Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - LIFE VEST LIES: OVERBOARD LYNETTE HOOKER HUBBY WALKS FREE

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Brian Hooker, husband of the Michigan woman who went missing in the Bahamas, says he will be staying in the country to search for his wife.  Hooker was held in jail for 5 days, but has now been released. His attorney says Hooker is free to leave any time he wishes. Brian Hooker has repeatedly said he would never hurt his wife, Lynette. He also refused to discuss details about what happened with reporters saying he did not want to interfere with the search for Lynette.  Joining Nancy Grace Today:  Randolph Rice  - Former Prosecutor and Current Criminal Defense & Civil Attorney at Rice Law, website: ricelawmd.com, IG, FB, X: @ricelawmd Ben Dobrin  - Boat Captain with  50-Ton Master license / Emergency Response Diving Instructor and Instructor Trainer, Police Diver,  Emergency Services Diver Scott Rouse  -  Body Language and Behavior Analyst, trains law enforcement and military interrogation and body language, Author of “Understanding Body Language,” on YouTube @ScottRouse with his channel “Behavior-X,” which focuses on body language and behavior of True Crime Stories, Pop Culture and Politics Vanessa Walsh - Host of the podcast, Unmasked True Crime, Facebook and YouTube: UnmaskedTrueCrime, X: CrimeUnmasked Sydney Silvagni - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Life vest lies. Overboard in the Bahamas, Lynette Hooker's husband walks free. This, as we learn, the flotation device he says he threw to her, is found floating in the ocean. We find it, but not her. and why is he roaming free?

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. She bounced off the dinghy. How does a person bounce? Okay. And then the darn moon. The moon wasn't up yet so he couldn't see.

Every one of those coincidences, as you call them, are explainable. And do not mean, beyond a reasonable doubt, he was guilty. I don't have a wife. She belongs with me. That is Brian Hooker, Lynette Hooker's husband speaking out to our friends at ABC, and yes, he's not behind bars, he is not detained, he is not in custody. Let's hear more of what he has to say upon his triumphant release. Brian, just any message about finding your wife.

Any message about finding your wife. Thank you so much. Do you know where you're going to go now? I'm not sure yet. All right. Did he ask about Lynette? He just literally walked out, so he hasn't had any time. But throughout the time that he was here, he was asking about her.

I won't be able to stop looking. You want to keep looking for Lynette. I'm going to need somebody with more authority to tell me to stop. Correct me if I'm wrong, Randolph Rice, veteran trial lawyer, but he's not looking right there. He's sitting in a living room, apparently giving TV interviews speaking of. That's my friends at Fox, NBC, and CBS. He's not outlooking. He's sitting there, well-groomed, well-manicured, with his lawyer giving interviews.

Smart. Very smart. This is what he should be doing, a combination of looking for his wife and also keeping the pressure on the media to keep this story out there. because as long as he keeps talking about it, he's going to have coverage, he's going to have pressure. The police are going to continue helping looking for him. Remember, he's innocent. He's done nothing wrong here with no evidence against him. So he is out there trying to help find his wife. No, he's not. Look at this. I want you to look at him. Look at him flanked by his defense lawyer sitting in front of a mic and a camera. I'm not seeing him. Can I see him? The video we, there you go. He doesn't,

doesn't look like he's looking to me, Randolph Rice. You said a combination of asking for help and keeping this in the news. Trust me, Randolph, it's in the news. And in everything he says, I don't hear him say anything about, help me find Lynette. Help me. I didn't hear that. Did you hear that? Well, I think that that's probably something he's assuming, that they're going to help continue look for him. He wants the authorities to have that pressure on them. So they're out there. with those rescue boats. They're out there looking for him. And possibly anybody else is willing to come down and help look as well? Yeah, they're looking. He's not. I think he's going, you know what? He's doing this interview now. And that's what I would tell him if I was his lawyer.

And I'd say, after this, guess what? You're back out there on a boat. You're looking for your wife. And you come back and you can do another interview because we're going to keep the pressure. So Randolph-Rise, you think his lawyer has to tell him to go look? Hey, you better go look for her and make sure everybody sees you? Is that? Did you just say that? I mean, oftentimes these victims are not thinking clearly. And it's good that he has a lawyer there helping and advising him. But I certainly think in his mind, based on what audio we've heard up to this point, that he probably is just as concerned than anybody else that he's out there wanting to look for her and find her.

All I know is when my son went missing and the babies are us, I did not sit down and start giving an interview. I screamed bloody murder, picked up my daughter like she was a football, and started running like a linebacker. That's what I did, but you know what? That's just me. Let's hear what else Brian Hooker has to say upon his release from custody.

And more like I've heard about it. I have not looked at the news or any social media since the day before the act. I don't want to take a chance that anything could interfere with the search, as it already kind of has. Without, there's no point in being in any of it, I don't even, let me know what you do. From our friends at CBS and NBC, you know, I also find it curious to you, Vanessa Waltz, joining us. Vanessa is the star of unmasked true crime.

He went on to say, I have never hurt her, I would not hurt her. In fact, that's not what their daughter says. I thought that was really odd that he would even go there, especially with his attorney advising him, because we did hear yesterday also that Lynette's daughter said that the U.S. Coast Guard had obtained the past alleged DB information and records and had forwarded them on to the Bahamian authorities. So I do think it will be difficult for him to continue with this kind of defense moving forward.

since there are quite a few people, not just Lynette's daughter, multiple family members and friends that can kind of corroborate that and have text messages and have had conversations with Lynette about that moving forward. I thought that was strange that he even went into that topic. So back to you, Randolph Rice, former prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, civil lawyer at Rice Law in Baltimore, never a lack of business there. Randolph, see, when you say things like, I've never hurt her, I would never hurt her, and then I've got all these DV domestic violence alleged incidents in the past. She even as you heard the neighbors say moved out on him multiple times because of domestic violence accusations. Yeah, so let's address the first thing here is that any time we put witnesses on the stand,

and you can look at any trial in America, we asked the defendant the first time, Would you ever hurt this person? No. Would you ever cause them harm? No, these are natural and obvious questions because if we don't ask them and if he doesn't say these things, then you have a guess, a suspicion that maybe he did.

So he's putting it out there, I never would hurt her, I would never cause harm. The DV allegations are that exactly, allegations. These are coming also from a stepdaughter who possibly might have had some sort of axe to grind against her stepfather, Mr. Hooker. So I take them with a grain of salt as to what she's saying, what was going on in the past.

And lastly, Nancy, if we had to say that everybody that had a domestic issue in the past was ultimately going to kill their partner, then we'd have half this country dead. So it just doesn't make sense to rely on that past information. Why do you always do that? Why do you always do that? I remember it in the Scott Peterson case. Mark Garagos, great lawyer, says, just because he's a philanderer doesn't mean he's a killer. every guy in America that cheats

doesn't kill their wife. Okay, granted. But reverse that. Reverse that. How many times has there been domestic homicide where prior to the murder, there was abuse

practically every time? So, again, I hate to keep asking you this, Randolph Rice, but do I look like I just fell off the turn-up truck? Don't try that with me. Please. The fact that there was domestic abuse doesn't mean he killed her. Reverse that.

But you're reversing it to. I'll give you a few moments to think about that. What? But you're reversing it to your benefit to argue that Mr. Hooker is somehow criminally responsible for this. If you look at it the other way, it doesn't make sense. Oh, okay. To you, all I know is they're in a boat. He lives.

She doesn't. Interesting. Now, you brought up. the daughter and suggested she has some axe to grind in the search for her mother. Well, let's listen to her. And I want you, you, Randolph Rice, to weigh her credibility as she speaks. We're pretty distraught that this is even happening. I'm still in shock. Like, it's just real. He said that my mom's missing and that she fell out of the boat and that he threw a life jacket to her something and he doesn't know if she got it or not but then he paddled the shore and then he

called for help i was just sitting there in shock because i couldn't imagine this actually happening to her i just hope we find her i don't want to go forever just not ever finding her again from our friends at nbc and 13 news now it doesn't look to me that she's got an axe to grind and it looks like she's distraught over her mother. Well, that's not the clips that we're ultimately going to probably hear her saying bad things about Mr. Hooker, because right there she does sound like she's sympathetic. She wants to find her mom. That is all true, and I'm sure that's what she believes in her heart.

But at the end of the day, she also thinks that Mr. Hooker is the one who did this. And the story makes sense that he tells that this is an accident. There's nothing in the story that he has told, and none of the facts that point to him having some criminal responsibility in this. this whole thing. I haven't heard anything. I've tried to contact the police down there and I didn't get an answer. The longer it's been, the more doubt I have that she's still there.

For one, I don't understand how she got the key. Brian's always driving. So he basically is in charge of the key. So the fact that my mom had it doesn't make any sense. It just doesn't add up why she was swimming away from the boat or why she had the keys. have known past issues between them have not been good. From what I've heard from my grandma, their relationship has been a lot of fighting and drinking lately.

So I'm just kind of questioning what actually went on in that dingy. And more from Carly Ellsworth. This is Lynette's daughter. There's history of them choking her out and threatening to throw her overboard. So the fact that this is actually happening makes sense. me believe there's more to the story. I've seen him choke out one of his daughters before, and we had to go to court for that, and I was only in third grade. So he's just repeating patterns. From NBC, 13 News Now, CBS and Fox. You know, I don't know how you get away from her memory,

memories dating all the way back to the third grade. And this in Starvation. And this in Star, Start comparison to him stating, I would never hurt her. Well, according to the daughter, this has been going on since she's in the third grade. She looks to be in her 20s now. Straight out to Vanessa Walls, joining us to start of Unmasked True Crime Podcast. We are learning more from the friend who recorded him. What more do we know? Well, I talked to them yesterday, and there were a few things.

they have, a lot of them have started their own searches on the ground in the Bahamas. But one thing that they were wanted to kind of communicate to me was that they're also very frustrated because they are, we don't really know what they're looking for. They don't have a great description of what Lynette was even wearing at the time when she went missing. I mean, we know from reports that she was wearing a black bathing suit. But, you know, after they went to Tahiti Beach, You know, Brian says that they went to dinner at Abaco Inn.

So her friends mentioned that she would be wearing a jacket or shoes or maybe was she wearing a hat? And a lot of the video, she's wearing a blue windbreaker. And they really were concerned that a lot of the details coming out have all been from Brian, have been about Brian kind of selling his story or putting out his story. And not really any details to help find Lynette. I'm curious, Vanessa Walsh. has video been obtained from the restaurant to confirm, to corroborate, they were even there? No one I've talked to, none of their friends that I've spoken to are able to verify that yet.

I know that the restaurant has been very quiet about this and they will not release any information. They said that they've only released it to the authorities and they're not going to comment on it. So I don't think at this time we're even able to verify that they were at dinner at the in that night. You know, I also noticed, Vanessa, that he stated he, quote, won't go into the facts too deeply. Why not? Yeah.

I mean, I wasn't too, too surprised about that. I figured that his lawyer is now trying to do a little bit of damage control because of the audio leak and because of the text that had been put out. But on the flip side of that, you know, right when he started that interview, one of the interviews I listened to, you know, they said, is there anything that you can tell us to help was fine Lynette. And he almost immediately said, no, that he didn't want to interfere with her search. And that statement made no sense to me. How would giving out more information that would help find Lynette interfere with the search? I took that a different way when he said that.

I felt he was more concerned with it, you know, walking him into something for the criminal investigation. Joining us tonight, a special guest, Ben Dobran. He is a renowned boat captain with a 50-ton master's license emergency response diving instructor, instructor training, police diver, emergency services diver, it goes on. Needless to say, he knows what a boat

captain should do. Ben, thank you for being with us. I want you to hear what Lynette Hooker's husband has to say about the night she falls overboard. She basically just bounced off the dinghy in the middle of a little blow, like

20-some-night winds that popped up. up and on a three-cold half mile maybe trip back to the dinghy and single thing failed, uh, every single thing. We weren't wearing life jackets. Uh, if she, uh, it was sundown and the sunset, like basically ten minutes after she fell over. Um, dinghy came over with her because it wasn't clipped to anything or anybody. And, she had the spare Diena key in her dry bag, which was with her. Yeah, it was inflated. I mean, inflated because it was folded, but the wind blew us apart so fast that I think,

I think she tried to swim back to the sailboat, back to our sailboat, which was probably, I don't know, thousand yards or something. But the waves were three foot, and I was trying to ship the whores. and one of the pins on the oar's broken and I heard dropped over the side and I was yelling for her the whole time and I yelled to her that I lost a war and I threw the anchor out

and anchored the dinghy and just yeah I yelled I couldn't see her anymore it was the moon has not risen yet Ben Dobran boat captain you're hearing a recorded phone call the husband made to a friend, and the friend got so concerned, he contacted our friend, Vanessa Waltz, star of unmasked true crime, and sent it in. So Ben Dobrin, it seems like a lot, coincidentally, went wrong, and the boat captain, obviously, did not respond as he should have. Way in.

Absolutely. First of all, that dinghy is an eight-foot dinghy. If he's saying that's in three-foot seas with 20 not wins, that's small craft advisories. That boat had no business being on the water, none whatsoever. Three-foot seas would be taking water over the sides. That did not have a three-foot freeboard via the top of the boat was less than three feet off the water. So if it was three-foot seas, they would be getting beat all sorts of ways. That boat should not have been out there in three-foot seas. If it was, if they were, if they were were trying to get back to their sailboat because that's where they were sleeping that night and they were trying to just tough it out and get back to the sailboat, they would be absolute idiots not to be wearing their PFDs. He said they didn't have their life jackets on, but in an eight-foot boat and three-foot seas, any normal person's putting their life jacket on because those conditions are way beyond the safe conditions for that boat. So I wouldn't have been out in an eight-foot ding and three-foot seas, but if I were,

for some reason, if I had to go out, definitely be wearing. and a PFD, especially as the sun was setting. And the little motor on that boat, that's not a powerful little motor to get through the seas that he's describing. So it just sounds like a horrible situation that was a bunch of bad decisions, one after another, after another. And one of the things, he's been on the sea for a while, he's been on the ocean, he's a sailboat captain.

One of the things that you immediately do, if you have a person overboard, the term is man overboard, but it's person overboard. You know, is you throw your type four throwable. You throw your life ring, you throw your cushion, whatever sort of, you have to have another, other than the light jackets, you have to have a throwable device also, whether it is a seat cushion or a ring. That's the first thing you do when you have a person overboard is throw that ring. So it is in very close proximity to where that person is. And it sounds like he just, the whole thing sounds like a perfect storm of failures.

I mean, if you believe his story going out in that little boat in those sea conditions, right as the sun was setting, it sounds awful. It's a disaster. It's a recipe for disaster. Well, Ben Dobran, I want you to hear another fact from Vanessa Walsh, the star of unmasked true crime. The map, the photos, it's not really a photo, it's a map, a graphic of where the dingy went out. And according to that map, the water was only seven feet. deep. Is that right, Vanessa? Yes, that is. And I've heard many reports since then of just how shallow this water was.

I don't understand Ben Dobran. Of course, I'm not a boat captain like you are, but I've dived all over the world how you can get three foot waves that just spring up. You didn't see them when you were getting into the dingy in seven feet of water. Yeah, that's, if it's only seven feet of water, you're going to have to have some very serious wind conditions to get three feet chop in seven feet of water. You're absolutely correct. And if he's in seven feet of water, he's required to have an anchor. And, you know, if he's on 100 feet of water, he's not going to have enough lying to get an anchor down and tied off to the boat and a little bit like that.

But seven feet of water, he could have anchored and not been blown away very quickly. And then, you know, he said she was swimming back to the sailboat. They're still, he said they're getting blown apart. One of the things he said is they're getting blown in different directions. They'd be blown in the same direction. Unless there was a special wind that went after his dinghy and a different wind went after her, the current and the wind would be blowing them both in the same direction. So I just don't understand how they'd be blown in the park.

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19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Scott Rouse is joining us. Body language, behavioral analyst, trains law enforcement, and military.

interrogators. He's the author of Understanding Body Language, and you can find him on YouTube with his channel Behavior X. Scott, thank you for being with us. I'm very curious about your take on Mr. Hooker's behavior. We're seeing the classic moves and structures of someone that we use to train law enforcement with. There are examples I'm going to pull out of this. I mean, there are examples I'm going to pull out of to use if he's found guilty and to use to train law enforcement. There are so many things in here that are red flags from that, from body language and behavior perspective, it's bizarre that they let him go. I can't believe to let this guy loose already.

Maybe they don't have enough in that country or where they are to be able to hold them, but I can't believe. Well, what do you mean? You say there are a lot of red flags, a lot of indicators. What indicators? He's, when he's talking about her, he doesn't, it's all about him. I don't have a wife. Those kind of things.

He doesn't say, look, please help me find my wife. I need some help find my wife. His statements are all, are all almost in third person as he's talking about this. When he says, I won't be able to stop looking, that kind of thing. Well, what do you mean you won't be able to stop looking? What does that mean? Why don't you ask everybody to help you? Look, I'm going to go.

His story is just, is structured so perfectly. for what happened. You have the first part where she flipped off the boat or whatever. Then he goes through it section by section, just a little bit by bit and tells you exactly what happened. When something like that happens to someone, their emotions are so out of control and their brain is so lit up with emotion and adrenaline. You can't remember what happens. Most of the time, it'll be just a big plop of story right there and you'll get some details. Then you have to talk to it. It takes a while to get to walk them through what happened. Apparently, this guy's got this thing, worked out just almost sentence by sentence to where everything is perfect for him.

This doesn't look right and it doesn't feel right. It doesn't sound right. There's nothing in here that looks and sounds right to me. Well, speaking of him stating, I don't have a wife. That is exactly what he said. You're right about that. Listen, I don't have a wife. She belongs with me. was the last thing that you remember saying to each other? Without going into a lot of details because of the ongoing investigation, I will never, I will always think there was something I could have done differently. Okay, I'm certainly no behavior analyst, but he went on a flip. That's for our friends at ABC.

He was going, I don't have a wife, he, he, he, he, without going into a lot of details because of the ongoing investigation, that was like somebody flipped a switch. Okay, again, I'm not a behavior analyst, but Scott Rouse, that stunked to high heaven. That's all performative. That's all performative. When you have an emotion,

you have somebody that your wife dies, drowns, and is missing, and you act like that, you go from being sad to like normal and talking normal. That's not right. Humans don't work that way. The brain doesn't work that way. It won't let you do that. When he asked him about, what was the last thing you all said, to each other. He doesn't answer that question at all. He doesn't even get near it. His answer

has nothing to do with that question whatsoever, not even a little bit. So this whole thing, the answer should be, oh, yeah, he would make up. I told we were talking about how much we loved each other, something, but there's nothing there. He doesn't get near that. And the part, going back to what you said about the part about he can't talk about it because of the ongoing investigation, What is he talking about? He just talked about everything. Everything we've heard him do is talk about every bit of the investigation. He's staying away from the things that are personal between him and his wife.

So that doesn't sound right either. I don't know what he said, but I do know this. He's being elusive and he's not answering the question. As a matter of fact, let's play that one more time. I don't have a wife. She belongs with me. What was the last thing that you remember saying to each other? Without going into a lot of details because of the ongoing investigation, I will never, I will always think there was something I could have done differently.

From our friends at ABC, OK. Vanessa Walsh, joining us, star of unmastery crime. Did you see what I just saw? Or am I misinterpreting? Yes. And again, I'm no behavioral analyst either. But the one thing I did notice immediately watching those interviews is during the emotional parts, which he does during a couple of interviews who begins to cry. He does some facial expressions.

He takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes. But I didn't see any tears. And I watched it back many times. It almost even seems like he coughs to kind of make it sound like he's crying at one point. And there just seems to be a big disconnect there between the severity of what happened and how Brian is communicating it. Back to Randolph Rice, joining us, defense attorney and civil lawyer at Rice Law. We all know, all the legal eagles know how it works here in the U.S. Once you are arrested, you are then told after a certain number of hours what your charges are,

then you may stay behind bars until your trial unless you can make bond. Here, they completely cut him loose. They say that he's still a suspect and they may re-arrest him. It sounds like the Natalie Holloway debacle all over again. Do you remember that, Randolph, when authorities in Aruba would hold the judge's son, Jorn Vandersloot, for a few days, then let him go, then bring him back, then let him go. Ultimately, he left the jurisdiction for the Netherlands and never came back. That's how that worked out.

So how is it working in the Bahamas? Well, the process seems to be that they don't really even need probable cause. In the United States, for the police department to arrest you, they need a probable cause to say, we have enough facts that we believe that you're the person that committed this crime. Therefore, we're going to go and arrest you. We're going to take you before a judge. The judge is going to determine if they're going to hold you or let you go. And then you get a trial date set and you go to trial.

Here it just seems like, hey, we're just going to pick up anybody. Mr. Hooker seems to be the first guy that we can, you know, grab because he's, he's the last one in Caesar. Maybe we'll put a little pressure on him, see what he says, see what he cracks. Maybe we'll get our probable cause there. But then thank God they have some laws that say, hey, you've got to release it within a certain period of time. And then he ultimately did that. If they thought they had enough evidence against him, they would have held him.

They clearly know they don't have enough evidence to charge him. And so that's why he's free right now. Randolph Rice, you know what's going on. This is a nobody, no case scenario. That's what's happening. And I believe the Bahamas police don't have the same experience that we have here in the U.S., just like with Natalie Holloway, they never found her body, ever. So they never had a case, even if they had one.

I don't know they would have gone forward with it, but they never prosecuted him because they didn't have a body. He got rid of the body. He later confessed to that many times over. So they are simply not equipped in that jurisdiction to handle a no-body homicide. Yeah, and this might be the first time I'll agree with you today on this topic, because you're right. This seems to be a slap shot investigation. But that still doesn't mean because you don't have the right type of prosecution skills or investigative skills that you get to just grab anybody, arrest them and prosecute them.

Moreover, prosecutors and police departments in the United States at least charge people with, murder all the time when they don't have a body because there's other evidence out there. And in this case, there's no other evidence. So therefore, there's no charges for Mr. Hooker. Hey, Ontario. Come on down to BetMGM Casino and check out our newest exclusive. The Price's Right Fortune Pick. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show. Only at BetMGM. Access to the Price is right Fortune Pick is only available at BetMGM Casino. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. Nineteen plus to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge.

BenMGGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Back to Vanessa Walsh, Vanessa, it seems to me that the local authorities are just twiddling their thumbs and wishing and praying that one day her. body will just wash ashore and then they will rely on extradition laws to hopefully get him back in the jurisdiction. Yeah, I mean, I agree with that. I am hoping that at the same time, they're also waiting on additional evidence like cell phone records, you know, GPS data per Apple Watch records. And maybe those are the types of records that take a little bit longer to obtain. So there's part of me just hoping that we're waiting on a lot of the digital evidence

in the meantime. Do you know she was wearing an Apple Watch? We don't know. And when I talked to her friends yesterday, they weren't sure about that either. She normally does wear the Apple Watch, they said, religiously, but it could be. I mean, they could always make the case that that day she was charging it and didn't have it on. So we're not sure. But they did make the point that she normally does always wear it. Did you notice, Vanessa, that his lawyer, his criminal defense attorney, cut the interview and would not let him get into various aspects of the investigation? I did.

And again, maybe it's because I've been so focused on, you know, going through the audio, I thought that that was probably some damage control. I'm sure she's going to have to get a hold of all of these things that he's told all of his friends via the audio, text messages. There's a lot that she's going to have to get a hold of and review. And I think that she's worried about getting control of that. So she doesn't want any more statements out there that could possibly conflict with what's already been leaked to the media. Well, Randolph Rice, why would his story change? Why would his statements be inconsistent with prior statements he's made?

What's the problem? When you're telling the truth, the truth doesn't change. You might embellish it. You may have more facts that you recall or state under the right questioning. But you're your story shouldn't change. So I don't understand the problem. As Mark Twain said, when you're telling the truth, you don't have to remember anything. And I think that's the situation here. He's telling the truth. So he doesn't have to remember anything. And his lawyer shouldn't be worried either. Now, I understand that she wants to try to keep somewhat of a story together so that it's not getting just blown out of proportion. But again, I think it's smart that he's saying these things. And there are other possibilities

here. I mean, we've got situations or at least facts that she took this key, she took this go, bag, maybe she actually got off of this boat herself. And he might have just said, oh, the heck with it and then realized, oh, wow, she's actually floating away. What? What did you just say? I want to look at your face when you say it. It's odd to me that that key was taken and that a go bag was taken.

Nancy, I've been boating for 20 years. A go bag floats. A go bag is what keeps you above the water. So if she took that go bag and she took that key, maybe this was a, Drunken argument, she said, I've had enough with you tonight, and she said, I'm getting off this boat and I'm going back to our yacht. So there's that possibility again that maybe she's alive and she doesn't want to be found. Okay. So Randolph, you're stating she jumped off the boat in three foot swells on her own? There have been reports from individuals that say that if anybody falls off of boats and they ultimately get washed up in this area, that's what's so confusing is why has she not been found at this?

point. And that begs the real question of maybe she doesn't want to get found. Maybe she decide I'm done. I'm mad at you. I'm taking this key. You're stuck out here on this boat with no key. I'm taking the go bag that floats and I'm out of here. And that's why we haven't found her yet. Let me switch gears from Randolph Rice's theory that Lynette chose to jump off the dingy in three foot swells and move to something that may be probative. Back to Vanessa Walsh. Vanessa, There are reports that Lynette's phone, her Apple Watch, was found on the boat. Yes. When I spoke to her frenzy yesterday, they also were under the impression that the Apple Watch was found on the boat.

That makes sense because it would have to be operable. They knew it was Lynette's. And she did reportedly wear that watch every day, but they brought up the point that maybe she had left it behind. on the boat for whatever reason that day. Maybe she was charging it. They don't really know. But that is, a lot of people are looking forward to seeing what that data has when they're able to obtain it. Guys, joining us tonight an All-Star panel

to make sense of what we are learning. For now, Hooker has walked free. I'm not quite sure whether he would be allowed to leave the Bahamas. Randolph Reif, could he leave if he chooses to? He could. He could absolutely get on his boat, get on a plane and fly out right now, unless he's taken his passport, which I have not heard reporting that they have, but if he has his passport, he can leave. There are treaties, though, between the United States and the Bahamas

that they could extradite him back to the Bahamas if they needed to. Well, if he's taking off in a plane, who's to say if he's coming home to the U.S.? How about if he went somewhere like Vietnam where there is no extradition treaty? Thoughts? He could. He could absolutely do that. But Nancy, the fact that he's staying there right now, that's the actions of an innocent man. If he thought he was guilty in the middle of the night, he would get on that plane to Vietnam. But because he wants to find his wife, because he's innocent, he's staying on that island and he's looking for her and he's going to find her. Looking for her, Vanessa, is there any evidence at all that he is out looking for his wife? No, and one of the things that I thought was interesting that kind of brought up a timeline question for me is during that interview when he did say that, well, his exact wording was that he wants to go look and he won't be able to stop. However, she went missing or she was reported missing on the fifth. He wasn't arrested until the eighth.

And I'll even give him on the eighth that he was being questioned by authorities most of the day. But he still had three-day critical window where he was able to search for her. But the audio that was released was recorded on the 6th, and we've seen plenty of other text messages between him and his friends. So to me, it seems like he was much more interested in kind of putting out his narrative and building his story with everyone that he knows and his friends. And he was actually going out and looking for Lynette. So three days passed with no search efforts by him. the husband? Not that we're aware of. And from, you know, what we see from friends, he was basically just speaking to friends about what happened and giving all of those details out that we heard

in the audio and have seen on all these text messages. Hooker is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law should that day ever come. If you know or think you know anything about Lynette's disappearance, please dial 242-300-847. 242-300-847. Tonight we remember an American hero, Sergeant William Jackson, Winchester, PD, Kentucky, passed away in the line of duty, leaving behind his wife turned widow, Jeannie. American hero, Sergeant William Jackson. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend.

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