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The U.S. Coast Guard has seized Brian Hooker’s sailboat as the federal agency continues its investigation into the disappearance of his wife, according to a federal source with knowledge of the investigation.
Brian Hooker told Bahamian officials that his wife fell off a dinghy after leaving shore at Hope Town at around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, saying that Lynette fell off with the ignition key. Local authorities said that he arrived at a marina at Marsh Harbour at around 4 a.m. on April 5 after paddling to shore, roughly eight hours after his wife went overboard.
The couple’s sailboat, named “Soulmate,” was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital. According to CBS News, the Hookers’ sailboat was en route to the U.S. when it was seized by the Coast Guard on Saturday.
In recent days, according to the report, the Coast Guard Investigative Service’s probe into Lynette Hooker’s disappearance has intensified. Brian Hooker hasn’t been charged with a crime.
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The Coast Guard declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital, citing the active investigation.
The development comes about a week after the Coast Guard sought the public’s help in finding the owner of a sailboat that was moored near Brian and Lynette Hooker’s “Soulmate” in the Bahamas.
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Brian Hooker was detained for five days by Bahamian police after his wife disappeared, but wasn’t charged. His Michigan-based attorney previously asked Americans to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would want to be treated, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to consider that not all of us, nor you, considering your own relationships, the way you speak to one another, we all handle things in different ways,” Crystal Marie Hauser said.
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While Hauser said she imagines Brian Hooker’s “heart” is in the Bahamas, she didn’t reveal if he has plans to return.
Brian Hooker left the island for the U.S. to tend to his “very ill” mother, his Bahamian attorney previously said.
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After Lynette Hooker went missing, Brian said in a Facebook post that he was “heartbroken.”
“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote. “Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Brian’s attorneys.
Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.
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