Brian Hooker.NBC News
The husband of a Michigan woman who was reportedly swept out to sea in the Bahamas has left the country, his lawyer told NBC News.
Brian Hooker left “because his mom is very ill,” but he plans on returning to the islands, attorney Terrel Butler said Wednesday.
His attorney said Brian Hooker left on a commercial flight but would not disclose his destination.
Officials are still searching for Brian Hooker’s wife, Lynette Hooker, after she vanished on the evening of April 4. He told police that she fell off their dinghy into the water while they were traveling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay, according to police.
He said his wife had the keys to the dinghy when she fell, which caused its engine to shut off. He paddled for hours before making it to Marsh Harbour Boat Yard, where someone called the police, he told authorities.
Brian Hooker, 58, was taken into custody last week and was released Monday night.
“Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother’s grave illness,” Butler said in a statement. “He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time.”
Butler said the police have been informed.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Hours after he was released by police, Brian Hooker told NBC News that he “would never harm” his wife and his focus was on finding her.
He has also denied claims from Lynette Hooker’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, who said she doesn’t think her mother’s disappearance is an accident.
Aylesworth told NBC News earlier this month that she had “a hard time believing” her mother fell off the boat.
“It’s hard to see the people you’ve grown up with and care about possibly doing something like this. I just want to know the truth,” she said.
In 2015, Lynette Hooker was arrested on charges of assault and battery/simple assault. The warrant was denied for “insufficient evidence as to who started the assault.” According to a Michigan police report from that night, she and her husband accused each other of assault.
Royal Bahamas Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles previously said that authorities released him after meeting with prosecutors but that he remained a suspect in the investigation.
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