one of the main features of this FLIR system, it has mob, which is man overboard feature on it. So if somebody ever does fall overboard, you push a button on it and it track and it tracks the person to them. If you had to turn around, you know, in the heat, in the storm or at night time to be able to go back and look for somebody. It has a man overboard feature as part of the feature of this system. Wow.

[Nancy Grace]

Now in his defense, Brian Fitzgibbons has pointed out something significant. Do I think it's probative? Does it prove anything? No, not to me about the GPS going off for those critical 11 hours. But Brian, I'm glad you told me about it because every good prosecution anticipates the defense and is prepared to shred it. So you mentioned something about previous times the GPS had gone down.

[Josh Colesrud]

Yeah. So it's been reported not only that nine hour window on the night of Lynette's disappearance, was the AIs tracker off? It's been reported that also on three other days or three other times between April 10 and April 13, the tracking system was shut down. Now you know what, what flies in the face of this is that Brian Hooker was in custody by the Royal Bahamian police from April 8 to April 13. Okay, so those were, those dates are well known to us. So you know, the prosecution, if there is to be a prosecution, is certainly going to need to explain that. April 10th date the AIs tracker went off.

[Nancy Grace]

So you're saying that on three other occasions between April 10th, April 13th, his Brian Hooker's GPS went down, but he was in custody at the time, Is that what you're saying?

[Josh Colesrud]

Yeah. And there certainly could be a good reason for this, right? But as that nautical expert was on talking about it, that there had to be some kind of human intervention to turn this system off during the hours of Lynette's disappearance.

[Nancy Grace]

For all I know, it could have been during the investigation that the GPS was being tested or investigated. I don't know. But that's a fact that could be critical to both the state and the prosecution in this case. At this hour tonight, Brian Hooker remains innocent, presumed innocent under the law, unless and until that presumption is pierced with evidence on the part of the state that proves him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If you know or think you know anything about Lewint's disappearance, please dial US Coast Guard 8004-2488-0280-0442-48802. We remember an American hero, Lieutenant Patrick Weatherford, Newport PD, Arkansas, shot in the line of duty after 15 years on the force, leaving behind his wife Kristen and two children, Caitlin and Caleb, sentenced to life without their father, American hero, Lieutenant Patrick Weatherford. Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Gray signing off for tonight. I'll see you tomorrow night. And until then,

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[Nancy Grace]

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[Daniel Danforth]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.

[Josh Colesrud]

I don't know if you knew this,

[Daniel Danforth]

but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

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[Nancy Grace]

is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.