LAS VEGAS — A former federal prosecutor who wrote a book on no-body murder cases told Fox News Digital that a "key question" in the search for a missing American woman is why her husband's sailboat stopped transmitting location data on the night she disappeared.Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker left shore at Hope Town in the Bahamas at around 7:30 p.m.on April 4, Brian Hooker told authorities that rough waters caused his wife to fall off their dinghy.
Brian Hooker paddled to shore and arrived at Marsh Harbour around 4 a.m.on April 5, according to authorities.The couple was headed back to their sailboat Soulmate, their full-time home in retirement, when Lynette fell overboard, Brian claims.
The couple frequently sail around the U.S.and Caribbean, according to their social media pages.Data obtained by Fox News Digital through marine tracking company VesselFinder shows the Soulmate's Automatic Identification System (AIS), which broadcasts a vessel's identity, speed and position, went dark at 9:29 p.m.
on April 4 and did not resume until 8:40 a.m.the following morning, a blackout of more than 11 hours.SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTERBrian Hooker leaves his hotel with lawyer Terell A.
Butler in Freeport, The Bahamas, on April 14, 2026.Hooker was released from police custody the previous night after being questioned in connection to the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker.
(Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)Blaine Stevenson, a friend of Brian Hooker's, previously told Fox News Digital that Brian returned to his sailboat with search and rescue officials on the morning of April 5.The Coast Guard Investigative Service is conducting a criminal investigation into Lynette Hooker's disappearance.Tad DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor and author of the book "No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing," told Fox News Digital that finding out how the tracking data went dark will be a key q...