Cadaver dogs from the US Coast Guard have been brought in to help search for missing American Lynette Hooker — 11 days after she went missing in the Bahamas.
The K-9 team arrived in the Caribbean tourist hotspot on Wednesday morning, Royal Bahamas Police assistant commissioner Advardo Dames told ABC News.
Lynette, 55, has been missing since April 4, when her husband, Brian, claimed she fell overboard from the couple’s dinghy as they returned to their yacht late at night.
Cadaver dogs from the US Coast Guard have been brought in to help authorities in the Bahamas in their search for Lynette Hooker, as the hunt for the missing American boater enters its 11th day. Facebook / Lynette HookerBrian Hooker, 59, was arrested on April 8 after coming in for questioning, but was released on Monday after a deadline to charge him passed.
He has vowed to remain in the Bahamas to continue the search for his missing wife, telling reporters it was his “sole focus.”
The husband, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, has a fraught past, with previous arrests for child abuse and domestic assault that were subsequently dropped.
Despite his release, police still consider him a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, and it isn’t clear if he can leave the Bahamas or whether he will be arrested again.
Lynette Hooker’s husband Brian, 59, was arrested on April 8 after coming in for questioning but was released on April 13. Facebook / Lynette HookerHooker has denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance, blaming the media attention surrounding the case for the suspicions on him.
“I said I’d never harm Lynette, and I never would harm Lynette, and I want to find Lynette,” he told NBC News, recalling his answers to police questions about whether he hurt his wife.
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“It’s been 10 days, it’s been a long time, I don’t think I’ve ever been apart from her in 25 years for this long,” he added.
The couple, who sold their house in 2020, had been sailing for more than 12 years, and were cruising around the Caribbean in their yacht, “Soulmates,” when Lynette went missing.
Hooker blamed bad weather for sweeping his wife out to sea, along with the keys to the dinghy, forcing him to paddle back to shore to get help.
Despite that, he hasn’t ruled out the hope that Lynette is still 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 Tuesday.
“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,” he added.
