Bahamas: Man arrested in Abaco as missing woman case reclassified as murder

Police reported that the suspect was arrested around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday after an investigation into her disappearance during a boat trip from Hope Town to Elbow Cay on April 4.

10th of April 2026

Bahamas: The 59-year-old man has been arrested by the Bahamian police on Wednesday, April 8, in Abaco in connection with the murder of his common-law wife Lynette Hooker, who went missing in April, near Elbow Cay.

Advard Dames, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, confirmed the development on Wednesday.

According to police reports, the officers arrested Hooker on Wednesday, at around 7:30 p.m., following the completion of investigation into Hooker’s disappearance while she was travelling with her husband from Hope Town to Elbow Cay, in an 8-foot dinghy, on the night of Saturday, April 4.

The officers took him into custody in Marsh Harbour where they are interrogating him and now started treating the disappearance case as murder as they are reinvestigating the case with a main focus on the murder point of view.

Reportedly, during the initial investigation Brian Hooker told the Royal Bahamas Police Force that he and his 55-year-old wife were traveling from Hope Town to Elbow Cay in an 8-foot dinghy, on Saturday, April 4, when suddenly Lynette fell overboard with the boat's keys, which caused the engine to fail.

Following which the Hooker attempted to save his wife but the watercurrents were so high that it pushed her away and later she went out of his sight. After that, the victim's husband told the officers that he then paddled the vessel to the Marsh Harbour Yard early Sunday morning and filed a missing complaint.

Since then the investigation into the case was quickly launched by the officers including the rescue operations conducted by the local police, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, and the Hope Town Fire & Rescue Service.

The reinvestigation into the case has sparked concern in the locals as many people are questioning the authorities whether their decision changed by the influence of social media. Many people took to Facebook to express their feelings as one of the users McCrea Harriet commented, “Finally, the police have taken the right decision to treat this as a murder.”