Updated on: April 14, 2026 / 7:30 PM EDT / CBS News
Brian Hooker, whose wife Lynette disappeared during a nighttime boat ride in the Bahamas, told CBS News he wants to believe his wife is still alive and plans to go back out to look for her as soon as possible.
“I won’t be able to stop looking,” Hooker, 59, said, getting emotional, adding that “someone with more authority” will have to tell him to stop. When asked if he believes Lynette is still alive, he responded, “I want to.”
Hooker was arrested by Bahamian authorities last Wednesday for questioning about his wife’s disappearance, his attorney Terrel Butler told CBS News. Hooker has denied any wrongdoing and was released from custody Monday night, five days after being detained. The Royal Bahamas Police Force said prosecutors “recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigations.”
Lynette Hooker, 55, has not been found. Police said last week that search and rescue operations had turned into search and recovery. Authorities have urged anyone with information to come forward.
Brian Hooker expressed optimism that Lynette could still be alive. “I believe I’ve been told that people have lasted in the Bahamas after falling overboard for days and even weeks,” he told CBS News. “There are so many islands, there are so many sandbars, little atolls and spits of land. Of course you think about alternatives to that, but I’m not really capable of just turning away from this.”
The Hookers, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, were known to be avid sailors. Brian Hooker told CBS News the pair had been sailing for more than 12 years and that being together on the water was “fantastic.” “We were more like co-captains,” he said. “There are certain jobs that I did, and certain jobs that she did, because there’s a big enough boat that it takes two people to really run efficiently.”
Their boat, Soulmate, is 46 feet long with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. “She’s our floating home,” Hooker said. “We’ve been on her for four years now.”
He told authorities that Lynette fell from their 8-foot dinghy — not the larger boat — on the evening of April 4 while they sailed from Hope Town to Elbow Cay. He said powerful currents swept her away, along with the keys to their dinghy, which cut power to its engine and prevented him from reaching her. Police said Hooker paddled to the island of Abaco, where he docked at the Marsh Harbour Boat Yard around 4 a.m. Sunday, April 5. He told someone his wife was missing, and that person then informed authorities.