Breaking: GPS Data Sparks New Coast Guard Dive Search, DNA Collected | Lynette Hooker Missing

Summary

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Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield

Episode: Breaking: GPS Data Sparks New Coast Guard Dive Search, DNA Collected | Lynette Hooker Missing
Release Date: May 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on dramatic new developments in the Lynette Hooker missing persons investigation. Host Ashleigh Banfield unpacks the mounting evidence against Brian Hooker—including revealing GPS data, missing dive equipment, and recent forensic efforts. Banfield, with guest Blaine Stevenson (friend to both Lynette and Brian and an experienced liveaboard), applies her trademark no-nonsense, irreverent tone to break down what’s real, what’s rumor, and what’s next. At its core, this is an urgent dispatch about justice, technical sleuthing, and the power of community collaboration in a troubling true crime mystery.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. New GPS Data Shifts the Investigation

• Coast Guard Dive Teams Mobilized:
  • Critical GPS and cell phone data from Brian Hooker is now in authorities' hands, contradicting his story about drifting helplessly at sea.
  • Coast Guard is “sending divers, like any minute now” to investigate several pinpointed sites in the Sea of Abaco, suggesting possible locations to search for Lynette’s body.
  • Two main underwater search locations have been identified based on suspicious directional changes and circles tracked via GPS—evidence that Brian’s movement wasn't dictated by wind and current as claimed.
  • Banfield muses: “That's not what the wind does. ... This is the spot I think I'm looking for on my backup watch. That's really deep.” (05:40)

2. Backup Devices as Clues: Sneaky Tech & Missing Gear

• Brian’s Pattern of Redundant Electronics:

  • Multiple sources agree: Brian Hooker was known for backup systems—phones, watches, and boat engines.
  • When the Bahamians raided the boat, they confiscated Lynette’s pink Apple Watch (seen in key selfie evidence) and a “backup” smartwatch belonging to Brian, potentially used as his primary device at the time of Lynette's disappearance.
  • Banfield theorizes: by swapping watches, Brian could mask his movements during the critical period.

• Missing Equipment, Murder Theory:

  • Notably absent from the boat: the Torqeedo electric engine (potential anchor/weight to submerge a body), and certain dive gear such as Lynette’s buoyancy compensation device (BCD) and possibly a pink weight belt.
  • "It is entirely possible that the Torqeedo engine could have been used as... a weight that would take something below the surface of the water and keep it there.” (02:35)

3. Forensic Developments: DNA Collection & Soulmate Boat Evidence

• Family DNA Samples Collected:

  • The Coast Guard visited Lynette’s mother, daughter, and father to collect DNA, indicating expectation they may soon recover a body and wish to expedite identification.
  • “The fact that they're getting DNA from those three family members is huge. And that's happening as we speak.” (15:50)

• Soulmate Boat Treated as a Crime Scene:

  • Soulmate, the Hookers’ sailboat, is now at a Coast Guard station in Fort Lauderdale, surrounded by crime scene tape, suggesting Lynette may have died onboard and the boat itself is critical evidence.

4. On-the-Ground and Underwater Search Areas

• Land & Sea Points of Interest:
  • In addition to the two spots in the water, the Coast Guard is interested in places on land—particularly beaches and construction zones around Lubbers, where Brian’s alibi involves spending significant, unaccounted-for time.
  • Missing items like the neon green dry bag, “would have washed up as she would have,” and the mismatch in oar descriptions fuel suspicion.

5. Interview with Blaine Stevenson: Boating, Lies, & Community Effort

• Liveaboard Perspective:

  • Blaine and Marnie Stevenson, fellow cruisers and close to both Hookers, provide technical expertise about sailing and boat living.
  • Blaine confirms: multiple backups—phones, tablets, watches—were typical for Brian.
  • “He has redundancies and he has a collection of gadgets.” (26:10)

• Watches as Navigation Tools:

  • Blaine demonstrates his Garmin marine watch, which can control a boat’s autopilot and log GPS routes—suggesting Brian could have easily navigated to deepwater spots "in the pitch black."
  • “Completely. You could build routes that go right on here.” (27:57 - Blaine)

• Dive Gear & Anchors:

  • Disappearance of items that double as weights (anchors, BCDs, weight belts) is suspicious, especially since valuable electronics were NOT stolen.
  • “I think they generally don't go for lead. ... It's going to be a hard one to sell to a jury that ... he took a package of lead. I'm not buying that.” (32:54 - Blaine)

• Emotional Toll & Reflections:

  • “The idea that I had dinner with somebody who could have taken out their wife, that does not feel good.” (34:58 - Blaine)
  • “The Coast Guard is coming out and saying he didn't do what he said he did ... That's not me coming out and saying, that's the Coast Guard.” (35:54 - Blaine)

• Collaborative Investigation:

  • The investigation has united Lynette’s family, Blaine and Marnie, Banfield, and law enforcement in continual communication, pooling technical and emotional resources.

6. Banfield’s Conclusions & Next Steps

• Banfield draws a hard line: the evidence is closing in (“If he did, he’s fucked and he’s not charged with anything. As we speak ... but oh my god, if I had a dime for every time I said tick tock Brian Hooker.”) (12:00)
• Next stage depends on Bahamian authorities formally inviting the US Coast Guard to dive and search.
• Banfield predicts arrests are imminent once a body is found or critical evidence is retrieved.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ashleigh Banfield on Brian’s claims:

  “I don't think Brian was telling us the truth about his little floating for nine hours without any propulsion, you know, lost at sea till he washed up on Marsh Harbor. Bullshit. Now we can prove it.” (00:50)

• On GPS data:

  “His GPS information now has him not floating at sea ... but instead deliberately changing directions, doing really weird things like circles in one spot. That's not what the wind does.” (05:40)

• On missing gear:

  “Trouble is, does not appear that the Torqeedo was on board when that boat got raided. ... it is entirely possible that the Torqeedo engine could have been used as, I don't know, say, a weight that would take something below the surface of the water and keep it there.” (01:41)

• Blaine Stevenson on technical evidence:

  “He has redundancies and he has a collection of gadgets.” (26:10)

• On liveaboard perspective:

  “I can't go as far as say he did XYZ. Well, now the Coast Guard is coming out and saying he didn't do what he said he did. ... Now it feels like, let's get to the Bahamas.” (35:54)

• On emotional stakes:

  “The amount of people that have been brought together by this has been really incredible.” (41:28 - Blaine) “Sucks to be you, Brian. I guess Lynette had more and better friends than you.” (42:20)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:50: Banfield lays out the new GPS findings and introduces the missing equipment.
• 05:39: Transition to Coast Guard’s underwater search plans and potential forensic breakthroughs.
• 13:10: Discussion of land search sites; further undermining Brian’s account.
• 14:41: On-scene updates; Soulmate’s transfer to Coast Guard facility and significance as evidence.
• 24:54: Banfield interviews Blaine and Marnie Stevenson on boat tech and Brian’s behavior.
• 27:03: Blaine demonstrates Garmin marine watch; details on technical navigation and possible use.
• 31:02: Dive gear and missing weight belt discussion and doubts about piracy.
• 38:50: Forensic DNA collection process explained.
• 40:28: Blaine on the collaborative investigation and community impact.

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Conclusion

Ashleigh Banfield’s latest episode sharply dissects the unraveling of Brian Hooker’s story, presenting a compelling narrative of forensic advancements, strategic searches, and the everyday experts whose insights could bring justice for Lynette. With DNA ready, GPS-revealed search sites, and a united support system, the investigation has reached a crucial point. Banfield and her guests confidently anticipate answers, urging listeners to stay tuned as the search for Lynette—and the truth—reaches its boiling point.

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Transcript

[Ashley Banfield]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Ashley Banfield]

Hey everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead serious. And yes, I have a new backdrop. I am up in Canada. Finally made the big pilgrimage. It took four days to drive here, but welcome to the northern outpost. You've been probably seen Vermont, now you're gonna see Canada. But do I ever have news for you. In the Lynette Hooker investigation, things are firing up, baby. Because guess what? Finally Brian's cell phone data has been coming in. All the analytics seem to be coming back now. And I don't think Brian was telling us the truth about his little floating for nine hours without any propulsion, you know, lost at sea till he washed up on Marsh Harbor. Bullshit. Now we can prove it. And here's why. The Coast Guard is going to be sending divers. Yeah, like any minute now, sending divers to the Bahamas. Because they have pinpointed multiple locations of places they need to investigate real close. AKA two different locations in the Sea of Abaco. Now how would they have that? Let me break it down for you because through all of the sources that we've been talking to, not just in the Bahamas, but also with law enforcement and sources on the America side, the confluence of information has given us a clear picture of what Brian Hooker thinks is a smart way to evade detection. Shall we say that Brian Hooker, we know this, we've known it for a long time, has lots of backup devices. Like he had a backup engine, right? Because that dinghy got a brand new engine, the NT300, after they had a lightning strike. And it's more than likely the Torqeedo engine that they had on board before was kept on board. You know, they'll fix it and then you got yourself a spare engine, which is always really important. Trouble is, does not appear that the Torquito was on board when that boat got raided. And it is entirely possible that the Torqeedo engine could have been used as, I don't know, say, a weight that would take something below the surface of the water and keep it there. So I don't know that that was what happened. I don't know that for sure. I know that it is a great possibility. The other thing that's a great possibility is dive equipment that was missing off board. Okay, so when they raided the boat, I'm learning from multiple places now that that Torqeedo engine, questionable. Also dive equipment, questionable. I get it. That boat was sitting in Marsh harbor on a mooring ball unattended for weeks, which means pirates could have come on board in the dark and taken things. But it doesn't appear the valuable stuff was taken, right? Like so much of that amazing electronics equipment. Not taken. Starlink on the transom. Not taken. So I would think it would be weird to imagine that whoever decided to board a boat and commit that kind of felony wouldn't, like, take more and take more valuable stuff. But. Okay, I'll give you that. The thing is, is that when the Bahamians raided that boat, we know they got the apple watch, right? We know they got Lynette's pink apple watch, and that gave us a photo to launch a thousand ships. And that was the photo of her taking a selfie at the Abaco Inn with what sure looked like a big pink band around her wrist. And that pink apple watch was on board. And the Bahamians seized it, but they got another one, too. They got what they figured was, you know, a backup watch for. For. For Brian Hooker. Now, backup watch, Big deal. Who. Who cares about a backup watch? The. The forensics aren't going to be on it, right? Wrong. It is entirely possible that Brian Hooker, the master of trying to disguise his location, screw over his employer at&t and fuck with his GPS on his van so that they wouldn't know where he was. The master of sneaky shit hiding where he is very well could have used his backup watch that night as his main watch and then switched it back and then was wearing his big, fat white watch when they arrested him, and you know there wouldn't be anything on it, because if you took that big, fat, ugly white watch off and you put it on the boat while you did naughty things. I'm not saying he did it. He's not charged with anything. But if you took your main watch off and you put your backup watch on to get all the details and information that you might need to find very deep holes in the Abaco Sea. Well, nobody would know that. Unless of course, they seize that backup watch.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Hmm.

[Ashley Banfield]

Brian Hooker, mofo. Things are looking real bad for you, fella. But here's the deal. His GPS information now has him not floating at sea at the whim of the tides and the current and the wind, as he professed to anyone who would listen, but instead deliberately changing directions, doing really weird things like circles in one spot. That's not what the wind does. Yeah, I don't think you need to be a boater to know that. But if you're in a dinghy and you're blowing in the wind, you're blowing in the wind, whatever way it takes you. And you're continuing to go, but you are not doing this. Yeah, this is like. This is the spot I think I'm looking for on my backup watch. That's really deep. This is my mind only. I'm just. I'm just gaming out why Brian floated in these weird patterns. Is it possible he's not charged with anything yet? In any case, that happened twice. These stupid ass circles. And is it like, let me find that really deep spot because I need to sink something in a really deep spot. Now I can tell you this. I said it many times. I'm going to say it again. The Sea of Abaco is like a big bathtub and you can see the bottom pretty much everywhere. But there are little places that might be a bit deeper. Like maybe 15ft. I mean, I've heard a rumor that there's a media outlet out there suggesting there's a 25 foot hole. But nope, my sources say that is not true. That at best it could be 15ft and maybe not even that deep. But this is what I said back. Hold it. All this time we have believed that the Sea of Abaco was a giant swimming pool. And those grid searches that the Coast Guard planes dead would have shown if there was a body at the bottom. Like you would know there is a body at the bottom of your swimming pool in the deep end, you know, at six to eight feet you'd see it. I have been told that you would have to be right over it in a boat in order to be able to see it at that. The plane might not catch that. So this could be the hiccup as to why her body might actually be in the water, that Lynette might actually be in the water. So say between Lubbers and Marsh Harbor. Right? Don't go anywhere because in a moment I am going to speak with Blaine Stevenson, dear friend of Lynette's at once upon a time friend of Brian's too. But you'll remember Blaine because Brian Hooker called Blaine and went on and on and on like thou dost protest too much kind of going on and on. And Blaine and Marnie, his wife, they're. They're live aboards as well. Thought something is like, first of all, this is too much information. We need to record this so we can write it all down. Right? And about, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes into this, I think it went on for over 40 minutes, they started to smell a rat. Understandably, right, because the rest of us, we all smelled a rat right away with this bullshit story. And so Blaine is going to join me in just a moment to sort of go through some of this information and how the pieces kind of all fit together. So just don't go anywhere until you hear from Blaine. He's coming up in a moment. In any case, I don't know the exact location of those two locations that did this, right? Like drop an anchor and circle around till you find the spot. Right. But I really, really, really wonder that when the Coast Guard sends those divers over and they go down in those two spots, are they going to find Lynette tied to the Torqeedo engine or maybe the missing dive gear? Because Lynette had a bcd, a buoyancy compensation device that's like a vest that's weighted when you dive, you have to have weights on when you dive. If you're not a diver, you'd float. You'd be fighting against the flotation, so you weight yourself down and then you can swim. And she had a BCD that served as likely the weights as opposed to a weight belt. But if she's wearing her BCD or if she's tied to her bcd, well, then she really didn't bounce off the back of that dinghy, now, did she? Oh, imagine. Imagine if that story's not true. Well, we're getting closer and closer to having the fucking forensics prove it, which I say is like, fabulous. Here's the deal, though. When the Coast Guard wants to do work in someone else's country, you have to be a guest, right? You got. You can't just barge in there and invade. The Bahamians have to agree to that. And so I can only imagine that the Bahamians are going to agree to this, right? Like, let's talk. There's no way that the Bahamians, if met with this information, are going to say, you know, we're not interested in having you sniff around the bottom of the Sea of Abaco for Lynette Hooker. We're not interested in having that solved. I really can't for a minute, not even for a split second imagine that the Bahamians would not allow the Coast Guard to finalize and solve this crime. So hopefully the next time I'm talking to you on the next episode that's happening, hopefully the strike force that is the Coast Guard Investigative Services and their divers and all their gear are on a Coast Guard flight to Marsh Harbor Airport and minutes from those two GPS located spots where those circles were happening with Brian's fucking backup watch. And ps, what an absolute idiot. Again, I'm not saying he did anything. I'm just saying that if he did, he's fucked and he's not charged with anything. As we speak, Brian Hooker's not charged with anything. But oh my God, if I had a dime for every time I said tick tock Brian Hooker. Yeah, might be able to get the hole over there repaired. This little one. Mosquitoes get in. So a lot to sort of come to terms with here. Bahamians, thank you in advance for the permission that you're going to give to the Coast Guard Investigative Services to finally get justice for Lynette Hooker and find Lynette Hooker and allow her family to bury her and to mourn her properly and allow the justice process to march forward against whoever it was that did this to her. Tough one. There's a couple of other things they need to look at. Not just those two places where that dinghy just, you know, defied science and wind. Yeah, science. There are places on land that the Coast Guard also wants to look at. Because again, Brian, your backup watch should toss that one out if you're really a criminal. And I'm not saying he is, but there's a couple places on land that they want to look at as well. Because let's all remember that Lynette supposedly bounced out with the dry bag that had the spare key and she grabbed the lanyard with the key in the engine and she also grabbed. Oh, come on. All of it. Anyway, where's that dry bag? Because all of us know that a dry bag floats. And this thing's bright green, right? Neon green. So that would have been found that would have washed up as she would have. In any case, there are things that are missing that or I think that's still missing. I don't think that ore that washed up on lovers. I don't think that was the ore. Doesn't seem to match the description.

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Ashley Banfield]

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[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Hey everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Ashley Banfield]

But that is something that they want to do as well. They want to look at a couple places and guess where. Remember when Nathan took us to the beaches on Northwestern Lubbers? That area key interest because remember Brian had this silly ass story about I floated and floated and threw. Finally threw an anchor down north of Lubbers where it's like you could get out and stand. There's a huge shallow shelf north north of lovers. You can stand. You don't need to. Ex marine, put your anchor down and fire off your flares and nobody's paying attention to me. This is his story. So when he tells us that story, was there a reason? Was he trying to account for some time, like a lot of time that he spent in that area, say getting rid of some evidence? I'm not saying he did. I'm not saying anything like that. He's not charged with anything yet. So they want to check north side on the west side of levers. They want to. And Nathan has been amazing. He's looked all through there but now you can do it with maybe dogs or maybe a Little bit clearer GPS location. Right. And there's some construction areas around there where you could easily hide some stuff. So that's on the. On the menu. So a couple of places on land and then those two key places in the Sea of Abaco. So that's important. Those need to be searched. I am also told. And we, we learned this a long time ago, right. We learned that Brian and Lynette had spare anchors. Okay. And Blaine Stevenson told us if you're a live aboard, you've got spare everything because, you know, you can't really be out at sea and then not have the extra when the one thing fails or falls overboard. And it is possible there's an anchor missing because what would be a better way to. To keep a body on the floor of the ocean or the sea than an anchor or a heavy dive vest or, I don't know, a torpedo engine? So all of these things are possibly in play. I cannot tell you definitively, but the word that keeps coming back through all my sources is that these are the things that give rise to the idea that maybe she's not buried on land. So interesting. We're going to watch for spare Anchorage, bcd divest, and then also that, that Torquito. One other key piece of information. Today is Wednesday, May 27, and today, even maybe as we speak, the Coast Guard came to Darlene Hamlet's house and met up with Darlene, that's Lynette's mom, met up with Carly Ailsworth, that's Lynette's daughter, and also met up with Lynette's dad. All of them got together at Darlene's home and gave DNA samples. So we are moving ahead because if they find Lynette, then these samples will clearly Lynette's dad, Lynette's mom, and Lynette's daughter would be the way to identify a body, because look, we are at six and a half weeks right now since Lynette went missing. And so it is hot. Highly likely there is, you know, little left, so to speak. And I hate to speak in those terms, but this is what's going to happen at trial. If there's a trial, if there's a charge, and I'm not saying that anybody's guilty at this point, but Brian Hooker, if I were you, I'd be scared. Tell you what, the fact that they're getting DNA from those three family members is huge. And that's happening as we speak. So I am sensing that this is heating up much faster. And I also Asked the Coast Guard, how fast can you mobilize? They can mobilize overnight. Once they get that invitation, they can go. It is that fast. And they can be in that water that next morning. So, you know, watch this space. One other thing I want to let you know, that has happened as I was driving up to Canada, you know, over many days. And by the way, it didn't take that long to get here. It actually takes about 40 hours with all the stops. But. But we stopped and visited people along the way over four days in the car is that Soulmate moved. And we finally found where it's parked and got some pictures. So I just wanted to show you its new home. Right now, that's what you're seeing right now is the Coast Guard station, Fort Lauderdale. It came down from Fort Pierce. It was towed all the way parked at the dock at the Coast Guard station, Fort Lauderdale. You can only see this by the way from the water. It's very hard to see this from the land. But this is not where the boat is going to stay. No, no, no, my friends, because remember, surrounded in crime scene tape, it is a crime scene, which means it is itself evidence to me that says that Lynette probably died on board. Because if it were just a place where later, you know, things were stashed or, or, you know, there was obfuscation or obstruction of justice or things like that, I don't know that the entire boat would be considered that much of a crime scene that it would have to be moved and then, mark my word, lifted out of the water and taken into some kind of dry dock storage where either processing can continue or it can be shrink wrapped and preserved for trial. So I think Soulmate now is becoming more and more of a possibility of where Lynette died. Meaning Brian's full of shit. She did not bounce off the back. They made it to Soulmate and he did something there. All allegedly, he is not charged with any crime. Say it with me yet. But the possibility that Lynette died on board Soulmate, and then the obstruction of justice and the destruction of evidence and obviously getting rid of the body happened afterward. My assumption. And Lindsay and I saw a lot of activity in that area where Soulmate was anchored. Lots of lights going on and off around that boat. Low like where a dinghy would be, and high like up on board deck. That all happened in the midnight kind of hours, right? So nice and dark, lots of people asleep. And by the way, an electric motor is silent. That's the other nice thing. If you're trying to commit a crime and you don't want to wake up the other sailors and motor boaters that are anchored near you. Well, that dinghy just goes along like a Tesla, nice and quiet, don't hear a thing. And certainly at midnight, you wouldn't even hear the splash. That said, so that we're not mixing things up here, someone on land did hear a splash around 9:30 at night. A big splash. Was that a fight? Was that somebody being dropped in the water accidentally? I don't know. I haven't been able to put that piece together. But it is highly unusual and I think a very big part of this story. But let's just say at midnight or ish, somebody needed to get rid of a body. Might be a really good time to do it with everybody so sleepy and the water a little bit quieter. Although according to Brian, it's screaming wind right in the anchorage. Okay. And as promised, I want to welcome now Blaine Stevenson, who has been living aboard his boat for years. He and his wife traveling around the world. And so they know a lot about what it is like to be a cruiser, that is somebody who lives on a boat. And there are real idiosyncrasies about life on board a sailboat, which has helped me to sort through some of the stories that Brian has told and has also helped me to understand the things that Brian and Lynette had on board and the things that might not be there now. So here's my conversation with Blaine Stevenson.

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league. Anyways.

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

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[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

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[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Anyways, get a [e-mail] or with your local agent.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Ashley Banfield]

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[Blaine Stevenson]

It's definitely a huge step in the right direction. One of the things we've been talking about is, you know, this all takes time. So there are so many systems on a boat that have to be serviced and checked into, and it just takes time to get that data back. So I am. I'm very happy to see that this is all still moving forward and we're getting some of the answers that we've been looking for.

[Ashley Banfield]

And, Blaine, you and I talked a long time ago about how you guys, here you are in St. Martin on your boat, you've done this for years. You got the knowledge that most people don't. That's very helpful in putting to bed some of Brian's lies, a lot of his lies. But you also were able to tell us long ago that liveaboards in general, cruisers in general, and certainly Brian, you've got backup systems and you've got backup electronics. And Blaine, I think you might have said, if there's anybody who does that to the nth degree, it's Brian Hooker.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, I mean, in doing, in following this case, you, you can go back through their social medias because you're looking for whether she wore the concrete public headscarf. But then you see Brian's wrist and you're like, hey, that's a. That looks like my watch. That looks like a Quantix, you know, Navionics watch. But then when he comes out of the jail, we're looking at the shoes I think you asked me to look at one time and I'm like, hey, that's a white, like, almost Swatch watch kind of looking watch. Like, it's never what you're looking for that you find. It's all the other things in the pictures that we've been finding along the way that, yeah, he has, he has multiple phones, multiple watches, multiple, multiple tablets. You know, I've seen a pink one, I've seen a regular one, you know, so I. He has redundancies and he has a collection of gadgets.

[Ashley Banfield]

Let's talk about that watch. Can you show me the watch you're wearing right now? Because you said just before the interview that this is your watch. It is very similar to his watch and that you could literally navigate with that watch.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah. So this is a Garmin Quantix watch. It ties into our Raymarine system and you can adjust your, you can adjust your autopilot from it. Now, this watch comes with a blue band and also comes with a black and a silver band in the box. Now, I wear the rubber one, but it looked like he was wearing either the black one or the silver one. I couldn't really tell. But this, this is all. This is a sailing watch. It's actually, I mean, when you go for a run, it's kind of a pain in the butt to do any of the normal smartwatch stuff, but. But for sailing, it's awesome.

[Ashley Banfield]

Let me ask you this. If, and I'm not saying Brian Hooker did this because he's not charged with anything yet. If Brian Hooker took off his big white watch and put on that watch and decided to go and find a deep spot in the Sea of Abaco, navigating with that watch, would that be something you could do in the pitch black?

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Completely. You could build routes that go right on here.

[Blaine Stevenson]

See previous routes.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

When I did my Drift, remember when I did my Drift demo for you, the data that I sent you. That's a picture from this watch. It wasn't from any other device. That's from the watch. And that's where I was able to get my speeds and everything from. So I literally pulled up my app on my phone and sent you the screenshot of my, of my route from my watch.

[Ashley Banfield]

Well, so now it makes complete sense. If, if again, if Brian Hooker needed to dispose of something late at night, he could use that. He could take off his white watch, put it down on the sailboat, make it look like he was there the whole time, which is still crazy because he shouldn't be on board Soulmate. He could put on the Marine Navionics watch and he could take his electric motor, the NT300, which is silent, wouldn't wake up any boaters around him, and he could boat off into the darkness and find the exact depth he's looking for in the blackness and then return and change watches. And it would appear as though he hadn't done that.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

He could have set that. He could have, he could have set the route on his boat before he left and just driven straight there.

[Ashley Banfield]

So if he researched it, say on the boat again, he's not charged with anything. Just wondering if it was possible. The other thing is, I was looking into the NT300 and it turns out the engine itself does not register those metrics of distance and travel, but the batteries do. And so all you would need to do is just get rid of a battery.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Or even worse, you take the proprietary battery that comes with the 36 volt battery that comes with the NT 300 and you replace it somewhere because it starts to go bad after three years and you place it with two or three other 36 volt batteries that don't have the telemetrics. You know, we don't know how many batteries he had on his D. He could have had a range of 20 miles or 30 miles. One of the questions I asked Carly early on is all the time you were with him, did you ever run out of a charge? Did you ever. Did you ever need to wait to go somewhere to charge? And she said there was only ever once where he said, hey, we're just charging up the dinghy real quick. And all the time they were together. So, you know, does that tell you

[Ashley Banfield]

that he's got multiple batteries, or does that tell you he's got one battery and had to recharge it? Because I would think you'd have multiple batteries if you had to rely on, on batteries for your dinghy. You're never going to want to be without.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Well, and especially if you have a guest, though I can imagine they were going all over the place. Like, we could be pretty much couch potatoes if we don't have our family on board. But when my daughter or my son comes down to visit, we're everywhere. We got to show him everything. So I could imagine by day five, even if he had four batteries on that dinghy, you know, speculation. But by day five, he's like, hey, we just got to wait an hour to charge it up. So that was where. Why I asked Carly those questions.

[Ashley Banfield]

What do you know about Lynette's weight belt? Because I'm finding out that some dive gear could be missing off of Soulmate after they processed it, and I've only ever seen her wearing a bcd, and I didn't know that there might actually be a pink weight belt. What do you know about that?

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

So according to. I believe it's Dan. That Dan was doing.

[Ashley Banfield]

Dan is a friend of yours or a friend of theirs as well.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Friend of. He's. He's just like me. He's the one that released the text messages. He was friends of Brian and Lynette's. He was on a different news station, and they released that information to him that her pink weight belt is missing. And when I started thinking about it, I'm like, yes, I have a BCD that holds all my weights, but my wife might actually need a weight belt to hold her down more than what the BCD would hold, because, again, she's more buoyant than I am.

[Ashley Banfield]

Right, Right.

[Blaine Stevenson]

So it's not necessarily based on size. It's based on what your buoyancy level is. So even though I'm smaller than him, I still need more weight than he does and require that.

[Ashley Banfield]

Right. It wouldn't be weird that she would need the weight belt. I think the one thing that's hard and geez, Blaine, you're a lawyer. You would know this, that. That that boat, Soulmate, sat unattended in Marsh harbor on the dinghy or on the mooring ball for weeks. And so you could argue, well, somebody came along and pirated it, because it was known to everyone that that boat was unattended. But it sure is curious that very critical things that could be used to weigh down a body are what's missing instead of the expensive, say, gear on board, the electronics, that kind of thing.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, I mean, I. I've run into a. You know, I like to refer to pirates as water tweakers because that's really all they are. Right. It's just, you know, it's just somebody with a boat that wants to steal stuff versus somebody walking into your property that wants to steal stuff. I think they generally don't go for lead. Right. Little pouches of lead. That's going to be a hard one to sell to a jury. That this guy had access to tablets and, you know, Raymarine equipment and VHF radios, but he took a package of lead. I'm not. I'm not buying that. That's the thing that's missing from the boat.

[Blaine Stevenson]

And what we've been told is, wasn't there video cameras at the conc in that had visuals on that boat also? So I. I don't think it was something that somebody could have easily gotten into without somebody noticing.

[Ashley Banfield]

Well, it's. Yeah, I mean, it's possible. In the dark of night, I guess anything can happen. But I think you're spot on that. Why would you steal the lead and not the electronics? You could just pick up and. Yeah, right there out in the open. That clearly the American.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Yeah, they're just little square pieces of lead. Some are little bags, but, like, mine are just little square pieces of lead that go through a belt loop. It looks like the most generic belt buckle in the world.

[Ashley Banfield]

And the electronics are sitting out there for the Americans to, you know, to mine off of the boat. When it gets to America, that just defies logic. Unless you're, you know, let's say you're a female diver and you're raiding that boat and trying to steal something. I. Maybe. But it does sound kind of preposterous.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

It sounds like his story.

[Ashley Banfield]

It sounds a lot like his story. I think you're absolutely right. And I want to sort of nail that down with you guys because, I mean, I think, you know how frustrated I've been. I'm a boater. I'm nowhere near the boaters that you guys are. From day one, you knew that you smelled a rat. You knew there was something off. And now we're really starting to see the forensics prove that. And that's got to feel, on some level, extraordinary for you.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

It doesn't. I'll be honest. You know, the concept and idea that she's on an island living her best life with, you know, four locals, that feels better. The idea that she hopped onto a boat next to her and is somewhere on another island altogether starting a new life, that feels better. The idea that I had dinner with somebody who could have taken out their wife, that does not feel good. I I have been. I've been criticized for being back and forth and support or not supportive. I've been following the facts from day one, whether they support or deny Brian claim, and none of them have supported his claim. But I can't go as far as say he did. Xyz. Well, now the Coast Guard is coming out and saying he didn't do what he said he did. He's over here in this area. That's not me coming out and saying, that's the Coast Guard. And now it's. It doesn't feel good. Now it feels like, let's get to the Bahamas, right? Let's. Let's be in the Bahamas now. Right.

[Ashley Banfield]

As a lawyer, maybe it just feels satisfying that there is forensic information that does knock down his lies.

[Blaine Stevenson]

Right.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Because sharks don't eat passport. Sharks don't eat phones. Sharks don't eat dry bags. You know, I am. I am so tired of the shark angle. Yes, I agree. Biologics are going to be tough. But he still had to make all that other stuff disappear. And that other stuff should be wherever Lynette is.

[Ashley Banfield]

I was gonna say, Blaine, the other thing you told me a while ago was that you knew that they had, or at least you believe they had a spare anchor on the back of that boat, and that when the Americans are able to look at that boat, there better be two anchors.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Correct. They had the two up front and they had a Danforth on the back. And then it might have even been three up front.

[Blaine Stevenson]

I have a picture somewhere of it.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

But we do have a list of all the. All the anchors we've seen as recently as, I believe, their video of, like three weeks before the incident, you could see the Danforth. I remember one of my. The first day I tried to reach out to you, the only person I tried to reach out to, I'm like, go get a video circle around that boat. Because I wanted to see if the Danforth was still there.

[Ashley Banfield]

And we went around the boat. We did.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

And the other thing that we've been trying to narrow down is at least two or three pictures we can find. It looks like there is chain on his anchor dinghy. His dinghy anchor. And now there's rope or line, he says. So it'd be interesting to see when that switched over as well.

[Ashley Banfield]

Right. Because chain is also extremely heavy. And that's the reason it's anchor chain is because it adds to the weight and it adds to the stability of an anchor. Today, the Coast Guard was at Darlene's house. Lynette's mom and Lynette's daughter Carly was there and. And Lynette's dad. And they all got their DNA collected by the Coast Guard. Look, I've been in this business a long time, and once you're doing that, you're likely getting close to being able to say, we've got something to test against. And as a lawyer, I think you probably can see that as well, that they are probably quite close at this point or believe that they're close to maybe finding Lynette's body and then using the DNA tests to confirm whether it's her.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

Sure. That when they find something, they want it. They want to know and eliminate while they still have people on the ground versus go get something they think is that. And then come back, have to come back later and look a second area. I could. I could imagine that they would. They would want to be able to run a test the minute they find anything while they still had boots on the ground versus bringing all back, then collecting all of that. So that information tells me they're getting ready to deploy.

[Ashley Banfield]

Yeah,

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

but look what he did. Look, I mean, look how he brought the family together. Look at how many people he's brought together. Subtracting. Subtracting him from the situation is sure created a good family.

[Ashley Banfield]

Yeah. I mean, I wish it were, obviously, under different circumstances. I've been talking to Darlene, and there's just nothing. This is a club that nobody ever wants to join. It is exclusive, and it is awful. And, you know, my heart bleeds for them. And that's why I just think that we are all sort of in it together to get justice for them and then also to just hold someone to account. That wound everyone up, lied to everyone, cost taxpayers, cost pain and treasure and all of that. And, you know, I gotta say to you guys, you know, hats off, because you did the work. You went through every text message, you went through every photo, you went through all the possibilities, you ran the tests, you went out in the dinghy, and you were able to give a lot of that information to the investigators. And that in some. Again, I'll just say, by some measure, that must feel at least satisfying that you've done your part, and it was actually a really important part.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

The flower demonstration you showed on one of your videos from strangers. I would like to stand next to Darlene and Carly and have that for ourselves, but we need Lynette to do that so I will feel that satisfaction after the tears on that day. You know, a lot of people who watch these don't know that. And you do, but a lot of people don't know that. We talk with Darlene daily. We talk with the Coast Guard. We talk with you. Right. Like, everybody thinks it's like this independent world out there, but it really is a collaborative effort of everybody working together. Darlene's like, I just. I just can't do an interview today. Or we. We're busy. We are. We are all working together to keep the story alive, not keep our faces in the news or not keep so much pressure on Carly while she's going back to work or whatnot. So. And you know that. But I just wanted to kind of share that with people that everybody's working except for Brian. Yeah.

[Blaine Stevenson]

There are so many people working in the background to. To look at this or look at that or, hey, I know I found this picture at this place. Or this was released or that was released. I mean, we all have our. Our teams of people that are helping us along the way, and it's been huge. Like you said, it's kind of a, you know, an exclusive club that nobody really wants to be a part of. But the amount of people that have been brought together by this has been really incredible.

[Ashley Banfield]

Well, I'm really glad to have met you. This isn't over yet. We're going to continue the conversations, and we'll cross our fingers that this strike team, the Coast Guard team, is able to mobilize quickly, get in place quickly, do the work quickly, and then do what comes after. And that, you know, I think we all sort of feel is hopefully an arrest. Thank you so much, you guys. I really appreciate this.

[Blaine Stevenson]

Absolutely.

[Boat Expert / Investigator]

You have a great day, Ashley. Bye, Lindy.

[Ashley Banfield]

Thank you. So my great thanks to Blaine Stevenson. What an incredible resource he and Marnie have been. All the text messages that Lynette sent to those two over the years helped us see the Torqeedo engine. The NT300, helped us know the new electronics and battery systems on board Soulmate that actually register power activities. Right. When no one's supposed to be on Soulmate, if there's a power event. Well, how'd that happen? Lots of these things, you know, Blaine and Marnie knew a lot of the stuff they had on board because Lynette would communicate regularly with them. So sucks to be you, Brian. I guess Lynette had more and better friends than you. Thank you, everybody, for watching. Thank you so much for listening. Do not miss a beat. Subscribe so you don't miss more episodes because, like I said, things are heating up and my assumption is as soon as the Bahamian authorities. Thank you Bahamas give the permission to the Coast Guard Investigative services to send their brigade over to get in the water and look for Lynette. My feeling is that she'll be found and someone will be charged. You don't want to miss that. Thanks again. Remember, the truth isn't just serious, it is drop dead serious.