Missing in Paradise: We Tailed Cops on the Water & Retraced the Hookers’ Last Night | Lynette Hooker

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is Drop Deadad Serious and I'm coming to you from uh Elbow Key in the Bahamas. In fact, I'm coming to you from the Abico Inn. Very specific location in the story of Brian and Lynette Hooker because this was the last place anybody saw those two before all hell broke loose behind me. I'm going to get to all of that in just a minute. But big news today, I have learned that Brian Hooker left.

[00:00:25]He left the Bahamas. I guess I am not surprised. Um, I didn't expect it would happen so quickly because Brian Hooker himself said, "I'm not leaving here until I find Lynette and I'm going to extend my visa here." That didn't happen. Look, I might have said that, too, when I wasn't thrown in a jail cell for, you know, several nights. So, he said all those things before he was actually jailed and detained. Um, they didn't have enough probable cause, so they had to release him on Monday night at 8:00 at night. But Tuesday passed and it is Wednesday at 7 p.m. and about 1:00 this afternoon, Brian Hooker got on a plane to Atlanta. He told investigators that he wanted to visit his mother. Uh he was detained at the airport. I do know that. And pardon me if it's windy and there's noise. So just look over here. There's a restaurant beside me and I'm just trying to get you the best view of the Abico Inn. But he was detained at the airport um by US Customs and Border Patrol who are operating in Nassau. But he flew out. He left and he must have got an expedited passport because Brian Hooker said that his passport and Lynette's went overboard in her dry bag with her. Incidentally, dry bag hasn't shown up and neither has Lynette. I am going to take you on the entire journey that they took uh today out of the Abico Inn. I'm gonna take you out and I'm gonna tell you about something else that happened. This was not their first stop that day. They were actually down the key at another stop, the Firefly Inn.

[00:01:59]I'm taking you all around their their stop at the Firefly in at 11:00. They came over here at about 4:00 in the afternoon. They were using the pool. I'm going to tour you through the whole thing. But since it's windy here, here's what our tour looked like today. Hey everybody. Um, welcome back. It's day two uh of our trip in the Bahamas here.

[00:02:17]Um I wanted to spend today to really take you on Lynette Hooker's last known um days that she was seen. And I have come to the Abico Inn. Okay, it's up there. I am on Elbow Key as I mentioned before and um it's across from Marsh Harbor. I'm going to walk you through exactly what happened with Lynette and Brian as they left here. I have learned a whole bunch more uh that is very informative. For starters, we had heard that they'd been drinking all day on Elbow Key, but I've come to learn that this was their second moing. This was their second place. They spent um more of the early part of the day uh north up Elbow Key uh at a place called was it Firefly?

[00:03:06]>> Yeah, >> Firefly. Yeah. A Firefly resort. So the earlier part of their day, the Soulmate yacht was anchored down the way. So they picked up anchor and they brought brought the boat up here and then they dropped anchor where I showed you before and I'm going to take you out there and then tendered in here to spend a couple of hours. Well, what I have learned is that they really were only here at the um Abico Inn starting around 4:00.

[00:03:32]That's when the first round of drinks was purchased. Um, and they didn't drink a lot here. The folks who are here don't know if they were drinking somewhere else, but uh, they ordered two rounds, uh, Bikardi Light and soda. Two Bikardi lights and sodas each. The first round was about 4:00. Then the second round was closer to uh, 600 7:00 and they left here by 7:30. We knew that part, right?

[00:04:00]But they spent the time up here at the pool and so they would have brought their dinghy in here. And let me just give you a bit of a lay of the land. I am on board a boat right now parked at the jetty. Okay. And you get out these ladders and you head up the dock and you head up to the to the inn. What's really interesting is the report of finding Lynette's watch. I have been able to confirm that she has an Apple Watch and that they did find it. There have been lots of talk about it being found on a beach and so I wondered if it was here at the Abico Inn because look at that beautiful beach. It's gorgeous. And it would kind of make sense, right? No, that is not where the Apple Watch was found. Apparently, the Apple Watch was found because Brian gave it to authorities off of the yacht, Soulmate.

[00:04:47]So, I don't think that the Apple Watch would be that helpful. She never made it back to Soulmate. If we're to believe what Brian has told us, she never made it back to Soulmate, and presumably she would not have been wearing it. But, I do want to just sort of show you the channel because they came in here in their little dinghy. See how nice and calm it is? It's a protected area. Very protected. I will tell you a little bit about what's not protected in a minute, but they came in via the entrance to this channel. Okay? And when they left, they would go this way and turn that way to head uh south. And their anchorage, their yacht was mored just outside of this little channel, not far away in that little dingy that goes about 2 to 4 miles an hour. it would have taken them 10 minutesish. Okay, so they left here around 7:30 uh and turned that corner and I'm going to take you out there in a moment, but I just wanted to show you uh what it looks like right here at the Abico Inn where they spent their time. Okay, so here's what they would have done. They would have come in here and then tied up to these ladders and on Saturday the 4th of April when they were here um on any given busy Saturday and high season and we're in busy season there'd be about 8 to 10 or so of those dingies just like Brian and Lynette's because people like to party here. It's a great place. I mean look at it. Hello again. I will tell you about those winds in just a minute because it's real windy up there because the Atlantic is on the other side. We're at a really really narrow part of um Elbow Key. We're at the narrowest pinch of Elbow Key. So, it's just there's just enough space for like the inn and the pool and everything. And then on the other side, it's windy AF.

[00:06:32]So, you're not going to be taking any of those little dingies on the other side.

[00:06:35]You're you're going to have a really tough time even moing a boat on the other side. We're in the lee of all that wind over here, so it's nice and calm and lovely and you can park a boat and you can anchor. So that's why people anchor out here because it is not rough and ruckus even in a breeze. And I'm going to just tell you right now that every so often you might hear the wind sounds. So it's part of the story. The wind is part of the story here. There's some discrepancies on the wind that Brian says was blowing at 7:30 at night on um Saturday, April 4th when Lynette disappeared. He said 20 25 knots. People I've talked to here who were out on the water at that time at that day said absolutely not 18 max but even 18 knots which is not as insignificant wind is way less significant when you're in the lee of the island and we are in the lee of Elbow Key. I'm in the nice protected part. The wind is screaming over there.

[00:07:34]You can see the palms are like blowing like stink because the Atlantic is over that building. Yeah. The Atlantic Ocean and the screaming wind and the waves is all on the other side. This is the nice calm protected. I mean, look at that beach. Look how calm it is. Hope you can see it. And my camera skills are kind of shitty, but So, it's nice and calm. It's a little breezy right now. I'm shooting this at 12:00 noon on uh Wednesday, April the 15th. So, like I said, they'd come in here and all the little dingies would anchor or would tie up to these uh to this dock and walk up these ladders.

[00:08:09]And you see that center console boat over there? Hopefully, you can see it.

[00:08:12]But I don't think I can zoom this way.

[00:08:14]No, I can't. You see that little center console boat? Make sure you can see it clearly over there parked just the sole guy.

[00:08:21]There'd be about 8 to 10 of those boats as well. And they park nose in and they anchor their butts out. The stern gets anchored out so that they can park a lot of these boats in here. Again, Saturday peak time, busy time, fun time for all the sailors and the yachtsmen and the boers to come in here and spend some time at the Abico and have fun. Um, and maybe hang out at the pool, right? When you're on a sailboat, it's always ocean.

[00:08:45]It's always salty. Sometimes it's really nice to get in, hang out at the pool.

[00:08:48]It's why they had a moing as well, a moing ball over at Marsh Harbor. Check out my podcast episode yesterday. I gave you the whole tour of where Soulmate is uh mored right now. I circled around that boat. I showed you. It looks like it's a little, you know, abandoned boat on its own. Nobody's living on it right now that we know of, but police have been searching it on a regular basis daily. We know that. We also saw the police yesterday as they just came uh from the boat. Couple other things I want to tell you about that I saw here.

[00:09:16]Um and I will show this to you as we get up on land. Um but the police are here now and it is the Coast Guard. It is the US Coast Guard investigators and they are going into the private property uh driveways and they're going to the shore and they're looking for any evidence they can find of Lynette or Lynette's things or any evidence of something that may or may not have happened to Lynette.

[00:09:39]So, from what I heard today alone, uh is the first day that the US Coast Guard K9 teams have shown up here at Abico uh in and started searching with their dogs.

[00:09:51]All week long since uh since this happened, Brian um has been of course uh detained and then released, but the searches have gone on. The bartender is really the only person here who could give a good description of Brian. didn't see Lynette, but we have been told that she was wearing a black bathing suit.

[00:10:10]I'm I'm trying to track down where that came from and why. Um that's knowledge right now cuz I don't know that um the bartender didn't see her cuz he was she was at the pool and Brian came and got the drinks at the bar and went back to the pool. But Brian himself was not wearing a shirt and he actually apologized according to uh workers here.

[00:10:30]He apologized for his demeanor because or his attire because it was getting close to the dinner hour and he was coming in to get drinks late, but he didn't have a shirt on. He just had his swim trunks on. So, it's entirely possible that Brian and Lynette were just in their bathing suits in the dinghy coming in having some lovely, you know, drinks and fun and swimming. Uh, and maybe Lynette was only wearing a bathing suit and maybe a cover up when when she disappeared. What I'm going to do is I'm going to get out of the boat, head up that ladder, and walk up there so that you can start seeing uh a little bit more what it looks like uh here at the Abico Inn and what steps they would have actually taken. I'm literally going to follow the steps of Brian and Lynette. Warby Parker is one of those things where once you try it, you honestly wonder why buying glasses was ever such an ordeal. For the longest time, it felt like the choices were either super expensive, weirdly outdated, or both. And hey, this is the season of weddings and barbecues and non-stop pictures, so your glasses are on display, people. That is why I am obsessed with Warby Parker. The virtual tryon is so good. You just use your phone and you can see how the frames actually look on your face before you buy them. And you can try on as many pairs as you want. Uh, want to show you mine. They came in this adorable little box. And take a look.

[00:11:52]Hello. These are the Harris style with green polarized lenses. I'm loving them.

[00:11:59]They fit my face so well and I can like swing around and I can put them on my head and they won't tangle in my hair.

[00:12:04]They won't fly off in the boat. So, thank you Warby Parker. I love these.

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[00:12:30]That's 20% off additional prescription pairs at warbyparker.com/banfield or just click the link below. Just walk with me as we get off. And by the way, I'm I'm on board a boat just docked at this dock. So you should see I'm docked at the dock. Okay. As they would have, but they were in a dinghy. So they would have climbed up, right? These ladders, right? And they would have walked up the dock like I am, you know, and it's so beautiful. Like you could stop on the beach and hang out here. Also, please note that it's lovely and the wind is light, right? You can see my hair is barely moving. The palm trees are rocking because over that side it is not so light. The wind is totally different on the other side. That's the Atlantic over there. Okay, this is the Sea of Abico back there and it's calm and it's nice and it's perfect for moing your yacht. And that's why everybody moes out there. They throw their anchors down there or they m because it's protected and it's calm. It's in the lee side of the island, right? The wind is coming this way and the island right is blocking a lot of the wind cuz that's the Atlantic, the windy part. So you would I will show you what it looks like over there. You won't believe how rough it is uh and windy. You would not be going and boating in any vessel, you know, close to shore over on that side.

[00:13:51]But basically, I noticed you see up there there's a camera up there. We have learned that there are cameras all over the place here. Um, and that the proprietors here have spoken with the police. They've provided video. Uh, there's video all over the place. There's video at the pool. There's video at the bar. There's video at the docks where we just were.

[00:14:15]That was where we were. Yeah. And then there's another dock over there. Right.

[00:14:19]There's video pointing to all of these places. So, if it's windy, you'll have to apologize. You'll have to forgive me because we're getting into the windy part now because we're going to cross this road and head up to the inn. This is where Brian and Lynette would have come once they docked their dinghy and would have headed towards the pool, passed by the bar. But you're going to start seeing that it's quite windy because we're going to hit the Atlantic over this over this null, so to speak.

[00:14:51]And you can see other people are here.

[00:14:53]You know, they're here enjoying themselves right now. Now it's 4:00.

[00:14:56]It's quite warm, but lovely.

[00:14:59]So, here we are. Here's the bar.

[00:15:02]Really nice. I actually just I actually just had lunch right there in the restaurant facing the calm abico, right?

[00:15:11]But the bar is there and that's where we he would have ordered his two drinks.

[00:15:15]Two uh rum and sodas uh Bikardi Light.

[00:15:18]Two Roman sodas, Bicardi Light and soda.

[00:15:20]One for him, one for Lynette. And he would have taken it to the pool. This is according to one of the uh employees I spoke with. Then they came back for a second round a little bit later on, but they were here only a couple hours.

[00:15:33]That's the difference. So, here we go.

[00:15:35]We're heading to the other side.

[00:15:38]Beautiful. But look at those rollers.

[00:15:40]Gorgeous, but windy AF and rough, right? You're not going to be out in a dinghy in that.

[00:15:48]So, that's why we talk about two sides of Elbow Key. That's the Atlantic side.

[00:15:54]And then the leeward side is calm right there where you absolutely could be in a dinghy and you could throw anchor and come in for lunch or a day at the pool or a few drinks. So there you go. I'll take you down there in a hot minute. Let me go back here and tell you a couple things.

[00:16:14]So, what I found so interesting was that originally I thought that they'd been at this place all day drinking, but I have not yet found out whether they were hammered or whether there were any fights or arguments. The day staff hasn't changed out to the night staff and the bartender isn't working tonight, the one who was working on the 4th. So far, no reports that anyone has suggested say that there was anything untowards. They they kind of were nondescript like they went somewhat unnoticed. So, it's only the bartender that really remembers them. Okay, this is the windy side of Elbow Key. I'm at the pool area where Brian and Lynette uh spent their couple of hours having some cocktails here. And you can see how windy it is. I'm having to stay close to the iPhone so you can hear me. But look, this is the windward side of Elbow Key.

[00:17:16]This is not where the boat was parked.

[00:17:18]The boat was parked on the other side. So, it probably sounds really windy, but this is the pool area where they were bringing their cocktails. And let me take you up to the bar area where Brian uh went up and got the two rum and sodas. So come on with me this way. Okay, it's windy, so I apologize. But basically, this would have been the the way he would have come up.

[00:17:47]It's really really sweet here. I can see why people would come and spend a lot of time here, especially since it's so calm on the other side.

[00:17:58]And you can get safe harbor over here. I mean, look at the difference. Look at look how calm it is over here. This is where we parked, right? It's calm. It's the leeward side. It isn't that other crazy ass ocean side, right? So, he would have come this way. And this is where he would have come and ordered the cocktails um at the bar. Again, just two rum and sodas, Bicardi light and soda, and then a second round. One at about 4:00 and another one around 7:00 7:30ish somewhere around there cuz they finished up and left. And he apologized. He came up wearing just his uh bathing suit and bare chest and said, "I'm sorry cuz I know it's getting close to dinner hour."

[00:18:40]So, they were clearly, it would seem, on just some day excursioning in the bathing suits enjoying Bahamas. So, there you go.

[00:18:50]This is where they would have ordered or he would have ordered the Roman sodas uh to take back to the take back to the pool area back there. See? Yeah. So, look at how calm and lovely behind me again.

[00:19:04]Super nice.

[00:19:06]>> Thank you.

[00:19:07]>> Perfect anchoring. Perfect. You know, when you're in in a dinghy, that's not rough. But we're going to go out and you're going to see.

[00:19:14]So, I'm now standing up at the Abico Inn. And the Royal Bahamian Police as well as the Defense Force boats are here.

[00:19:28]And it appears that they are hooking up um with the uh American guys that we've been seeing here.

[00:19:40]They've had their canines and they've been doing their operations and their searches. It's We can't see them on the private property um where they've been working, but it looks as though they are getting a in the pickup.

[00:20:01]In any case, these guys have been at uh these guys have been at work for uh every single day since Lynette went missing, either over here on Elbow Key or in Marsh Harbor uh where his soulmate yacht is still mured.

[00:20:24]Lynette and Brian actually started their day um on Elbow Key here at the Firefly Inn. It's a another really popular place just to hang out. A lot of boats will anchor. Take a look at this. Couple of these boats have anchored out here and then they'll head into shore right there.

[00:20:48]So, this is where they were. This is where they were around 11 o'clock um on Saturday the 4th right there at the Firefly. I thought that they were at the Abico Inn all day. Nope. They were only at the Abico Inn for a couple hours later in the day starting at 4:00. It was here at the Firefly where I think they may have started their day. At least that's the only information I can get so far is that this is where they were before they made it over. And I'm going to show you real quickly.

[00:21:18]It's very, very close. Okay. So, there's Firefly, right?

[00:21:25]There's Elbow Key. And it's just down the way. Not even a/4 mile, >> right? Not even like a/4 mile. Okay. I'm heading out of um that little channel where the Abico in is, right? I'm going to just turn around so you can see.

[00:21:40]Okay. So, I'm heading out from that little channel. This is presumably the route that they would have taken because we need to head down that way.

[00:21:49]All right. But we're in deep water cuz we're in a a bigger boat. Okay. We're in deep water. They would have been able to skip through there. Uh you always go as the crow flies when you're in a little boat. You don't have to find the deep water channel like all these boats do.

[00:22:04]So they would have gone out there. And it's uh currently 4:15. Bunch of happy boers going by.

[00:22:13]It's currently 4:15 in the afternoon. Okay. And it's pretty calm. Get up on this seat so you can get a better view here. Um, but down here out this channel, this is the this is the channel they would have had to come out with their dinghy and they would have had to go around these little reefs here, right? You can see them. uh and head down Elbow Key to where the yacht was parked. So, as we head uh that way from back there, Abico in I'm going to tell you a couple things, but meanwhile, you got to look at this gorgeous boat that's coming our way. Hello.

[00:22:53]Oh, man. There is lifestyle here, y'all.

[00:22:57]There is lifestyle. Look at that. Hello, gorgeous fisherman.

[00:23:06]Wow. Mama who.

[00:23:11]So out here in the Sea of Ao, it is very shallow. Way more shallow than even I imagined. It's like at its deepest high tide. 15 ft.

[00:23:23]15 ft in these crystalline beautiful waters. Believe it or not, I have been told from some law enforcement sources that I've cultivated here that they used sonar and drones and aircraft in the search of this entire area where Brian says that he floated. So, for instance, down there, sure you can see me pointing.

[00:23:51]That's Elbow Key all the way down. And they were parked where those yachts are way down there. You can see some sailboats. So you can see their tall masts. Hopefully it translates on video, but we're going to go down there. Then he said he floated all the way across.

[00:24:04]Skipped that skipped that big piece of land right there called Lovers, right?

[00:24:09]And ended up way way over there at Marsh Harbor. It's a long way, right? This whole thing is called the Sea of Abico, and it's no more than 15 ft. So, they used search and rescue um assets like crazy and searched this whole area. And I'm told by those who are in the know, ain't no way, no how she's in here floating.

[00:24:33]And it is believed that she is instead up on land and that if she was uh murdered and if Brian Hooker's not telling the truth and if if if he did something to her that they believe he would have taken her up on land to get rid of the body not in this not in the Sea of Abico because you can see everything. You could see her in the water. It's like a very deep swimming pool. So the idea is is that now the cadaavver dog and the search teams, Royal Bahamian police as well as the equivalent of the Bohemian Coast Guard, I showed you those vessels yesterday in the episode and those folks, those guys, the Royal Bohemian Police, as well as the US Coast Guard investigators, it is believed now that they are actually starting to search land with the cadaavver dog. What's so interesting, and I did not know this, is that the cadaavver dog can actually sense human remains 30 feet underwater.

[00:25:36]I know, I didn't believe it either. I'm shocked, but a cadaavver dog can smell human remains 30 ft down. So, they're actually searching the water with the cadaavver dog. And it's fascinating to sort of think of the the forensic science that's involved there because there are not to get too graphic, but there are oils that um would be released from uh a body that would surface. Anyway, it is such an incredible um skill that the cadaavver dog has. The one that we saw on uh Abico um at the Abico Inn. Uh I saw the K9 on the back of the shirt. So that's my assumption, right? Those are Americans with a dog. And I've learned it as cadaavver dog. So, here are some of the places that Let me just spin this over a little bit.

[00:26:26]This is where the journey would have been for Lynette and Brian Hooker. They would have come around that point where those I guess it looks like sand piles.

[00:26:36]You just see sort of the white sand piles there. They would have come around that point and come all this way. But can you see the water down there? Can you see how shallow it is?

[00:26:45]It's crazy. If the window's blocking it, I want to take you outside. It's going to be really windy out there, but I want you to see this because it makes a lot of sense when you see it up close.

[00:26:56]So, hold on.

[00:27:02]Can you see how shallow?

[00:27:04]I mean, you can see the bottom the whole way. And we've just come into a deeper part, but you can basically see the bottom the whole way.

[00:27:16]Really fascinating.

[00:27:19]Look at that white sand down below. Some of the coral is a little darker, but there you go. That's how shallow this is.

[00:27:33]Anyway, me head back in so that we're not blown away by wind.

[00:27:42]So, you can see how search and rescue actually had a pretty easy time uh looking at the Abico, the Sea of Abico.

[00:27:52]And from what I understand, they don't believe for a minute that there's a body in the Sea of Abico, even though, you know, it's pretty big. It's actually not that big.

[00:28:00]I mean, look at that.

[00:28:04]It's like a giant lake.

[00:28:07]Almost like a giant lake, if that makes sense. Now you can see some of those catamarans and keelboats. They're all uh they all threw an anchor down over that way.

[00:28:17]And is this Pats here? Okay. So you see this what's it called? Pats >> at Pat's Bay.

[00:28:21]>> At Pat's Bay. Okay. So this over here, this uh where that big white wall is that that's at a Pat's Bay. Where's the public dock?

[00:28:29]>> Public dock. What he was being able to say was right off of Pat's Bay, which is one of these two docks here.

[00:28:35]>> One of those over there.

[00:28:35]>> Right off of this white wall.

[00:28:37]>> Okay. So, these two docks on either side of that white wall, that's Aunt Pat's Bay. This is where Lynette and Brian were anchored. Okay, this is this is the actual spot. And I have it on first authority because I have actually spoken with uh someone who got up on the boat with him after all this happened. So, the person I've spoken to got on board soulmate uh with Brian the morning after and this is where he came. So, you can see how close we are to land. And again, remember I told you it's super windy on the other side. Uh, it's really windy on the Atlantic side here, but we're in the leeward side. So, you can see it's nowhere near as rockous over here.

[00:29:21]Right. What are the knots right now?

[00:29:24]What are the wind knots about right now?

[00:29:25]>> Right now, it's blowing about 13.

[00:29:27]>> Blowing about 13.

[00:29:28]>> Yes, ma'am.

[00:29:29]>> And on that night, it was blowing about 18.

[00:29:30]>> About 18.

[00:29:31]>> Yeah. So this is what 13 knots looks like in terms of a blow. The wind is coming this way, but on Saturday night it was blowing that way. And see over there, that is the close land right there. Bit of salt spray on the window.

[00:29:46]Sorry. The close part that the land that's closest to us is Lers. And then beyond that, way over four miles away, is uh Marsh Harbor where Brian says he floated to. So if he's floating across, he's either going to float right up on Lovers or he's going to miss Loverers and float all the way to um Marsh Harbor. I've heard two versions.

[00:30:07]Impossible that he would have missed Lovers and maybe possible that he would have skipped past Lovers and ended up floating all the way to uh uh to Marsh Harbor. But if you think why not swim to shore if the story is is that she fell out in rough seas and she's a strong swimmer. Look, I don't know how far off uh land they flunked down, but the person who got on board said it was not more than, you know, uh 1,000 yards. So, 10 football fields. I could swim that. Um she was a strong swimmer. He's a marine.

[00:30:46]And I'll tell you something else that doesn't sit well with me. I've learned since there were two life jackets in the dinghy and an ore that was not broken off.

[00:31:01]He said to his friends in messages that he had broken ore. Okay, there could be semantics here. the ore, one of the ores was gone and maybe it broke uh its connector, but there was a full ore, like a full paddle in that dinghy and two life jackets. So, I mean, you got to ask yourself, why wouldn't Brian throw on one of the life jackets, grab the other one, and jump out and swim to her?

[00:31:31]And in the meantime, as a Marine, right, and also as a mariner, two different things. He's a United States Marine Corps veteran, but also he is a an accomplished sailing mariner who knows boating, who knows safety, who knows how to throw an anchor. We're in 15 ft of water. Throw the anchor out. He's already admitted I did it too late. But but why? You have two life jackets and you have an anchor in the dinghy. Throw it out. Grab another life jacket. Put one on you. Jump over and and get Lynette. None of that happened. And the last he saw her swimming towards the boat. Okay. Well, he said about a thousand yards or so.

[00:32:11]Swim to shore.

[00:32:13]Swim to the boat. You know, it just the whole thing just sounds weird. One other thing that I heard that was interesting um from one of the uh search and rescue folks is that in an 18 knot wind, it would be very hard in that particular dinghy to paddle against the wind. The way it was described to me is that dinghy was a bit like a a sail and it almost felt as though uh it would be picked up and blown that way.

[00:32:48]But wouldn't he have hit levers right there?

[00:32:51]Would he have really been blown all that way? So, I learned something else about that. Search and rescue did like a wind cone from the location back there of where he was mured. Okay? And they went out with a V. A V that basically took one side there to about one side there. And that V was all the potential of where he could have landed. So yeah, he could have landed on Lobers, the very most northern point of it, but then also way more possibly he actually could have floated out past Lovers and all the way across to Marsh Harbor, the long way away, four miles.

[00:33:28]But Lovers was within that cone. So again, couple schools of thought.

[00:33:34]He's a US Marine.

[00:33:37]He didn't throw the anchor. He didn't put the life jacket on and grab the second life jacket and swim to her.

[00:33:42]He said he had a broken ore, but there was not a broken off ore. There was an actual ore in the uh bottom of the uh of the dinghy when they recovered it, as well as the two light jackets and a flare gun. He had said something about shooting off a flare. Uh there was a flare gun and I believe it was expended um in the bottom of the dinghy where it washed up at Marsh Harbor.

[00:34:06]Just feels really odd. It just feels very very odd. And even hearing from the search and rescue contact that I have that you could paddle paddle your might out and the wind would still push you that way. It still would. I just feel like why would you why wouldn't you get out and swim?

[00:34:25]I would have gotten out and swim. But there's another story that I need to tell you about and it has to do with sharks.

[00:34:34]way down uh Elbow Key down there uh there's a place called Tulu and right over here there's a place called Mares and in between there there is some shark activity at Marne's apparently around 5:30 or so which would be in about an hour a lot of the fishermen come in and apparently there's a lot of sharks that swim in that area bull sharks tiger sharks so is shark activity possible when it comes to Lynette? I think the answer has to be yes. Uh because 5:30 is only 2 hours before Brian says around 7:30 she fell out of the yacht. Not far from Marne's and Tuloo.

[00:35:22]One other place where they may end up searching with the cadaavver dog is over here just to the left of all those white buildings. There is where the Abico in is. Okay. But over here where they would have gone in the dinghy and just a little bit north of where he says, you know, where he was anchored.

[00:35:45]It's like there's mangroves in behind.

[00:35:47]I'm sorry about all the water you guys.

[00:35:48]The best I could do, but there's mangroves in behind there. And there is a good chance that they're going to search in there with cadaavver dogs because again if the theory is that if if if Brian did something to Lynette, it is believed that he would have taken her on shore rather than left her in the Sea of Ao where it's too visible. It's too shallow. And this is the area where they would possibly be searching behind those rocks um in the mangroves back there.

[00:36:40]So there is the Aico in the entrance to it where those white buildings are. This is where the dinghy would have traveled.

[00:36:46]This is the area right here where they were anchored. And over here is where they may be searching later behind those rocks. There's a bunch of mangroves that they like to get in behind and search with the cadaabver dogs.

[00:37:09]I know it's a little bumpy, a little noisy out here, but such is the such as the noise of the big boat.

[00:37:18]And that is pass right there.

[00:37:23]And they were anchored just off the path about 1,000 yards maybe. One more point of reference here. We're now across the way from Elbow Key. Okay, elbow key is back here and we have just crossed this little sea of Abico. Let me show you again just how incredibly shallow this is. So shallow you can see the bottom everywhere.

[00:37:46]This is Lubber's quarters. This spit of land which is, you know, some people are saying there's no way he could have cleared it. There's just no way he could have cleared it. Some others say, "Yeah, it's possible." But I do want to show you that there's police activity.

[00:38:03]They have come over here uh with that crew that I saw earlier and they're out here because it's pretty remote.

[00:38:14]And if the belief is that Brian did something and put Lynette up on land, uh a cadaabver dog would be able to would be able to search that out. And again, I'm sorry about all the wind, but again to see the point of reference back there.

[00:38:33]See that uh see that big white roof and wall that Pats and we are going right across the water to Lobers. It's called Lobers Quarters.

[00:38:48]Lobers quarters, this spit of land. And there are those police boats. Those police boats are right there at the dock. And my assumption is I'm going to go inside where it's not so windy.

[00:39:01]>> My assumption is is that they are up on land.

[00:39:04]>> I see one of the personnel in the boat.

[00:39:06]>> Okay, so now we've spotted some of the search teams.

[00:39:11]Hang on a minute.

[00:39:13]All right, we've spotted the search teams. It's very windy. Sorry if you can't hear me.

[00:39:42]There's a couple other guys over there.

[00:39:53]I asked earlier and uh several of these guys are not local.

[00:39:59]They're Americans.

[00:40:02]Some of them are local. Obviously, the Bohemian Bohemian police have their vessels.

[00:40:12]We're trying to maintain a position in this wind. It's really hard.

[00:40:24]They've got that cadaavver dog coming back from being on land getting back onto the Bohemian Police Force boats.

[00:40:45]Just curious to see if they're going to bring any other equipment or take anything back out there.

[00:40:51]The wind is more significant on this side because we're no longer in the lee of Elbow Key. You know, we're not in the Lee. We're not getting protected from that big Atlantic wind. So, it's windier over here, but still just want you to see how big the waves are. Not much, right? The waves aren't huge over here.

[00:41:11]That's for sure. We're not rocking. We are definitely not rocking.

[00:41:17]I'm just wondering if they're going to uh pick up and leave or if they're going to bring any equipment off that boat to do any further investigating if they got any hits, if they saw anything, if anything happened.

[00:41:30]And I would think right away that they would be bringing a lot more gear off the boat, heading back to wherever they might have found something or seen something or wherever the dog may have seen something or hit on something.

[00:41:56]right over here. That is where they were hanging out of the um Abico in.

[00:42:01]>> They came out of this channel >> and they were parked right over around here.

[00:42:05]>> Exactly. See where the anchor's at?

[00:42:06]That's right. Then again to like >> That's ants right there. Right. So then if he drifted, the idea is that he would hit >> That's right.

[00:42:14]>> lovers here.

[00:42:14]>> The way the wind were going there.

[00:42:16]>> Okay. And this is where they're searching right now. But look at the depths all the way through here.

[00:42:21]>> Very shallow.

[00:42:21]>> Not thin, you know.

[00:42:23]>> 4T, 5T, >> maybe 8, 9.

[00:42:25]>> And these recordings are at high tide. I mean, sorry, at MLW.

[00:42:30]>> So median >> main low water.

[00:42:31]>> Okay. So at the very at the very highest high tide, how high would this would this be in here >> in here? Yeah.

[00:42:38]>> Just give or take. add a 2 and 1/2 data on >> so maybe 10 11 ft >> 10 ft >> and they and we were at this tide at the time this happened right maybe a foot or so above a foot to 2 ft above so the idea is that Brian said no no no he went all the way from there and floated and ended up going all the way across to Marsh Harbor 4 miles away. All right, so they're pulling out now. Did you guys see anything? Were you able to see anything?

[00:43:15]Any luck?

[00:43:18]I don't see See if you can see them.

[00:43:19]They're nodding. Yeah, they're saying no.

[00:43:22]>> But I'm not sure that I deserve any answers. They're official, you know. So, they're with the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Um, and they brought out two of their um their ribs. These boats are great because they can get anywhere.

[00:43:40]But they're leaving.

[00:43:42]And I'm not so sure. I'm pretty sure actually that if they had found something, they wouldn't just depart like this. There would be probably something else done.

[00:43:51]So, so far, uh, no luck. Okay, we're speeding up. If we're going to head from Lovers right there, we are going to head um, again, Lovers right there. We're going to head across to hope to uh Marsh Harbor.

[00:44:12]It's a bit of a ways across about four miles. And um we're actually taking the trip right now that Brian says he floated long way, but he said he floated right across the Sea of Abico and landed at a place called Kolkata uh on Marsh Harbor and uh it's like a 50 yard rough lagoon area.

[00:44:40]He said he beached up there and had to walk through a lot of rough terrain to to find someone to get help. And that's where they found the dinghy was at the boatyard, the Marsh Harbor boatyard. So, we're heading across there now. Let me show you again in the wind.

[00:45:09]That's a long way across.

[00:45:18]And the seas are not that rough.

[00:45:22]Not today, anyway.

[00:45:27]All right. So, you can see it's a four miles of floating. But I think the big question still remains. A lot of people are skeptical. Would it take 9 hours?

[00:45:39]>> No. Our captain swam it in two.

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[00:46:52]We're going about 19 knots and uh it'll take us about ah 10 minutes or so to cross the Sea of Abico all the way over to Marsh Harbor and specifically the spot where we landed >> Kolkata.

[00:47:06]>> Kolkata.

[00:47:08]But I mean 10 minutes at 19 knots in this big boat. still having a tough time believing it would be 9 hours in a screaming wind because Brian said the wind was screaming away at 25 knots and he got separated because of the wind. So that wind, you know, presumably would blow a tiny dinghy a lot faster than 9 hours. It just seems like a hard it seems like a hard fact to come to terms with. I have now come from across Elbow Key way over there and I'm now at Kolkata Marsh Harbor where Brian's little dinghy washed up and it washed up right in there. See in there?

[00:47:52]Here it is in relation to the boat harbor. Okay, so he washes up right in there. Okay. And the boat harbor is right over here. And he says to the police that he walked through all of that brush and thicket and rough rock and ended up right in there. If I can point basically right there is where his boat he says ended up. And actually that's where it was. That's not just a he says. That is that's the dang truth because that is where they found the dinghy. And someone at the boatyard found him walking. I'm going to just put this forward so you can see. There's a lot of salt spray, so the view isn't as good. But the boatyard over there had a security guy that found him walking. So he walked, I don't know, that's probably a thousand yards, maybe 1500 yards to right between all those rough rocks in there where he landed and walked. And when they found the dinghy, it had in it two life jackets.

[00:49:02]Interesting. An extended flare gun and um an ore, but it was not broken. Uh it was not a it was not a busted up ore like a an ore or a paddle busted in half like I was thinking. It was an ore, a full-on ore. Um whether the semantics are that it broke off of its hinge that's usually on the boat and maybe that one ore had broken off and was gone. Uh to my knowledge they have not found the second ore. Doesn't mean they haven't. It's just to my knowledge. But I do know they have that first ore because that ore was in the bottom of the dinghy and ended up back on soulmate uh later on. And I know now that the dinghy is in evidence. We sure didn't see it on board Soulmate when we saw Soulmate floating in Marsh Harbor.

[00:49:57]The dinghy ended up being taken from here after the morning of the 5th, right? When he he washes up on on shore in the morning of the 5th, the dinghy ended up being taken from here. Fire and Rescue uh got Brian with his dinghy back to Soulmate on Elbow Key. Be about windy here. And he was able to put that dinghy back up onto the back of Soulmate and then sail Soulmate all the way across the Sea of Abico back to Marsh Harbor and hitch back up to his moing ball. So basically the trajectory of that dinghy was a lovely afternoon at the Abico in off out the channel. Oops. Something terrible happens according to Brian.

[00:50:43]Just a minute. And then he ends up floating all the way across to right there landing at Kolkata super close to the boatyard. Ultimately the police come 4:35 a.m. they begin their search.

[00:50:58]Somehow that dinghy gets picked up again and taken back to Soulmate with Brian.

[00:51:05]The dinghy ends up on Soulmate. Brian sails Soulmate all the way across again.

[00:51:10]I'll show you. All the way across from there all the way across to Marsh Harbor and around the bend and into his uh round the bend and into his moing position.

[00:51:23]Be a hell of a night. Tell you that much. It'd be a hell of a night no matter what because it did land there.

[00:51:29]It's just what happened before it landed there. How long was it really crossing this Sea of Abico? How long was he really afloat without any possible means of saving himself? Cuz he did have a full ore. It wasn't broken off. It was a full paddle-like ore that he could have used. But it was, you know, it's windy over here. It's windy once you get out of the lee of uh of Elbow Key, right? But this is one hell of a mystery.

[00:52:05]So, there you have it. Um, we are still here at Elbow Key in the Bahamas. Uh, we came from Marsh Harbor, way way four miles that way. Um, and we're going to continue investigating. I'm talking to search and rescue soon, too, because the volunteer fire um department did search and rescue that morning. And I'm starting to learn a lot more about what happened that morning and what Ryan's demeanor was and things he said and the things that did and didn't show up in in his dinghy because they got his dinghy as you saw on the other side at Marsh Harbor. But some of that stuff doesn't match up. But fascinatingly, some of it does. So, thanks so much for listening and watching. This is a very uh unorthodox podcast because I don't have my big microphone. I'm really on the move and I'm uh I'm boating from island to island to try to sort of chase this story and catch as many people as I can and learn everything I can. But thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop deadad serious.