Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Tuesday, April fourteenth, and he said
Speaker 1: his wife fell off their boat more than a week ago.
Speaker 2: She's been missing ever since.
Speaker 1: He has been held by police for the past several days,
Speaker 1: but he is sticking to his story and for right now,
Speaker 1: police don't have another story to go with, and that's
Speaker 1: why he has walked out of jail.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: With that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: With the clock was ticking, deadline was approaching, they had
Speaker 1: to either charge Brian Hooker or release him. And Brian
Speaker 1: Hooker has been released now rose by Behaman authorities without
Speaker 1: chargers in the disappearance of his wife.
Speaker 3: That's correct. He was detained for a full five days
Speaker 3: since last Wednesday. He was questioned for more than three
Speaker 3: hours on Friday, and his attorney said he was questioned
Speaker 3: again on Monday the same line of questionings. But Brian
Speaker 3: Hooker is sticking with his story and there is no
Speaker 3: evidence proving otherwise, according to his attorney, and that is
Speaker 3: why police were forced to release him. They kept pushing
Speaker 3: the goalpost. First it was forty eight hours. Then they
Speaker 3: said we're going to extend it to I believe ninety
Speaker 3: six hours. But by law, they had to release him
Speaker 3: if they couldn't charge him, and so they claim he
Speaker 3: is still a suspect, but he is out of custody.
Speaker 1: This is one of those cases, Robes. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: how bad it might look into the public. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how many much the headlines are working against you.
Speaker 1: It does not matter how much people are talking about
Speaker 1: you on social media and thinking you are behind the
Speaker 1: disappearance of your wife. It does not matter if they
Speaker 1: can't prove it. And Robes, we talked about this from
Speaker 1: the very beginning. What can they prove if they do
Speaker 1: not have this woman's body. All they have is his
Speaker 1: story she fell out, They robes clearly at this point
Speaker 1: can't prove anything otherwise. Are we only waiting to see
Speaker 1: if they recover her body and that's the only chance
Speaker 1: of charges here?
Speaker 3: It seems like that is a possibility, because yes, they
Speaker 3: still have not found the body of Lynnette Hooker despite
Speaker 3: massive aerial and water searches. She is nowhere to be found.
Speaker 3: He claims he wants her body to found to be found.
Speaker 3: He claims he wants that for his own closure as well.
Speaker 3: He didn't respond, by the way, to reporters questions, says
Speaker 3: he was leaving the police station. Of course, can you
Speaker 3: imagine the scene We've been there as reporters shouting at him.
Speaker 3: He didn't say a word. His attorney did come back
Speaker 3: and tell reporters that her client was very emotional and
Speaker 3: that he needed time to de stress from this horrible experience.
Speaker 3: That's the only word we heard directly from his attorney
Speaker 3: upon his release last night. But you can only imagine
Speaker 3: the folks who are going to be clamoring to get
Speaker 3: to speak to him. I'm sure they know where he's staying.
Speaker 3: His hell is still, he's in the midst of it.
Speaker 1: This isn't over for him to be quiet for a while,
Speaker 1: because they are still looking at the possibility of charging
Speaker 1: him with something if they can't. The official statement we
Speaker 1: got from Behamian authorities yesterday did not say much, but
Speaker 1: they did let us.
Speaker 2: Know he was being released. They were letting us know
Speaker 2: why enrolled.
Speaker 1: I guess we get an indication of this search not
Speaker 1: necessarily is over. It is a search and recovery. But
Speaker 1: until in otherwise they find her body, don't know how
Speaker 1: they can move forward. But this was the official statement
Speaker 1: we did get from Behamian authorities about the release of
Speaker 1: Brian Hooker.
Speaker 3: Yes, the decision to release the individual was made following
Speaker 3: consultation with the Department of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that
Speaker 3: no charges be filed at this time, pending the outcome
Speaker 3: of further investigations, and the police commissioner specifically told the
Speaker 3: press that Brian Hooker remains a suspect in this case.
Speaker 3: The investigation is ongoing, and look, yes, they need or
Speaker 3: at least they're hoping to find Lynnette Hooker's body, but
Speaker 3: they also did take some items from their boat, and
Speaker 3: it looks like it didn't prove to be fruitful. So
Speaker 3: they had a search warrant looking at his video recorders,
Speaker 3: digital tablets, cell phones, related accessories, and they were hoping
Speaker 3: that it could be evidence to point maybe to premeditation
Speaker 3: or some sort of direction as to how why if
Speaker 3: he planned it. Nothing. Obviously, if anything had come from
Speaker 3: those devices, they would have been able to hold him
Speaker 3: and actually charge him. So that is of note that
Speaker 3: so far, at least nothing found on those devices led
Speaker 3: police to be able to charge him. But there are
Speaker 3: some text messages that we're hearing about, and these are
Speaker 3: from Lynette with her friend and they were from January
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty four to February of twenty twenty four,
Speaker 3: and this speaks to what we have been hearing a
Speaker 3: lot about their relationship before leading up to her disappearance.
Speaker 3: And so we have some of those text messages where
Speaker 3: she was talking with a friend that they met through
Speaker 3: sailing about their marriage being over. She said, I guess
Speaker 3: it was just too much closeness. We decided to call
Speaker 3: it quits. I'm not going back, she said. She was heartbroken,
Speaker 3: considering I quit my awesome career, sold my house and
Speaker 3: gave away everything I owned to cruise. Slapping my head stupid.
Speaker 3: Here's the really interesting text that Lynette sent her friend.
Speaker 3: We were married twenty one years, our marriage lasted six
Speaker 3: weeks cruising, and when her friend asked her if there
Speaker 3: was any possible way they could reconcile, not at this time.
Speaker 3: It was real bad. I can't be out there with him.
Speaker 3: That last sentence, I can't be out there with them
Speaker 3: is certainly haunting given the fact that now Lynette Hooker
Speaker 3: is missing.
Speaker 2: I mean, it could be completely irrelevant.
Speaker 1: Anybody in a relationship, a long term one and maybe
Speaker 1: their second or whatever marriage, they will go through all
Speaker 1: kinds of strife. Now you're taking that into context of
Speaker 1: her being missing. Now, yes, that can mean a lot,
Speaker 1: But I get it, and I get why those things
Speaker 1: are out there. I get why CBS is reporting that,
Speaker 1: But that to me, if she were not missing, wouldn't
Speaker 1: raise alarm bells. That if she were not missing sounds
Speaker 1: like a couple doing there back and forth. I understand
Speaker 1: just in how that language sounds. I can't be out
Speaker 1: there with him. It sounded like these two people got
Speaker 1: along just fine, but forever reason they their personalities clashed
Speaker 1: when it came to voting to being out on the
Speaker 1: water together. And don't know exactly why, but yeah, I
Speaker 1: see why people would take that and maybe want to
Speaker 1: run with it.
Speaker 3: You make a good point. I mean, think about how
Speaker 3: many marriages could handle being in those types of close
Speaker 3: quarters where there's a lot of stress about making sure
Speaker 3: when you're voting. That's a high stress environment. So now
Speaker 3: you've got two people, even if you've been married for
Speaker 3: twenty one years, if y'all were used to having separate careers,
Speaker 3: separate lives, now all of a sudden boom, you're up
Speaker 3: on each other twenty four hours a day, seven days
Speaker 3: a week in a fairly stressful situation that could question
Speaker 3: or challenge a lot of people's marriages. So yes, you
Speaker 3: could look at it through that lens as well.
Speaker 1: Well well yeah, but people are wanting to and I
Speaker 1: get it, And look we are here because I guess
Speaker 1: we're ten days removed from this incident, and the story
Speaker 1: being that they were out on their dinghy this April fourth.
Speaker 1: It wasn't quite sundown, it wasn't quite dark, but he
Speaker 1: just claims thore we some bumpy seas and she bumped
Speaker 1: and bounced, I believe is the word right off of
Speaker 1: that dinghy on April fourth. And this is where robes
Speaker 1: this from that beginning where the story gets a little questionable,
Speaker 1: and we're not the ones questioning it is Lynnette's daughter
Speaker 1: and also Brian's friends who are questioning his account. But
Speaker 1: why is it she goes into the water and has
Speaker 1: the key in her pocket. Nobody can make sense of that.
Speaker 1: How does she get separated from him so quickly that
Speaker 1: he couldn't reach out to get her. He had an
Speaker 1: or which he could paddle back to shore, but you
Speaker 1: couldn't paddle the direction of your wife who had just
Speaker 1: gone into the water. She was a good swimmer, so
Speaker 1: you're telling me she can't manage for just a moment
Speaker 1: to get back onto this boat. His claim is also
Speaker 1: that she started swimming towards their yacht and not back
Speaker 1: towards the dinghy. That doesn't make sense. But if she
Speaker 1: could go towards the yacht, why wouldn't he go towards
Speaker 1: the yacht. None of this makes sense. That is the story.
Speaker 1: But Rose, you can't. It's always just a matter of
Speaker 1: what you can prove. And we're sitting here now talking
Speaker 1: about text messages and all. This really started bubbling and
Speaker 1: rose to the level because the daughter robes. I don't
Speaker 1: think if the daughter had not come out and spoke
Speaker 1: as strongly as she had in questioning she stopped just
Speaker 1: short of calling her stepdad a killer, but she went
Speaker 1: a long way, and I think probably Behamian authorities listened
Speaker 1: to her and it raised a bunch of alarm bells,
Speaker 1: and she might have pushed this whole story forward.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely. She made an impassioned plea not only to
Speaker 3: police but to the members of the media, asking for
Speaker 3: an investigation. And that is what it looks like the
Speaker 3: Behamian authorities did. And by the way. The US Coast
Speaker 3: Guard heavily involved in this investigation as well, so they
Speaker 3: were assisting the Behamian police. And look, I say assisting
Speaker 3: as if it's over, it's not over. That's a really
Speaker 3: important point. And the officials when announcing Brian Hooker's release,
Speaker 3: made it very clear that this investigation is not over,
Speaker 3: that it continues. They just weren't able to hold him
Speaker 3: any longer. Not sure yet if there are any restrictions
Speaker 3: about whether or not he can leave the Bahamas. His
Speaker 3: attorney hasn't given any details as of that yet, but
Speaker 3: certainly I did.
Speaker 2: See that, Oh you did.
Speaker 1: Okay, the attorney said, he's free to look, believe my goodness,
Speaker 1: free to go. That's at least what is attorney flat
Speaker 1: out told the reporters. He is a at this point,
Speaker 1: a free man, free to do whatever the hell.
Speaker 3: He wants to do, my goodness, So.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he leaves, how they going to get him back?
Speaker 2: And who's handling this investigation?
Speaker 3: The US Coast Guard is holding So that is my question.
Speaker 3: Can they still charge him even if he's back in Florida,
Speaker 3: back in the States. But as he had pointed out
Speaker 3: so tearfully and certainly said to his friends, and we've
Speaker 3: heard him before he stopped talking to the press, saying
Speaker 3: that all he wanted to do even when he was
Speaker 3: in custody. His attorney told reporters all he wanted to
Speaker 3: do was assist in the search for his wife. So
Speaker 3: if he were to head back to the States, probably
Speaker 3: not a good look. But we were saying regardless, even
Speaker 3: if charges are never brought against this man, this is
Speaker 3: somebody who is always going to have the shadow of,
Speaker 3: or at least the suspicion of being involved in his
Speaker 3: wife's disappearance.
Speaker 1: Any might have had absolutely nothing to do with it,
Speaker 1: and this was the accident that he describes. But I
Speaker 1: will listen to his daughter. I will listen to his
Speaker 1: friend who suggests, as people who know him and know
Speaker 1: that relationship, that this is not right and this something
Speaker 1: is wrong, not just from their history, but in the
Speaker 1: actual story that.
Speaker 2: Is being told. They said this, none of this adds up.
Speaker 3: That's correct, But in the story that he's told. When
Speaker 3: we come back, we're going to tell you what Brian
Speaker 3: Hooker sent to his friends and to fellow voters that
Speaker 3: he claims will back up his story of what happened
Speaker 3: that night when his wife fell Overboord and welcome back
Speaker 3: everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. Brian Hooker
Speaker 3: the man who has been held, been questioned for hours
Speaker 3: and been in custody for five days surrounding the disappearance
Speaker 3: of his wife, Lynette, who he claims fell overboard in
Speaker 3: rough seas in the Bahamas. He is now a freeman.
Speaker 3: He was released last night. It was the Behamian law.
Speaker 3: They could only hold him for a certain amount of
Speaker 3: time and unless they were able to charge him with
Speaker 3: murder charges, they were forced to release him. And it's
Speaker 3: interesting because we heard his attorney even just the day prior,
Speaker 3: given the questioning he was facing, she actually told reporters
Speaker 3: she felt like her client was likely going to be
Speaker 3: facing murder charges. So this was look But as the
Speaker 3: hours ticked on and the days went on and no
Speaker 3: charges were brought, it seemed pretty obvious that authorities just
Speaker 3: didn't have the proof. They didn't have the evidence they
Speaker 3: needed to actually formally charge Brian Hooker. And they certainly
Speaker 3: went through what you would imagine police would do. They
Speaker 3: they got evidence, they went through hours of exhaustive interrogations.
Speaker 3: But if he's denying it, there's no evidence showing anything else.
Speaker 3: They don't have the body of Lynnette Hooker and there
Speaker 3: were no other witnesses. What can they do? What options
Speaker 3: did they have?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Let me I guess I don't know how heated and
Speaker 1: how dedicated they're going to be to the search moving forward,
Speaker 1: But I guess that's just going to be key. That
Speaker 1: might be it whether or not he faces charges as
Speaker 1: whether or not they find her body, and even if
Speaker 1: they find her body, is said mean there is evidence
Speaker 1: of wrongdoing?
Speaker 3: Yes, And that is the big question now. Brian Hooker,
Speaker 3: before he was taken into custody, sent out some maps
Speaker 3: that he rendered and he sent this to his friends,
Speaker 3: he said to Feller voters, and there were screenshots from
Speaker 3: his GPS and he marked the route where he says
Speaker 3: his dinghy went and he marked where Lynette went overboard,
Speaker 3: and he said he made them to aid in the
Speaker 3: search and rescue. But a lot of folks are looking
Speaker 3: at this that. Yes, he's getting very specific and very
Speaker 3: detailed about what happened and if evidence if they find
Speaker 3: her body when they looked at the boat, if anything,
Speaker 3: if there's anything that isn't reconciled with what he very
Speaker 3: clearly marks that could be used against him. He's hoping
Speaker 3: it bolsters the story that he says, this is exactly
Speaker 3: what happened. But he shows that he traveled four miles
Speaker 3: before he landed on the shore of another island seven
Speaker 3: hours later. And it's just as you point out, questionable
Speaker 3: why he wouldn't have made his way if he could paddle, yes, slowly,
Speaker 3: but if he could paddle, why couldn't he paddle to
Speaker 3: the boat? Why couldn't he paddle towards the same direction
Speaker 3: his own wife, he says, was floating. If the current
Speaker 3: was taking her there, why couldn't it have taken the
Speaker 3: boat there as well? With the paddle. It's very puzzling
Speaker 3: that his boat went in the opposite direction of his
Speaker 3: wife and the opposite direction of their sailboat.
Speaker 1: And that's why he won't do any interviews because somebody's
Speaker 1: going to ask him all those questions and it's going
Speaker 1: to be difficult to answer. So bottom line for him,
Speaker 1: if he's not going to be charged, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: going to go on with his life and I don't
Speaker 1: expect to see him. I mean, what's the right thing
Speaker 1: to do. Get in front of cameras and say, help
Speaker 1: me find my wife. That's not We're not in a
Speaker 1: situation where the he can call for the public's help.
Speaker 1: So the only reason to get in front of a
Speaker 1: camera is to improve his own standing in the public,
Speaker 1: and that's going to backfire.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you feel for Lynette Hooker's a daughter, for her
Speaker 3: family members, for her friends, because obviously people just want answers,
Speaker 3: They want to know what happened. And look, we even
Speaker 3: heard and I think this is really important from Brian
Speaker 3: Hooker's stepdaughter. From Lynette Hooker's daughter, she has said it often.
Speaker 3: She hopes this was just a tragic accident. She wants
Speaker 3: to believe that her stepdad had nothing to do with this,
Speaker 3: and so without without finding Lynette, without getting some of
Speaker 3: those answers, then not knowing will most likely be the
Speaker 3: hardest part, not just for Lynette's daughter, but if Brian
Speaker 3: Hooker had nothing to do with this, he'll never probably
Speaker 3: escape the suspicion of it, and so this is going
Speaker 3: to be a tough story going forward if there aren't
Speaker 3: any answers. Of course, we'll continue to follow any of
Speaker 3: the developments that come out of the Bahamas, but for now,
Speaker 3: Brian Hooker is a free man and Lynette Hooker's whereabouts
Speaker 3: is still unknown and without everyone. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 3: We always appreciate you listening to us. We've got morning
Speaker 3: run coming up in just a bit, so look for that.
Speaker 3: But in the meantime, thank you as always. I made
Speaker 3: me Robock alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.