Standing on the deck of their sailboat Soul Mate, Lynette Hooker cheerfully announced to her camera: “We’re finally leaving Kemah,” speaking about the Texas harbor town where they had been docked.
“It’s only been four months,” she joked while her husband Brian adjusted the boat’s rigging in preparation for departure.
That “Gulf Crossing” recording from over three years ago captured the beginning of a maritime journey that the couple shared extensively on Facebook – a voyage that has now become evidence in a criminal case following Lynette’s mysterious disappearance in the Bahamas.
Days after Lynette vanished, Bahamian police took Brian into custody. Through his lawyer Terrel Butler, Brian maintains his innocence regarding his wife’s disappearance and states he is fully assisting law enforcement with their inquiry.
According to Brian’s account to police, his spouse of over two decades fell into the ocean Saturday evening from their small motor vessel while traveling between Hope Town and Elbow Cay, two tiny islands in the eastern Bahamas. Brian reported that 55-year-old Lynette possessed the boat keys when the motor stopped running.
“Strong currents subsequently carried her away, and he lost sight of her,” authorities explained in their Saturday statement.
Brian reportedly used paddles to reach land and notified others early Sunday morning, police said. Officers arrested and interrogated him the following Wednesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard has launched its own inquiry independent of the Bahamian investigation.
Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, expressed doubt that her mother would simply tumble off a vessel.
Despite the cheerful demeanor displayed in their online sailing videos, the couple had a troubled past marked by conflict.
Police records from Kentwood, Michigan, obtained by NBC News reveal that both Brian and Lynette accused each other of physical violence in 2015.
The report indicates Brian was intoxicated and had a bloody nose when he told officers his wife had repeatedly hit him in the face. He also claimed Lynette was under the influence of alcohol. She was taken into custody for assault and held overnight in jail. Prosecutors declined to file charges because they couldn’t determine “who started the assault.”
Aylesworth also revealed to NBC that her mother and stepfather had a turbulent relationship with a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”
The couple resided in Onsted, located roughly 72 miles southwest of Detroit. The nearest major waterway is Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles southeast of their hometown.
Lynette’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, explained Wednesday that their family has always been connected to water and that her daughter spent her life “near lakes, on boats, sailing and swimming.”
The pair regularly uploaded footage of their Caribbean sailing experiences to their “Sailing Hookers” Facebook account.
In the March 2023 recording, Lynette narrates their departure from Kemah, Texas, as the Soul Mate navigates through morning mist into Gulf of Mexico waters.
“Pretty cool,” Lynette commented as Brian sounded the vessel’s foghorn. During a later scene showing Brian replacing an engine belt, he glances up at his wife and remarks, “Hi sexy.”
An earlier recording shows the couple describing their purchase and renovation of the Soul Mate in Rockport, Texas.
“After several years of driving around the country, looking for our perfect sailboat, we finally found her in Texas,” Lynette explained in the eight-minute video from January 2023. “She was a little rough on the edges. The decks needed to be redone, but we knew we were up for the task.”
That footage captures them collaborating on repairs, scraping, preparing surfaces and applying paint. Text overlay reads: “The decks are done! we’re still married! party time!”
A recording from two years prior shows them using their smaller motorboat for supply runs to shore, though the location isn’t specified.
“We got the grub,” Brian tells the camera, which then pans to show a beer case at his feet and grocery bags in the boat’s front section. “Delivery… the way of life, man.”
