Why the search for Lynette Hooker just resumed 2 months after her disappearance in the Bahamas

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Dianne Gallagher, Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — Two months after the disappearance of an American woman in the Bahamas set off a frantic search effort, the Coast Guard has returned to the island country to scour the waters again for Lynette Hooker — this time in a new location.

The 55-year-old disappeared the night of April 4, when her husband said the couple was making their way back to their yacht following dinner in the Abaco Islands.

Her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities his wife, an avid sailor, had fallen from an 8‑foot dinghy when they hit rough waters, according to police.

But inconsistencies between location data and statements Brian Hooker made to investigators have intensified scrutiny on the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, a US official familiar with the criminal investigation told CNN.

Here’s what we know about the new search and the challenges ahead for Coast Guard investigators.

Where are they searching

In the days after Lynette Hooker disappeared, police on the island of Abaco, along with members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and local fire and rescue teams, searched the surrounding waters. Within hours, the Coast Guard joined by air.

Searchers combed the land as drone technology and professional divers were deployed, police said in an update. The effort shifted from an active rescue to a recovery mission on April 7. The next day, the Coast Guard announced it had opened a criminal investigation.

The investigation is examining whether Lynette Hooker’s death may not have been an accident, the US official said. Finding her remains could provide crucial evidence to help determine whether she could have been killed.

Now, about two months after her disappearance, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has granted the Coast Guard permission to conduct another search in a different area of the Sea of Abaco, which envelops the island Brian Hooker said he and his wife were sailing to, Elbow Cay, a cay off Great Abaco, the official said.

A bright orange Coast Guard dinghy navigated waters near a cay in Hope Town on Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by a Royal Bahamas Defence Force vessel.

Searchers were seen disembarking the small Coast Guard boat and carefully wading in the shallow waters offshore.

As of Thursday morning, divers had entered the water in the Sea of Abaco, the official said. On land, cadaver dogs sniffed the shore for any trace of Lynette.

Why the renewed search

Hooker initially told police he and his wife hit strong currents as they headed to Elbow Cay in a small 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy after leaving Hope Town, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said.

Authorities said he told them the dinghy lost power because his wife had the engine safety key when she fell.

Without any power, Hooker said, he attempted to paddle to shore, and the little boat eventually drifted through the Sea of Abaco, hours later washing ashore near Marsh Harbour, according to his account shared by police.

“The wind blew me away from her and she swam towards the sailboat and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly as it was just about sundown,” Brian Hooker told his friend Daniel Danforth over Facebook Messenger. Hooker told Danforth he paddled for hours before reaching the shore and seeking help.

Hooker said he eventually made his way through brush until he reached a boatyard, where he contacted police, according to Richard Cook, fire team lead with Hope Town Volunteer Fire and Rescue.

The day the Coast Guard initiated its investigation, Bahamian police arrested Brian Hooker and questioned him repeatedly as a suspect in his wife’s disappearance.

After questioning, he was released and soon after returned to the United States.

Hooker has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with his missing wife. No suspect has been publicly identified in the federal investigation.

Investigators have since found inconsistencies between Brian Hooker’s location data and his statements to investigators about where to search for his wife and where they had traveled that evening, launching renewed search efforts last week, an official told CNN.

Data from Brian Hooker’s electronic devices contradicts what he had previously told investigators about where to search for Lynette Hooker, the official said.

The Coast Guard has, as part of its criminal investigation, taken custody of the small dinghy that Brian Hooker said his wife had fallen from, the official said.

As the Coast Guard works to collect more evidence, it has also requested DNA samples from Lynette Hooker’s relatives, Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told CNN. Aylesworth and Lynette Hooker’s parents provided mouth swab samples last week.

What they might find

While finding a person who is still alive in a body of water is very challenging, Steve Hathaway, a former Coast Guard search and rescue member, said searching for a body in water can be much more difficult, because the body no longer has a heat signature.

Depending on the amount of water exposure, gasses can build up in the body causing it to float for a while, then it may sink below water again, he said.

Soft tissue, including eyes and skin, begin to deteriorate quickly, Hathaway said, adding fish and crabs take over, leaving the body in a “pretty bad state.”

If Coast Guard divers are successful in their search for Lynette Hooker, finding remains in water after an extended amount of time is “never very good,” Hathaway told CNN.

“They have got to give it a shot, but they’d be very lucky to find something,” he said.

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