A forensic expert revealed what Coast Guard investigators might be looking for after the federal agency seized Brian Hooker’s sailboat in their investigation into the disappearance of his wife in the Bahamas.
Brian Hooker initially told Bahamian officials that his wife fell off a dinghy after leaving shore at Hope Town at around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, saying that Lynette fell off with the ignition key. Local authorities said that he arrived at a marina at Marsh Harbour at around 4 a.m. on April 5 after paddling to shore, roughly eight hours after his wife went overboard. Despite a weekslong search, authorities haven’t been able to locate Lynette Hooker.
A source familiar with the investigation told Fox News Digital that the couple’s sailboat, named “Soulmate,” was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard. According to CBS News, the Hookers’ sailboat was en route to the U.S. when it was seized by the Coast Guard on Saturday. The sailboat was taken to a U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Pierce, Florida.
The outlet also reported that the Coast Guard Investigative Service’s probe into Lynette Hooker’s disappearance has intensified. Brian Hooker hasn’t been charged with a crime.
COAST GUARD SEIZES BRIAN HOOKER’S SAILBOAT AS IT LEAVES BAHAMAS AFTER WIFE’S DISAPPEARANCE: REPORT
Forensic scientist Joseph Scott Morgan told Fox News Digital it’s likely Coast Guard investigators are looking for signs of “large focal areas of blood.”
“That would be a copious amount of blood, dried blood, has there been any effort to sanitize the area, clean the area?” Morgan said. “I’d want to see if there was any evidence of struggle in the form of like breakage of any kind.”
“What they could do is they can go in there and look for any kind of trace evidence on there that might give them some kind of indication of any kind of violent act took place,” he said.
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Morgan said that Coast Guard investigators aren’t in an “ideal situation,” seizing the boat more than a month after Lynette Hooker went missing.
“You don’t know what individuals may have been on there,” Morgan said. “The more time trickles through, you know, the hourglass, all that stuff becomes degraded. It becomes compromised. So that’s, it can be problematic.”
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The forensic scientist said the Coast Guard has “the entire federal government at their disposal,” meaning they can request help from other agencies, such as the FBI.
LYNETTE HOOKER MISSING IN BAHAMAS: TIMELINE OF MICHIGAN WOMAN’S DISAPPEARANCE, HUSBAND’S ARREST
Kenneth Engerrand, an adjunct professor of maritime law at the University of Houston Law Center and shareholder in the Brown Sims law firm, told Fox News Digital that U.S. authorities, like the Coast Guard, would have jurisdiction to make an arrest if that’s where the evidence led them, despite the incident taking place in Bahamian waters, since the vessel has an American flag.
WATCH: Coast Guard seizes Brian Hooker’s yacht after wife’s Bahamas disappearance
“The United States is well within its rights to assert a violation of the murder statute. It also has jurisdiction over statutes involving violent acts committed on a United States vessel. That’s a separate crime, but those are both crimes that can be prosecuted, involving American citizens on American vessels, even in a foreign port,” Engerrand said.
Engerrand said that Coast Guard officials likely didn’t need a warrant to seize the sailboat.
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“[The Coast Guard has] the authority to seize any vessel that they believe is involved in a criminal activity. So they have the absolute authority,” Engerrand said.
The development comes about a week after the Coast Guard sought the public’s help in finding the owner of a sailboat that was moored near Brian and Lynette Hooker’s “Soulmate” in the Bahamas.
The Coast Guard declined to comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Monday, citing the active investigation.
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Brian Hooker was detained by Bahamian police for about five days after his wife’s disappearance, but wasn’t charged. His Michigan-based attorney previously asked Americans to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“I would ask those watching to treat him the way you would want to be treated, to give him the benefit of the doubt, and to consider that not all of us, nor you, considering your own relationships, the way you speak to one another, we all handle things in different ways,” Crystal Marie Hauser said.
Brian Hooker left the Bahamas shortly after he was released from jail, with his Caribbean-based attorney telling Fox News Digital he went to be with his “very ill” mother.
Fox News Digital reached out to Brian Hooker’s attorney for comment.
