The husband of missing boater Lynette Hooker has been released from police custody in connection with her disappearance off a boat in the Bahamas — as horrifying photos of the Michigan mom’s alleged abuse at his hands emerged.
Brian Hooker, 59, was released as the Monday evening deadline passed for police to decide how to proceed with the case after his arrest last Wednesday, the Royal Bahamas Police Force announced.
“The decision to release the individual was made following consultation with the Department of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigations,” the department said in a statement.

Brian Hooker had been in custody since Wednesday, just days after claiming his wife of nearly 25 years had tumbled from an 8-foot hard dinghy en route to their yacht in Elbow Cay.Facebook/Lynette Hooker

Police said an initial investigation revealed that Lynette Hooker, 55, was swept away by currents after falling from the dinghy she was in with Brian while trying to reach their yacht, the Soulmate. Facebook / Lynette HookerBahamas cops didn’t identify Brian by name, but his attorney, Terrel Butler, confirmed his release to NBC News.
The embattled husband, who has denied any wrongdoing in Lynette’s disappearance, did not respond to reporters’ questions as he left Grand Bahama’s central police station. Butler said her client has been “very emotional” and said he needed to “destress from this horrible experience,” the outlet reported.
Brian has been in custody since Wednesday, just days after claiming his wife of nearly 25 years had tumbled from an 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy en route to their yacht in Elbow Cay.
Police said an initial investigation revealed that Lynette, 55, was swept away by currents after falling into the sea from the dinghy she was in with Brian while trying to reach their sailboat, the Soulmate.
During the couple’s excursion from Hope Town to Elbow Cay, Lynette reportedly tumbled overboard with the boat’s keys — causing the vessel’s engine to shut off, police said.
Brian told cops he lost sight of his wife in the rough surf and paddled the small boat back to shore, eventually arriving at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard around 4 a.m. Sunday.
Bahamian authorities had to decide by 7:20 p.m. Monday whether to issue charges after filing an extension on Friday that kept him in custody over the weekend and subject to interrogation.

The Soulmate, the boat the Hookers were heading to when Lynette fell overboard.Instagram / @the_sailing_hookers

Lynette and Brian Hooker on their dinghy.Facebook/Lynette Hooker
His release comes as Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that her daughter left her husband multiple times after several instances of alleged abuse — including one instance that left her with visible bruising on her back.
His arrest comes as Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that her daughter left her husband multiple times after several instances of alleged abuse — including one instance that left her with visible bruising on her back.
“With the lifestyle that my daughter and her husband live, I had been preparing for that phone call for a long time,” Hamlett told Banfield on her show “Drop Dead Serious” of the moment she learned her daughter was missing.

Photos shared by Lynette appear to show bruising on her back.Darlene Hamlett

Authorities in the Bahamas on Monday released Brian Hooker, the husband of an American woman who disappeared earlier this month.LiveNOW from FOX / Youtube
“There was a lot of good times and bad times in my daughter’s relationship with her husband. A lot of highs and a lot of lows. When it was fun, it was really fun, and when there were bad times, they were bad times,” the heartbroken mother said.
“I think they loved each other, but they were not good for each other,” she said, noting Brian tended to be “mean” and “hateful” and sometimes got physical with her daughter when he drank alcohol.
Lynette often took photos documenting her abuse, reminding her “not to go back” to Brian, despite typically returning to him. Hamlett added that she consulted battered women’s shelters for advice on how to get the couple to separate.
She had even booked a plane ticket a month ago to go home to her mother after indicating that Brian’s abuse was accelerating, Hamlett claimed.
Lynette had also confided in a friend that she was scared of being at sea with Brian.
Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has also been outspoken that she believes “something might have happened” involving her mom and her stepfather when the avid boater vanished at sea Saturday night.
“I do believe something might have happened to her,” she previously told Fox News.
“There’s history of him choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard. So the fact that this is actually happening makes me believe there’s more to the story.”
Brian “categorically and unequivocally” denies any wrongdoing linked to his wife’s disappearance, his attorney has said.
Before his arrest, he said he was “heartbroken” his “beloved” wife had gone missing, saying the “winds and currents drove us apart.”
“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus.”
The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. They had documented their yachting excursions online for the past three years under the amusing moniker “the Sailing Hookers.”
Brian’s attorney and the Royal Bahamas Police Force did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment.
News
He was only on the runway for less than two minutes 😳 — Investigators now believe the man struck by the Frontier Airlines plane may have entered the Denver airport area just before midnight… but the inexplicable 7-second pause in surveillance footage has AGAIN CHANGED THE ENTIRE CASE
A Frontier Airlines jetliner waits for clearance to take off as high winds strafe Denver International Airport Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Denver. David Zalubowski/AP A Frontier Airlines plane bound for Los Angeles on Friday night struck and killed a…
CANCELLED. CANCELLED🚨 — Newly released air traffic control recordings reportedly capture the tense moments after Frontier Airlines pilots realized something catastrophic had happened on the runway in Denver 😳 But a mysterious sound heard shortly afterward is now gaining attention online 👀
‘We just hit somebody’ – Frontier Airlines plane kills runway trespasser at Denver airport Air traffic control audio captured the moments after a Frontier Airlines plane fatally struck a person who had jumped a perimeter fence on to a runway…
BLACK BOX REPORT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING 👀 — Investigators reviewing data from the Frontier Airlines Airbus A321 are reportedly focusing on a brief warning sound heard inside the cockpit seconds before the crash 😳
Frontier Airlines Passengers Evacuated After Plane Hit a Person on the Runway During Takeoff at Denver Airport “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” Frontier Airlines said in a…
ENGINE FIRE! LET ME OUT! 🚨 — Newly released footage from inside the aircraft cabin reportedly captures the terrifying moment smoke began billowing from a Frontier Airlines plane after a late-night crash on the runway in Denver 😨 But viewers are now noticing a strange detail: passengers were still holding onto their luggage during the evacuation 👀
Terrifying videos show Frontier Airlines passengers fleeing smoke-filled cabin after jet strikes person on Denver runway Terrifying videos show passengers fleeing the Frontier Airlines plane which struck an apparent trespasser at Denver airport – as smoke fills the cabin. Some travelers ignored…
Then everyone went silent — A family on a Frontier Airlines flight said passengers heard a loud bang a few moments before the plane suddenly came to a stop on the runway in Denver 😳 But it was the pilot’s 4-WORD announcement that followed that sparked endless discussion… 👀
LA-bound family on horror flight reveals gruesome moment plane struck person A father and his two sons on a flight to Los Angeles thought they were “going to die” when their Frontier jet struck a pedestrian on the runway —…
VIDEO STOPS 1 SECOND BEFORE COLLISION 😳 — Surveillance video released after the Frontier Airlines runway tragedy shows an intruder walking directly onto the aircraft’s flight path just 5 seconds before the crash… and investigators have DISCOVERED THE MOTIVE
Moment Frontier Airlines plane strikes person on Denver runway seen in horrifying new video An apparent trespasser who was fatally struck by a Frontier Airlines plane at a Colorado airport on Saturday was seen calmly walking across the runway while the aircraft…
End of content
No more pages to load