Messages that Lynette Hooker sent to a friend in 2024 following her temporary split with husband Brian Hooker indicate she had concerns about him and their life at sea.
The couple was sailing in the Bahamas earlier this month whenshe disappearedduring anighttime boat ride. Brian Hooker was detained andquestioned by policebut laterreleased.
The messages from January to February of 2024 provide some insight into the relationship between the couple.
"I guess it was too much closeness. We decided to call it quits. I'm not going back," Lynette Hooker wrote in messages obtained exclusively by CBS News.
She told Marnee Stevenson, a fellow boater and friend, "We were married 21 years. Our marriage lasted 6 weeks cruising."
Marnee and Blaine Stevenson met the Hookers in 2023 while sailing through Florida.
"We were boating with them for a while," Blaine Stevenson said.
Lynette Hooker, who previously lived in Michigan, told Marnee she had "quit my awesome career, sold my house and gave away everything I own to cruise."
At the time, she left Brian to stay with her mother in Florida, according to the messages.
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When asked about whether the two could reconcile, Hooker told her friend, "It was real bad. I can't be out there with him."
A month later, in late February 2024, the messages indicate Lynette and Brian had reconciled.
Marnee Stevenson messaged her on social media: "Looks like things are on the up and up."
Lynette replied with heart emojis and a thumbs up.
Brian Hooker reported his wife missing on Sunday, April 5, saying she had been swept away from a dingy which lost power the night before, hampering his ability to seek help.
Attorney Terrel Butler, who represents Brian Hooker in a criminal investigation by the Bahamian Royal Police Force, has consistently said he denies any wrongdoing, is heartbroken by the incident and wanted to be released from custody so he can search for his wife.
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