Suspicious behavior by the husband of the woman missing at sea in the Bahamas after returning to the U.S. is now raising new doubts about her disappearance

Brian Hooker said he plans to continue the search on his own

GREAT ABACO ISLAND, Bahamas — Lynette Hooker’s husband left the Bahamas on Wednesday to tend to his “very ill” mother, according to his attorney.

Brian Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, told Fox News Digital her client has left the Bahamas and returned to the United States, though she declined to say where.

“Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother’s grave illness,” Butler told NBC News. “He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time.”

A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Brian Hooker landed in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday afternoon.

Brian Hooker boards a plane to Nassau from Grand Bahama Freeport Airport in The Bahamas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. With him is his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

Brian Hooker boards a plane to Nassau from Grand Bahama Freeport Airport in The Bahamas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026.  (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

His departure comes as Bahamian authorities intend to wrap up their search for missing American woman Lynette Hooker in the near future, while the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that its criminal investigation into her disappearance continues.

Brian Hooker boards a plane to Nassau from Grand Bahama Freeport Airport in The Bahamas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

The island nation’s military says the search could be suspended as early as Thursday, according to an NBC report. After analyzing “tide, drift and wind,” authorities say they are running out of locations to search, the report said.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed to Fox News Digital on Wednesday that its criminal investigation into Lynette Hooker’s husband, Brian Hooker, remains ongoing.

Brian Hooker stops by the Central Police Station to pick up his wedding ring and watch with his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler in Freeport, The Bahamas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. His ring, which he is wearing on his pinky was not with him when he was released from jail last night after being questioned by police in the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

Meanwhile, Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning that Brian is waiting for Bahamian police to return the keys to his boat before he resumes his own search for Lynette.

A local boat captain told Fox News Digital during a recreation of Brian and Lynette Hooker’s doomed dinghy ride that he was shocked Lynette’s body hadn’t been found.

Mo Monestime has spent 15 years chartering boats in the Great Abaco Island area.

Members of The Royal Bahamas Police Force inspect the yacht, Soulmate, moored near shore in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. A criminal investigation has been launched into the after Lynette Hooker reportedly fell overboard while on an evening boat trip with her husband, Brian Hooker. (AJ Skuy for Fox News Digital)

“Not being found, that’s the mystery,” he said.

“It is very hard to disappear, because, again, we’re so close to land,” Monestime continued. “So if you do fall overboard [and] drown, somebody will see you the next day. Again, we can see bottom, you know? I’ll be driving the boat, I will see stingrays, I will see turtles, so I would see a human body. Somebody would see something. Somebody would say something, like, ‘Hey, we just saw something strange in the water.'”

Monestime said drownings happen occasionally near Elbow Cay, but then reiterated that victims are recovered quickly.

Yachts anchored near Aunt Pat’s Bay near Elbow Cay off Great Abaco Island in The Bahamas on April 12, 2026. Brian and Lynette Hooker’s boat was anchored in this area before Lynette disappeared on April 5, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

“Again, you could see land all the way, the whole time,” he said. “Even if you fall overboard in pitch dark, you still could see the lights from the shore.”

Brian Hooker, 58, was arrested and jailed last Wednesday as police investigated his wife’s disappearance. The pair left the Abaco Inn in their dinghy at around 7:30 p.m. on April 4 during rough weather. Choppy seas and high winds caused Lynette to fall overboard with the initiation key in her pocket, disabling the boat, Brian said.

Lynette Hooker went missing after she fell off a small boat on Saturday evening. Her husband, Brian Hooker, reported her missing early Sunday morning. (Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker/Facebook)

He was released from custody Monday night after five days, but the investigation remains ongoing.

Brian said that in the ensuing panic after Lynette fell off the dinghy, he tossed a flotation device to her. He said he thought she was attempting to swim to their anchored yacht, and called out to her for about an hour. He paddled and drifted for about eight hours before washing ashore at Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island, where local security guards at a marina assisted him.

The couple from Michigan was pursuing their retirement dream of living on their yacht and sailing around the world.

Brian said in a Facebook post that he was “heartbroken” by Lynette’s disappearance.

“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 Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote. “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.”

Hooker said Tuesday upon his release that he intends to continue to search for Lynette.