Brian and Lynette Hooker’s investigation into a ‘mystery’ focuses on a local boat captain

GREAT ABACO ISLAND, Bahamas – As more details emerge about the last moments of Brian Hooker and his wife before they disappeared at sea, Fox News Digital recreates the path Brian and his wife Lynette took in the moments before tragedy struck.

Mo Monestime, who has spent 15 years chartering boats in the Great Abaco Island area, guided the trip through tropical Bahamian waters. He started by going out to the small harbor across from the Abaco Inn, where the Hooks were drinking before trying to get back to their boat.

The route needs to turn southwest after clearing the harbor, then follow a short walk between the west coast of Elbow Cay and the east coast of Lubbers Quarters. That was the approach the Hawks tried to take around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.

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According to digital maps that Brian reportedly drew and sent to his friends, the Hookers’ return trip ended abruptly near the southwest bend, about halfway to their cable boat, which sits at a popular station used by tourists and locals alike.

The water around these holes is clear enough to see the bottom and sometimes only as shallow as four feet, Monestime said. At high levels, he estimates that the water rises to about 10 meters.

The narrow channel between the two coves is bustling with activity, as boaters pass, park, and steer their boats in and out of the shallow water. Nearby is Tahiti Beach, and a large sandbar with a floating area when weather conditions permit.

Boats docked near Aunt Pat’s Bay near Elbow Cay on Great Abaco Island in The Bahamas on April 12, 2026. Brian and Lynette Hooker’s boat docked at this location before Lynette disappeared on April 5, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

The journey from the pier to the popular mooring took only about four minutes.

But gusts of wind may have created choppy waters before Brian said his wife fell overboard, separating the two.

In a recorded call Brian made to a friend on April 7 obtained by CBS, Brian gave a very detailed account of what he says was the accident that led to Lynette’s disappearance.

“In fact, he just bumped the boat when the wind was blowing, there were 20-knot winds,” he said on the phone, adding that he and his wife were not wearing life jackets.

Boats docked near Aunt Pat’s Bay near Elbow Cay on Great Abaco Island in The Bahamas on April 12, 2026. Brian and Lynette Hooker’s boat docked at this location before Lynette disappeared on April 5, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

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“The sun went down, and the sun went down about ten minutes after it fell,” he said. “The boat key went with him because it wasn’t clipped to anything or anyone, and he had a spare boat key in his dry bag, which he didn’t have.”

Brian went on to say that the wind quickly blew the couple away and he said he thought Lynette tried to swim back to the boat, which he said was about 1,000 meters from where the incident happened.

“I shouted to him that I had lost my oar, then I threw the anchor outside, stopped the boat, and shouted. I did not see him because the moon had not yet risen,” he said.

Brian Hooker, 58, has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of wife Lynette Hooker but has not been charged, his lawyer said. (@thesailinghookers/TikTok)

Later, he said he threw a floating pillow at Lynette right after she entered the water, but he didn’t see if she was able to catch it. He said he shouted at her for about an hour.

He said: “When I anchored, I was about a quarter and a half of a mile from him, and I decided I must go for help,” he said, “but I couldn’t get to the island, so I rowed.”

“And it was a failure of constraints, and it’s something I will never forgive myself for,” he said. “We stayed a long time, left it very dark, all kinds of—-. No life-jackets. I—throwing the boat at the end–the anchor came out at the end–instead of the first. You can’t really explain it, you know?”

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Later, Brian says, he washed ashore about four kilometers northeast of where the incident was reported to have taken place, on a beach covered with dense rocks, near a boat repair and storage facility called Marsh Harbor Boatyard. There, he was met by a security guard who called the police.

A small rocky beach in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas where Brian Hooker allegedly washed up on April 5, 2026, after his wife Lynette Hooker went missing. Photo taken on April 11, 2026. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

Brian was arrested around 7:30 pm on Wednesday, four days after the incident.

She is currently incarcerated in Freeport, a separate island in the Bahamas, while police continue to investigate Lynette’s disappearance. Bahamian law allows an initial period of 48 hours before bringing charges against a suspect, which can be extended under certain circumstances. The original deadline for his release was Friday night, but his detention was extended by 72 hours. He is expected to be released or charged with a crime on Monday night.

Lynette’s fate remains uncertain, but local authorities have announced that their investigation has shifted to a recovery effort.

Butler said Brian has been cooperating with authorities and “unequivocally denies any wrongdoing.”

Lynette Hooker is missing after falling from a small boat on Saturday night. Her husband, Brian Hooker, reported her missing Sunday morning. (Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker/Facebook)

Brian has maintained throughout the investigation that he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and issued a statement on Wednesday lamenting his wife’s disappearance.

“I am saddened by the recent unexpected boat accident at sea and the strong wind that caused my lovely Lynette to fall over our property. a small boat near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Despite our best efforts to reach him, the winds and currents separated us too much. We are still searching for him and that is my focus,” he said on Facebook.

“Not available, that’s a mystery,” Monestime told Fox News Digital.

“It’s very difficult to disappear, because, again, we are very close to the world,” Monestime told Fox News Digital. “So if you fall down [and] drown, someone will see you tomorrow. And, we can see down, you know? I will be sailing, I will see stingrays, I will see turtles, so I will see the human body. Someone will see something. A person can say something, like, ‘Hey, we just saw something unusual in the water.’

Mo Montestime, pictured on April 12, 2026, is a charter boat captain for 15 years in the Great Abaco Island area. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)

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Monestime said drownings occur occasionally near Elbow Cay, but reiterated that victims are recovering quickly.

“And, he saw the world all the way, all the time,” he said. “Even if you fall into the water in pitch black, you can see the lights on the beach.”