Hooker, 59, of Michigan wore a white short-sleeve shirt and dark slacks as he calmly walked out of the Central Police Station in Freeport shortly after police missed a deadline of 7:20 p.m. to file charges against him, the New York Post reports. Brian

When asked if he is free to depart, she said she would need to “discuss that further with him and the police.” Butler added that she and Hooker planned to meet Tuesday. Authorities were required to either charge Hooker by Monday night or release him. Butler said she did not receive any update from officials after that deadline passed.

The boat was moored in Elbow Cay.

Upon arrival, he reportedly told a security guard, Edward Smith, that his wife had gone overboard in “rough weather.” Hooker also claimed he fired two flares, but said passing boats did not respond to his distress signals when questioned about the delay in reporting her missing.

“I asked him, ‘So, where is the lady?’ He says, ‘She’s in the water,’” Smith told Fox News Digital. Smith also said Lynette Hooker’s appeared “exhausted” and was asking for water, adding that he did not initially find him suspicious. The guard contacted police who arrived about 5 am local time. Hooker was still speaking with officers two hours later when Smith’s shift ended.

While Brian Hooker was in custody, investigators searched the yacht Soulmate for electronic devices, including cell phones and laptops, as part of the ongoing probe. According to a police warrant reviewed by CBS, the items could be “material evidence and or contains material evidence related to a missing person causing bodily harm.”

Lynette’s mother claimed her daughter had separated from Brian Hooker multiple times over the years and was preparing to leave the marriage permanently before she vanished. She alleged that Hooker could become “mean” and “hateful” when drinking and said she had long worried about her daughter’s safety, sharing those concerns during an appearance on Drop Dead Serious.

Court records also show that Brian Hooker previously faced a child abuse charge stemming from a 2005 incident involving his daughter. According to documents, he was arrested in December of that year after his former partner, Elizabeth Hoseth, contacted Michigan’s Kentwood Police Department alleging he assaulted their homeschooled child.

The girl, whose age was not disclosed, had been visiting Brian Hooker and Lynette Hooker when an argument reportedly erupted over a science book. Hoseth told police that Hooker was upset because he didn’t want the child exposed to religious teachings, stating “[She] said that her dad was upset about what the book said because he didn’t want [her] to believe in God,” according to a report reviewed by the New York Post.

Hoseth alleged that Hooker chased the girl upstairs, where a stepdaughter witnessed what happened next. “She saw her dad hold [the daughter] up in the air by the neck,” the report states. In a separate interview, the stepdaughter claimed Hooker lifted the girl’s feet more than a foot off the ground during the incident.

“She turned, and he grabbed her around the neck and picked her up by her neck, slammed her against the wall, and started choking her. He was holding her above his head,” the police report states. According to the documents, Hooker demanded respect while choking the child and allegedly called her “s–thead, a stuck-up manipulative b–ch.” He later released her and reportedly said “he was disappointed that he hadn’t left his thumbprints.”

Photos included in the report showed red marks on the girl’s neck, and she was said to have suffered a neck strain. Brian

These past incidents resurfaced after Lynette Hooker’s daughter from a previous relationship, Karli Aylesworth, alleged her stepfather had a violent side, claiming he had previously choked Lynette and threatened to throw her overboard.