The case of Lynette Hooker, a Michigan woman who went missing in the Bahamas in April, is being investigated as a “possible foreign murder of a U.S. national,” a U.S. official told CBS News.
Search efforts for Hooker, 55, are still ongoing, as the 154-foot U.S. Coast Guard cutter Margaret Norvell arrived in Marsh Harbour on Tuesday carrying a team of specialized divers. The U.S. Coast Guard had been granted permission by the Bahamian government to send divers to canvass previously unsearched areas last week, a source briefed on the investigation told CBS News on Thursday.
The divers will be searching for new evidence, including Hooker’s body, based on GPS data gathered from an electronic device. Investigators have also been to the Abaco Inn, the last place Hooker was seen alive.
According to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, the government has been investigating the case as a possible foreign murder of a U.S. national for weeks, and that investigative posture has remained consistent. While public statements have generally described the matter as a “criminal investigation,” officials have been examining the case under the framework of a federal statute that covers the foreign murder of U.S. nationals.
No charges have been filed, and the official emphasized that the recent characterization should not be interpreted as a new development or shift in the investigation.
According to an official familiar with the investigation, the new digital forensic evidence appears to undercut Brian Hooker’s account of his wife’s disappearance. Brian Hooker told authorities that he and Lynette Hooker were on their dinghy going back to their sailboat, the Soulmate, when rough waters knocked her into the sea and left him drifting for several hours. Lynette Hooker was last seen near Aunt Pat’s Bay, near Elbow Cay and Hope Town, Brian Hooker told local authorities.
The U.S. official previously told CBS News the GPS data from one of Brian Hooker’s devices showed movements that did not align with what he told investigators. The data shows the device was out on the water, stopping in the Sea of Abaco before returning, the official said, giving investigators a more precise location to search.
Brian Hooker was arrested in connection with Lynette Hooker’s disappearance several days later, but was released and allowed to return to the U.S. He has denied wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged. H
“The story didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” Troy Pritchard, a member of the initial search team, told CBS News. “But going on information that we had, we had to do our best to search what was told to us in the initial talks with the police.”
Baine and Marnee Stevenson, who are friends of Lynette Hooker’s, told CBS News they hope the new evidence helps solve the case.
“I’m hoping this is a step in the right direction for justice for Lynette,” Marnee Stevenson said.
“I have faith that following their GPS coordinates, they’re going to find something,” Blaine Stevenson added.
