Recently surfaced photos reveal the alarming injuries that a woman, who allegedly fell overboard in the Bahamas, is accused of inflicting on her husband during a previous alcohol-fueled incident.
Lynette Hooker, 55, faced arrest on domestic violence charges back in 2015 following a reportedly violent confrontation with her husband, Brian, then 59, at their Michigan home.
According to a police report from Kentwood, obtained by the Daily Mail, the incident left Brian with a red, swollen, and bloodied nose.
Images taken by responding officers capture Brian looking somber, with glossy eyes and flushed cheeks, as they investigated the disturbance at their Kentwood residence.
Blood streaked down Brian’s left hand while his right hand bore large, scattered droplets, painting a vivid picture of the alleged assault.
The injury to his nose was seemingly so gruesome that police redacted it with a large black rectangle in the files provided to the Daily Mail.
Brian told police that his wife ‘struck him in the face multiple times’ while drunk, the report said. Lynette also accused him of assaulting her, with officers noting that she had no visible injuries.
The newly unearthed report has raised questions about the couple’s marriage, which Lynette’s distraught daughter previously described as being ‘volatile.’
When probed about the alleged domestic violence, Brian’s attorney branded Lynette the ‘aggressor’ in their marriage and suggested that her client has been wrongly portrayed as an abuser.
Lynette Hooker was arrested for domestic violence in 2015 alleged assault that left her husband Brian with a red, swollen and bloody nose. The injury to his nose was seemingly so gruesome that police redacted it in evidence photographs provided to the Daily Mail
Pictures captured by responding Kentwood, Michigan police officers showed the bloody wounds that Brian obtained during the alleged assault
Lynette, described by officers as being ‘highly intoxicated’, was arrested at their home on February 1, 2015 on charges of assault and battery/simple assault.
The alleged altercation broke out after Lynette became upset about an intimate encounter allegedly taking place upstairs, the police report said.
She believed an individual named Jacob Hooker was ‘fooling around’ with an unnamed person in a locked room in the house, according to the filing.
She tried to open the locked door and struck Brian in the face ‘four to five times’ after he tried to calm her down, he told police.
Brian told police he ‘had never been hit like that in a long time’ and ‘started to cry and became emotional,’ the report said.
It is unclear how Jacob, who according to public records was 23 at the time of the incident, is related to the Hookers.
Lynette did tell responding officers that her children had locked themselves in a room upstairs, the report stated. She alleged Brian choked her and punched her one time as she tried to get in the room.
Brian, who police noted was also intoxicated, was not arrested, despite Lynette’s allegations against him.
Brian, pictured after the February 2015 incident, told police that his wife ‘struck him in the face multiple times’ while drunk. Lynette also accused him of assaulting her, with officers noting in their police report that she had no visible injuries
Lynette and Brian were experienced sailors who had been traveling together for more than a decade, often documenting their life at sea on social media
The warrant against Lynette was ultimately denied after authorities deemed there was ‘insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.’
When approached by the Daily Mail on Thursday about the alleged assault, Brian’s attorney Terrel Butler said: ‘I have not discussed this with my client yet, but to my understanding she’s the only one that was charged in that incident.’
‘I will say this [arrest] clearly changes the image that has been portrayed of him as being violent or an aggressor.’
Asked specifically if Brian had a history of violence, Butler reiterated that her client has denied the allegations of abuse.
‘The facts speak for themselves,’ she continued, speaking about the investigation into the alleged incident.
‘Rest assured, if it had shown him being the aggressor there would have been some record of that.’
The Hookers have been married for more than two decades and spent the past four years as boat-life vloggers living on their yacht Soulmate.
Lynette, whose loved ones say she was an experienced boater, plunged into the waters off the Abaco Islands while traveling with Brian on Saturday.
Lynette went missing in the Bahamas after falling overboard during a boat ride with her husband Brian on Saturday. She is said to have fallen from a dinghy as the couple were making their way back to their sailboat
Lynette’s daughter Karli Aylesworth, seen with her mother and stepmother Brian, claimed it is unlikely that Lynette would ‘just fall’ off the boat
Brian was arrested by police in the Bahamas on Wednesday in connection to his wife’s disappearance.
He was detained on the Abaco islands five days after he returned from the expedition without her, claiming she fell overboard.
Authorities first interviewed Brian and released him, then brought him back in as a witness for further questioning.
He was later brought in for questioning a third time, as a suspect, according to Butler.
The Royal Bahamas police said Brian was questioned ‘on probable cause’ and was taken into custody as a suspect in connection with his wife’s disappearance, but he has not been formally charged.
Butler said her client ‘categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing’ in his wife’s disappearance, saying he ‘has been cooperating with the relevant authorities as part of an ongoing investigation.’
The couple were experienced sailors who had been traveling together for more than a decade, often documenting their life at sea on social media, authorities said.
On Saturday evening, they took out an eight-foot motorboat from Hope Town in the Bahamas, but only Brian returned.
He told authorities that his wife fell overboard with the boat keys as they were returning to their yacht ‘Soulmate’, causing the engine to shut off and forcing him to paddle to the shore.
As of Friday morning, Lynette – whose family has described her as an experienced sailor – still remains lost at sea. Rescuers have now moved to a recovery operation
Brian Hooker was arrested in the Bahamas on Wednesday in connection to Lynette’s disappearance. He ‘categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing’
But text messages Brian purportedly sent to a boater friend Daniel Danforth have revealed apparent inconsistencies in his story – with Brian first claiming that strong winds pushed him and Lynette apart ‘pretty quickly’ after she fell off a dinghy.
‘The wind blew me away from her and she swam towards the sailboat, and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly as it was just about sundown,’ Brian allegedly wrote to Danforth in a series of messages obtained by the Daily Mail.
He then apparently shared how he ‘drifted’ and ‘tried to paddle with one oar’ for seven hours before he made it to the shore of a neighboring island.
Danforth reached out to Brian on Monday evening after seeing a news report about Lynette’s disappearance, the messages purportedly showed.
He told Brian that he was keeping the Hooker family in his prayers and asked if there was anything he could do to help them during this hard time.
Brian thanked Danforth for his support and shared how their ‘family is in hell’ after search and rescue crews failed to locate his missing wife, the messages showed.
‘They are going back out tomorrow but a storm is coming in Wednesday,’ he added.
Danforth said he checked in with Brian again on Tuesday morning, offering him a place to stay and a helping hand.
Brian Hooker allegedly told Daniel Danforth that strong winds pushed him and his wife Lynette apart ‘pretty quickly’ after she fell off a dinghy in the Abaco Islands, according to a series of text messages shared with the Daily Mail
Brian told him that he moved his boat to Marsh Harbor and was sleeping on it, the messages showed.
He added that his sister and brother-in-law had since flown to the Bahamas and he planned to stay with them for a few nights before continuing to search for Lynette.
Brian then went on to congratulate Danforth on his recent sailboat purchase. Danforth told the Daily Mail that he has not heard from his friend since.
Danforth and his wife Shana met the Hookers while sailing in New Orleans three years ago. He described the couples as being ‘fellow yachting friends.’
Although Danforth was closer to Brian than Lynette, he has now expressed skepticism over his buddy’s recount of events.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I don’t believe the entire story.’
As of Friday morning, Lynette – whose family has described her as an experienced sailor – remains lost at sea. Searchers have now moved to a recovery operation.
In a statement to the Daily Mail earlier this week, Brian said he is ‘heartbroken’ by his wife’s disappearance, describing the incident as a ‘boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds.’
‘Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart,’ Brian said. ‘We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.’
Lynette and Brian had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan
Lynette’s heartbroken daughter Karli Aylesworth called for a full investigation into her mother’s disappearance after accusing Brian of having previously threatened to harm his wife
Brian’s attorney Terrel Butler, when asked about the 2015 incident, suggested that Lynette was the ‘aggressor’ in the couple’s relationship
Lynette’s heartbroken daughter Karli Aylesworth has tried to poke holes in her stepfather’s statement, claiming Brian only left her a voicemail about Lynette’s disappearance three days after she vanished.
In the voicemail shared with CBS News and NewsNation, Brian is heard saying: ‘Hello, honey, it’s Dad. I just got a call from Hope Town Search and Rescue, and they found the flotation device that I threw to mom when she fell overboard.
‘And uh, so they’re, that’s a, they haven’t found her yet, but they’re, they can now focus of all their efforts on in a smaller area, and they’re still out there searching today. So I just wanted to update you and let you know.
‘I love you. I’ll talk to you later bye, bye-bye.’
Aylesworth has also called for a full investigation into the tragedy after accusing Brian of having previously threatened to harm his wife.
In an interview with Fox News, she referenced ‘prior issues’ in Lynette and Brian’s marriage and claimed they had a ‘history of not getting along, especially when they drink.’
‘There is a history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard. So, the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there’s more to the story,’ she told the outlet.
‘There has also been a history of domestic violence in that relationship, so I do believe something might have happened to her.’
Aylesworth has not responded to the Daily Mail’s multiple requests for comment.
Butler said, in a statement, that Brian’s denial of wrongdoing includes in particular ‘the allegations recently made by Karli Aylesworth.’
