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EXCLUSIVE: Information obtained from Brian Hooker’s mobile device has directed U.S. investigators to focus their search efforts in a new location within the Bahamian waters, specifically targeting a 25-foot-deep area, in the ongoing search for missing Lynette Hooker, sources close to the investigation have revealed to Fox News Digital.
According to initial reports, Brian and Lynette Hooker departed from Hope Town in the Bahamas around 7:30 p.m. on April 4. Brian Hooker informed local authorities that turbulent waters caused his wife to fall overboard from their dinghy. However, GPS data retrieved from Brian Hooker’s phone reportedly conflicts with his initial statements to law enforcement, according to sources familiar with the case.
This inconsistency has led U.S. federal officials to request clearance from Bahamian authorities to conduct a search in a different section of the Sea of Abaco, where the waters reach depths of 25 feet, the sources indicated.
SEARCH FOR MICHIGAN’S LYNETTE HOOKER IN BAHAMAS: EVENTS LEADING TO HER DISAPPEARANCE AND HUSBAND’S DETENTION
Brian Hooker and the couple’s sailboat, named Soulmate, are central to the investigation as authorities continue their efforts to locate Lynette Hooker.
Authorities obtained data from Brian Hooker’s phone, specifically GPS data from a marine navigation app that was used while the couple was on the dinghy, the sources said.
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The couple was headed back to their sailboat, the Soulmate, their full-time home in retirement, when Lynette Hooker fell overboard, the husband told Bahamian authorities. They frequently sail around the U.S. and Caribbean, according to their social media pages.
Karli Aylesworth, Lynette Hooker’s daughter, told Fox News Digital that the Coast Guard has asked her family to submit DNA samples to help with their investigation.
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U.S. Coast Guard investigators search the boat Soulmate, docked at their station in Fort Pierce, Fla., on May 13, 2026. The vessel belongs to Brian Hooker and his missing wife Lynette Hooker and was brought back to the U.S. from the Bahamas by the Coast Guard. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
The Coast Guard seized the Soulmate in early May and took it to Fort Pierce, Florida, but it was recently moved to Fort Lauderdale, as authorities couldn’t pull it from the water.
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Brian Hooker was detained for five days by Bahamian police after his wife disappeared, but wasn’t charged.
Brian Hooker’s Michigan-based attorney asked Americans in an earlier interview to give him the benefit of the doubt in an interview with ABC News.
“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would want to be treated, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to consider that not all of us, nor you, considering your own relationships, the way you speak to one another, we all handle things in different ways,” Crystal Marie Hauser said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Coast Guard and Hauser for comment.