Lynette Hooker told friends she ‘called it quits’ with husband & ‘can’t be out’ at sea with him years before vanishing

MISSING mom Lynette Hooker opened up about a bad breakup with her husband Brian Hooker years before she reportedly fell off a boat in front of him, disturbing text messages have revealed.

Brian, 59, is in police custody and being questioned over 55-year-old Lynette’s disappearance after she vanished during an evening boat ride in the Bahamas on April 4.

At the beginning of 2024, Lynette told a friend who she had met through her sailing explorations that she wouldn’t be returning to sea because their marriage was over.

“I guess it was too much closeness. We decided to call it quits. I’m not going back,” she told Marnee Stevenson, according to screenshots given to CBS News.

Marnee and her husband Blaine Stevenson said they befriended the couple in 2023 when they met sailing in Florida.

In the texts, Lynette said they were married 21 years but only lasted “six weeks boating.”

She mourned uprooting her life in Michigan to retire early for a seafaring life, explaining she had, “quit my awesome career, sold my house and gave away everything I own to cruise.”

When asked about the chances of the two reconciling, Lynette said, “It was real bad. I can’t be out there with him.”

But around a month later in February 2024, Lynette indicated the two had moved past their differences – and started sharing smiling pictures of the pair taking boating adventures.

Brian has hired a lawyer who told the media he’s maintaining his innocence as authorities continue to investigate what happened and search for Lynette’s body.

The attorney, Terrel Butler, said authorities have until 7:20pm local time on Monday to decide whether they will charge him or let him go, according to NBC News.

Brian told authorities he and Lynette tried to travel 2.5 miles from Hope Town on Elbow Cay to their yacht when she fell into the ocean with the engine keys.

He was forced to row himself back to shore and wasn’t able to get back for eight grueling hours, Bahamian police reported him saying.

Lynette’s heartbroken daughter Karlie Alyesworth has been calling for a thorough investigation as she claims the two had a volatile relationship.

“I’m confused why she has the keys because she never drove the dinghy. It was always Brian. So the story just doesn’t add up right now,” she previously told Fox News Digital.

Meanwhile, one of Brian’s own friends even admitted his story of what happened wasn’t adding up.

Daniel Danforth, who has been friends with Hooker for three years, reached out to check in on his pal after he saw news of Lynette’s disappearance, he told CBS News.

Brian told Danforth his wife fell “off the dingy in some choppy seeds on the way back to the sailboat (sic),” Facebook messages shared with the outlet reveal.

“The wind blew me away from her and she swam towards the sailboat and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly as it was just about sundown,” he said.

“I drifted and tried to paddle with one oar for the next 7 hours until I washed up behind the short of the next island over and was able to get help finally.”

After reading more media reports, Danforth grew suspicious of Brian, who he claims spoke about Lynette like she was last seen “casually swimming back toward the sailboat.”

Danforth was also confused why neither of them were able to call 911, as he said they always had their phones on them.

Authorities haven’t confirmed whether he had a phone or given further details on Brian’s story of what happened.