(ABACO, Bahamas) - Newly obtained messages reviewed by CBS News are raising fresh questions in the disappearance of Lenawee County boater Lynette Hooker, as Bahamian authorities continue holding her husband, Brian Hooker, for questioning.
According to the messages, Brian Hooker told a friend that strong winds quickly pushed the dinghy away after Lynette went overboard, and that she tried swimming back toward the couple's sailboat before they "lost sight of each other pretty quickly" near sundown.
He said he then spent the next seven hours drifting and paddling with a single oar before finally reaching shore around 4 a.m., where he was able to get help and report her missing.
The CBS report says the messages later describe Hooker telling his friend that his family was "in hell" as search crews failed to find Lynette, while also discussing plans to regroup briefly with relatives flying in before returning to continue the search.
But the newly surfaced communications are also intensifying scrutiny.
The friend who received the messages told CBS News that parts of Brian Hooker's written account do not appear to fully line up with other emerging details in the case, particularly questions surrounding how quickly the couple became separated on the water and why he was later active on social media.
Lynette Hooker's daughter has also publicly questioned key parts of the story, including why her mother would have had the dinghy key, saying Brian was normally the one operating the boat.
The disappearance has now shifted from a search-and-rescue effort to a search-and-recovery investigation, with Bahamian authorities executing a search warrant tied to the couple's sailboat and continuing to work through evidence, communications and witness accounts.
Brian Hooker has not been formally charged, and his attorney says he continues to deny wrongdoing while cooperating with investigators