Police in the Bahamas said late Wednesday they have arrested the husband of a U.S. woman who was aboard a boat near the archipelago and vanished.
Authorities said the 59-year-old man whom they did not identify was arrested in Abaco and is being questioned.
A Coast Guard spokesperson told The Associated Press late Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into the case.
Police did not provide further details, including whether or not he was charged. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Officials have said Lynette Hooker, 55, was traveling in an 8-foot motorboat from Hope Town to Elbow Cay on Saturday night, and that her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities she fell overboard with the boat keys, causing the engine to turn off.
Authorities said Brian Hooker then paddled to shore and alerted someone about her disappearance early Sunday.
“Strong currents subsequently carried her away, and he lost sight of her,” police said in a statement issued Saturday.
Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told The Associated Press late Wednesday that she was “glad to hear” about the arrest, but declined further comment, saying she was seeking more information.
Earlier on Wednesday, she said she wants to hear more from her son-in-law about how her daughter disappeared. The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. Online records gave Brian Hooker’s age as 58, and the reason for the discrepancy wasn’t immediately clear.
“I’m going to be interested in what he says, because I haven’t heard from him in almost two days,” Hamlett said while on a six-hour drive back home from the Bahamian Consulate in Miami, where she secured a passport so she can fly to the Caribbean nation soon.
“Our family grew up on water and so Lynette her whole life has been near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming,” Hamlett said. “It would be a miracle if (she’s rescued), but I’m still counting on one.”
Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that it is unlikely her mother would “just fall” off the boat, saying she was an experienced sailor. The couple had been sailing for years and documented their voyages on social media under the moniker, “The Sailing Hookers.”
Aylesworth also told NBC that the couple’s relationship was volatile, and that they have a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”
She told WXYZ-TV she doubted her mother survived and was able to tread water that long, but hoped to find her to get closure.
On Wednesday morning, Brian Hooker wrote on Facebook that 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 near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.”
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart,” he wrote. “We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.”
The U.S. Coast Guard has also joined the investigation and interviewed Aylesworth on Wednesday, according to her attorney, Ron Marienfeld.
“We are pleased to see it is being investigated, and hopefully more answers will come to give the family some closure,” Marienfeld said via email.
Bahamian police said search operations and investigative efforts remain active.
