April 9, 2026
NEW! Husbands Behaving Badly (Part 1): Brian Hooker Arrested In Connection With Wife Missing At Sea
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RSS Feed Royal Bahamas Police say they’ve made an arrest in the disappearance of 55-year-old Michigan wife and mother, Lynette Hooker. Her 59-year-old husband, Brian Hooker has been taken into custody after he told police high winds and rough seas threw his wife overboard from their 8 foot dinghy. Lynette’s daughter has been making the rounds, letting media and police know her step-dad has been violent with her mom before her disappearance.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, April ninth, and well, I guess we saw this one coming. Woman falls off a boat, goes missing, husband comes back to shore, says, my wife went overboard. And when you know that husband has now been arrested, and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Robes. This has been days and days of building.
00:00:28
Speaker 1: You hear the story, you hear the details, and we all thought, yeah, this is a true crime story episode waiting to happen, and sure enough, here we are.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: Yes, this unfortunately wasn't too hard to see coming, especially when you have the daughter of the missing woman speaking out about her stepfather and getting very specific about her suspicions based on past behavior where she claims he had been violent towards his mother and even had threatened to throw her overboard. So yes, she on a media campaign of sorts, which honestly very commendable and brave of her. She just once her mom went missing, she actually showed and let a lot of folks listen to this voicemail from her stepdad and said, yeah, this I don't believe is an accident, and she actually called for the investigation that had taken place and now, yes, it looks like her stepfather is officially under arrest.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: So we'll take you back here. What we talking about is Lynnette Hooker. This is a fifty five year old woman from Michigan who has been missing since last Saturday. And the story was that she had gone out with her husband, Bryant. They'd gone out in a dingy eight foot dingy, so a small boat, but hard bottom boat. And this was both of them experienced folks who are out there on the sea. They are experienced at doing this. So she goes missing. He comes back and claims she fell over some kind of way. She had the keys to this dingy with her in her pocket. So the engine shuts off, he can't control it and he has to paddle his way back some hours later. And that's the story he told Robes when he got back. Everybody heard that story and immediately called bullshit on that story. But who didn't do so were authorities who took him at his word, and at least Robes publicly, we're saying this is a search and rescue operation and he was not a suspect.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: That's true. This all happened. Think about it. We're now here on Thursday morning. This happened Saturday night. They took off at seven thirty pm. I believe by the time he paddled his way back to shore it was around four am on Sunday. So yeah, we're talking four full days of yes, searching for Lynnette, who they still have not found somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, and saying that yes, Brian was not a suspect, that they were not looking at him. He was not considered in any way a part of this investigation until now where he has been officially arrested. And I have to think that this woman, Lynette's daughter, had to play a significant role. She filled in so many holes in the story because if it weren't for her, what do they have to go on. You got a guy who claims something happened where there is no other version to compete with his.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Maybe you can't arrest the guy just because the daughter is pissed. They must have something or know something the daughter's suspicions or even they could have had the most explosive, violent, volatile relationship leading up to this, and that is not evidence that he killed the woman. So I am they have to have something, and I'm curious to know what it is because they don't have our body.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Correct, I've seen no where they.
00:03:58
Speaker 3: Have that as of this recording, they do not have Lynette Hooker's body. We do have a statement, however, from Brian's attorney upon his arrest, So here is what he is claiming at this moment.
00:04:13
Speaker 4: I maintain the positions stated by my client.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: He categorically denies the allegations made against him, and he said that he had advised his client to refrain from any other public comments to ensure the integrity of the legal process. But we had just we did a podcast on this yesterday and we heard from Brian. On Wednesday, he put out this heartfelt statement on social media talking about, you know, thanking all of the different Bahamian entities and organizations police search and rescue helping him find his Soulmate. That was the name of their yacht by the way, that they were going back to. Their boat's name was Soulmate, and they had been documenting all of their travels on the high seas on social media, so they were very active and very public look in their relationship and their journeys. So yes, he put out the statement basically just saying how much he missed her and what had happened, and apparently police weren't buying any of it, or at least it looks as though they aren't necessarily believing his version of what happened.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: I was surprised, I have to tell you.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: I was surprised when you and I Happy to be out alert started coming through on our phones. I was surprised to hear that an arrest had been made. Now the announcement that they made ropes and there was some I don't know if there was much confusion, but the authorities weren't specific in who they arrested. But you could read between the lines here. But I think other outlets were able to confirm, but they would only say that a fifty nine year old American male, Yes, was arrested in connection.
00:05:54
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:05:55
Speaker 3: That was a little confusing at first, because we thought, how could there be another man and around the same age of her husband involved in some way where he's arrested potentially for the murder or at least the disappearance of Lynette.
00:06:10
Speaker 4: Turns out Yes, in fact, it was her husband.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: He was claiming that he was heartbroken and he called it the recent boat accident. I just think, Look, I don't know how they're going to go about proving this. They have the boat, If there are any forensics in that boat, that would be the only plausible explanation because short of having her body be recovered, or that's my point.
00:06:37
Speaker 4: You make a good point. Her daughter may have.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Really valid historical evidence that this or something similar to this, or a threat of this existed, but that does not rise to the level of arresting somebody.
00:06:51
Speaker 4: You have to have some sort of other evidence connecting him to a crime.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: And right now all we know is what he told us, that she fell overboard in rough seas, that the current pulled the two of them away too far from one another. His boat was unable to move or operate because she had the keys, and so he couldn't go get her or save her on the boat. And I don't know other like And you've made the point. And her daughter did say this was a strong swimmer. Lynnette knew how to swim, So the thought could be, did he have to kill her if he did before throwing her overboard, if that's what happened, and if that did happen, is there any evidence of that on the boat.
00:07:37
Speaker 2: It was short of her body.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: If there has to be something on the boat, there has to be something. He told somebody, this has to be based on something to make this arrest. So I'm fascinated to hear what that thing. Maybe I was, I didn't know. The step daughter is one thing to be half suspicions rose, but she described a pretty volatile relationship between these two, involving alcohol and even some physically violent altercations between these two, as she almost talked about it like it was just a part of their recent history.
00:08:11
Speaker 4: That is true. She said that they had been drinking lately.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: And fighting a lot, and she even pointed out that there was a prior incident where he had she used the words choked her out, So had choked his choked her mom and then threatened to throw her overboard, so she claimed, and she told police. She told members of the media that this was a couple who looked beautiful and happy and adventurous on Instagram and on their social media pages, I think mostly Facebook, but that actually if you knew the couple, and you knew and you just dug a little deeper, there was a lot of toxicity, a lot of volatility, and she said the moment she heard her mother went missing.
00:09:00
Speaker 4: Off this boat. She was immediately suspicious.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: Well, we did hear from the man who is now a suspect, the man who is now under arrest, before he became officially a suspect, before he was put under arrest, he actually put a message out for all of us to hear about this case, about his soulmate, about his wife, about this accident. We'll tell you what he had to say, word for a word, and you know what, see what you make of it.
00:09:32
Speaker 5: Stay here, all right?
00:09:42
Speaker 1: We continue here on Amy and TJ. Ropes, Brian right, Brian Hooker, Brian Hooker, Brian Hookers is his name? Look, he was speaking. I think you saw the video as well. There were camera I can't remember which I think was CBS. Maybe they caught up with him in the Bahamas. He didn't want to say anything to them, so didn't make any comment on camera, but he did make a comment on social media. Won't you know what? Not going to give an opinion about it? We'll read you have it in front of you.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: I can pull it up in just a second. Because also remember we also got to hear that. I'm like, we'll get into this too. He left a voice message for his stepdaughter, which also didn't feel in tone with what you would expect someone to leave a message for the daughter of your wife who has gone missing. But yes, I do have his official statement that he put out on social media as he was waiting for a word about whether or not his Lynette would be found. He wrote this on Wednesday. I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high wind that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow k in the Bahamas. Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continued to search for her, and this is my sole focus. Our family is deeply grateful for the Behavian people's assistance. He talks about the fire and rescue teams Behave, the Bahamas Police Force, the Bahamas Defense Force, the US Coast Guard. He says, everyone who's worked tirelessly in an ongoing effort to bring Lynette back to us. Thank you to everyone for keeping Lynette in your thoughts and for your support.
00:11:36
Speaker 4: Of our family during this difficult time.
00:11:39
Speaker 3: That was just hours ago that he put this statement out and now he is under arrest.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: Oh no, right, this is an innocent man. Remember that about our justice system. Excuse me, this is not our justice system.
00:11:56
Speaker 4: This is the behavian justice system.
00:11:58
Speaker 1: Pumped the brakes there, Hey, this is not our justice system. So will there be I'm actually not sure, Robes, as I speak to you, I don't think it would be that much of a huge disparity between our two justice systems. But there have to be some level of evidence against this man, and right now all it is is a right now the evidence is come on, man. But that's the extent of this story. Like who you think? You can obviously that, but that doesn't hold up in court. What do they have? They must have something. This statement here, first line of it is just peculiar, Robes, How do you say, I'm heartbroken the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds.
00:12:48
Speaker 3: It's just not how people talk. And if you just had gone through something that traumatic. Where he is claiming he saw his wife, oh my lovedy the words, fall off.
00:12:59
Speaker 4: A boat in front of him.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: He could do nothing to save her, according to him, based on the conditions they were both in and the fact that he then lost power of the boat because she had the keys, and the boat basically stopped operating when she fell into the water. I'm just thinking about how you would describe that. It wouldn't be clinical.
00:13:20
Speaker 4: And look, I guess I do want to and you.
00:13:22
Speaker 3: Always say this whole space for the fact that we don't know how we would react in a situation until it happens to us. But this just felt very clinical, very just strategic, where you're actually trying to lay a case about what happened that had nothing to do with you, But there's no emotion there.
00:13:41
Speaker 4: It just feels very performative. I don't know.
00:13:43
Speaker 3: And then we heard the voicemail that he left his stepdaughter where he told her that your mom's missing. She fell out of the boat and he basically the whole point of the voicemail was for him to establish that he tried to throw a life preserver to her, and that they found the life preserver but they didn't find her and they didn't know if she ever got it or not, but he wanted to let her know he tried.
00:14:13
Speaker 4: It all felt.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Again, what you're saying makes perfect sense based on us seeing this movie time and time again. This story is so familiar to us all that it's bizarre that you almost can't even believe. Really, bro you going with this again, And then you pointed out to me, well, you go with it because it's a he said, she said, and she can't say anything.
00:14:44
Speaker 4: She's not here to say anything.
00:14:45
Speaker 1: Yes, So, but this the story and the story he's telling robes and the words he's using. I leave space for how people might react to things. But you just witnessed your love looat away from you and you're powerless to do anything about it. And the first thing out of your mouth is it was a recent boat accident. Strange and unpredictable season high.
00:15:12
Speaker 4: Ends, so strange.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: Okay, But I just I always want to try to leave a little space.
00:15:19
Speaker 1: But every step along the way of this, including everything he has said, just continues to pile into that other bin of Yeah, I've seen this before exactly.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: And look, we will see what happens going forward, because again this is in the Behavian jurisdiction, but you've got two US citizens. The US State Department has only said this that they are aware of reports regarding a missing American near Elbow, k and is working with Behavian authorities to provide assistance. Obviously, now with this arrest, I would think that the US would take a larger role, But I don't know how this works exactly, because, yeah, you've got two US citizens, one missing, presumed dead, and one now arrested in connection with her disappearance. So I don't know if US authorities step in take over. I don't know what happens next, but we shall see and it will be interesting, and we of course will be following it for all of you, but we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:16:24
Speaker 4: As always, I may be rove off alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, April ninth, and well, I guess we saw this one coming. Woman falls off a boat, goes missing, husband comes back to shore, says, my wife went overboard. And when you know that husband has now been arrested, and with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:25
Speaker 2: Robes. This has been days and days of building.
00:00:28
Speaker 1: You hear the story, you hear the details, and we all thought, yeah, this is a true crime story episode waiting to happen, and sure enough, here we are.
00:00:36
Speaker 3: Yes, this unfortunately wasn't too hard to see coming, especially when you have the daughter of the missing woman speaking out about her stepfather and getting very specific about her suspicions based on past behavior where she claims he had been violent towards his mother and even had threatened to throw her overboard. So yes, she on a media campaign of sorts, which honestly very commendable and brave of her. She just once her mom went missing, she actually showed and let a lot of folks listen to this voicemail from her stepdad and said, yeah, this I don't believe is an accident, and she actually called for the investigation that had taken place and now, yes, it looks like her stepfather is officially under arrest.
00:01:27
Speaker 1: So we'll take you back here. What we talking about is Lynnette Hooker. This is a fifty five year old woman from Michigan who has been missing since last Saturday. And the story was that she had gone out with her husband, Bryant. They'd gone out in a dingy eight foot dingy, so a small boat, but hard bottom boat. And this was both of them experienced folks who are out there on the sea. They are experienced at doing this. So she goes missing. He comes back and claims she fell over some kind of way. She had the keys to this dingy with her in her pocket. So the engine shuts off, he can't control it and he has to paddle his way back some hours later. And that's the story he told Robes when he got back. Everybody heard that story and immediately called bullshit on that story. But who didn't do so were authorities who took him at his word, and at least Robes publicly, we're saying this is a search and rescue operation and he was not a suspect.
00:02:28
Speaker 3: That's true. This all happened. Think about it. We're now here on Thursday morning. This happened Saturday night. They took off at seven thirty pm. I believe by the time he paddled his way back to shore it was around four am on Sunday. So yeah, we're talking four full days of yes, searching for Lynnette, who they still have not found somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, and saying that yes, Brian was not a suspect, that they were not looking at him. He was not considered in any way a part of this investigation until now where he has been officially arrested. And I have to think that this woman, Lynette's daughter, had to play a significant role. She filled in so many holes in the story because if it weren't for her, what do they have to go on. You got a guy who claims something happened where there is no other version to compete with his.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: Maybe you can't arrest the guy just because the daughter is pissed. They must have something or know something the daughter's suspicions or even they could have had the most explosive, violent, volatile relationship leading up to this, and that is not evidence that he killed the woman. So I am they have to have something, and I'm curious to know what it is because they don't have our body.
00:03:57
Speaker 2: Correct, I've seen no where they.
00:03:58
Speaker 3: Have that as of this recording, they do not have Lynette Hooker's body. We do have a statement, however, from Brian's attorney upon his arrest, So here is what he is claiming at this moment.
00:04:13
Speaker 4: I maintain the positions stated by my client.
00:04:16
Speaker 3: He categorically denies the allegations made against him, and he said that he had advised his client to refrain from any other public comments to ensure the integrity of the legal process. But we had just we did a podcast on this yesterday and we heard from Brian. On Wednesday, he put out this heartfelt statement on social media talking about, you know, thanking all of the different Bahamian entities and organizations police search and rescue helping him find his Soulmate. That was the name of their yacht by the way, that they were going back to. Their boat's name was Soulmate, and they had been documenting all of their travels on the high seas on social media, so they were very active and very public look in their relationship and their journeys. So yes, he put out the statement basically just saying how much he missed her and what had happened, and apparently police weren't buying any of it, or at least it looks as though they aren't necessarily believing his version of what happened.
00:05:21
Speaker 2: I was surprised, I have to tell you.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: I was surprised when you and I Happy to be out alert started coming through on our phones. I was surprised to hear that an arrest had been made. Now the announcement that they made ropes and there was some I don't know if there was much confusion, but the authorities weren't specific in who they arrested. But you could read between the lines here. But I think other outlets were able to confirm, but they would only say that a fifty nine year old American male, Yes, was arrested in connection.
00:05:54
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:05:55
Speaker 3: That was a little confusing at first, because we thought, how could there be another man and around the same age of her husband involved in some way where he's arrested potentially for the murder or at least the disappearance of Lynette.
00:06:10
Speaker 4: Turns out Yes, in fact, it was her husband.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: He was claiming that he was heartbroken and he called it the recent boat accident. I just think, Look, I don't know how they're going to go about proving this. They have the boat, If there are any forensics in that boat, that would be the only plausible explanation because short of having her body be recovered, or that's my point.
00:06:37
Speaker 4: You make a good point. Her daughter may have.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Really valid historical evidence that this or something similar to this, or a threat of this existed, but that does not rise to the level of arresting somebody.
00:06:51
Speaker 4: You have to have some sort of other evidence connecting him to a crime.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: And right now all we know is what he told us, that she fell overboard in rough seas, that the current pulled the two of them away too far from one another. His boat was unable to move or operate because she had the keys, and so he couldn't go get her or save her on the boat. And I don't know other like And you've made the point. And her daughter did say this was a strong swimmer. Lynnette knew how to swim, So the thought could be, did he have to kill her if he did before throwing her overboard, if that's what happened, and if that did happen, is there any evidence of that on the boat.
00:07:37
Speaker 2: It was short of her body.
00:07:39
Speaker 1: If there has to be something on the boat, there has to be something. He told somebody, this has to be based on something to make this arrest. So I'm fascinated to hear what that thing. Maybe I was, I didn't know. The step daughter is one thing to be half suspicions rose, but she described a pretty volatile relationship between these two, involving alcohol and even some physically violent altercations between these two, as she almost talked about it like it was just a part of their recent history.
00:08:11
Speaker 4: That is true. She said that they had been drinking lately.
00:08:14
Speaker 3: And fighting a lot, and she even pointed out that there was a prior incident where he had she used the words choked her out, So had choked his choked her mom and then threatened to throw her overboard, so she claimed, and she told police. She told members of the media that this was a couple who looked beautiful and happy and adventurous on Instagram and on their social media pages, I think mostly Facebook, but that actually if you knew the couple, and you knew and you just dug a little deeper, there was a lot of toxicity, a lot of volatility, and she said the moment she heard her mother went missing.
00:09:00
Speaker 4: Off this boat. She was immediately suspicious.
00:09:05
Speaker 1: Well, we did hear from the man who is now a suspect, the man who is now under arrest, before he became officially a suspect, before he was put under arrest, he actually put a message out for all of us to hear about this case, about his soulmate, about his wife, about this accident. We'll tell you what he had to say, word for a word, and you know what, see what you make of it.
00:09:32
Speaker 5: Stay here, all right?
00:09:42
Speaker 1: We continue here on Amy and TJ. Ropes, Brian right, Brian Hooker, Brian Hooker, Brian Hookers is his name? Look, he was speaking. I think you saw the video as well. There were camera I can't remember which I think was CBS. Maybe they caught up with him in the Bahamas. He didn't want to say anything to them, so didn't make any comment on camera, but he did make a comment on social media. Won't you know what? Not going to give an opinion about it? We'll read you have it in front of you.
00:10:14
Speaker 3: I can pull it up in just a second. Because also remember we also got to hear that. I'm like, we'll get into this too. He left a voice message for his stepdaughter, which also didn't feel in tone with what you would expect someone to leave a message for the daughter of your wife who has gone missing. But yes, I do have his official statement that he put out on social media as he was waiting for a word about whether or not his Lynette would be found. He wrote this on Wednesday. I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high wind that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow k in the Bahamas. Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continued to search for her, and this is my sole focus. Our family is deeply grateful for the Behavian people's assistance. He talks about the fire and rescue teams Behave, the Bahamas Police Force, the Bahamas Defense Force, the US Coast Guard. He says, everyone who's worked tirelessly in an ongoing effort to bring Lynette back to us. Thank you to everyone for keeping Lynette in your thoughts and for your support.
00:11:36
Speaker 4: Of our family during this difficult time.
00:11:39
Speaker 3: That was just hours ago that he put this statement out and now he is under arrest.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: Oh no, right, this is an innocent man. Remember that about our justice system. Excuse me, this is not our justice system.
00:11:56
Speaker 4: This is the behavian justice system.
00:11:58
Speaker 1: Pumped the brakes there, Hey, this is not our justice system. So will there be I'm actually not sure, Robes, as I speak to you, I don't think it would be that much of a huge disparity between our two justice systems. But there have to be some level of evidence against this man, and right now all it is is a right now the evidence is come on, man. But that's the extent of this story. Like who you think? You can obviously that, but that doesn't hold up in court. What do they have? They must have something. This statement here, first line of it is just peculiar, Robes, How do you say, I'm heartbroken the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds.
00:12:48
Speaker 3: It's just not how people talk. And if you just had gone through something that traumatic. Where he is claiming he saw his wife, oh my lovedy the words, fall off.
00:12:59
Speaker 4: A boat in front of him.
00:13:01
Speaker 3: He could do nothing to save her, according to him, based on the conditions they were both in and the fact that he then lost power of the boat because she had the keys, and the boat basically stopped operating when she fell into the water. I'm just thinking about how you would describe that. It wouldn't be clinical.
00:13:20
Speaker 4: And look, I guess I do want to and you.
00:13:22
Speaker 3: Always say this whole space for the fact that we don't know how we would react in a situation until it happens to us. But this just felt very clinical, very just strategic, where you're actually trying to lay a case about what happened that had nothing to do with you, But there's no emotion there.
00:13:41
Speaker 4: It just feels very performative. I don't know.
00:13:43
Speaker 3: And then we heard the voicemail that he left his stepdaughter where he told her that your mom's missing. She fell out of the boat and he basically the whole point of the voicemail was for him to establish that he tried to throw a life preserver to her, and that they found the life preserver but they didn't find her and they didn't know if she ever got it or not, but he wanted to let her know he tried.
00:14:13
Speaker 4: It all felt.
00:14:16
Speaker 1: Again, what you're saying makes perfect sense based on us seeing this movie time and time again. This story is so familiar to us all that it's bizarre that you almost can't even believe. Really, bro you going with this again, And then you pointed out to me, well, you go with it because it's a he said, she said, and she can't say anything.
00:14:44
Speaker 4: She's not here to say anything.
00:14:45
Speaker 1: Yes, So, but this the story and the story he's telling robes and the words he's using. I leave space for how people might react to things. But you just witnessed your love looat away from you and you're powerless to do anything about it. And the first thing out of your mouth is it was a recent boat accident. Strange and unpredictable season high.
00:15:12
Speaker 4: Ends, so strange.
00:15:15
Speaker 2: Okay, But I just I always want to try to leave a little space.
00:15:19
Speaker 1: But every step along the way of this, including everything he has said, just continues to pile into that other bin of Yeah, I've seen this before exactly.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: And look, we will see what happens going forward, because again this is in the Behavian jurisdiction, but you've got two US citizens. The US State Department has only said this that they are aware of reports regarding a missing American near Elbow, k and is working with Behavian authorities to provide assistance. Obviously, now with this arrest, I would think that the US would take a larger role, But I don't know how this works exactly, because, yeah, you've got two US citizens, one missing, presumed dead, and one now arrested in connection with her disappearance. So I don't know if US authorities step in take over. I don't know what happens next, but we shall see and it will be interesting, and we of course will be following it for all of you, but we always appreciate you listening to us.
00:16:24
Speaker 4: As always, I may be rove off alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon