Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BRIAN HOOKER FRIEND: "ALL LIES"

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

GPS evidence now contradicts Brian Hooker's account in the disappearance of his wife, Lynette Hooker, in the Bahamas. Hooker told authorities that Lynette fell from their 8-foot dinghy into the water during bad weather on the evening of April 4 and was swept away. He claims  Lynette had the electronic motor keys with her leaving him stranded in the dinghy. He says he had to paddle for hours to reach shore. Investigators reviewed electronic tracking data from Brian Hooker's devices, finding significant discrepancies.  GPS data shows the dinghy moving across the water, stopping in the Sea of Abaco, and then returning. Hooker’s account lead investigators to search “in the wrong area” for Lynette.  Joining Nancy Grace today: Daniel Danforth - former friend of Brian Hooker   Josh Kolsrud  - criminal defense attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney, founder of Kolsrud Law Offices, website: kolsrudlawoffices.com, Facebook and YouTube @KolsrudLawOffices Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, website: www.uspasecurity.com, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security Vanessa Walsh - host: Unmasked True Crime, Facebook and YouTube: UnmaskedTrueCrime, X: CrimeUnmasked Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Overboard, Lynette Hooker tonight, damning GPS evidence emerges. This, as her husband, Brian Hooker, seems to be tangled up in his own words, where he states he was, quote, in the water trying to get back into the boat. with his wife when she vanishes. What? That's the first I've heard of that.

Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. It was windy, yes, but not to the point where someone can just bounce out. I did talk to a captain, and he said he was working that night, and he doesn't remember the waves being that bad. I'm just wondering, why was she swimming away from the dinghy, and why didn't she try to get back on it? Why did she grab the key on her way out?

It doesn't make any sense. Bombshell tonight. Does Lynette Hooker's husband, Brian Hooker, who, according to some reports, has left the country, I'm not sure about that. Does he place himself in the water with his wife Lynette the night she falls overboard? Seemingly, he seems to admit he was in the water with her and trying to get back into the water. the boat. But first, damning GPS evidence emerging. Straight out to special guest Vanessa Walsh joining us. She's the start of unmasked true crime. Vanessa, what about the GPS evidence? Do you consider to be damning? Well, Nancy, what I think is so important is that people lie and GPS

evidence is objective. So the digital evidence can provide investigators with where exactly Brian was and when exactly he was there. That's why the reported discrepancy between the GPS data and the original account that Brian gave to investigators has become such a major focus. Because as this investigation

moves forward, it's obvious that this is a technology-driven investigation now, and it's more about reconstruction. One of the things I keep coming back to is Lynette's cell phone. Because according to Brian's own account in the recorded statement,

Lynette allegedly entered that water with her iPhone that was protected inside a sealed dry bag. So if that is true, one of the investigative questions I've had since day one is whether or not that iPhone generated any usable GPS information after she allegedly went overboard, that would be useful to investigate. Let me see Vanessa, please. Vanessa Walsh, you're brilliant. It's staring everybody in the face. It's right under our noses, but you're right. The iPhone, her smartphone, in a dry bag, and I have dived all around the world before the twins were born, in a dry bag, everything remains intact. If her cell phone had been in a dry bag, let's talk to an expert. Dan, Danforth, joining us, friend of the hookers. That's why, we have a dry bag. He says her phone was in the dry bag. There's no reason she would have cut it off that night. She had been in a restaurant, according to him, and they got into the dingy to go to the soulmate, their yacht. And we have done photographs. That bone should have been transmitting, Dan. And it should have up to the moment. There's a lot of questions we have, but I feel like

that's where the authorities are kind of keeping that part of the investigation more private. it. You know, the biggest thing is, you know, anytime you have an investigation like this, it's the lies. The lies just keeps coming out and keeps coming out. You know, he used me as a pawn in the very beginning to try to establish a baseline. When he talked to Blaine Stevenson shortly after, the story was completely different. Then when he talked to investigative services, again, it was even another version of it. And so the biggest thing is that, like she said, the electronic evidence is a big factor in this. We can, you know, know, that there was a lot of electronics on a boat, including clear systems, tracking systems, navigation systems. So we're hoping that the investigative services will be able to use some of this to their benefit. Dan, Dan, for those people that have not used a dry bag, I mean, I had never heard of one until I learned to dive in the YMCA pool in Queens. I didn't know about it. Explain why it's so important to divers, to fishing, to fisher people, to everybody out on the water. A dry bag is kind of like a backpack or a purse or something like that that carries all your electronic devices. the things that you don't want to get wet. Sometimes we carry our boat paperwork. We carry, you know, like your passports and stuff inside the bag. So something don't happen to it. They're

very convenient. And they're kind of a creature or habit. You get to where you carry them with you all the time as second nature to have your dry bag. In fact, you'll watch all the videos online. They're always notably in the photos, whether you're out touring on the land, whether you're walking down the docks, whether you're back in your boat. You pretty much always have it on you. It's your creature comfort from protecting your valuables while you're traveling because you don't want your phone to sink. When my son goes fishing or sailing, he's a real water enthusiast, he puts a dry bag with nothing but his phone and his ID in it. And there's a zipper thing on his vest right here.

And the dry bag, just big enough for the phone and the ID goes right here and it's zipped in. And it's, you said people carry them everywhere with them. It's the same, let me put it like this. It's the same way people do with their cell phones. I mean, nobody's ever a foot away from their cell phone. Your cell phone is part of it. And the water, we have a different lifestyle. As a liverboard, we carry a lot of electronics and stuff with us all times for tracking purposes, for connectivity services.

So you always want to have that with you and you don't want it getting wet. Dry bag has come in many different styles, but the style they had was called a fold over dry bag, which you put all your stuff in it, zip it shut, you fold it two or three times. And even if a little water does intrude in it, they don't sink, they float. And it keeps away for you to be able to retrieve your objects as they do fall. overboard. You don't want your phone going straight to the bottom. And so it's a way to be able to retrieve all your important, your identification and stuff like that. It's just common practice in the boat world. Let's go to veteran trial lawyer. I can't wait for this. Josh Coles Rood.

As I said, criminal defense attorney, former assistant prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office founder of Coles Rood law offices, Coles Rood. He states, this is why you tell all your clients shut your pie hole. Take the fifth. He has gotten all tangled up in his statements and we have been studying them for days and comparing them and looking for inconsistencies. He states his wife, Lynette Hooker, had her iPhone in a dry bag, that she went overboard with the dry bag. So why didn't the phone transmit as Vanessa is pointing out? There's no reason it shouldn't have. Well, you know, I mean, the recording is interesting for a variety of reasons. And, you know, I think that the recording is devastating, but not for Brian, but for the people trying to turn this into a murder.

Because when you actually listen to the recording, what do you hear? Now, you hear a man blaming himself. You hear a man, you know, he's listing every single mistake that he made. you hear a man who's clearly devastated. And that's what survivor sounds like. You know, a guilty man minimizes. A guilty man hides the bad facts. Put him up, please.

You know what? If I didn't only have one hour to analyze the latest in Lynette Hooker's disappearance, I would let you go on and on and on. But that was not my question. You are not being responsive. I asked you about the cell phone. So I'm going to give you a few moments to come up with some zany defense about why the cell phone suddenly quit transmitting.

Just like the GPS, it just quit. There's a big 11-hour gap where it just quit. Coincidentally, when Lynette goes missing. I'm going to think about that because I know you're going to come up with a great response. Vanessa, I got off track when you pointed out what was right under the same. under our noses about the iPhone, which was brilliant, by the way. Vanessa, the GPS, you consider it to be the most damning evidence. Please, in lay people terms, explain what you mean. And then I'll circle back to Danforth. Well, what I mean by that is that he, this story, he was very specific

when Brian told this story. He was giving out maps to his friends. He was giving out very specific locations. He actually had been circled the point on the map where he says that Lynette went over board in this four to seven feet of water. And as far as the cell phone goes, I do think that that could be one of the most important clues in this case. And as you know, in a case with very few witnesses, many times the digital evidence and GPS evidence can become one of the most important witnesses. Dan Danforth joining us. He's joining us at our Shreveport. He is a friend of the hookers. Dan, again, thank you for being with us tonight. Dan, explain what? Vanessa is talking about the GPS evidence.

All right. Now what they're talking about is the GPS evidence, the story he told, you know, he was trying to coordinate it was a plan story. He told, you know, one version to me and he told another version of blame, but it kind of puts him in a different area. So when the electronic evidence came out,

that it puts him in a completely different area, it shows that, you know, it's another inconsistency to the story. They had multiple tracking items on them. Like you said, her phone should have been tracking A dry bag does not block cellular signal. If your cellular phone is in a dry bag and it rings, you'll hear it ringing, you'll open up your dry bag, get your phone out. So therefore, she makes a very valid point.

That phone should have broadcast until the very last minute of that phone working, whether it was turned off manually, whether it was sunk underneath the water. But one way or another, it should have had a GPS signal on my phone. There's multiple tracking activities. Most apps track you as well. So there should have been something on there. and I think that that's going to be a lot. But I also know that the federal investigators don't always show their hand until they get an indictment.

And after an indictment comes out, then there will be a lot of discovery for everybody to find out what they do and don't have. Now, you have spoken with the Coast Guard, and they search exhaustively. Isn't that true, Daniel Danforth? They search exhaustively not only in the area where Brian Hooker says his wife Lynette went overboard, but far, far beyond that.

And they came up dry, nothing. No sign. of Lynette. What we call coming up dry, it's very unfortunate for the family because we did not recover Lennox body at the time, but also, too,

the purpose of that investigation was trying to validate the GPS track. They have a known track that was different from Brian's account, and so going along that track that they could have

anything, and they may or may not have that's not released for them. Hold on, Nelly. Do you hear what you just said? See, that would be my first argument in an opening statement.

that the GPS data they, the Coast Guard have for Brian Hooker, is different than Brian Hooker's story. Let's just let that sink in for a moment. Ooh, I can't wait for Josh Coleser to explain how the GPS data is different from what he says happened that night. Okay, you just like trilled off the tip of your tongue, man, I would hammer that. Bam, bam, bam. What do you mean? The GPS is different than what he said. We'd like to validate that GPS track by finding something of Brian Arlenettes,

whether it be an ore, whether it be a rope or anything from that dingy to verify that those electronic trails are correct, kind of give it a tangible besides just being. So that's why it was so important for them to follow the track that they have. You said that his story was different than the GPS story, Dan. Yes. His story was just to send everybody off on a wild goose chase. And I told everybody from the beginning, if you just take out his story.

How is it different? Well, because from the timeline that she went missing, and I felt like they originally made it back to the boat. There's not a doubt in my mind they made it back to the boat that night. Now, what happened after the electronics went off and they've changed, and that's where the part of the investigation will reveal. But even the systems that he had on his boat have reserves. What I'm saying is what's different.

What are the differences in his story and what the GPS reveals? A completely different track around Lubbers Island. you know that he goes up south the GPS track goes south around lovers and goes back over the east toward elbow cave but so he told me it happened right outside the abaco restaurant and there were only a thousand feet from a sailboat and that she was trying to swim back to the cellboat when he got blown away that he was more of a victim when he talked to me okay can you slow down because i got i got to understand before i can argue one way or the other I need to understand what you just said. The GPS says that the dingy or him or the yacht went south.

I'm not sure which form of, I think that the GPS track they have came from, came from his personal electronics, which that would have put. The GPS track is where his physical body went, not where the boat went or where the dinghy went, but where Brian Hooker went that night. And his story states that he went from A, B, to C, and then the GPS track takes him to a completely different route contradicted everything that he said in the story.

Where does the GPS show? You said south around... Around lovers and then back east. See where you see where it says the yacht? It's not. Yeah, he took the track straight across the bay. He got blows straight across the bay over to Marsh Harbor. And so, but he didn't.

The GPS track actually carries him down between the island, down south, back around all the way across. also made them back north where he's, you know, is landing that. And then I feel like he's landed before. And that's where they found the cushion and stuff, because even Lynette's seat cushion wasn't found. Everything of Lenetz was completely missing and has never been recovered. Only the items that, you know, if he looks, that he sits on his cushion was recovered. You know, his dry bag was recovered, but nothing of Lynette's.

And I think the most valid information we've heard lately was trying to track the end last time that her phone pinged. You know, when was it cut off? And if we don't necessarily know a location, but at least we know it, timeline. Did it happen at 7.30? Did it happen at 930? And so the investigation going back to the Bahamas this time was to try to confirm some of that data, electronic evidence. Pride Month, Toronto. Pride is an opportunity for you to create your own space, to celebrate your existence. IHeart Radio is proud to be an official sponsor of Pride Toronto Festival, and we won't stop. Celebrate Pride.

Turn up the love and listen to IHeart Pride, Canada. Your 24-7 radio stream and the only playlist you need for your Toronto Pride celebrations. Pride is so great because it gives a whole bunch of people this visibility that they've never had before. We have a ton to celebrate Toronto. Happy Pride! Iheart Radio. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Dan, I want to understand. I want to make sure I have this right. The actual GPS that we believe is attached to his body, which could be his cell phone, it could be his iPhone.

But it's him. It's him. Yes. Not the yacht, not the dingy. him, takes him south to Lovers Island, then east, then southern, then north? Is that what you said? He comes south, right around the South Island Lovers, and the straight east, all the way across, and made landfall two times before ending up where he reported his original landfall. Wait, so he goes to land two times before he, what he reports? Two times before he got to the party reported.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, no. Oh, oh, no. Okay. This is bad, Brian Fitzgibbons. Bad for Lynette. Because his story, as Daniel Danforth, as we all have heard the story, because he goes on and not that,

is that they left the restaurant, they get into the dinghy, they get out on the wall, water, and then suddenly two to three foot swells come along. She falls in the water with her dry bag, i.e. phone. He throws her a seat cushion, although there are life jackets there. They're in the boat right there. He could have thrown them. And she's never seen again. That's what he says, and that he is blown straight across the bay and paddles, I guess, the two teacups, as I like to say, and ends up at Marsh Harbor.

Completely different route than what the GPS reveals. That is huge. Vanessa Walsh is right. That is damning. Yeah, this is a wildly different story than Brian Hooker first recounted. And it adds a lot of credence

to what many folks are reporting and saying online that he did indeed return to the soulmate. And I think what this brings into play, because, you know, that direction of travel would corroborate some of the eyewitness statements of seeing things happening on Soulmate, lights turning on, flares being lit off at strange angles around 9 p.m. This adds a lot of credence to those first-hand accounts. Now, one thing, I believe that Hooker told Carly, Lynette's daughter, that the, quote, flotation device he threw out, I believe, his seat cushion, was found. Let's listen. Hello, honey. I just got called from a booktown search and rescue, and I found the flotation device that I threw to mom when she fell overboard.

They haven't found her yet. That's from our friends at CBS. So Vanessa Walsh, that is one thing we think was found, the seat cushion? Yes, and reportedly and conveniently, the seat cushion washed up not far from where Brian ended up at Marsh Harbor. Why do you say that? What's convenient about that? What is coincidental about that? I agree with you, but I would like you to explain.

The thing that stuck out from me from the beginning is that's, I always thought it was strange that that's the one thing he threw out in that shallow water. But it's interesting that we've never been able to find anything else to corroborate his story. Most importantly, the dry bag with the dingy keys and her cell phone and his passports and all that. They've never found any trace of that. But they can immediately find the one piece he does bring up in his statement close by to where he landed. To me, that seems a little suspicious, just my opinion. And tonight does Brian Hooker

place himself in the water with Lynette when she falls overboard. I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong. I mean, she's a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she's fucking determined. And she was hit with a flare pistol. I had had slid responses down towards the stern and the dinghy, I took so many waves over the dinghy,

I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me, you know? So when we were around trying to get back in the boat, the sun was falling when it kind of dropped out. It was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor. And it was a cascade of failures,

and it's something I'm never going to forgive myself for. So that's him from. from our friends at Fox News Digital and Unmasked True Crime Podcast. First to you, Daniel Danforth, she was hit with a flare pistol. What? She was hit with the flare pistol? I'm looking right at it, what he said on the phone call. And then he goes on to say we were effing around trying to get back in the boat.

What do you make of it? I feel like they were possibly trying to get back. There's a couple of contradictions in that. He said he was on the stern, and the cockpit was filling full of water. That's talking about the sailboat, not necessarily talking about the dean. And so this is kind of like, it's kind of new information. I hadn't heard this account yet. Okay, to you, Dave Matt, joining us, Crime Stories investigative reporter.

He and Vanessa have been on the case from the very beginning when we heard Lynette went overboard. Dave Matt, do I have that? statement correct and who to whom was brian hooker speaking brian hooker called fellow voter and friend blaine stevenson two days after linnett banished in the bahamas now stevenson related this story to fox news digital that at a moment in that phone call brian places himself in the water that night. This contradicts his account that he stayed in the dingy while she drifted away. It is exactly, as you just quoted, Nancy, he says that I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but that the inside also got wet. And so the dinghy key was not attached to me. You know,

so when we were wrapping around, trying to get back in the boat. Word for word, hooker to Blaine Stevenson. Dan, you're right. There is no cockpit in a dinghy. No, it's just a little open tub, and they didn't really have a bailing device. You know, they have a bilge pump that pumps out automatically. I just see so many red flags with this. What does it mean she was hit with a flare pistol? I mean, to me, that sounds like the pistol accidentally fired and hit her? Or is he saying the pistol roll down the dinghy and hit her in the

leg? What is he saying? It's kind of odd because most people don't carry flares in their dinghy. You know, like the flare is more for the sailboat that, you know, to carry a flare gun on a dinghy that you're just going to and from shore. They're not like you're out cruising around or out in the ocean. A flare is used for

search and rescue to try to get attention brought towards you. So it's kind of odd that there would even be a flare gun brought up. I feel like a lot of it is, he gets a story kind of mixed up. And that's what's happened when you don't tell the truth, is that the story start to overlap each other. And that, you know, there's so many contradictions to what happened what he told me and then what he told, you know, the other, you know, witnesses. Somewhere or another, the truth will finally be revealed. You know, that's what I'm hoping it comes out.

You know, everyone was disappointed when the Coast Guard called off their search in the last few days of that area where they were looking for Lynette. But I was not surprised because I did not think they were going to find Lynette in the area where he said she fell overboard. So that was no big surprise to me, Daniel Danforth. In fact, I would have surprised if they had found her. We don't know that the Bahamans may only allow them seven days to come search. We don't know what the criteria of being allowed to search. They had to ask for permission to enter another country to perform the search.

And therefore, like so many days into the search, and the Bahamian government wouldn't let them hire private cabins anymore. They could only charter the Bahamian government. armament vessels. And so there was a lot of legal red tape between the two countries. So we don't really don't know what went down and what don't went down until, like I said, until it all kind of comes out later, we can only go upon what we see and what we're presumed. But I feel like they went down there on a very particular mission. And I feel like we have one of the best investigative services there is on this mission. And I'm praying that we can find something to validate the GPS track and

it would blow Brian Hooker's story out of the water. Because he hasn't done nothing because hurt and pain and lies in every single person's life since we've met him. since till now and the family I can only imagine what the daughter and the mother are going through because this calls a major toll on my wife where she's kind of now, she has PTSD from the past and she's not wanting to go back out sailing again because

it's a community you have to trust your fellow voter on and this is really really damaging to the lifestyle and the boating community. You know what Dan, you're absolutely right and I'll learn that. Diving. You have to trust the people you're with. They save your

life. There was one, they saved my life and I didn't even know them. That said, this has affected your wife to the point she's got PTSD? She already had PTSD and it's really, you know, she's been treated and trying to take care of for years. And that's why we got into boating. And so we could be alone out on the water. We didn't have to deal with the conflicts of land. And so this happened, she's very leery because she was real close with Lynette. Her and Lynette met in 2023. And my wife don't make very many friends. that she's a very, very private person. And so it kind of hurt her a lot that that was one of the few people that she kept very

close in contact with and that this has happened. And we had actually, they've been begging us to come down in the Bahamas with them. We actually have a motor yacht, not a cellboat, so it costs a lot more fuel for us to go. And so now it's kind of like she don't trust another boating couple. You know, it's kind of hard to, you know, to have a buddy boat when this happened to one of the few buddy boats that we've ever had. So it's like she opened herself up a little bit and I feel like Brian Hooker took advantage of that. and really, you know, put her in a bad emotional state and another, you know, it really triggered her PTSD again.

You stated that Hooker has been nothing but heartache since you met him. And see, I didn't know that. Why do you say that? Well, I enjoy them because we met, like I said, we originally met in 2023 and we spent a month together in New Orleans. And they were very motivated like us, you know, that kind of give up on the land, lifestyle, want to travel. we had a lot of the same maritime desires. But me and Brian Hooker, we had completely different views on every other thing in the world. But it was nice to be able to talk to somebody and say,

well, why do you feel this way without having an actual argument? And I could see life from a different perspective, from a more liberal perspective, where I'm more of a conservative perspective. And so it kind of opened my eyes up to a lot of things. But, you know, as we traveled, it was great to have another. We call them buddy boats, somebody that asks, where are y'all anchored at tonight? So we know you're safe.

So that way, if you go missing, you have some kind of a track. and accountability of people keeping in the touch of like, oh, no, you know, the dam force were up in, you know, this bay here, and so that was our last known place. And we did the same with the hookers. So during their time, they have had some problems in their relationships, but as my wife was real close with the net, I never tried to get involved because you don't want to damage, you know, a co-friendship like that. You know, you have the wives are friends and then me and him were friends, but it was, it was just kind of hurts me a lot that he used me in appalled at the very beginning of this to try to establish a fake story.

he shouldn't have never, like, I guess the last interview he did when he said that he wasn't going to leave the Bahamas until a higher power told him that he had to leave. I guess that higher power turned out to be his attorney. Okay. Unleash the lawyer. Josh Coles Rood, have you had time to come up with a defense for that pesky GPS saying something completely different than what Brian Hooker says? I have an excuse for that. Also for the statement about Brian swimming. So I'll get to them both. So the the first one, you know, there are dry bags, thicker dry bags that do block

cell phone signals. So I disagree with my colleague saying that, you know, the dry bags don't do that ever because that's simply incorrect. I'm a diver and I know that my cell phone does not work in my dry bag, which is a thick dry bag. Second, you know, how do we know that the battery? Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Wait, wait. Okay, Josh, I have planned not to interrupt you, but you're saying that a call, that a cell phone can transmit through these walls in this studio, through a car, you're going to get Wi-Fi on a plane, but you're saying a dry bag stops a cell phone from transmitting. I just want to make sure I understood what you just said because I would have so much fun. Oh, I may have to go back to the courtroom

now that you said that. Is that what you said? Bring your extra. Your dry bag. I'll bring mine. Okay. Yeah. All right. Go ahead. Yeah. The thicker dry bags can block cell phone signals, period. And when you're out on the water and the cell phone signals aren't as good as they would be on the land with 5G networks. You know, it's not out of the realm of possibility that that signal was lost. And what about the battery on the phone? How do we know that the battery didn't die during that time? You know, there just are too many alternative explanations that can explain the probity away

from this piece of evidence. And then secondly, Nancy, you know, let's talk briefly about the record. conversation that you brought up where Brian said that he was in the water. You know, that was taken out of context. If you look at the 330 mark in that statement, the friend literally asked him, so you were swimming, and he says, no. So, you know, to be fair to the recorded conversation, you know, he gives a mixed answer. It's certainly nothing definitive about him being in the water. And because, you know, the statement was given to a friend, it wasn't given in a way where he was preparing for, you know, trial or something like that.

This was a genuine comment about somebody who's genuinely cared for and looking for the wife. So, you know, I think that this is much to do about nothing and, you know, there's no there there. Okay. And I quote, Brian Hooker, I had to bet. I want to start with her getting shot with the flare pistol. She was hit with a flare pistol. I had slid down one of those sponsors down toward the stern, which there's not really a stern and a cockpit. Well, there's not a cockpit in a dinghy. I took so many waves over the dinghy.

I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit. There's not a cockpit in a denie in a dingy. But the inside also got wet and so, and the dingy key was not attached to me, you know. So when we were around trying to, to get back on the boat.

Those, you know what? Let's listen to it from the horse's mouth. I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong. I mean, she's a regular swimmer, not like a athlete or anything, but she's fucking determined. And she was, had the flare pistol

I had slid down one of the sponsons down towards the stern. And the dinghy, I took so many waves over the dinghy, I bailed about five or six times I had to bail out the cockpit, but the inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me, you know? So when we were around trying to get back in the boat, the sun was falling, but it kind of dropped

off. It was a magnet key, you know, for the electric motor. And it was a cascade of failures, and it's something I'm never going to forget myself for. Be Pride Month, Toronto. Pride is an opportunity for you. to create your own space, to celebrate your existence. IHeart Radio is proud to be an official sponsor of Pride Toronto Festival, and we won't stop. Celebrate Pride.

Turn up the love and listen to IHeart Pride Canada, your 24-7 radio stream and the only playlist you need for your Toronto Pride celebrations. Pride is so great because it gives a whole bunch of people this visibility that they've never had before. We have a ton to celebrate Toronto. Happy Pride. IHeart Radio. Crime Stores with Nancy Grace. I was keeping a very stiff upper lip because she is strong. I mean, she's a regular swimmer, not like a thing, but she's fucking determined. And she was hit the flare pistol. I had slid down Sponsonson's down towards the stern.

And the dinghy, I took so many waves over the dinghy. I bailed about five or six times. I had to bail out the cockpit, but the inside also got wet. The dinghy key was not attached to me. You know, so when we were around trying to get back in the boat, the sun was falling but it kind of dropped out it was a magnet key

for the electric motor and it was a cascade of failures and it's something I'm never going to forgive myself for so that's him from our friends at Fox News Digital and Unmasht True Crime Podcast starring

Vanessa Walsh who is joining us tonight he absolutely said we were trying to get back into the boat Vanessa I mean I just heard it He did, Nancy. And I've listened to that call between Brian and Blaine countless times over the past two months. And I did immediately notice that part of the statement as well, the very first day I listened to it. And I did kind of stop and go, whoa, was that some type of slip up? What was that exactly? Unfortunately, whether he doesn't really have a chance to clarify it or he chooses not to really circle back to that because the conversation's kind of bouncing all over the place, we can't be 100% sure of what he means there. but he does say, you know, you were swimming then.

Blaine says, and then he says, no, but he jumps to the next sentence. So it's really hard to discern what exactly he was saying there. I wish they would have kind of dove into that deeper and got some more clarification. We alluded to this at the very beginning regarding an 11-hour gap in the tracking. coincidentally when Lynette goes overboard. Take a listen to Kenneth Ingerand, Maritime Law Professor. There are ways that it can stop transmitting catastrophic power failure.

It doesn't just go off and then come back on in a situation like this without some sort of deliberate action. I believe there's evidence that the tracking of the boat was turned off at a time that closely parallels around the time that she went missing. All of those things are highly suspicious. And the guy you see talking right there is Tad DeBase. He's a former federal prosecutor, veteran attorney. And the first one was a maritime law professor. As I mentioned, Kenneth Ingerand.

What are they talking? about Daniel Danforth. How does it relate to this case? Oh, that's for our friends at Fox News Digital. I'm referring specifically to an 11-hour gap where the GPS just turns off. I don't think that that accidentally happened. It had to be manually turned off.

The type of battery systems that they had, the solar system, it has an emergency reserve. So unless something like he said, a catastrophic power failure happened, then it wouldn't have just accidentally turned off. And if a catastrophic power failure failure did happen, it wouldn't be automatically turned back on when Brian Hooker and the volunteer research and rescue

made it back to the boat the next day when it came back on. So that tells me that it was manually turned off and manually turned back on. Because if you had a catastrophic power failure, you're not going to go back to the boat and you flip it back on. Well, you just said that it was battery or solar powered,

not connected to power on the mainline. land, right? It was completely powered. Everything on Soulmate was powered from Soulmate. They actually had a lithium battery pack, and then they had solar and generators to recharge a lithium solar pack. And so if you had a major meltdown that would actually power off that nobody on the boat, you're not just going to be able to just turn that back on when you got there.

You'd have to correct whatever problem there was, then turn it back on. But when Hopetown Search and Rescue took Brian Hooker back to the boat the next day, and it's been logged at the same time that they got to the boat is when the power came back on. But now you've got a critical component failure that says, okay, I can no longer run electronics. I'm shut down. I had an electronic failure. You're not going to go back in there the next day and just turn it on. The system came back active the same time that Hope Town Search and Rescue took Brian Hooker back to the boat. I think it was logged at 8.30 or 930 a.m. And that's when the system was powered back on. And it wasn't a long delay. It was like he went in the boat,

flipped the switch, the power came back on, and another gentleman stayed on the boat within for about an hour kind of looking around, and then they would come back off. The Houghtown Searcher Rescue left then. Oh, my stars. Another thing I wanted to point out, too, is I'm not trying to rewind, but they said in that phone call,

he says that we were, you know, effing around, trying to get back on the boat. Most people don't ever call a dinghy, a boat. A dinghy will always be a dinghy, maybe a tender. So it sounds to me like he slipped up and said, we got back to Soulmate, and we were, you know, kind of fighting around,

trying to get back on, you know, the way he describes that was sound like they're trying to get back on the big boat, which would have been sold mate. And I feel like that was a little bit, and that's where he crossed the conversation off to something different real quick, because you're not going to call,

like, if you're, say if I fell overboard, I'm trying to get back to my dingy. I'm not trying to get back in a boat. You never really call a dingy a boat. There's just a normal person who, who's a land person would call it. You know, oh, look, a little boat and a big boat. But in the nautical world,

that a dingy is a dingy and a boat. boat is a boat. So if he's made the comment, we were trying to get back on the boat, we were effing around trying to get back on the boat, that confirms that they made it back that it's a lie that he said that they didn't make it back. I think that he did. He told himself right there that they did make it back to saltmate. Which would explain a lot, Daniel Danforth, when he keeps referring to the stern and the cockpit and so forth. You don't have that in a dingy. And if you also hear the water got into the boat, so it got into the cockpit. Also, it got inside and got the inside wet. There's no inside of a dingy.

you got the cockpit of a cellboat the door was open water went inside the stuff so you see that he almost he's describing the cellboat he's not describing the dean when that phone called and then you can see he called himself and that's where he started switching it back up to oh let's go back to play a you know poor bryd hooker here but like also wanted to point out the cushion that he supposedly threw to her it was found that's his cushion you see him sit on in every video where's her cushion at how come her cushion was never recovered. Not what you know, but there's not one video of them ever in the dingy that she don't have her cushion with her. And that's a guaranteed flotation device. It does not sink. So how come it wasn't ever recovered in the same general location? Or even to this day that that

that cushion was, I think they made it back to the cellboat. And that confirms that they made it back to the cell boat with his very words of them saying, we were effing around trying to get back on the cell boat or try to get back on the boat. He would have said, we were effing around trying to get back in the dingy if they had fallen overboard. And then, And that's why when Blaine said, was y'all swimming? Oh, no, no, because they were going from the D back into the big boat, which would have been the cellboat salt made it. So he just confirmed right there that they made it back to the boat that night.

Then there is the whole issue of the infrared. He showed me he has something called a Fleer system, which is a forward-looking infrared camera. He said if any person comes up in a boat or a kayak or something like that or walks down the dock, it immediately set off alarm and it'll self-track them. as they walk around the boat. If it's at nighttime and it's in the dark, the flur is going to immediately capture

the heat of that person's body. Seizing a vessel is a great piece of evidence because all these electronics are digital evidence, and it doesn't go away. And you can't delete it, and you can't erase it. It's there forever. First, you were seeing our guest, our friend Dan Danforth on CBS News,

Then you were seeing our longtime friend and colleague, Robert Crispin, private investigator, speaking at CBS News as well. Danforth, to what are they referring about the infrared? What he had on his boat was a very unique system that most people don't have. It's actually considered a high-end luxury item. Most of the time it's for search and rescue or military boats. But what he had was called Fleer, Ford-looking infrared. And as you can see in the photo, it was mounted pretty high up the map.

mass. And so the key features that it has is an auto-detect and auto self-track. And when I was getting the experience of system and stuff, my wife was walking down a dock, and it actually picked up her heat signature, and it tracked her going all the way back over to our yacht and her boarding our yacht. And I thought that was pretty neat. And he said, don't worry. He goes, you can set the temperature for whatever you want and anything above that temperature at an automatically self-track. And so that night, if the system was working, it should have automatically self-tracked them if they got anywhere near the dingy within a I guess within 100 yards or so, it should have self-tracked, especially if somebody was in the water, you exert more energy.

So you're going to create more heat, you know, so it's going to be an easier target for it to find. The Coast Guard said that the system wasn't really registered to Brian and Lynette, but once they got the serial number off of the system, that they were going to be able to access the FLIR systems cloud. And that regardless of whether or not Brian and Lynette subscribe to the cloud, that once they had that serial number, they would be able to access all the information off of that. So that was part of the reason to get a warrant to be able to pull the serial number off of that. FLEAR system. Okay. Other people hate it when I do this, but I have got to have you explain that again and speak very slowly because I've never dealt with a FLEAR front, forward-looking infrared.

And I see it up on the mast. We're showing it as you can speak. I don't know if you see your monitor or not. But there it is. It was registered to the previous owners, not the hookers. Okay, tell me one more time you were saying it could track your wife? What it is, it's basically like a camera, but seeing it, like there's a video camera or a cellular phone camera where you're going to see an image on the screen. It picks up strictly in heat thermal. And so it's kind of like when you're watching a movie, like the old poltergeist movies and stuff, you would see that thermal image, but you couldn't see a person that was invisible. So if somebody was invisible, you could still track them with this camera because it reads heat temperature. If there's anything that changes temperature around the ambient temperature, it's going to show up a different color.

And so when my wife was leaving Soulmate headed back to our boat, I was inside a Soulmate, and the camera automatically detected her movement because it was higher than 80 degrees where he had the temperature set that day on the system. So the camera tracks her, and it don't show her as my wife. It shows her as like a red walking human, you know, but she's all red. You can't tell like a picture of her. You know, it don't show you the, you know, like her skin color or her hair color. it's just strictly a red figure walking down the dock. It just strictly reads in thermal imaging. And it's a very high-end system, and they're great for search and rescues.

That I even asked, you know, during this time when Lynette was first missing, how can they weren't using that as part of the search and rescue to be able to search advocacy? Because it's such of a high-end system to be able to locate, and that's the purpose of having something like that is to be able to see at nighttime, to be able to see in bad conditions, to be able to track things that you can't see in the black in the darkness of night. So it's my understanding, Vanessa Walsh, the star of unmasked true crime, who has done a lot of investigative work and the disappearance of Lynette Hooker. It's my understanding that the camera is currently being processed as part of this probe. What do you know? Understanding as well, and they're specifically interested in the potential I-Cloud capabilities, as Dan was just saying.

And I think, I mean, this camera is specifically designed to detect if someone goes overboard. One of its main functions. So I think the big question for investigators will be, was this infrared camera operational when Lynette went missing? And did Brian try to use it to find Lynette? And if not, why? Dan Danforth, I was looking through all the information we've amassed. And isn't it true that Hooker showed off the infrared device while you were? We're all docked in New Orleans back in around 23.

Yes, and like I was telling you, my wife has PTSD, so she gets very nervous at any time that we're in contact with land and that she don't really know who's accessible to come get us. Because when we're on the water, nobody can really come get us, unless you drive up in another boat or come up in some scuba gear, you're not really going to get to us. And so when we were at the dock, I was telling Brian about, you know, my wife's PTSD. And he said, don't worry.

So this is the best security system you can have. And my wife and Lynette were out on the dock talking. And so as they departed, my wife was going back to the boat, he set the camera, said, you know, set it for alarm for anything above 86 degrees. Well, instantly, the camera spun around and it started tracking my wife as she walked back down because on the dock, she was the only other things, you know, higher than 86 degrees at the time of size of Lynette. And so any kind of like movement or something like that that has a higher temperature, the camera's on self-detect. Like it can pan 360 degrees up and down 180 degrees. look around. It's a self-searching feature. Your other guests, and one of the main features of this clear system, it has M-O-B, which is man-overboard

feature on it. So if somebody ever does fall overboard, you push a button on it, and it track, and it tracks a person to help me if you had to turn around, you know, the heat in the storm or at nighttime to be able to go back and look for somebody. It has a man-overboard feature as part of the feature of this system. Wow. Now, in his defense, Brian Fitzgibbon's has pointed out something significant. Do I think it's probative? Does it prove anything? No, not to me, about the GPS going off

for those critical 11 hours. But, Brian, I'm glad you told me about it because every good prosecution anticipates the defense and is prepared to shred it. So you mentioned something about previous times the GPS had gone down? Yeah, so it's been reported

not only that nine-hour window on the night of Lynette's disappearance was the AIS tracker off. It's been reported that also on three other days or three other times between April 10th and April 13th, the tracking system was shut down. Now, you know, what flies in the face of this is that Brian Hooker was in custody by the Royal Bahamian Police from April 8th to April 13th. Okay. So those were those dates are well known to us. So, you know, the prosecution, if there is to be a prosecution, is certainly going to need to explain that April 10th date, the AIS tracker went off. So you're saying that on three other occasions between April 10, April 13, his Brian Hooker's GPS went down, but he was in custody at the time. Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, and there certainly could be a good reason for this, right? But as that nautical expert was on talking about it, that there had to be some kind of human intervention to turn this system off during the hours of when that's disappearing. For all I know, it could have been during the investigation that the GPS was being tested or investigated. I don't know. But that's a fact that could be critical

to both the state and the prosecution in this case at this hour tonight. Brian Hooker remains innocent, presumed innocent under the law unless and until that presumption is pierced with evidence on the part of the state that proves him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If you know or think you know anything about the Lent's disappearance, please dial. U.S. Coast Guard 800-424-8802, 800-4-24-8802.

We remember an American hero, Lieutenant Patrick Weatherford, Newport PD, Arkansas, shot in the line of duty after 15 years on the force, leaving behind his wife, Kristen, and two children, Caitlin and Caleb, sentenced to life without their father. American hero Lieutenant Patrick Weatherford.

Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. Nancy Gray, signing off for tonight. But I'll see you tomorrow night. And until then, good enough of it. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.