Surveillance footage that Bahamas police are NOT releasing after wife vanished from boat: Video raises troubling questions for husband... as new 'missing hours' theory emerges

By GREG WOODFIELD IN ABACO ISLANDS, THE BAHAMAS Published: 00:45, 12 April 2026 | Updated: 00:45, 12 April 2026 American yachtsman Brian Hooker wanders almost nonchalantly around a Bahamas boat yard in surveillance video seen by the Daily Mail only hours after wife Lynette was swept off their tiny dinghy into shark–infested waters.  He is wearing a blue shirt, dark shorts, flip flops and has a cowboy–style hat perched squarely on his head as he walks up to security fencing and raises his arms to attract attention.  To an observer, there appears little sign of panic.  The 58–year–old – whose police detention following his arrest and interviews has now been extended to Monday evening – calls 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 surveillance film 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.   However, we have watched it. And its content appears to chime with puzzling inconsistencies we have discovered with the husband's version of events – including possibly mysterious 'missing' hours.  Brian Hooker was seen wandering around a Bahamas boat yard just hours after his wife Lynette went missing, according to surveillance video seen by the Daily Mail Hooker told authorities that his wife had been pitched from their 8ft dinghy as they headed from dinner to their moored 50ft sailboat Soulmate Hooker said he and Lynette had dinner at the Abaco Inn on the small island of Elbow Key (pictured) before she went missing Hooker had ditched his dinghy less than half a mile south of the boat yard and would have stumbled in the dark across dangerously rocky shoreline terrain and through dense mangrove before reaching eventual rescuers at the yard.  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.  He may, of course, be exhausted.  Night security guard Edward Smith found Hooker in the yard. He has already revealed to the Daily Mail that the husband told him he'd 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?'  Your browser does not support iframes. Lynette, 55, has been missing at sea for almost a week. No charges have been filed related to her disappearance so far Hooker admitted the couple had been drinking at the Abaco Inn (pictured) and told a night security guard that his wife 'was thrown out of the boat' Hooker said disaster struck after the couple left the small marina and were hit with high waves and wind gusts of up to 25 mph Hooker has said he and wife–of–25 years Lynette began heading from dinner at the picturesque Abaco Inn on waterfront on the small island of Elbow Key to their yacht at around 7.30pm.  But after they left the relative calm of the inn's small marina, disaster struck in winds of up to 25 mph and high waves as they made for the outcrop of Parrot Cay where Soulmate was moored about a mile away.  '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."' Lynette was steering the small vessel and the engine's kill–switch key attached to her by a cord went with her. That cut the dinghy's power.  'Mr Hooker said he was trying to paddle to get back towards the lady. But he said he only had one paddle and the wind was so strong it blew him away from her in the dark. So he couldn't see where she was,' said Smith.  'He said the last time he saw her she was swimming towards Hope Town on Elbow Key, but it was so dark he could not be clear. He then lost sight of her.  'I asked him, where's your wife now? He said, "She's still in the water." I immediately stopped talking and called 911 and they called the police, who arrived ten minutes later.'  The Daily Mail can now reveal Hooker carefully tied his dinghy to a tree on a small sandy cove at an area called Calcutta just south of the boat yard. Hooker told a security guard that he had used one paddle for nearly eight hours while braving heavy seas and high winds after his wife vanished The Daily Mail can now reveal that Hooker tied his dinghy to a tree on a small sandy cove at an area called Calcutta, about four miles from Parrot Cay Inside it was an anchor attached to 60ft of rope, two life vests and an unused flare, a source close to the investigation told us.  The location is roughly four miles from Parrot Cay and on that night winds were blowing fiercely across the expanse of water and towards that area close to the town of Marsh Harbour.  Hooker's account put him on the water for roughly eight hours, apparently battling with that lone paddle.  Expert locals close to the investigation are skeptical.  'The winds were up to 25 mph, which means that dinghy would be moving at least two to three miles an hour in the direction of Marsh Harbour,' one told us.  'I'd say it would cover the distance to where Hooker beached in two hours, maybe even an hour and a half.  'I don't see where eight hours comes from. Obviously I wasn't there, but to me there are missing hours which need to be explained.'  He added: 'There's another serious issue for me.  'There was an anchor with plenty of rope in the dinghy. If his wife had fallen over, why didn't he drop the anchor and stop the dinghy, then fight to save her. Or throw the anchor's rope to her and try to reel her in?'  Security guard Smith has already told us on his encounter: 'He wasn't crying or anything. He didn't seem stressed in that way. There wasn't a lot of emotion. There were no tears.  'He expressed nothing that you would imagine in those circumstances. He was more exhausted than emotional.'  Lynette was steering the small vessel and the engine's kill–switch key attached to her by a cord went with her The Hookers were traveling on Soulmate (pictured), which has since been moored in a marina in Marsh Harbour Hooker broke down in tears as he was interviewed by authorities over his wife's disappearance for more than three hours on Friday, his lawyer said The Hookers, from Onsted, Michigan, were four years into a voyage they were documenting on social media that had started in Texas and drifted to The Bahamas via Florida.  On Friday night, police holding him in Freeport on the island of Grand Bahama extended his detention until 7.20pm on Monday.  He was arrested on Wednesday and Soulmate is now moored in an upscale marina in Marsh Harbour, as revealed in exclusive Daily Mail photos.  Hooker was interviewed for three hours on Friday and at one point 'broke down in tears,' his attorney Terrel Butler told us after the decision was made to hold him longer.  'He kept reiterating that he needed to know what was happening with the search for his wife. He was asked about the couple's personal life and their relationship,' she said.  'Brian appears completely heartbroken and deeply distressed. His primary concern is his ability to continue the search for his wife. The trauma of her disappearance and his detention as a suspect has left him extremely fragile.'  Butler said Hooker was quizzed extensively on his relationship with Lynette and 'causing harm which resulted in her death.'   She added: 'He categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing.'  Hooker was taken into custody on Wednesday and his detention in Freeport on the island of Gran Bahama was extended Friday until 7.20pm on Monday Lynette was arrested for allegedly punching her husband in 2015, with a police report of the incident describing how Hooker was left with a swollen and bloody nose Lynette's daughter Karli Aylesworth, seen here with her mother and stepfather, claimed that Hooker had a history of 'choking her out nd threatening to throw her overboard' Karli Aylesworth, Lynette's 29–year–old daughter from a previous relationship, has claimed to Fox News: 'There's a history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard.'  However, it has also been revealed that in 2015, Lynette was arrested for allegedly punching her husband. The alleged assault left Hooker with a swollen and bloody nose, according to a police report obtained by the Daily Mail.  Hooker told police his wife 'struck him multiple times' while drunk. Lynette also accused him of assaulting her, but officers noted she was not visibly injured.  The US Coast Guard's high–tech imaging aircraft scanned the entire area between Elbow Key and Great Abaco after Lynette vanished but there was no sign of her.  The waters are largely crystal clear with depths mostly between eight and three feet apart from some channels.  Local experts believe Lynette was almost certain attacked by sharks within minutes of entering the water.  One told us: 'The chances of finding her are next to slim. It's simply not a question that she's going to wash up some place.'  He added ominously: 'Bodies sink fast, they only start to rise when they decompose – but round here the sharks get to them way before that. If she was bleeding when she entered the water, it would have been within minutes.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. 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