Search reopened for missing mariner

Lynnette Hooker, a 55-year-old Michigan mom, vanished in April while sailing with her husband in the Bahamas. The Coast Guard has now reopened its search.

The U.S. Coast Guard is sending divers to the Bahamas to search new areas for a missing Michigan mother who vanished in early April while sailing with her husband.

U.S. investigators said in late May that they were planning to renew the search for 55-year-old Lynette, who was reported missing on April 5 by her husband of 25 years, Brian Hooker.

The couple was on an 8-foot motorboat when Brian said his wife apparently fell overboard in rough waters the night before, while they were traveling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay in the Abacos.

Lynette has been missing ever since.

Brian told authorities Lynette had the boat’s keys in her pocket when she went overboard, which caused the engine to shut off, forcing him to swim to shore.

Brian was arrested April 8 as a possible person of interest in her disappearance, but he was released without charges on April 13 after being held for questioning.

The case re-ignited in late May after new GPS data from Brian’s phone was found that didn’t match what he told investigators, CNN reported, citing a U.S. official “familiar with the investigation.”

Electronic devices belonging to Brian included location data that reportedly contradicts his early statements to investigators, advising them where to look and where they traveled the night she went missing.

The U.S. Coast Guard was given permission by Bahamian authorities to search an area of the Sea of Abaco, which surrounds their destination of Elbow Cay.

The search includes a cadaver dog and a K-9 team from Florida’s Broward County near where she was last seen before she disappeared.

USCG seized the sailboat used by Brian and Lynette when traveling in the Bahamas in early May.

The couple has been sailing together for more than a decade and chronicled their adventures in the Caribbean on their “Sailing Hookers” social media accounts.

As investigators renew the hunt for Lynette, speculation is swirling over where Brian may be following the mystery around his wife’s disappearance. A source claiming to be a close friend of Brian’s said he may have left the U.S. by way of the California-Mexico border.

He had denied any wrongdoing in connection with her disappearance.