Coast Guard plans new search in Bahamas for missing Michigan woman

The U.S. Coast Guard will reopen the search for Lynette Hooker, the Michigan woman who has been missing since April after falling overboard in the Bahamas, according to a U.S. official familiar with the investigation. The search will resume because GPS data from the boat she and husband Brian Hooker were on appears to contradict his account of his whereabouts the night she disappeared, the official said. Hooker’s account caused investigators to search “in the wrong area” of the Sea of Abaco while they were looking for Lynette, 55, the official said. The Coast Guard is requesting permission from Bahamian authorities to allow divers to re-search the sea, the official added. Hooker’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Her client has denied any wrongdoing in relation to his wife’s disappearance. Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that she provided DNA to the Coast Guard on Wednesday to aid their investigation into her mother’s disappearance. The FBI is processing evidence from the case at its headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, according to the U.S. official. Hooker told Bahamian authorities that his wife fell over their 8-foot dinghy with the key to the engine on the evening of April 4 as they were traveling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay. He said he paddled the vessel to shore, arriving at Marsh Harbour Boat Yard around 4 a.m. on April 5, where he told someone what happened, authorities said. That person then informed police. The Coast Guard took possession of the couple’s boat, the Soulmate, earlier this month. Hooker was arrested in connection with Lynette’s disappearance on April 8 and released five days later without being charged. At the time, Royal Bahamas Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said he would remain a suspect in the investigation. Hooker has denied harming his wife and has since returned to the U.S. “I’ve never harmed Lynette, and I would never harm Lynette, and I want to find Lynette,” he told NBC News in April. Aylesworth previously told NBC News her mother and Hooker had “a history of not getting along, especially when they drink.” In 2015, Lynette was arrested on charges of assault and battery/simple assault. According to a Michigan police report from that night, she and her husband accused each other of assault. The warrant was denied for “insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.”