A friend of Brian Hooker says a phone call he recorded days after Lynette Hooker vanished suggests her husband was in the water with her that night, an account that would appear to contradict the story Brian has told.After leaving 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, authorities said.The couple was headed back to their sailboat Soulmate, their full-time home in retirement, when Lynette fell overboard.
They frequently sailed around the U.S.and Caribbean, according to their social media pages.FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XBrian Hooker leaves Central Police Station in Freeport, The Bahamas, on April 13, 2026, after being released from custody.
He was questioned about the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker, who he says fell overboard from their dinghy earlier this month.(Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)Brian Hooker called fellow boater Blaine Stevenson two days after his wife Lynette vanished in the Bahamas.
Stevenson told Fox News Digital that a moment in that call appears to place Brian himself in the water that night, contradicting his account that he stayed in the dinghy while she drifted away.AMERICAN COUPLE CHASING RETIREMENT DREAM IN BAHAMAS BOATING MYSTERY WERE 'INEXPERIENCED': FRIENDLynette Hooker and Brian Hooker seen in a picture taken in 2023 on a small boat.(John Waters)"I mean she's a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she's f------ determined, and she was hit with a flare pistol I had slid down one of the Sponsons down towards the stern and the dinghy.
I took so many waves over the dingy.I bailed about five or six times.
I had to bail out the cockpit, but the the inside also got wet and so, and the dinghy key was not attached to me, you know, so when we were f------ around trying to get back in the boat," Hooker said ...