Bahamian authorities plan to suspend search for missing American woman amid US Coast Guard criminal probe
GREAT ABACO ISLAND, Bahamas — 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.
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.
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.
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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.
"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.
"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.
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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.