MARSH HARBOUR, Bahamas — The husband of missing American Lynette Hooker himself fell overboard the night he was arrested in connection with her disappearance, his lawyer said in a statement Friday.
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Brian Hooker, 58, was arrested Wednesday by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, days after he told authorities that his 55-year-old wife fell overboard with the keys to the dinghy they were on that night near Elbow Cay. He said he had to paddle for hours to reach Marsh Harbour Boat Yard early Sunday, where he was able to alert someone, who then called the police.
But during the arrest, Brian Hooker’s lawyer said, he apparently also fell overboard while handcuffed into the choppy Bahamian waters, causing an injury to his knee that has caused a limp and a visible abrasion.
According to his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler, the incident occurred after he was escorted to the Hookers’ boat, the Soulmate, by police boat so officials could search his property during his arrest.
Butler said Brian Hooker was holding a bundle of clothing in his “restricted hands” and was trying to maintain his balance amid “choppy and dangerous sea conditions” when he lost his footing and fell overboard.
“He was submerged in the cold water and took in a significant amount of seawater before his life jacket brought him to the surface,” Butler wrote in the statement, adding that she has requested medical attention for her client. “He had to be rescued from the water by the police.”
Brian Hook has denied any wrongdoing. He has not yet been formally charged, his lawyer said, and is cooperating with authorities. He is scheduled to be interviewed Friday morning, Butler added.
The U.S. Coast Guard opened a criminal investigation, and a U.S. law enforcement source said Thursday that the Royal Bahamas Police Force had officially requested U.S. assistance in the case.
Butler’s statement, released after she visited Brian Hooker at the Central Police Station in Grand Bahama, added that her client is “completely heartbroken and deeply distressed.”
“His primary concern and source of intense frustration is his inability to continue the search for his wife of 25 years,” Butler said. “The trauma of her disappearance, coupled with his current detention as a suspect, has left him in an extremely fragile state.”
Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, previously told NBC News she doesn’t quite believe her stepfather’s account of what happened Saturday night.
“I hope this was just a freak accident, but I just have a hard time believing it at the moment,” Aylesworth said Thursday. “It’s hard to see the people you’ve grown up with and care about possibly doing something like this. I just want to know the truth.”
When asked whether she thinks her mother’s disappearance was an accident, Aylesworth said she didn’t think so.
“I feel like this was probably pre-planned, if anything, like, it doesn’t seem like just some accident,” she said.
According to Aylesworth, the couple had “a history of not getting along, especially when they drink.” She also said her mother and stepfather were both experienced on the water and had been sailing for more than a decade. They started in a small, two-person sailboat and eventually upgraded to a larger vessel purchased in Texas.
Both Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker have had run-ins with the law before.
Lynette Hooker was arrested on charges of assault and battery/simple assault in 2015, though the warrant was denied after “insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.” According to a Michigan police report from that night, both she and her husband accused each other of assault.
Court records in Michigan indicate that a jury acquitted Brian Hooker of a child abuse charge in 2006. Details on the case were not available Friday.
Rapeepan Cash, a Marsh Harbour local, told NBC News that people in their community don’t believe that Lynette Hooker just fell off the boat Saturday night.
But her husband, Johnnie J. Cash, noted it’s “common for Bahamians to speculate without knowing the real facts.”
The Cashes spoke to NBC News from their store, ABACO Asian Market, in Marsh Harbour on Thursday.
Johnnie J. Cash, however, thinks Brian Hooker’s telling of events is entirely possible, he said, citing the bad weather and the small vessel.
Rapeepan Cash also noted that Brian Hooker has so far not described how Lynette Hooker fell off the boat, which is something “he should know,” she said.
The couple agreed that the waters were rough the night Lynette Hooker went missing and said that even an experienced swimmer would have had trouble against the currents. Rapeepan Cash said that if Lynette Hooker was 100 feet or farther from the shore, she doesn’t think she’d have made it.
On a calm day, the couple said, someone “could have made it,” but again stressed that the waters were not calm Saturday night.
Darlene Hamlett, Lynette Hooker’s mother, told The Associated Press that she was “glad to hear” about her son-in-law’s arrest and that she hasn’t heard from him in days.
“I’m going to be interested in what he says, because I haven’t heard from him in almost two days,” she said. The AP noted that Hamlett has plans to travel to the Bahamas to aid in the search.
“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.”