An American who was arrested in the Bahamas after his wife vanished while the couple were traveling in a motorboat near the archipelago denies any wrongdoing, his attorney said Thursday.
Brian Hooker “categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing" and has been cooperating with authorities, lawyer Terrel Butler said in the statement. Butler said Hooker could not provide further comments while investigations are continuing.
Authorities said the husband, a 59-year-old man whom they did not identify, was arrested in Abaco on Wednesday and is being questioned. Police and Butler did not provide further details, including whether or not he was charged.
A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told The Associated Press that they have opened a criminal investigation into the case.
Officials have said Lynette Hooker, 55, was traveling in an 8-foot motorboat from Hope Town to Elbow Cay on Saturday night, and that her husband, Brian Hooker, told authorities she fell overboard with the boat keys, causing the engine to turn off.
Authorities said Brian Hooker then paddled to shore and alerted someone about her disappearance early Sunday.
“Strong currents subsequently carried her away, and he lost sight of her,” police said in a statement issued Saturday.
Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told The Associated Press late Wednesday that she was “glad to hear” about the arrest, but declined further comment, saying she was seeking more information.
Earlier on Wednesday, she said she wanted to hear more from her son-in-law about how her daughter disappeared. The couple had been married for more than two decades and lived in Onsted, Michigan. Online records gave Brian Hooker’s age as 58, and the reason for the discrepancy wasn’t immediately clear.
“I’m going to be interested in what he says, because I haven’t heard from him in almost two days,” Hamlett said while on a six-hour drive back home from the Bahamian Consulate in Miami, where she secured a passport so she can fly to the Caribbean nation soon.
“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.”
Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told NBC News that it is unlikely her mother would “just fall” off the boat, saying she was an experienced sailor. The couple had been sailing for years and documented their voyages on social media under the moniker, “The Sailing Hookers.”
Aylesworth also told NBC that the couple’s relationship was volatile, and that they have a “history of not getting along, especially when they drink.”
She told WXYZ-TV she doubted her mother survived and was able to tread water that long, but hoped to find her to get closure.
Butler's statement said that Brian Hooker's denial of wrongdoing includes in particular “the allegations recently made by Karli Aylesworth.”
On Wednesday morning, Brian Hooker wrote on Facebook that he is “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.”
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart,” he wrote. “We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus.”
The U.S. Coast Guard has also joined the investigation and interviewed Aylesworth on Wednesday, according to her attorney, Ron Marienfeld.
“We are pleased to see it is being investigated, and hopefully more answers will come to give the family some closure,” Marienfeld said via email.
Bahamian police said search operations and investigative efforts remain active.
A Michigan woman is missing after going overboard from a small boat in the Bahamas. (AP Digital Embed)
WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Melania Trump is denying ties to Jeffrey Epstein and knowledge of his sex crimes, saying Thursday that the “stories are completely false” and calling accusations that she was somehow involved “smears about me.”
Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, Melania Trump said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” in regards to her connections to the late financier, a convicted sex offender who leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.
“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation,” she said.
The extraordinary and seemingly out-of-the-blue message came as her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration had finally seemed to move past more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein, especially as the Iran war had become all-consuming in Washington. The first lady’s comments almost assuredly served to push the story back into the political spotlight even as the president urged the public and media to move on from the case.
The White House account on X reshared a video of the event posted by the first lady's account, but without added comment.
Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.
“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”
Democrats jumped on Melania Trump's comments, saying they agreed with her call for a congressional hearing. In a social media post, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein, called on the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer, to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”
It was not immediately clear what prompted the first lady to speak out about this issue now.
Her calls for the issue to go back to Congress came after federal authorities released millions of pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Maxwell.
Lawmakers complained when the Justice Department made only a limited release last month, but officials said more time was needed to review additional documents that were discovered and to ensure no sensitive information about victims was released.
Melania Trump said in her statement that she was not friends with Epstein or his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described an email reply she sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence” without elaborating.
“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trifle,” she said.
Among the documents released by the Justice Department was a brief email from 2002 with the sender and recipient blacked out. It begins, “Dear G!” and ends “Love, Melania,” and compliments the recipient on a magazine article about “JE.”
“I know you are very busy flying all over the world,” it says. “How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY.”
That email was sent the same month that a New York Magazine article was published about Epstein in which Trump called the financier a “terrific guy.”
Among other documents released was an image from Epstein’s home showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Epstein’s longtime Maxwell.
In her comments, the first lady mentioned her husband several times. She said, contrary to some rumors, Epstein did not introduce her to Trump and that she met her future husband at a New York City party in 1998.
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
First lady Melania Trump arrives to speak with reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump speaks to reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump departs after speaking with reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
First lady Melania Trump speaks to reporters Thursday, April 9, 2026, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
