American boater is grilled AGAIN over wife's disappearance in the Bahamas as police race to charge or release him today before deadline

By GREG WOODFIELD IN ABACO ISLANDS, THE BAHAMAS Published: 18:42, 13 April 2026 | Updated: 18:49, 13 April 2026 American boater Brian Hooker is being grilled again by police in the Bahamas Monday amid a rapidly approaching deadline to charge him over the disappearance of wife Lynette Hooker or set him free. The 58-year-old has been held in custody since his arrest last Wednesday and spent the weekend at the central police station in Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama. Police are quizzing him over the events that unfolded on the evening of April 4, when he and Lynette, 55, left dinner on the island of Elbow Cay in a small dinghy and headed to their 50ft yacht, Soulmate, anchored just a mile away off Parrot Cays. Hooker has told investigators that Lynette was thrown overboard in high winds into shark-infested waters, taking with her the kill-switch key, stopping the boat's engine.  He claims he spent nearly eight hours battling the dark and windy weather with a single paddle before eventually reaching shore in an area known as Calcutta on the neighboring island of Great Abaco, ditching his dinghy near a boat yard and seeking help there. His attorney Terrel Butler told the Daily Mail Monday: 'The deadline is 7.20pm today, so something has to happen today. 'The time the police have is almost up and they have asked to have another interview.  'I don't know what they want to cover because they have already spoken to him at length – so I'm not sure what they're coming with.' Brian Hooker is being questioned again by police over the events leading up to wife Lynette being thrown overboard in the Bahamas on April 4 Hooker has claimed that Lynette, 55, was tossed from their 8ft dinghy into shark-infested waters as they headed from dinner on Elbow Cay to their moored 50ft sailboat Soulmate Butler said she spoke with Hooker over the weekend on the phone 'to reassure him' and 'make sure he was OK.' 'He has gone through a traumatic and dramatic experience,' she said. 'Even in the course of arresting him he had this scare because he fell overboard in police custody while they were taking him away. 'A lot has happened and he needs to deal with that emotionally. And it is very difficult to speak frankly in a police station where you are not at all sure about your privacy. If we speak on the phone, officers are listening.' The decision to question Hooker again came after Lynette's mother Darlene Hamlett told reporter Ashleigh Banfield of a previous incident when they had been fighting after a drinking session. Hamlett said Hooker had thrown Lynette on to a bench hurting her neck. The following day, the pair packed up Lynette's belongings and she left the boat and went home to Michigan. 'One of the conversations that they had while they were on the boat the next morning is he told her that he wished he had finished the job and thrown her overboard.'  When Banfield asked her if she thought it was all talk on Hooker's part, Hamlett responded: 'How could somebody think it was all talk when you're being choked?'  Your browser does not support iframes. Hooker told police that Lynette was steering the small vessel and the engine's kill–switch key attached to her by a cord went with her The couple had dinner at the Abaco Inn on the small island of Elbow Key before she went missing The Hookers were traveling on their 50ft sailboat Soulmate, which has since been moored in a marina in Marsh Harbour Under Bahamian law, authorities have four days to decide whether or not to charge him with a crime before they must release him. But investigators were granted a special 72-hour extension that will keep Hooker jailed until around 7.20pm Monday, his attorney said. The extension came after the lawyer revealed that Hooker requires medical attention after he fell overboard from a police transit. 'He was submerged in the cold water and took in a significant amount of seawater before his life jacket brought him to the surface. He had to be rescued from the water by the police,' Butler told the Daily Mail. 'As a result of this fall, Brian sustained an injury to his knee, which has caused him to limp, as well as a visible abrasion.' Hooker – who has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing in Lynette's disappearance – is being questioned in relation to the Bahamian crime 'causing harm resulting in death'. Butler said police had just finished an intensive four-hour interview with him in which she described him as continuously asking about his wife.  Surveillance footage from Marsh Harbour Boat Yard on the island of Great Abaco is being analyzed by Royal Bahamas Police as part of the investigation and has not been released.   The Daily Mail, however, has seen the video and revealed Hooker – showing little signs of panic – is seen walking up to security fencing and raises his arms to attract attention, before calling out: 'Hello, I need help. Hello. Help me.'  At another point Hooker, wearing a yellow 'dry bag' to keep items free from water damage on his hip, also casually glances down at his watch.  But at no time in the sections of footage seen by the Daily Mail does he cry out to immediately raise the alarm about 55–year–old Lynette, who he told authorities was pitched from their 8ft dinghy as they headed from dinner to their moored 50ft sailboat Soulmate in bad weather.   The contents of the footage appears to chime with puzzling inconsistencies we have discovered with the husband's version of events – including possibly mysterious 'missing' hours.  Marsh Harbour, Bahamas where Brian Hooker is understood to have washed ashore Both Brian and Lynette are experienced boaters and were on a four-year voyage aboard their sailboat He first appears in a ghostly silhouette walking in front of a line of sailboats on raised blocks at the far side of the yard. The video is timestamped at 3.35am.  He is next picked up near the main security gate where he appears to be strolling almost casually. On at least two occasions he lifts his arms up in a bid to attract attention.  When he calls out, he doesn't appear to be yelling. There is no apparent sign of panic, of desperation, of urgency or of alarm for missing Lynette.   Hooker may have been exhausted.  Night security guard Edward Smith told the Daily Mail he found Hooker in the yard, where he revealed he had used one paddle to battle his way to safety for nearly eight hours in heavy seas and high winds after his wife vanished.  But Hooker's demeanor on the footage has raised eyebrows among several people in Marsh Harbour who have a close connection to the case, who have also seen the video and have talked to us.  'That's a very strange way for someone to behave when they've just seen their wife swept away to their almost certain death,' said one of them, a highly experienced local mariner.  'He seems casual, nothing frantic there at all, not much to suggest what has happened. And what about his wife? He doesn't seem to be raising any kind of alarm.'  'Also, I really don't understand the cowboy hat. He's been through such an ordeal and he has time, or even the thought, to put on that hat?'  'My wife was thrown out of the boat,' Hooker told Smith.  'We were drinking, we were drunk. I should have known better. I shouldn't have done it.'  Smith told us: 'But he then added, "Whatever happened, happened. The wind was blowing so hard when it happened she just went over."' The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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