After her stepfather fled the Bahamas, Lynette Hooker’s daughter responded strongly as the search for her missing mother officially begins

MARSH HARBOUR, Bahamas — Lynette Hooker’s daughter had a cutting response to her stepfather Brian Hooker’s decision to flee the Bahamas after he had insisted he would stay to help authorities look for his missing wife.

“I think it shows his character. He somehow lost my mom at sea and cries on camera saying he’ll never stop searching, then leaves the next day,” Karli Aylesworth told The Post.

Aylesworth also told CBS that her longtime stepfather’s sudden departure “shows he’s not much of a man of his word.”

Aylesworth, 28, and her boyfriend arrived in the tiny island town of Marsh Harbour on Thursday to search for her mother.

Lynette’s daughter said she doesn’t believe Brian Hooker’s version of events from the day her mother went missing from the waters between Hope Town and Abaco Island.

She has vowed to get to the bottom of it while visiting the remote island paradise.

“My sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance,” she told CBS.

Aylesworth and her boyfriend, Steve Hansen, were seen speaking to a uniformed police officer after arriving at the small airport about 100 miles north of Nassau, before being whisked off in a white taxi van.

Another family member told The Post Aylesworth looked “visibly distraught” upon learning that Hooker, whom the daughter has known since she was just 4 years old, was leaving the Bahamas on Wednesday.

It was a clear reversal of his vow to stay and find his wife of 25 years, who he said was swept off their dinghy in rough water.

“That just pissed [her] off real bad,” the relative said.

Hooker was released from Bahamian police custody after no charges were brought against him by Monday evening, though authorities say the investigation is ongoing and there’s a possibility he may be rearrested.

The family member said Hooker’s excuse for the sudden departure — to take care of his “very ill” mother, his lawyer has said — was understandable, albeit convenient timing.

“His mom has been ill for a while, so it’s not like this is news. So he was just doing it to get out of Dodge,” the relative said, adding that his mother is suffering from kidney failure.

“His mom is terminally ill, so we’re not saying he shouldn’t go back there — that is his mom, which Karli doesn’t have now. He should go back to her before she dies, which Karli doesn’t get with her mom.

“Karli was so visibly upset about [him leaving] because of that fact …like, ‘Oh, you can go get to your mom before she dies, but I don’t get to see my mom. I don’t get to say goodbye.’

“He had an extra 30 or 40 years with his mom, that [Karli] will never get” with Lynette, the source said.

The source echoed Aylesworth’s previous claims that Hooker allegedly abused his wife — and that he has a short fuse, which is worsened by alcohol.

“Part of us knew that he was probably going to keep hurting her physically and emotionally, because we know he belittles her and talks s–t and all that stuff, especially when he’s drinking,” the relative said.

That character flaw even led both Lynette and Hooker to allegedly become sober for nearly a year and a half — but they started drinking again about a year ago, according to the family member.

“That’s when we had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen. But we didn’t think that she was going to disappear.”

When asked if Aylesworth plans to ever talk to Hooker again, the family member didn’t hesitate or mince words: “No.”

“With the information she has and her gut feelings, it’s a definite no, as of right now.”

While in the Bahamas, Aylesworth and her boyfriend — who was sporting a hat emblazoned with “Bahamas” upon their arrival to the island Thursday — plan to retrace Lynette and Hooker’s last movements and dinghy route leading up to her April 4 disappearance, the relative added.

On Wednesday, the US Coast Guard joined Bahamian authorities in the search mission — which has been reclassified as a rescue mission.