Lynette Hooker's Mom Accuses Husband of Lying

The mother of Lynette Hooker, the Michigan woman who went missing during a boat ride in the Bahamas in April, says she isn't buying her son-in-law's story of what happened. Three months into the investigation, Darlene Hamlett is publicly rejecting Brian Hooker's account that Lynette fell from a dinghy at night as the couple headed back to their sailboat, Soulmate, and was carried away by currents. "She made it back to the boat, and there was foul play," Hamlett told Fox News. She didn't detail how she reached that view but suggested she knew more than she was allowed to say publicly.

The US Coast Guard Investigative Service, which recently conducted new land and dive searches and brought the dinghy to the US for forensic testing, declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation. Lynette's daughter has also questioned her stepfather's account that Lynette went overboard with the dinghy's ignition key, forcing Brian to paddle to shore, claiming her mother never held onto the key because Brian was always at the helm. She also referred to prior issues in the relationship. As NewsNation reports, Brian Hooker's ex-wife alleged he was "physically abusive" and "threatened me with an 'accident'" in 1999. Brian Hooker hasn't been charged with a crime and hasn't publicly commented on the case in weeks.