Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, told ‘Dateline’ that she hopes to keep a spotlight on the case
Credit: Facebook
The daughter of missing American woman Lynette Hooker is speaking out about her mother’s disappearance in the Bahamas — and expressing her concerns about her stepfather Brian Hooker’s involvement in the case.
In an interview with Dateline shared by Today.com, Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, visited the boat where her mom and husband Brian lived before Lynette’s disappearance.
“It’s making it a little bit more real,” Aylesworth told Dateline’s Andrea Canning.
“A lot of sadness,” she continued. “When I first got here, I sat up there and looked at the boat and started talking to her like she was here. I was like, ‘Hey Mom, I’m here. Wherever you are. I just want to talk to you and see you again.’ “
Aylesworth, 28, said she spent three hours talking to police and hopes to keep a spotlight on the case. She also shared that she has questioned her stepfather’s version of what happened, as Brian told authorities that Lynette fell overboard with the engine keys to their dinghy during a trip back to their boat from Hope Town to Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands.
Brian told police he then paddled the dinghy back to shore to alert authorities to what had happened early the next morning.
“I hope this was just a freak accident, but I just have a hard time believing it at the moment,” Aylesworth told NBC News earlier this month. “I just want to know the truth.”
“I feel like this was probably preplanned, if anything. Like, it doesn’t seem like just some accident,” she added.
Aylesworth previously told PEOPLE that her stepfather allegedly was “strict” and had “anger issues.”
Credit: Facebook
Brian’s attorney, Terrel A. Butler, told PEOPLE that he “categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing” and is cooperating with authorities.
Butler has also pushed back on Aylesworth’s claims. The attorney said that Brian is “the only witness to what transpired, and he has said he has done nothing wrong, so to refer to allegations of abuse or a tumultuous relationship does not explain what happened on the day or indicate whether or not he was somehow culpable for anything that may have happened to her.”
Brian was taken into custody in the Bahamas on April 8. He was in custody for days and questioned several times before police ultimately decided to release him without filing charges.
“The decision to release the individual was made following consultation with the Department of Public Prosecutions, which recommended that no charges be filed at this time pending the outcome of further investigations,” the Royal Bahamas Police wrote in an April 13 press release.
Bahamian police said Brian is still a suspect in Lynette’s disappearance, but he has since left the country.
Aylesworth said on April 16 that she had not heard from her stepfather since he was released from police custody and questioned why he left the country after saying he would dedicate “his full emotional and physical energy toward coordinating with relevant parties to find [Lynette].”
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