Maritime Crime and Safety

Lynette Hooker, a U.S. citizen, vanished after she was reported to have gone overboard from a small dinghy in the Abaco Islands on the night of April 4; her husband, Brian Hooker, says he was separated from her by strong currents and paddled ashore hours later, arriving at Marsh Harbour around 4 a.m. Bahamian authorities detained Brian for roughly five days while seizing electronics from the couple's boat and interviewing him, then released him without charges; the local search for Lynette has shifted from active rescue to recovery operations and U.S. authorities, including the Coast Guard, have an open criminal probe. Lynette's adult daughter, Karli Aylesworth, arrived in the Bahamas on April 16 and publicly criticized her stepfather for leaving the islands after his release — he left to be with an ailing mother, his attorney says — and called for an "intensive" and complete investigation into her mother's disappearance.