Lynette Hooker: Gone Overboard // 621 (Happening Now)

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Going West: True Crime — Lynette Hooker: Gone Overboard // Ep. 621

Date: June 30, 2026
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft and Heath Merryman
Podcast: Going West: True Crime by Dark West Productions

---

Overview

In this “Happening Now” episode, Daphne and Heath cover the shocking recent disappearance of 55-year-old Lynette Hooker, who allegedly went overboard from a dinghy in the Bahamas while sailing with her husband, Brian Hooker, in April 2026. The hosts break down the couple’s background, their social media presence, the suspicious timeline of Lynette’s disappearance, and the mounting evidence that casts doubt on Brian’s version of events. The case is still under active investigation, but family, friends, and law enforcement converge on one increasingly likely theory: foul play on the part of her husband.

---

Major Discussion Points & Timeline

1. Background on Lynette & Brian Hooker

[03:35–09:56]

• Lynette, originally from Michigan, married Rick Aylesworth and had daughter Carly. After five years, she married Brian Hooker and blended families.
• The couple developed a passion for sailing; by 2018, they started documenting their adventures via a YouTube channel, Sailing Hookers, and later TikTok (@thesailinghook).
• In 2020, they sold their home to pursue sailing full-time, traveling across the U.S. searching for the ideal sailboat, which they found and restored in 2023.

“They were hoping that [YouTube/TikTok] would work out. When push came to shove, making the videos probably became...difficult.” – Daphne [08:52]

2. Life on the Water & The Bahamas Trip

[10:09–12:41]

• By February 2026, they sailed to the Bahamas, sharing daily life on TikTok—snorkeling, paddleboarding, and enjoying island life.
• Anchored near Elbow Cay, close to Marsh Harbour, the main boating hub for the region.
• The hosts clarify the geography of the area and note how confusing coverage of these locations is, underscoring the need for maps and visuals.

“The most important thing to remember is that the areas...are all very close to each other.” – Daphne [14:30]

3. The Night of Lynette’s Disappearance

[15:32–23:55]

• On April 4, 2026, Lynette and Brian took their dinghy to Abaco Inn for drinks, observed by the bartender, who only distinctly remembers Brian.
• They left the inn around 7:30 pm. Weather was breezy but not unsafe; conflicting reports about sea conditions that night (Brian claims choppy, most witnesses say calm).
• Brian reports Lynette fell overboard soon after departure, taking with her the engine key and safety lanyard, supposedly rendering the dinghy inoperable.
• Brian says strong currents and wind separated them and he floated/paddled nine hours to Marsh Harbour, finally reporting her missing at 4:00 am.

“Brian is the only person saying the waters were extreme that night…” – Daphne [19:48]

“What catches my eye is they left here at 7 or 7:30... He didn’t make it over there until 4 am or something like that... Even if he was floating, it should have been much quicker.” – Bartender Ken [21:23]

4. Immediate Aftermath and Skepticism

[23:55–26:10]

• Brian’s version: He tried to help Lynette, threw a flotation device, and was eventually swept to Marsh Harbour. Told this to the police and also left a brief voicemail for Carly.
• Carly (daughter) immediately suspicious: “Brian always drives the boat. Why did my mom have the key?” [23:54]
• Brian later leaves a detailed voicemail for a friend, describing his alleged attempts to help Lynette and blaming a “cascade of failures” for the tragedy.

5. Contradictions and Evidence

[31:49–34:22]

• Investigators found the flotation device ashore—where Brian said he threw it.
• Most concerning, GPS and cell phone data did NOT match Brian’s described route; instead, it showed he traveled to undisclosed areas of the Sea of Abaco.
• The nine-hour gap between Lynette’s fall and Brian’s arrival at Marsh Harbour becomes deeply suspicious.

“Reportedly, the GPS data...contradicted Brian’s story. Instead, his GPS...suggested...he had entered another part of the Sea of Abaco.” – Daphne [32:33]

6. Brian's History of Violence & Shady Behavior

[38:22–45:17]

• Previous abuse: In 2005, Brian, angry at his daughter over a book, choked her and pinned her to a door (“Say yes, sir, young lady, twice,” police report). He was charged but acquitted.
• 2015: Domestic violence incident—Brian accused Lynette of striking him, while Lynette claimed Brian hit and choked her. No arrests.
• Lynette’s texts from 2024 to a friend describe the marriage as “real bad,” following a trial separation after just six weeks of sailing together.

“Not this time. It was real bad. I can’t be out there with him.” – Lynette (text to Marnie, 2024) [47:20]

• Brian previously fired by AT&T for tampering with vehicles’ GPS devices, raising suspicions about his comfort in manipulating tracking systems.

7. Family & Public Response

[49:36–52:40]

• Lynette’s parents believe Brian is guilty and that he “put up with a lot” during their marriage. He is described as a “mean drunk” with an “ego” who always wanted “to stick it to the man.”
• Brian cuts off all contact with Lynette’s family and daughter.
• After being released from Bahamian jail due to insufficient evidence, Brian publicly claims devotion to the search but leaves for the U.S. the next day, aided by his attorney.

“Why are you not trying to be with Lynette’s family in this horrible time...? You're not talking to Carly. You’re not talking to, you know, your—your parents in law.” – Heath [50:09]

8. Evidence of a Cover-Up

[59:08–62:33]

• The sailboat’s AIS (tracking) system was offline from 9:30 pm (shortly after Lynette “vanished”) until 8:30 the next morning.
• The boat’s $33,000 infrared night-vision camera was also found to be manually disabled.
• Brian claims Lynette went overboard less than 75 yards from shore—near a 2ft deep sandbar, while family insists Lynette was a strong swimmer.
• Brian’s shifting accounts (at one point claiming she swam to another sailboat) add to the growing suspicion.

“What a window for it to go off. The GPS just isn't working for this amount of time.” – Daphne [59:54]

9. Ongoing Investigation

[63:53–64:51]

• U.S. Coast Guard participated in the search for months, deploying divers, underwater vehicles, drones, & cadaver dogs.
• Brian has never faced formal charges but remains under intense scrutiny. He’s reportedly lying low in Michigan/Oregon, has not returned to the Bahamas, and refuses contact with Lynette’s family.
• Law enforcement maintains the disappearance is an open case. Family and hosts believe foul play is highly likely, with Brian as the prime suspect.

---

Notable Quotes & Moments (w/ Timestamps)

• “Brian always drives the boat. Why did my mom have the key?” – Carly [23:54]
• “The winds and currents drove us further apart.” – Brian Hooker (voicemail) [24:49]
• “Not this time. It was real bad. I can’t be out there with him.” – Lynette (text to Marnie) [47:20]
• “Why are you not talking to Carly?...You’ve been a father figure to her for a very long time and now you won’t speak to her.” – Heath [50:43]
• “I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow K in the Bahamas.” – Brian (Facebook post) [52:12]
• “He says...I’m not gonna leave until I find my wife...And then the next day, he’s like, see ya.” – Heath [56:01]
• “The sailboat’s AIS...went offline from 9:30 pm...came back online at 8:30 the following morning.” – Daphne [59:36]
• “Brian claims that he lost Lynette 75 yards from the shoreline...right next to a shallow sandbar...water only 30 yards away would have been up to her knees.” – Daphne [61:43]
• “Everything is so convenient. Brian. I don’t believe a goddamn word he says.” – Daphne [63:53]

---

Key Insights & Theories

• Glaring Inconsistencies: Brian’s timeline and GPS data don’t align, and nine unexplained hours after Lynette allegedly fell overboard point to more than a mere accident.
• History of Violence: Brian's past aggression—toward his children and Lynette—raise red flags about his potential for domestic violence.
• Obvious Cover-Up Tactics: Disabling tracking technology and life-saving devices on their sailboat at the exact critical period is damning, especially from someone with experience tampering with GPS for work.
• Suspicious Behavior: Minimal communication with Lynette’s family and rapid departure from the Bahamas despite public proclamations to keep searching.
• Family Consensus: Both Lynette’s daughter Carly and her parents firmly believe Brian is hiding the truth about what happened.
• Law Enforcement: Bahamian and U.S. officials continue searching, treating the disappearance as highly suspicious, though no body/physical evidence has yet been recovered.

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Case Introduction & Background: 03:35–09:56
• Timeline & Night of Disappearance: 15:32–23:55
• Interview with Bartender Ken: 21:23
• Brian’s Voicemails & Story: 24:49, 29:23
• Evidence, GPS Contradictions: 31:49–34:22
• History of Abuse/Violence: 38:22–45:17
• Lynette’s Texts/Relationship Struggles: 47:20
• AIS/GPS Cover-Up Details: 59:08–62:33
• Closing Theories & Search Status: 63:53–64:51

---

Tone & Conclusion

Throughout the episode, Daphne and Heath maintain a skeptical, empathetic, and indignant tone, expressing frustration at the gaps in Brian Hooker’s story. They repeatedly voice solidarity with Lynette’s daughter and family, and encourage listeners to follow their social accounts for maps, photos, and ongoing discussions.

“I just, I can't believe it. I really can't. It's unreal. And Lynette deserves to be found.” – Daphne [66:19]

---

For listeners:

• This episode serves as both an exhaustive exploration of the facts and a passionate call for public attention and pressure, as the search for truth and justice for Lynette Hooker continues.

---

Transcript

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Attention all fabulous, thriving and gorgeous queens. It's time to grab your favorite lip gloss because Mavis Beaumont is back. The final season of Survival of The Thickest arrives July 2nd. Watch our favorite plus size fashionista conquer her career, find true love, and step into her dream life. Plus, the guest list is stacked with comedy and fashion icons like Wanda Sykes, Ice T and Jenna Lyons. Don't miss the ultimate happy ending, the finale season of Survival of the thickest. July 2nd, only on Netflix.

[Redfin Advertiser]

There's a difference between liking a house and actually getting it. Redfin is built to close that gap. Redfin agents close twice as many deals as other agents, so when you find a home you love, you're not a step behind. When it's time to make an offer. That means less watching great homes disappear and more zeroing in on the one you'll actually end up calling home. Redfin helps turn saved listings into real addresses. Get [e-mail] own the dream.

[Heath]

Consider lunch solved with Landa Frost Premium lunch meat.

[Daphne]

It's the smart choice for families. It's packed with 8 plus grams of protein per serving so you can fuel your day without overspending at checkout. There's no artificial flavors or byproducts, and

[Heath]

Landofrost has a variety of flavors that everybody in the family can enjoy. From Black Forest ham, honey smoked turkey, even hot honey ham and chicken chop,

[Daphne]

Lando Frost premium lunch meat at your favorite local grocery store.

[Heath]

What is going on? True crime fans? I'm your host he.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

We have a happening now case for you guys. I don't know how many of you have heard about this in the news. Heath and I have been following this for a couple of months now.

[Heath]

A lot of people, but nobody recommended it.

[Daphne]

I checked our email this morning to double check. Not one recommendation, which is crazy because this story. I know. And it's been hitting the news constantly because there's been so many updates in it. And as they are searching for Lynette, oh my God. There's so much we're going to get into today and this is the perfect time to cover it because we are now on video. Of course you can watch on YouTube. And I made again, just like with Daniel Robinson, I made so many maps for this.

[Heath]

Yes, we have a lot of images and maps for you guys to check out.

[Daphne]

Yes.

[Heath]

So if you want to see those, head on over to our socials. If you're not watching on YouTube, of course, head to our socials we're on Instagram @goingwest podcast. We're on TikTok. We're also on Facebook.

[Daphne]

Yeah. I just want to say before we start, our hearts really go out to Carly. That is Lynette's daughter. We're going to be talking about her today. Just everything that she is going through, trying to figure out what happened to her mom, who is responsible. There is one person that we very much believe is responsible. Yeah, I mean, you guys are going to be shocked at these details. So without further ado.

[Heath]

All right, guys, this is episode 621 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

In April of 2026, a 55 year old woman supposedly went overboard while sailing in the Bahamas with her husband. When he finally washed ashore in their dinghy with the devastating story of her disappear, police began their search for her. But during it, they would poke multiple holes in her husband's account. After reviewing GPS and searching the sea, this is the disappearance of Lynette Hooker. Lynette Ruth Hooker was born on November 10, 1970 and was raised in the small village of Onsted, Michigan, but eventually moved across the state to the Grand Rapids area as the city she lived in most recently was Kentwood, which is a small city just south of Grand Rapids. But going Back to the 1990s, Lynette married a man named Rick Aylesworth and they had a daughter together named Carly during the five years that they were married. Then after they divorced, Lynette married a man named Brian Hooker, who she remained married to for over 20 years, even about 25 years before her sudden and very confounding disappearance. So Brian, of course was in Lynette's daughter Carly's life since she was very young. And Brian himself had at least two children, a daughter and a son from a previous marriage. So they blended their families a little bit with Carly living with her mom and Brian every other week and then her dad Rick during the other weeks. Brian's kids, though, primarily lived with their mom Elizabeth, and would typically only see their dad Brian during the weekends or for weekday evening visitations when they were younger, as we will get into in depth later on. Over the years, Lynette worked for AT&T. But in 2018, she and Brian decided to start making content around their sailing ventures as they had found a new love of sailing on Lake Michigan. And this became a major passion of theirs. This is very much going to bleed directly into the story that we have for you guys today.

[Heath]

Yeah, like this is something that they both really enjoyed Doing.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Loved being out on the water.

[Heath]

Who could blame them?

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Which sounds amazing. I mean, who doesn't want to go sailing?

[Daphne]

Who doesn't? So this became, like, their thing. They would take trips to Milwaukee or Chicago, and they would even travel across the countries for other sailing adventures. Like traveling to California to sail to Catalina Island. Of course.

[Heath]

We know about that place.

[Daphne]

Yes. Or they would sometimes even go to, like, New Orleans on the Mississippi. So they. They did all kinds of different adventures.

[Heath]

Interesting place to. To sail, but. Yeah, I bet it's amazing.

[Daphne]

Oh, my God.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

End up in New Orleans. Love.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[CBS Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Actually, they were so interested in this new sailing venture that In November of 2020, they sold their home in Kentwood, Michigan, and they started Hooker Communications, LLC for their sailing YouTube. It was a series that they called the Sailing Hookers. And they. They started this as they were searching for their perfect sailboat to buy. So they document a little bit of that journey of, like, we're sailing, but we're not using our own sailboat, and we want to find our perfect one so that we can start this other chapter of our lives together. Sailing.

[Heath]

They're looking for their perfect sailboat so they can renovate it. They can, you know, post that as part of their YouTube.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And, like, continue on. Exactly.

[Heath]

And then just keep going on their sailing adventures.

[Daphne]

Right. So actually, In January of 2023, they. They found a 1980 Morgan 461 charter boat in Rockport, Texas, and they started fixing it up. So then this became a project for them to do as well. They would. Yeah. Passion project. And in their YouTube video on fixing the boat up, because, of course, they were documenting it, or Lynette was. I'll say. They refined the decks and afterwards added the caption. The decks are done. We're still married. Party time. You know, fixing that boat, I was probably pretty stressful.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Just.

[Heath]

That's kind of an interesting.

[Daphne]

Yes.

[Heath]

Interesting little tagline there.

[Daphne]

We're gonna definitely go more into their relationship and a lot of contention, as well as contention on the water. So I'm sure there was a lot of contention while they were fixing their

[Heath]

sailboat up, of course, you know, and also selling your home to be out on the. Giving your life. Giving your life up to go sailing full time. That could cause a lot of stress.

[Daphne]

I can see that it was a big commitment. Well, they enjoyed scuba diving off the boat, swimming and cruising around. After six months in Texas, fixing it up, soon they headed over to Louisiana again in this boat, sailing across the Gulf of Mexico and Then they took a two year break from posting. So, you know, it was, they didn't have very many followers. This was not like a super popular account with consistent posting and, you know, amazing editing. It was just kind of like to this day they only have 12 videos on YouTube.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So over the years they only made 12, but they really, they were like hoping that that would work out. And then I think when push came to shove and they were actually on the boat making the videos probably became, you're like difficult.

[Heath]

You're like, fuck, I have to edit these videos now.

[Daphne]

Yeah, we know. I mean, it's hard. Making content is hard. I will say so on August 13, 2025, you know, after that two years of not posting, they posted their first video since that Louisiana trip in 2023 to show their sailing adventure in Florida. And at this point they were actually mostly posting on TikTok, which they had a ton of videos on. So, you know, YouTube long form can be hard. Love your YouTube.

[Heath]

Yeah. But the easy little short clips, a lot easier to do for TikTok.

[Daphne]

Yeah, TikTok is so approachable. They were making more, quicker, more fun little videos and just posting a lot more. Lynette was, was really good at doing TikTok. So their profile on TikTok is at the sailing hook. Their bio says we sailed away from B.S. a married couple living their best life. And for much of the time that they were off YouTube, they were posting consistently on TikTok instead. So again, it feels like they were kind of like every, you know, in 2023 people. TikTok had been very popular for a couple years.

[Heath]

Yeah. So that point.

[Daphne]

Yeah, by that point. So they're like, okay, let's migrate a little bit. But again, not a ton of followers on TikTok either, but you know, more than they have on YouTube. And the videos were looking a little bit better. Their, their videos were super fun.

[Heath]

Right. Well, on February 11, 2026, 55 year old Lynette and 59 year old Brian sailed to the beautiful Bahamas, which is their dry season by the way. So it's a, it's a very good time for them to visit. Now during this time, Lynette was posting on their TikTok of her making homemade pizza on the boat, which is something that, you know, she seemed to love doing. And I know you're going to say that too.

[Daphne]

I love making pizza. She looked good at it. They looked really good. It did seem like she really enjoyed making the pizza.

[Heath]

This is like something fun that they could do while they were on the boat, they would play cards together, they would sail, they would snorkel, paddleboard and swim. You know, it just looked like this, this total paradise. Lynette would always be the one filming, either showing what she was doing, showing Brian, or most frequently using her selfie stick to film them together or film herself. And they were actually planning on being there for a while because about a month later, on March 9, Lynette and Brian shared a video of them paddleboarding in the Bahamas in Marsh Harbor. We're gonna be talking a lot about Marsh harbor today.

[Daphne]

God, yes.

[Heath]

Well, a few weeks later, they were still posted up there. And In April of 2026, they were anchored near Hopetown, Elbow Cay. So this is still close to Marsh Harbor. Now, to understand the timeline and Lynette Hooker's disappearance, it helps to understand the geography of the Abacos because several locations mentioned in news reports are often used interchangeably, which can make the case feel much more confusing than it actually is. But if you're watching on YouTube, we are going to be putting up some maps for you guys to kind of explain the area that we're discussing many throughout this episode. Yeah, because it is, you know, it can be somewhat confusing.

[Daphne]

We're going to try to explain it. But yeah, it's good to see a visual for sure.

[Heath]

So if you are, if you are listening and you're not on YouTube, make sure that you go to our socials to check out those maps that we're going to post for you guys. But essentially, here's the breakdown. So Elbow Cay is like this narrow barrier island in the Abaco Islands of the Bahamas, which are a group of islands in the northern Bahamas. Now the island's best known settlement is Hopetown, which is a small, car free, very picturesque community famous for its candy striped lighthouse, which is also so adorable.

[Daphne]

It's so cute. It is a beautiful place.

[Heath]

Yes. Well, across the Sea of Abaco to the west sits Marsh harbor, located on Great Abaco Island. And by the way, the Sea of Abaco, which we're going to be talking a lot about today, is in general a 62 mile long or 100 kilometer long saltwater lagoon that's known for its clear waters and pretty much for being like a marine harbor for boaters to travel on. Then beyond the Sea of Abaco is the North Atlantic Ocean. That's where it meets there, which goes out to Bermuda. Now today we're going to be talking about a specific circular, 4 mile across portion of the Sea of Abaco that connects Marsh Harbor And Elbow Cay, that's where today's story is taking place, that four mile area. So that said, Marsh harbor is the largest town in the Abacos and serves as the region's main transportation as well as boating hub. And to give you an idea of the distance, taking a yacht from Elbow Cay across the waters of the Sea of Abaco, it would take between 40 and 60 minutes or so in normal weather. So remember that depending on, you know, how many knots you're going, which for most of you that's just measuring knots, is measuring the speed of a boat. Like for example, the ferry that takes you from the main island of Great Abaco island to the Elbow Cay, which is a small sandy island, of course is around 30 to 40 minutes ride. So again, not that far. Now, the reason why we're talking about Marsh harbor on the main island so much is because it will be relevant soon. But their yacht, which was called Soulmate, was anchored just off of Elbow Cay in the waters west of the Cay, near a private island called Lubbers Quarters, right off of Tahiti beach on Elbow Cay. So I know why you need a map. We're throwing a lot at you right now. Hopefully you guys can understand. But we will again be posting these maps for you guys so you can kind of see exactly what we're talking about.

[Daphne]

The most important thing to remember is that the areas that we're talking about are all very close to each other.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Daphne]

Their sailboat, Soulmate, anchored off of Elbow Cay. They're gonna be on Elbow K as I'm about to get into when Lynette goes missing. So their boat is not anchored far away. It's, it's, it's very close. Everything is, is in close proximity. So on the island, Lynette and Brian would do laundry at little hotels. Sometimes as Lynette would post about, you know, they'd hang out in town at restaurants and explore new spots around the area and then return to their anchored yacht each night. Which means they usually took their small dinghy out to around, obviously, since their yacht wasn't docked, it was anchored just offshore.

[Heath]

Right. And you're not going to take a massive yacht back and forth across this sea.

[Daphne]

No, no, they're taking their little water taxi.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So they are loving life. You know, it truly appeared like they were living the dream out there in the Bahamas. I know this is your dream.

[Heath]

How could you not? This is my exact dream.

[Daphne]

It looked incredible. But something horrific and still unexplained occurred one Saturday Spring Evening on Saturday, April 4, 2026, Lynette and her husband Brian took their eight foot hard bottom dinghy from their yacht off Elbow Cay and traveled about 10 to 20 minutes or so. It's roughly one mile and a half north to get to the Abaco Inn. There, a bartender remembered them hanging out together by the pool and enjoying some rum and Cokes.

[Heath]

Oh, my God. Perfect.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Now, the Abaco Inn is a beachfront resort on Elbow Cay. And honestly, it is a gorgeous spot. I showed Heath pictures of this.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Because I'm like, look at where they were hanging out. You know, it's like a restaurant and a bar overlooking the sea of Abaco. It is stunning.

[Heath]

I mean, it's perfect.

[Daphne]

There's fresh seafood, tropical drinks.

[Heath]

Exactly. You get some, you get some seafood, some tropical drinks. You just hang out by the pool. Pool sounds like a perfect afternoon.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So we could definitely understand why they enjoyed spending so much time at this particular location and just in Abaco in general.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Now, the couple arrived around 4:30pm and stayed for roughly two and a half hours. The bartender who served them remember seeing Brian because he was the one ordering the drinks. It was very busy. A big reason why, you know, like, certain things will make somebody stand out. Like, it wasn't like Brian was just ordering drinks. He remembers Brian because Brian specifically told him, thank you so much for serving us so fast because it was really busy.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So that, like stuck in his head. He was like, wait, that was the guy who told me, thank you for being so fast at your job.

[Heath]

Yeah. Being quick.

[Daphne]

So Brian was the only one ordering for he and Lynette. Now, this doesn't mean that Lynette wasn't actually there. I'm saying this because Ken doesn't remember seeing Lynette.

[Heath]

Sure.

[Daphne]

But it's just because Brian was the one ordering the drinks. But it's not like there were friends of theirs that were there and they say, oh, yeah, Lynette was acting this way. Like, we don't really have an account of Lynette for that afternoon at the Abaco Inn.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Now, weather conditions that evening were reportedly breezy, with some easterly winds creating somewhat choppy waters across the sea of Abaco.

[Heath]

We say somewhat.

[Daphne]

Somewhat keyword Heath. Because some report that the waters were actually quite calm that evening. There were no storms or tropical storms in the area at all. But once the sun began to set that night, visibility, of course, would have quickly deteriorated.

[Hannah (Land Rover Advertiser)]

Sure.

[Daphne]

Brian and Lynette reportedly left around 7:30pm and they were headed toward their small dinghy, which again they used to travel back to their sailboat soulmate. This was only about a mile and a half away. Would have taken them about 10 minutes to get there. But with dusk turning to darkness and the water already mildly rough from the wind and the currents, the, the crossing would have made under less than ideal conditions, especially since it was a moonless night because of the cloud coverage. So, you know, it's not perfect conditions, but it's also like, it's not terrible, it's not unsafe.

[Heath]

We don't have rogue waves that are gonna, you know, send you fly in off your boat probably.

[Daphne]

Well, you go right ahead and tell us what happens next.

[Heath]

Okay. Now, he said that the water was rough with wind chop and strong currents. But somewhere near Aunt Pat's Bay in Elbow Cay. On the ride to their yacht, just minutes into their journey, 59 year old Brian claims that 55 year old Lynette fell from their dinghy. Now, Brian later told police Lynette had the engine safety lanyard and boat key when she went overboard from the choppy waters, meaning that when she fell, the engine of the dinghy actually shut off, leaving him unable to restart the dinghy. He says that he tried to reach out for her, but the wind and currents separated them. So in his words, quote, the winds and currents drove us further apart.

[Daphne]

So he's painting this picture that it is crazy on those waters.

[Heath]

Oh yeah, it's, you know, turbulent.

[Daphne]

It was not.

[Heath]

But Brian is the only person saying that the waters were extreme that night.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

So, you know, other people weren't coming forward and saying, you know, it was really choppy out there.

[Daphne]

In fact, many. And he said it was calm?

[Heath]

Yes, many said it was calm. Well, he told a friend that Lynette was swimming toward the sailboat after she had fallen over while the wind blew him away. And that they lost sight of each other pretty quickly because again, it was getting dark outside. Lynette's daughter Carly later explained to investigators that Brian told her that he threw a life jacket towards Lynette, but he didn't know whether she had gotten it or not because he couldn't see her anymore. After that. Brian says that he paddled for hours out there until he reached the shore near Marsh harbor, arriving around 4am on April 5. And this was Easter. Now, it was at that point that he reported Lynette missing. So, you know, this is already very strange that he went all the way over to Marsh Harbor. It's four and a half miles across the Sea of Abaco from Elbow K. Instead of going another half mile or so to get to the yacht or even just returning to Elbow Cay where you just came from.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Which of course was right there. So instead he took a route that would have taken much, much longer. Now in rougher conditions, it could have taken him maybe like an hour or two if he was paddling, but it took him four to five times that amount of time, which is an inexplicably long amount of time just to cross that area.

[Daphne]

Doesn't make sense.

[Heath]

No. Now here's what the bartender, Ken, who lives in the area and served them that day, said about this. He said, what catches my eye is that they left here at 7 or 7:30 and her going missing supposedly happened right after they left here. And he didn't make it over there until 4am or something like that. And 25 mile per hour winds, it's only four miles that way. It shouldn't have taken eight to 10 hours to get there. Even if he was only floating, it should have been a much quicker time.

[Daphne]

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. I mean the fact that this bartender who is a local, he lives there, he is saying he knows even if he was floating, even if he was swimming, it shouldn't have taken him eight to 10 hours. Well, yeah, he's freaking nuts.

[Heath]

He's saying that even if there was zero paddling involved whatsoever and the winds, the 25 mile per hour winds were the only thing that was propelling him across the sea of Abaco, it should not have even taken him that long if that was the case.

[Daphne]

But again, why did he go all the way to Marsh Harbor? Why would, even if it's like, oh, the winds were taking me that way, you know how far Marsh harbor is. If your wife is, is, is overboard, you're going to get help right freaking away and you're going right to shore, which is visible from where you are. It's the quickest route. Why are you taking it?

[Heath]

Mega Beeline. Like it makes no sense. Well, while they were driving the boat using the motor, the key would be in the ignition. But the kill switch lanyard is attached to the driver of the boat. So basically the lanyard is attached to that. If somebody happens to you fall overboard, it pulls the key out.

[Daphne]

Yes. So that the boat doesn't keep driving.

[Heath]

Exactly. Because if, you know, if you're out there in the middle of the ocean and you happen to fall overboard like, and the boat keeps going, you're pretty much at that point.

[Daphne]

Well, something I think is really interesting. And so watching all of their videos, I noticed that Brian is always driving their boat, their dinghy, whatever. Brian's always driving, and Lynette is always filming. So part of me was like, well, I've never seen Lynette drive a boat because she never posts it, but maybe she was driving the dinghy that night. And the reason that she's never driving is because she's only taking videos when she's not driving. You know what I mean? So when she is driving, we don't see it because Brian never films them.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

But even her daughter Carly, that was one of her first questions when she learned that her mom was missing. Which we're going to get into was, my mom wouldn't have been driving the boat. Brian always drives the boat. Why did my mom have the key?

[Heath]

Right. Why was Lynette wearing the lanyard, the safety lanyard? Well, that's a good thing to bring up, obviously, because I think losing the key would be a good way that he could explain why he was out on the water so long.

[Daphne]

Yes, absolutely.

[Heath]

You know, and if he instead was doing something else, maybe nefarious. But before we dive deeper into that, we actually have a voicemail from Brian Hooker that he left to his friend Blaine Stevenson, who he and Lynette had become friends with during their travels. Blaine has since posted this online, and it's basically just Brian explaining his side of the story. So we're going to play that clip for you guys right now.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

The wind blew us apart so fast that I think. I think she tried to swim back to the sailboat, turn back to our sailboat, which was probably, I don't know, thousand yards or something. But the waves were three foot. And I was trying to ship the oars, and one of the pins on the oars broke, and that dropped over the side. And I was yelling for her the whole time, and I yelled to her that I lost an oar. And I threw the anchor out and anchored the dinghy and just. Yeah, I yelled. I threw her a flotation cushion that we used to sit on the dinghy, you know, right after she went in. But I didn't. I couldn't tell if she got. She got it or not. So after an hour of calling her, I could have never heard her voice. And a power pole came by, and I. I raised my flashlight on my phone, the neighbor, so fast, it. You know, it didn't even see. And there's another one came by right behind it, sort of five minutes behind it. And I had I grabbed the players by then. I came with, I had two flares and they didn't see the flares, I guess.

[Daphne]

When Brian arrived ashore at Marsh Harbor, a security guard named Edward Smith at the Marsh harbor boatyards watched as Brian arrived, exhausted and thirsty. He asked for water and alerted him of what had happened to Lynette. Right there at 4:00am yeah, because obviously,

[Heath]

you know, if you were allegedly doing something nefarious, you'd want to kind of play that up a little bit.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

This man is watching.

[Heath]

I'm excited, exhausted. I've been out on the ocean all

[Daphne]

night, which should be fair. If he did paddle across, he would have been exhausted even if he was lying.

[Heath]

Sure.

[Daphne]

But still. Again, this is 4:00am Lynette went overboard at like 8:00pm the previous evening. So much time. Nine hours have passed. Well, by 5:00am Police had arrived and Brian spoke to them for hours, explaining to the Royal Bahamas Police Force that Lynette had fallen overboard just off Elbow K and that he had been unable to save her. Now, right away, they informed other local authorities and emergency responders who over the next several days searched the water while local volunteers and boaters joined in to help and aircrafts were used to look for her in the air. Also, the US Coast Guard even began assisting since Lynette was an American citizen. The next day, Monday, April 6, search efforts continued in the waters between Elbow Cay and Marsh Harbor. And by then, Lynette's 28 year old daughter had been informed of what was going on. According to Carly, her stepfather, Brian, who again had been in her life since she was around three years old, had called and left her a brief voicemail informing her that her mom was missing, which.

[Heath]

A brief voicemail.

[Daphne]

A brief voicemail just saying that she was, she had gone overboard and that she was missing. It's like that's gonna make a thousand questions come up. And at this point, if she's not on shore. I don't know, I just feel like you'd want to take a lot more serious.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Measures and have a bigger conversation.

[Heath]

That's what I was gonna say is like you're just leaving like a nonchalant voicemail instead of like explaining to this woman's daughter what the hell happened that night.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So back in Michigan, Carly was suddenly thrust into her worst nightmare, not knowing exactly what had happened to her mom and of course not being close enough to the Bahamas to find out for herself. And then after this, Brian wouldn't answer her calls and she couldn't get in touch with The Bahamian police. So Carly was stuck, you know, she can't. Like her stepdad, who is the only. That's her only point of contact. Leaves a brief voicemail saying, your mom's missing, she went overboard in the dinghy, and now you're not answering her calls.

[Heath]

Yeah. And that's. And she's probably, you know, at this point she's freaking the fuck out because she can't. She needs to talk to somebody and she can't get ahold of Brian or the Bahamian police.

[Daphne]

Well, we do have another call that we want to play between Brian Hooker and a friend where he explains a little bit more of his POV in detail.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

So the thingy, I. I landed in some crazy spot, like a movie. It was a little tiny 50 yard wide lagoon full of rocks. And. And I beached it. And the cops of course are there thoroughly investigating me right now, but I'm going out. I'm gonna. They asked me today. The cops called me up and asked me how long I would be in the Bahamas. I'll get my bike back. And so that's, that's my goal. I canceled everything we were going back home for. And I'm gonna renew my visa and stay here by day. 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 weights over the dinghy, I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the, the inside also got wet and man, the thingy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were around trying to get back in the boat and some of the sun was falling when it kind of dropped off, it was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor.

[Heath]

So you guys were swimming. Yeah, because you guys have the Torquito.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

No. Yeah, yeah, we have a torque, we have equivalent. We have a three horse electric. It's a different model, but okay. You know, and it was a cascade of failures. And it's funny, I'm never gonna forgive myself for. And then. So this happened like Saturday night airing all day at the place called Tahiti Beach. And they'd have a beach party that pulls up on a barge and you know, we hit the next stop and we stayed too long, we left too dark, all kinds of. No life jackets. I had to. The two that you stuff, you know. Under the seats that nobody ever wears for, you know, Coast Guard purposes. But we used to wear these life jackets all. We had these other ones all the time. I. I can't explain. Can't explain weapon to us. You know, threw the dinghy out last, the anchor out last instead of first, because the dinghy was all tangled up in the bottom. It was underneath of another cushion, and I was just trying to get to her, and I was gonna row, but. But it is ridiculous to think you can row a dinghy, especially a fiberglass dinghy, against the wind in 2 foot to 3 foot swells.

[Daphne]

On Tuesday, April 7, the Royal Bahamas police recovered the flotation device that Brian said he threw her, and it was along the shoreline of Elbow K. Well, of course, to ensure what Brian was saying was true, investigators obtained digital and GPS evidence from Brian's cell phone from a marine navigation app that he used. And the route that Brian explained that he took allegedly did not match the evidence.

[Heath]

Uh oh, that doesn't look very good.

[Daphne]

Brian claimed that after losing Lynette, he continued on to Marsh harbor for whatever reason.

[Heath]

Yeah, we still don't know why.

[Daphne]

But reportedly, the GPS data that police uncovered contradicted Brian's story. Instead, his GPS reportedly suggested that he had entered another part of the Sea of Abaco that he had not disclosed to investigators. Because like you said earlier, Heath, the Sea of Abaco spans another 55 plus miles along the island. And it seems like, based on what investigators found, that he had traveled to a spot that was outside of the given parameters for his alleged route to Marsh Harbor.

[Heath]

Right, so it wasn't just that that straight shot, he was in another. Another part of that sea, Another part

[Daphne]

that he didn't say. And it's not even like, oh, well, you said you went in a straight line. You went a little bit to the right.

[Heath]

Like, no, it was a completely different fucking area.

[Daphne]

Completely different area. And again, this is a marine navigation app, so this would be very specific with coordinates.

[Heath]

So obviously that is immediately raising red flags. Suspicion everywhere.

[Daphne]

Yeah, and again, this would make sense that he went outside the given parameters, that he told police, because he was gone for nine freaking hours.

[Heath]

Yeah, and also.

[Daphne]

So of course you went somewhere else.

[Heath]

Also, that flotation device being in the ocean does not necessarily mean that nothing nefarious happened. That could have just been like, to keep up with the ruse, I could just toss it overboard.

[Daphne]

So easy.

[Heath]

He's so easy to do. So that doesn't really mean much.

[Daphne]

I mean, it is very, very, very unlikely that in any situation. It would take him nine hours to get from just off of Elbow Cay to Marsh harbor, which means that it likely didn't and that window of time was instead used to do other things and go other places. So within days, an arrest was made.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Attention all fabulous, thriving and gorgeous queens. It's time to grab your favorite lip gloss because Mavis Beaumont is back. The final season of Survival of The Thickest arrives July 2nd. Watch our favorite plus size fashionista conquer her career, find true love and step into her dream life. Plus, the guest list is stacked with comedy and fashion icons like Wanda Sykes, Ice T and Jenna Lyons. Don't miss the ultimate happy ending, the finale season of Survival of the thickest July 2nd only on Netflix traditional old

[Heath]

banks charge overdraft and monthly fees. But why pay to get your own money? Chime is banking built for you. And that's why they have thousands of fee free ATMs.

[Daphne]

Chime members can earn up to $1,150 in annual rewards fee free. And with a Chime card, you get 5% cash back in a category that you choose. And you're not just switching banks here, you're upgrading to America's number one choice for banking with a Chime checking account.

[Heath]

Chime is not just smarter banking. It's the most rewarding way to bank. Join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.com goingwest that is chime.com

[Daphne]

goingwest it only takes a few minutes to sign up.

[Heath]

Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking Services for Chime Card provided by Chime's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. Stated cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking Account Ranking Based on a J.D. power survey published October 20, 2025 every

[Hannah (Land Rover Advertiser)]

bold journey starts with a decision to go, and if you're ready, the Defender is too. This is a vehicle built for more. Whether you're heading off the grid or just getting out of town for the weekend, Defender is a true icon reimagined for a new generation. Its rugged exterior is built from durable materials and tested in the toughest conditions. Inside, it's modern, functional and refined with smart storage and premium touches that keep you comfortable wherever the road leads. It's packed with tech like 3D surround cameras, ClearSight, ground and rear views, driver assist features, and an intuitive infotainment system. With three models, the Defender 90, 110 and 130, there's a Defender for every kind of adventure. From city streets to remote trails, this is a vehicle that like you, is capable of great things. Explore the full Defender [e-mail] I'm Hannah.

[RO Partner (Weight Loss Advertiser)]

I've lost 75 pounds in 20 months with GLP1s/ diet and exercise on RO. I've gone from struggling to run a mile to running farther every day. You can Access FDA approved GLP1s online. Get the support you need to reach your weight loss loss goals. Go to RO Co Weight to see if you qualify. I'm a paid ROE partner. 20% average weight loss in one year in non diabetics with obesity or overweight with a weight related medical condition versus 3.1% in placebo arm RX only. To stay informed about serious side effects, go to RO Co Safety.

[SimpliSafe Advertiser]

Traditional home security only alerts you after a break in and that's too late. Simplisafe is changing that.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

Stop. This is SimpliSafe.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Police are on the way.

[SimpliSafe Advertiser]

We don't just alert, we stop crime before it starts starts Simply safe plans starting around a dollar a day. Save 50 on your new system with professional monitoring at SimpliSafe.com sxm or with promo code sxm Outdoor deterrence requires a

[SimpliSafe License Announcer]

SimpliSafe Active Guard Outdoor Protection Plan starting at 49.99amonth. Visit SimpliSafe.com licenses for alarm license information. Tennessee2012.

[Heath]

Now, other than 59 year old Brian Hooker's GPS data not aligning with his story, police had even more reason to believe that he wasn't being totally forthcoming about what had happened to Lynette. Because right when Lynette's daughter Carly found out about her mom's disappearance, she was already skeptical about, you know, this whole story that Brian was telling based on his prior outbursts. So let's go back to where that all started.

[Daphne]

Yes.

[Heath]

So back to a police report from 2005. Now, like we said, Lynette and Brian had been together since around the year 2000, living in Michigan. But on November 8, 2005, when Lynette was two days away from turning 35 and Brian was 39, there was a child abuse incident at their home. Lynette's daughter Carly stayed with she and Brian every other week. Whereas Brian's kids usually came for evening weekday visitations or for possible like weekend visits, but they primarily lived with their mom, Elizabeth. On the Evening of Tuesday, November 8, 2005, both Brian's daughter and his son were at he and Lynette's home for an evening visitation. And according to a police report, Brian Hooker became Upset about a book that his daughter was reading. Apparently this book was about creationism. He told his daughter that he didn't want her to believe in God. So she ran to her room upset, reportedly calling Brian her dad a bastard. And he followed her, yelling. Now, young Carly was there to witness all of this, as Brian reportedly chased his daughter upstairs and lifted her off the ground by her neck, pinning her to a door, using both of his hands around her neck. So he grabs her by the neck, lifts her up against the door, right? Now, during this altercation, the report also claims that 39 year old Brian Hooker told his daughter, quote, say yes, sir, young lady, twice before she finally said, yes, sir, God. And then he finally let her go. So all the kids, you know, at the house that night are absolutely terrified by this. Well, the report doesn't explain what Lynette was doing. She definitely wasn't a part of this assault on Brian's daughter. But we can't be sure where she was in the house at this time. We don't know if she was downstairs, if she was upstairs, if she had even like witnessed this happening or anything like that. But we know that she wasn't involved. All we know is that she actually wasn't the person to report this to police. It was actually her ex husband, Rick. So Carly's father, who went to the Kentwood, Michigan PD after she told him about it a few days later. So she kind of. I don't know if she was intentionally trying to bring it up or whatever, but she mentioned it. She mentioned it to Rick.

[Daphne]

She was telling her dad about her time at Lynette and Brian's house, and he was like, what?

[Heath]

And he was like, yeah, no, this is not okay. He goes to the police to report it. Elizabeth also spoke with police when she found out about this and all the kids were interviewed. And get this, after he was arrested on fourth degree child abuse, which is when you knowingly commit an act of physical harm to a child without serious injury. In his daughter's case, you know, she did have red marks on her neck.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Right.

[Daphne]

But she wasn't seriously injured.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Just probably a very traumatic experience.

[Heath]

She was shooken up for sure. There was actually a trial and he denied any wrongdoing. Brian denied doing anything wrong here. And there wasn't enough evidence to prove what had happened. So he was ultimately acquitted in 2006. But still, his ex wife reportedly detested him before she passed away, unfortunately of cancer, as did his own son, who eventually changed his surname.

[Daphne]

I mean, I imagine for something like that to happen. That's not the only time something like it happened.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And if he could lose his temper like that, surely he did in other ways that made his children turn against him. We don't know if all of them are still to this day against him or what they think of the current situation. But yeah, I, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't think very highly of him.

[Heath]

I mean that's a, that's a very, very messed up thing to do. Absolutely. To choke a child like that, not in any way cool.

[Daphne]

So aggressive especially, I mean not that, not that it matters where it stems from, but it was just because of a book she had. Like it's, I mean it's horrible. So this just shows that Brian had been violent, you know, to an innocent child at that in the past. But what about he and Lynette's relationship?

[Heath]

That's the big question.

[Daphne]

Well, here's where we really get into what Carly had been talking about because on February 1, 2015, almost 10 years after the child abuse incident and 11 years before Lynette vanished, a domestic assault incident was reported in the Hookers Michigan home. At approximately 105am on February 1, 2015. Police in Kentwood, Michigan responded to a domestic assault call at the Hooker's home after receiving reports of an intoxicated woman locked in an upstairs bedroom who claimed that she had been assaulted. When officers arrived, they first encountered Brian Hooker on the main floor. And according to the reporter, he appeared intoxicated and had blood coming from his nose. 48 year old Brian told officers that his wife, 44 year old Lynette Hooker had struck him in the face four or five times after becoming upset over a situation where Brian's son Jacob and another one of the kids had locked themselves in a room together. Brian said he had gone upstairs to kind of like calm Lynette down when this altercation occurred.

[Heath]

Yeah, he's trying to break up the situation apparently.

[Daphne]

Apparently. And then he's saying, I was just trying to calm her down and she hit me in the face. Officers noted that Brian became emotional while recounting the incident and began crying. Officers then spoke with Lynette who was upstairs speaking with dispatch and was described in the report as highly intoxicated. But Lynette gave a different version of events, telling police that she had been trying to get into the upstairs room where the children had been locked, you know, where they locked themselves in. When Brian struck her in the forehead, punched her one time and choked her. Police documented that Brian had a Swollen, bloody nose and declined medical treatment, while Lynette had no visible injuries or scratches or marks and also declined medical treatment. So because both Brian and Lynette accused each other of assault, and investigators were unable to determine who initiated that confrontation.

[Heath]

Right. They don't know.

[Daphne]

Yeah. No arrest was made, and prosecutors later declined to pursue charges. So, again, this is. This is what we have on file. This just shows violence and a lot of contention in their relationship.

[Heath]

Sure. Yeah. It's. It's giving us a little peek into what their relationship was like and just how these interactions went down. Like, there. There were some incidents, and it's not like this was something that happened all the time, although it shouldn't never happen.

[Daphne]

Well, maybe it did, and they. It just wasn't reported.

[Heath]

I mean, that's true. That could have been the case as

[Daphne]

well, because I think it's really interesting. We have this incident. We have this incident from 2005. We have this incident from 2015, and then we have what's happening in 2026. It's not like this only happens every 10 years, so. But it just is record of incident.

[Heath]

Yeah, Sometimes the unfortunate thing about that 2015 incident is the fact that, like, we. We don't know who started it. It could have been Brian, could have been the aggressor in the situation. Or maybe not.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

Right?

[Heath]

Who knows? Now, let's talk about the most recent reports from Lynette to friends. So back in January of 2024. So a little over two years before she vanished, their relationship continued to prove kind of rocky. Well, remember earlier when we played that clip from Blaine Stevenson? Well, here's what Lynette texted his wife, Marnie, back then. She said, quote, I guess it was too much closeness. We decided to call it quits. I'm not going back. Good luck, guys. Then Marnie said, quote, I'm really sorry to hear this. Lynette then replies, me too. Heartbroken, considering I quit my awesome career, sold my house, and gave away everything I owned to cruise. Shaking my head, stupid. Marty said, quote, oh, no, I can't remember, how long have you guys been cruising? And then Lynette replied, we were married 21 years. Our marriage lasted six weeks cruising. Well, later that same day, January 29, 2024, Lynette explained that a friend of hers in New Orleans invited her to cruise and that she loved sailing, but added, too much going on to think about it right now. It would be weird without my Brian. She explained that she was looking for a job. Marnie said, I don't know you that well, and I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but when you comment that it would be weird without your Brian, is it soon enough that maybe things could be reconciled? And Lynette replied, not this time. It was real bad. I can't be out there with him. So, you know, bold statement here.

[Daphne]

And this is, like you said, just over two years before she went missing. And again, just showing more proof of contention.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Daphne]

That they broke up, and she's saying, I can't be out there with him.

[Heath]

Well, they did actually reconcile enough to eventually head off to the Bahamas together. Still married when Lynette vanished, of course. But, you know, again, this does. This does. Like you're saying, this shows that their relationship was not doing very well, you know, even two years prior to them heading to the Bahamas together.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And remember a year before this, when they got the sailboat and she was like, we're still married, you know, after six months of fixing the boat up. So it's like. It does seem like they fought quite a bit.

[Heath]

Yeah. She's saying, you know, I just. I don't think. Think I can be out there with Brian cruising for an extended period of time like this.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Well, before we get back to the investigation and where things are right now, let's dive deeper into Brian, because something from his past has a concerning connection to the circumstances of Lynette's disappearance. We mentioned that Lynette used to work at AT T, but so did Brian as a telephone repairman. And Brian was actually fired after he was found to have tampered with the GPS unit in a company vehicle three times.

[Heath]

Okay. Like, what are you. What are you tampering with.

[Daphne]

Why are you tampering with the gps? What are you trying to. Why are you trying to hide your location?

[Heath]

Yeah, that seems really weird to me that, you know. But he got fired for this, too. Yes.

[Daphne]

I mean, not that I actually mean this, but, like, it's giving. Serial killer. You know, like, why. Why are you trying to cover up your location three different times? I mean, maybe it was. I was actually home and not working, and I'm trying to get paid for not working. Yeah. Something super nefarious. But still, he's doing some sketchy stuff.

[Heath]

That's what. That's where my mind initially went to is like, oh, he's just trying to get out of, like, actually being.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Like, on the job.

[Daphne]

That probably is what it was.

[Heath]

Probably.

[Daphne]

But, of course, the. The topic of GPS here is very interesting because of the discrepancies in gps During Lynette's disappearance.

[Heath]

Exactly.

[Daphne]

So that's pretty weird. Well, Lynette's parents did an interview earlier this month, this June, with journalist Ashley Banfield. And they described how they believe Brian is most likely guilty.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

They.

[Daphne]

They feel like he is and that they want him to come forward. They have not been able to reach him. And that only adds, of course, to their feelings that he's guilty because he has totally cut them out of their life.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And doesn't at all seem concerned or like forlorn about the circumstances at all.

[Heath]

I mean, why are you not. Why are you not trying to be with Lynette's family in this horrible time that they're going through? You're not talking to Carly. You're not talking to, you know, your, your parents in law.

[Narrator/Advertiser]

Yes.

[Daphne]

They've been married for 25 years and he is shutting out her parents.

[Heath]

See, you don't, you just don't like. I mean, sure, some people aren't very close with their in laws, but still.

[Daphne]

But you did marry each other quite well. That's just crazy.

[Heath]

You've been married to Lynette for 25 fucking years and now you're acting like these people don't exist to you.

[CBS News Reporter]

This is.

[Heath]

Carly is, is a woman that you have known since she was three years old. You have been a father figure to her for a very long time and now you won't speak to her.

[Daphne]

Well, doesn't that say a lot to you that he's shutting out the family? It's like, are you hiding something? Are you guilty and you don't know what you're going to be asked?

[Heath]

Do you think they're going to come after you, you know, and start like, yeah, it is very weird.

[Daphne]

But in general, her parents admit that Lynette, quote, put up with a lot during their relationship and that Brian was just sort of like a low life without any money and that he was a mean drunk and drank often and he was the kind of guy who usually thought that he was right and always wanted to like, stick it to the man, you know, he was that kind of guy. Yeah.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

So he was. And you know, I think that says a lot about him on its face,

[Heath]

maybe just a huge, a huge ego. And then when you mix that with his kind of drunken meanness, it just, it just turns into a horrible, horrible thing.

[Daphne]

And of course, you know, this is coming from Lynette's parents. So this shows how much they know about the relationship and about Brian in general because they have spent so much time with him. So as all this information was slowly coming to light and spilling onto police's radar, on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, Brian posted this on Facebook. Oh my God, this is just like ridiculous. He said, quote, I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds.

[Heath]

Had to throw in. Unpredictable, did you, Brian?

[Daphne]

Literally, that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow K in the Bahamas. Like painting the full picture. Like, I'm sorry, I am heartbroken about this really unpredictable thing happening in this really unpredictable weather that caused my Lynette to fall. Yeah, like not just.

[Heath]

It sounds phony.

[Daphne]

It sounds phony. It's not like he's just saying, I am so devastated that Lynette is missing. Like, he's painting a very specific picture.

[Heath]

Yes, he's painting what he wants people to see.

[Daphne]

But sorry, it goes on. He says, despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus. And hours later, the US Coast Guard opened a criminal investigation into the disappearance of Lynette Hooker. Officers have searched soulmates, their yacht, their sailboat, though we're not privy, of course, to those findings. But that same evening, just four days after Lynette vanished, 59 year old Brian Hooker was arrested in Marsh harbor in connection with Lynette's disappearance.

[Heath]

Well, by this point, Brian had lawyered up, securing Terrell Butler, who actually happens to be one of the more prominent criminal lawyers in the Bahamas. She was a former prosecutor, having worked for the Bahamian government as a crown counsel and then later a deputy Director of Public Prosecutions. Since beginning to work with Brian, Terrell Butler has repeatedly stated that Brian categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing and has argued the idea of homicide since, you know, Lynette has yet to be found.

[Daphne]

Of course she's trying to like, throw us off that path.

[Heath]

Of course, of course. You know, it's like, it's one of those things. No body, no crime. Right. So during this time behind bars, Brian claimed innocence in Lynette's disappearance. And due to a lack of hard evidence suggesting otherwise, they did have to release him, which they did on April 13th after he spent five days in custody.

[Daphne]

You know, they really tried because they, they know, they were like, he is suspicious. We can't have him leave the Bahamas. We need to get him while we can. And they tried so hard to make something stick and they cut in there.

[Heath]

Just. Yeah, there just wasn't the Evidence, at least not yet. Well, the very next day on April 14, he did very various interviews. He did interviews with CBS, NBC, Today, etc. And here's a clip from one of those interviews. Views that we got to play for you guys.

[CBS Interviewer]

I won't be able to stop looking.

[CBS News Reporter]

Hours after being released by Bahamian police last night, Brian Hooker fought back tears as he sat down with CBS News and told us he wants to resume the search for his missing wife, Lynette. You want to keep looking for Lynette?

[CBS Interviewer]

I'm going to need somebody with more authority to tell me to stop.

[CBS News Reporter]

Hooker was held for five days and questioned by police in the disappearance of his wife, who's been missing for more than a week. Do you believe that Lynette's still alive?

[CBS Interviewer]

I do. I believe. I've been told that people have lasted in the Bahamas after falling overboard for days and even weeks.

[CBS News Reporter]

Search and rescue teams in the Bahamas have called the search for Lynette a recovery mission.

[CBS Interviewer]

My goal is to go back and speak with Hopetown fire and rescue volunteers. They have been, I believe, still looking whenever they can. What was it like to sail together? Fantastic.

[RO Partner (Weight Loss Advertiser)]

She.

[CBS Interviewer]

We. We're more like co captains.

[Heath]

I just want a thorough investigation so we know all the facts and justice can be served.

[Daphne]

If he did something, well, that was

[Heath]

clearly a lie, because the very next day, Brian left the Bahamas. So he says, you know what? I'm not gonna leave until I find my wife. I'm gonna do everything I can to find my wife. And then the next day, he's like, see ya. And he just leaves. Now he claims that it was to visit his mother, who was very ill, and she is actually ill. But this wasn't like, all of the sudden, like, she didn't take a turn for the worse all of a sudden.

[Daphne]

Right.

[Heath]

Literally, while he was saying in the interview that he wasn't going to leave unless a higher authority told him to. To. His attorney was reportedly helping him obtain an emergency passport so that he could go back to the States. Yeah, he was behind the scenes. The attorney is like, we're going to get you that passport. We're going to get you back to

[Daphne]

the US which is why it's so frustrating, this interview. And he's. He's acting all devastated and saying, oh, it's going to take a higher authority. Like, I'm going to find my wife.

[Hannah (Land Rover Advertiser)]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And then in the background, he's like, you got that passport yet? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I. Let's go.

[Heath]

You got that passport?

[Daphne]

Like, oh, my God, it just. It makes you not be able to trust him.

[Heath]

Now, of course, Brian did say that he would return to the islands, but guess what? He hasn't. No, he has not been back. And most likely he's been lying low in Michigan, but he's also been seen in Oregon, where his son lives. This month, In June of 2026, almost three months since Lynette Hooker vanished, investigators are still searching for answers, still using the GPS data extracted from Brian's devices to search new areas with divers, underwater vehicles, drones, and cadaver dogs. They're doing everything they can at this

[Daphne]

point, which is pretty incredible, considering in similar cases, they would search for, like, two, three days, and then they'd call it off. Like they have been searching for her for a very long time.

[Heath]

Yes. Yes, they're doing everything they can. While Brian, it appears, is not doing anything.

[Daphne]

No, not at all. While many, including Lynette's parents, wonder if Lynette and Brian did make it back to Soulmate that night and if his entire story about her falling off the dinghy was false, if they made it back, got into an argument, you know, if Brian killed her on the boat and then spent the night finding a place to masterfully dispose of her body so it wouldn't be found. You know, that could make sense. That. That. That could explain why it took him so long to get to Marsh Harbor. Why it took nine hours when it never would have taken nine hours. Why his GPS shows him in other parts of the Sea of Abaco. Because maybe she didn't fall off that dinghy. Maybe that story is complete BS and they did make it back to Soulmate. And maybe it wasn't a brutal murder. Maybe he choked her because we know that he choked his daughter. And in that 2015 incident, Lynette claimed he choked her then, too.

[Heath]

Well, what you're about to get into is actually what gives that theory a little bit of crazy.

[SimpliSafe Advertiser]

Yes.

[Daphne]

Oh, my God.

[Heath]

We've got more for you guys. Wait, hold on. We have got more tea to spill.

[Daphne]

This is actually about to get, like, really crazy. So the soulmate, of course, it has an aisle. It's the automatic identification system. This system was reportedly offline from 9:30pm on April 4, which would have been shortly after Lynette vanished. Or is said to have vanished. Remember, they left around 7.

[Heath]

7:30.

[Daphne]

Yeah, 7:30 ish. From the Abaco Inn. This is 9:30. The AIs went offline, and it didn't come back online until 8:30 the following morning.

[Heath]

Wow. If that isn't super fucking convenient.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Look at that. What a window for it to go off.

[Heath]

Yeah, The GPS just isn't working for this amount of time.

[Daphne]

But the reason this is so important is because the AIs is a tracking system used on ships to avoid collisions at sea, and it allows ships to see each other's locations. And if it was off all night long and he was out on that boat instead of in the dinghy, nobody would have been able to track him. There would be a lot of reason if he was out there doing nefarious things, for him to turn the AIs off. And it appears he did.

[Heath]

Well, this is another thing that I wanted to mention briefly is that they also had a $33,000. What was it? An infrared camera. Camera, yeah. That was pointed at the sea. So that was also. I think they determined that that was also manually turned off.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Which is weird because that would have been the one thing that could have found Lynette if she's out there floating in the sea somewhere. Like, because it has infrared, it would have been able to see her body heat in the ocean, but again, and pick her up.

[Daphne]

Why go to Marsh harbor if you know you have an infrared camera back on your sailboat. That's, by the way, like, right over there. I can see it with my eyes from the dinghy that you supposedly. Or that Lynette supposedly fell off of. Like, why would you go all the way across the freaking sea instead of going to your sailboat, turning on the infrared camera and finding her.

[Heath]

Exactly. Using that camera to find her. Because it did have night vision on it, so. And of course, this is all going down at night.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

So that would have been the one piece of equipment you would want to rely on.

[Daphne]

Pretty freaking useful.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

And there's something we haven't mentioned yet that also is going to change a lot of things, because Brian claims that he lost Lynette 75 yards from the shoreline of Elbow K, which is roughly the length of 15 cars.

[Heath]

Yeah. Not very far.

[Daphne]

What the hell? I can see that right there. 15 cars. And even weirder, they would have been only 30 yards. So essentially right next to a shallow sandbar that was only 2ft Feet deep. Lynette was 5'7, meaning the water only 30 yards away would have been up to her knees.

[Heath]

Yeah, exactly.

[Daphne]

And Lynette, by the way, was an excellent freaking swimmer. She's described by family as very athletic and somebody who would swim two miles for fun. And yet in these mostly calm waters, not choppy, not crazy, no storms, no rogue waves, she fell overboard and has never surfaced.

[Heath]

Yeah, couldn't. Couldn't have swam in any sort of direction to get to safety, to the sandbar.

[Daphne]

That's right there. She just drowned and was never found. And Brian also changed his story, saying that she swam off another time. She said, or he said, that she swam to another sailboat, like, probably to kind of paint that, like, oh, well, she got aboard someone else's boat and they must have done something to her. And the fact that they were so close to shore again, that he is saying he was 75 yards from shore and he still didn't go back to the Abaco end to report her missing and get the authorities, but instead didn't do so until nine hours later. I cannot believe this story. I can't.

[Heath]

I also think it's interesting in that one call that we played where he says that essentially he fired some flares up into the air and these speedboats had passed him. But, oh, they must have just not seen it. Are you serious? The flares are literally so bright for that very reason, so that people will see it.

[Daphne]

Literally what they're made for.

[Heath]

Literally what they're made for. I doubt that any speedboat is going so fast that they wouldn't have seen at night, at night, this bright red flare up in the night sky, especially because, again, it was very dark because we know that there was no moonlight that night because of the cloud coverage.

[Daphne]

Great point.

[Heath]

So that would make it even easier to see a flare.

[Daphne]

Yeah. And he says that they just didn't. It's just everything is so convenient. Brian. Yeah, I don't believe a goddamn word he says.

[Heath]

It's not lining up. Well, investigators have since taken possession of the dinghy for forensic examination, as well as their boat, Soulmate, which, by the way, has been back in Florida for some time undergoing additional analysis, because they're like, we're not done with this yet. But on June 8, 2026, after extensive search efforts, the US Coast Guard announced that they had concluded its mission in the Bahamas after exhausting the newly identified search areas. So they're like, there's not much more we could do as far as the. What we can do.

[Daphne]

I mean, they looked for her. They looked for her for a long time. They have put so much work into this. And I know that they're also saying that they're not fully giving up. Like, they're still going to do searches, but they can't be doing it in the way that they have been. But they're trying.

[Heath]

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Daphne]

Unlike Brian Yeah.

[Heath]

Officials do maintain that the investigation into Lynette's disappearance is still ongoing. But to this day, Brian Hooker has not been charged with any crime and continues to deny any wrongdoing. The disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker.

[Daphne]

Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Hope you guys are watching on YouTube so you can see all the maps that we're creating for you guys, all

[Daphne]

the pictures, all the like the YouTube and the tick tocks that we talked about today. Like, like there's. There's really so much footage associated with this case.

[Heath]

Yes.

[Daphne]

But if you didn't watch on YouTube, try it again next time maybe. Yeah. And check us out our. And then of course, we're on socials too, so you could go see it over there as well.

[Heath]

Yeah. If you're just listening on, you know, you're just listening audio. Head on over to our socials. Again. We are on Instagram @goingwest podcast. We're also on TikTok. We are also on Facebook. We have a discount discussion group which I think would be a good way to talk about today's case because, you know, I know that there are a lot of people that are heavily, you know, invested in Lynette's disappearance as we are. We want the answers. We want to know the truth again. Our hearts go out to Carly and the rest of Lynette's family. I hope that we get the answers very soon.

[Daphne]

Absolutely. So yeah, make sure that you comment, let us know your guys thoughts and if you're just as angry as we we are about everything that Brian is saying because I just, I can't believe it. I really can't. It's unreal. And Lynette deserves to be found. So thank you guys so much. We will see you again on Friday.

[Heath]

All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the

[Daphne]

world, don't be a stranger.

[SimpliSafe Advertiser]

In the US there's a break in every 26 seconds. But when intruders step near Simplisafe home security steps up.

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Stop.

[Brian Hooker (voicemail and call clips)]

This is Simplisafe.

[Heath]

Police are on the way.

[SimpliSafe Advertiser]

Using AI alerts, US based live agents help deter break ins. SimpliSafe. No long term contracts. Save 50% on your new system with professional monitoring at SimpliSafe.com SXM or with promo code SXM Outdoor deterrence requires a

[SimpliSafe License Announcer]

SimpliSafe Active Guard Outdoor Protection Plan starting at $49.99 a month. Visit SimpliSafe.com licenses for alarm license information Tennessee 2012 Some say Odoo business management software is like fertilizer because of the way it promotes growth. Some say Odoo is like a magic beanstalk scaling with you while being magically affordable. And some say Odoo's programs for manufacturing, accounting, and more are like building blocks for creating a custom software suite. But I say Odoo is all of it. Fertilizer, magic beanstalk building blocks for business. Yeah, Odoo. Exactly what every business needs. Sign [e-mail] that's o-o o.com yo, it's

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Jay Uso from WWE and I'm Jimmy Uso. Chumba Casino and WWE are hyped for the biggest event of the Summ SummerSlam. I know I can't wait. There's nothing better to do while we're waiting than playing Chumba Casino. Sign up today and you can win a VIP experience with Chumba Casino and with WWE for SummerSlam. So what are you waiting for? Play Chumbo Casino and enter for your chance to win. Let's Shumble.

[Heath]

Only available in permitted states.

[RO Partner (Weight Loss Advertiser)]

No purchase necessary.

[Heath]

See Terms and conditions for details. BGW Group would be prohibited by law 21+ sponsored by Chumba Casino.