Coast Guard Opens Criminal Probe of Bahamas Disappearance

An American tourist who vanished off a dinghy in Bahamian waters is now at the center of a US Coast Guard criminal probe. The Coast Guard confirmed to CNN that it has opened a criminal investigation into the disappearance of 55-year-old Michigan resident Lynette Hooker, four days after her husband reported she went overboard near Elbow Cay on Saturday night.

• Lynette Hooker and her husband, 58-year-old Brian Hooker, were returning to their yacht, "Soulmate," in an 8-foot dinghy when she "bounced" out of the boat amid strong winds and currents, according to an account he gave Bahamian police. He said his wife wasn't wearing a personal flotation device. He said she was wearing the engine safety lanyard, causing the dinghy to lose power when she fell, and that the last time he saw her, she was swimming toward shore.

• Brian Hooker told authorities he tried but failed to reach her as currents pushed them apart, then paddled until the powerless dinghy drifted to Marsh Harbour, where it eventually beached. He reached a boatyard around 4am Sunday and contacted police.
• Multiple agencies—including the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue, and the US Coast Guard—have since searched by sea, land, air, drone, and with divers, but the operation has shifted from rescue to recovery, local responders say.
• Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has questioned her stepfather's account. She told NBC News this week that her mother is an experienced mariner who is unlikely to "just fall" off a boat. She said the couple have a "history of not getting along, especially when they drink." Aylesworth said her stepfather sounded "monotone and relaxed" when he informed her Sunday that her mother was missing.
• Aylesworth told Fox News on Tuesday that she believes "something might have happened" to her mother. "There's history of them choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard," she said. "So the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there's more to the story."

• Aylesworth said she was first contacted by investigators only on Wednesday, when the Coast Guard interviewed her for two hours, and that she has received little information about what happened. She told CNN that the couple have been married for 25 years and have been sailing for more than a decade. Aylesworth has hired an attorney, while Lynette's mother, Darlene Hamlett, is rushing to obtain an emergency passport to travel to the Bahamas. Both women are calling for a full investigation.
• "We have many unanswered questions," said Hamlett. "Our family is still in shock. We are still holding on for a positive outcome to this tragedy."
• In a Facebook post Wednesday, Brian Hooker said he is "heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy," NBC reports. "Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart," he said. "We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus."