Bonus Episode: Lynette and Brian Hooker

0:00 Hi. I'm Tina and I'm Rich. If there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to a bonus episode of Love Mary Kill. Hi Rich, Hi Tina. How are you? I am doing good? How are you? I'm pretty good. I left the windows open. Yeah, so don't see I can tell you're going to be distracted. Normally I close the lines, but I left them open because there's a storm rolling in. Yeah, and I kind of wanted to see it.

0:45 I like to see what's going on in the neighborhood. Too, So you do, and you'll be like, oh, look, there's someone on a bike. Here's a person with a dog. Yeah, and that happens a lot. One of the best ways that we find new listeners is by covering recent cases like this one. If you're new to our show, we usually start each episode with a few minutes of chatting and then a snack, sometimes random, sometimes pertaining to the episode. I know it sounds crazy, but it works for us. If snacks and banter aren't your thing, you can check out our trimmed down version Love Mary Kill, just the facts and truly we will not be offended in the least if you listen to that episode where we talk a lot less. We talked about this a little bit on our Patreon episode that we recorded to All I've been doing is podcast work.

1:31 I wrote the page ran episode this weekend, and then I decided to do this case at the last minute. So really I've just been working. But this weekend we were putting together or you we're putting together our new duck furniture. By the way, what part of my whole body don't need to Okay, yeah, I mean you work. There was a lot of pieces. It wasn't quite as bad as Ikia. It was a lot, but we came away saying, you know what, we're a good team. And even after all these years of marriage, I just think it's really cool when we do something that's hard and we're like, hey, we didn't raise our voices, we didn't yell.

2:12 It went pretty smoothly. Yeah. Usually when I put together furniture, I end up swearing at least five six times. But you don't even swear. It's just this sound that you make whenever you're highly frustrated. And you were doing that. You're like, there was like two or three times where I got. I think the first couple chairs, you were highly annoyed. Then you got it and I got it together, and we did it and. It still hasn't been well, we haven't finished putting the deck together. But anyway, that's a story for another day. Anything else going on with you? How are the Tigers doing? Oh, they're doing actually pretty good. Yeah, yeah, a little better than they were to start the season. So it's been fun, although I haven't gotten to watch the last several games because every time there's a game on, you seem to want to record a podcast episode.

2:57 No, that's not true. The other morning you were supposed to well you were working. I was working, but you. Were all The game was on at eleven am, and you're really surprised. That was really crazy. That was because it was in Boston and the Boston Marathon was going on, so for whatever reason, they had to coordinate those two things. Very cool. Well, I'm trying to keep this brief because it's a bonus episode, but I did bring you a snack. I guess what I brought you. H Reese's peanut butter cup with marshmallow. You're right. We went to the gas stage the other day. Was it the gas stage? Yeah, we went to stopped in to get a soda and we saw some unusual candy bars. That's the worst short your memory. I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast, although I do. Actually I had chocolate chip cookie because I was making chocolate chip cookies for your friends. Cost of Champions I had, but I had a glass of milk too. But yeah, you picked out a Riese's marshmallow big cup and I picked out a butterfinger French toast.

3:49 Yeah, both of them sound very interesting. Unusually we try them. All right, We'll be back after we try our snack. So what did you think of the candy bars? Well, they were interesting. I liked the reeses. I'm a fan of marshmallow, and I think the peanut butter chocolate marshmallow works well together. The butterfinger it tasted like I expected. It's an odd combination French toast and butterfinger to me. The coating tasted kind of like that butter beer flavor. Mm hmm. Yeah, we've had a little bit recent. Yeah, I was surprised there's not chocolate in it. I thought it was really good. Actually, I'm not the biggest butterfinger person. I would give that and eight out of ten.

4:33 I don't think I took a big enough bite out of the reesas, so I didn't really get the marshmallow. But i'll give that a seven out of ten. I don't know. I'll give the Reesa's marshmallow an eight and a half out of ten, and I'll give the butterfinger a six and a half. All right, fair enough. This is a developing case and details may change as new information emerges. Bryan Hooker has not been charged with a crime, and Lynette Hooker remains missing. On Saturday, April fourth, twenty twenty six, Lynnett and Brian Hooker, fifty five and fifty nine, went out to dinner and their small. Eight foot dinghy, leaving. Their forty five foot sailboat behind. On the return trip, the water was dark and unsettled. Just two days earlier, the moon had been full. Now it was in its waning Gibbis phase. It should have still offered some light, but that night, thick clouds swallowed it whole. Out there, with no street lights and no shoreline in sight, the darkness felt absolute, broken, only by wind waves and the faint hum of a small motor. At some point in the journey back, the nutt fell into the water. In the darkness, She and her husband became separated, the engine cut out, the boat drifted, and for the next seven hours Brian was left alone adrift in the dark, eventually making his way back to shore as the sun rose on Easter morning. Lynnette has not been seen since. Most everything that I know about boats comes from watching Bravos below Deck, but I've watched like probably one hundred and

6:06 fifty episodes. So much more than I've done. I wanted to briefly explain what a dinghy is. A dinghy is a small boat, typically six to twenty feet long, used as a tender. A tender is a transport vehicle, usually for a larger boat, sometimes used as a lifeboat or for recreation like rowing or sailing. They are often towed or carried on deck of the larger boat, featuring either rigid construction fiberglass, wood, aluminum, or inflatable tubes. The hooker's boat looked particularly small. I think the bottom was fiberglass, but the rest of. It was inflatable. Okay, the hookers are formally from Onsted, Michigan, population one thousand.

6:51 Onstead is tucked into the rolling landscape of Michigan's Irish Hills. Decades ago, this stretch of road along US twelve was lined with whimsical roadside attractions that felt almost dreamlike, storybook villages, prehistoric creatures rising from the trees, observation towers promising sweeping views for a few coins, miniature golf courses, and family campgrounds. In a simpler time, families packed into their station wagons to visit the quirky roadside attractions during the day, while evenings were spent surrounding the campfire with the hum of grasshoppers and toads nearby. I have many, many fond memories as. A child, truly to this story is this couple is from Michigan. Today, much of that quirkiness has faded, but not entirely. It lingers in fragments and memory and the feeling that this quiet landscape was once allowed a little brighter and a lot more strange. So I'm going to ask you to talk a little bit about Irish Hills, which is forty five minutes to an hour from US.

7:52 Yeah. If that I know you have a lot of fond memories. I really do, like I have photo albums with a lot of pictures of our family. When we were little kids, we would go camping at Irish Hills. You described it really well. It was just this kind of quirky like place with all these like dinosaur parks and things like that, and miniature golf courses, and I think over the years it kind of got a little run down and a lot of the places got abandoned, so it became almost a little creepy. I think it had a mystery spot, you know, one of those weird buildings where things like gravity allegedly is not working. That's a funny joke between us because I have never been to a mystery spot, and literally every time we go out there's a couple a few Whenever we pass one, I asked, can we stop in the mystery spot? And you always say no because it's not worth the money, because that's what dads are supposed to say. We've taken our kids to Irish Hills many times and it is very dilapidated. It's been a few years since we've been. Yeah, there's a little bit of a resurgeon.

8:52 I've heard that. Too, but there's not There used to be a ton of miniature golf courses and there's none really near us. So we would hike out to on Father's Day a lot. You'd be like, let's go play miniature golf at Irish Hills and we've always had a nice time. Yeah, but it's. Definitely like you can see the old dinosaur park and it's you know, you can't go anymore, but you can see a lot of the attractions are faded and crubbling from the road. But anyway, that's where the Hooker family is from. Lynette and Brian were married in two thousand and two, soon after she divorced her first husband, Rick. Brian, a former Marine corporal, met Lynette when they were both working as technicians for AT and T, where Brian served as union steward, a role that suited his combative nature.

9:39 Brian has three children from a previous relationship, and Lynette has one daughter. They've been together for almost half their lives. Friends and family described them as something of a power couple. Though Brian can be volatile, He's a large man with a commanding presence, one that at times can feel intimidating. As one friend put it, he he was not only big and imposing and smart, but part of his charm was that if your boss is giving you a hard time, he's going to put the fear in him. Lynette and Brian are a highly social couple and enjoy being around others, often drinking, sometimes to excess. Lynette is funny, kind and sharp, but also tough and resourceful, the kind of person who could handle herself and figure things out in almost any situation.

10:27 Lynette and Brian have made many friends through sailing. The boating community is known for being friendly and supportive, with people often looking out for one another and forming quick lasting connections, often spending weeks traveling together. Living at sea had long been the Hooker's share dream. Before they set out on the Soulmate, they had more than a decade of sailing experience. The Hookers lived aboard their light blue forty five foot sailboat, Soulmate. They purchased it in twenty twenty three and refurbished it them, turning it into a comfortable floating home with a living area, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a TV, and even a solar powered oven. They frequently shared their travels on social media, including TikTok and YouTube under the name The Sailing Hookers.

11:17 In one post, Lynnette joked after they repainted the deck, the decks are done. We're still married. Party time. Their content offered glimpses into everyday life grilling on the boat, as well as their adventures snorkeling, spotting wildlife, listening to live music, and making ice cream runs. They fly three flags aboard the Soulmate an American flag, a pirate flag reading a Pirate's Life for Me, and a cookie monster flag. The deck is slightly chaotic, scattered with signs of life, two paddle boards, a grill, a Buddha statue, workout equipment, and several conk shells. At the time Lynnette went missing, they were anchored in a cove off marsh Harbor on Great Abaco Island, part of the Abbaco Islands, a chain of barrier ks in the Northern Bahamas, about two hundred miles east of Miami, with nearby kys, including Elbow k just a short dinghy ride away. The Hookers met Marnie and Brian Stephenson in twenty twenty three while sailing near Florida.

12:21 The two couples quickly became close and even traveled together for a time. After they parted ways in early January twenty twenty four, Lynette sent Marnie a series of concerning text messages. On January twenty. Ninth, do you want to be Marty and I will be Lynette? Sure? How far south did you guys make it? We are probably starting the track around the beginning of March. I guess it was too much closeness. We decided to call it quits. I'm not going back. Good luck, guys. I'm really sorry to hear this. Me too, heartbroken, considering I quit my awesome career, sold my house, and gave away everything I own to Crewe. Who's shaking my head? Stupid?

13:03 Oh no, I can't remember. How long have you guys been cruising? Well, we were married twenty one years. Our marriage lasted six weeks cruising. Oh my goodness. Lol, just starting over? Oh darling, that's gotta be tough. My heart goes out to you. A friend of Nola has invited me to cruise. I'm just not sure. Now, Nola, so it's not cruising you're not enjoying. It's your spouse and what is Nola? New Orleans? I love sailing. Ah, okay, well that sounds like fun. It does, but too much going on to think about it right now. It would be weird without my. Brian, completely understandable. Probably a whole lot to wrap your brain around.

13:44 So maybe I'll see you out there currently looking for a job. I don't know you well, and I hope I'm not speaking out of turn. But when you comment that it would be weird without your Brian, is it soon enough that maybe things could be reconciled. Not this time that was real bad. I can't be out there with him. Now, totally understand I get it. Big hugs, my friend. You're a strong woman. But less than a month later, the couple had reconciled. Marnie saw a social media post of Lynette and Brian and texted, looks like things are on the up and up. Lynnette replied with heart emojis and the thumbs up. What do you make of these text messages?

14:25 It sure sounds like Lynnette is saying that the marriage is over, and she sounds pretty sure about that. It sounds like she's saying that they were married for a long time, but now six weeks of sailing. Was that killed their marriage? The thing that sticks out to me is when she said it was real bad, I can't be out there with him. Now, Yeah, that sounds like she's scared to be out there with him. But then she said it would be weird sailing without my my Brian, and that seems sort of sweet, like, oh my Brian. You know, I'll miss him if I'm out there without him, So it seemed like, yeah, maybe she wasn't done with a marriage. She had maybe some mixed feelings. And this was twenty twenty four, so it was more than two years prior to the current incident.

15:09 We'll be back after a break. On the evening of April fourth, at around seven thirty pm, Lynette and Brian took their dinghy out for the evening, heading from Elbow k towards Hopetown. On the return trip to Soulmate after dinner, Lynette slipped and fell overboard into choppy, dark water. CBS meteorologist Andrew Kozak noted that conditions may have made travel by dinghy difficult that night, with sustained winds of fifteen to twenty five knots gusts exceeding forty miles per hour, with intermittent rain, He added, however, that conditions would likely have been calmer. In the shallower, more sheltered.

15:55 Side of the island. About one thousand yards or a rough half a mile from their sailboat, they entered the choppier water. It was there that Lynette slipped from the dinghy into the ocean. Brian said that he threw her a flotation device but wasn't sure that she'd been able to reach it after he lost sight of her in the darkness. He believed it was possible that she reached shore. It remains unclear whether she was wearing a life jacket, but I believe she was not. So you said that she fell overboard, stating that as a fact. Is that a known fact? Or is that Brian? We know that she is missing, but everything that we know is from Brian's version of events. Okay, the engine cut out almost immediately with a kill switch key lost overboard with Lonette, Brian had no way to start the boat, leaving him adrift, forcing him to paddle through the night in search of help. So we're not big boaters, but you have driven like my dad's boat before.

16:56 Right, and so the boat keys. Every boat is different, but some boats have like a floating key. I think my dad's had a floating key like it had something. Yeah, he had like a keychain on it that was. And some boats have like a lanyard and people you know, keep that around their neck or sometimes there's a stretchy coil and you're supposed to like attach it to your wrist to the key, so you're always attached to your. Key, right. Friends say that the Hookers really didn't do that. The key was usually just you know, there in the echnition, So people think that it's odd that she had the key. On her person. Yeah. The Hookers ding' eat was small and lightweight, powered by a modest electric motor. It didn't move quickly like a speedboat.

17:36 It was slow and steady, meaning that if someone fell overboard, they wouldn't be left far behind in its wake. And it wasn't built for distance. It was designed for short trips between the boat like their sailboat and the shore, limited to probably ten miles max. That night, Lynette and Brian had traveled roughly two and a half to three miles to reach Hopetown for dinner, making the return trip a stretch for a dinghy like theirs. I want to go back to. I have a quick question about the key, the kill switch key or whatever it's called. So if the key is not like in the ignition, is the boat still running? Meaning did the according to Brian, did was the boat turned off when she killed.

18:18 The kill switch? Right? So as soon as the kill switch is activated and she went overboard, the kill switch is activated, the boat stops because if the boat was still going, and you know, if you're you would lose your passenger. So the kill switch is a safety precaution. So the boat stops right there, and if someone falls off the boat, you can help them onto the boat. I did see some people online talking about it, saying that a lot of boats have some sort of mechanism where you can put your hand on the throttle or I'm not I'm not really an engine person, but you can probably still get the boat to go. But Brian said, no, I had to float back to shore. Okay, but if I fall off the boat, what are you going to do.

19:00 I'm going to do everything I could to rescue you. I'm going to make sure the boat is stopped. First of all, I'm gonna if you're right there, I would grab you and pull you in. If you're out farther, I might throw you a life preserver first before trying to get you in the boat. So, I mean it depends. On the ride. You're an ex marine, you're a pretty big guy. I would hope that you would jump in and try to save me. Yeah. I've read one account where he jumped in, but I don't think that's true. I don't think he jumped in. I think he stayed on the boat and he tried to throw her like this cushion that was a floating cushion, and like I said, it was dark and he couldn't he couldn't tell if it got to her or not. In a phone call with friends Marnie and Brian Stevenson after Lynette went missing, Brian described the couple's evening. He said they stopped at Tahiti Beach, a popular spot on the southern tip of Elbow k where shallow water recedes at low tide and a floating bar serves strings, before heading to dinner at the Avaco Inn. After dinner, they began the trip back to Soulmate. By Easter morning, around four am, Brian had drifted and rowed roughly four miles before reaching the Marsh Harbor boat yard, where he contacted the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The next day, Brian moved soulmate to marsh Harbor, a decision that raised eyebrows. He had told others he believed Lynette might have been able to swim.

20:23 Back to the boat. But if that were the case, why would he have moved it. Yeah. He then stayed at a nearby by hotel with his sister for several days. And again, wouldn't he want to stay with the boat if? Yeah, if he thought there was a chance she might be able to make it back to the boat, I would think he would stay there. After she went missing, there was a day long search by air, land and sea, assisted by the US Coast Guard and including the use of underwater drones, and they yielded no sign of Lynette. Not a single personal item was recovered, no clothing, not her glasses, and not a dry bag. Do you know what a dry bag is. I assume it's a bag where you can put things like your phone in that's going to keep it drive it falls in the water boat.

21:06 Yeah. You just keep a few personal items in your dry bag and you just grab it in. A case of emergency. On Tuesday, April seventh, Hopetown volunteer fire and Rescue lead Richard Cook announced the effort had shifted from a search to. A recovery operation. He later told People Magazine it was just a lot of bad decisions. Nighttime, very windy, no moon out yet, so it was pitch dark and very rough conditions for the small boat they were in. Bryan provided screenshots from nautical maps to help authorities narrow the area where he saddling that had gone overboard, but a boat captain familiar with the area questioned the circumstances, noting that the waters where Soulmate was anchored are typically among the calmist, with depths ranging from just three to fourteen feet. He told The New York Post, there's no reason to take a dinghy out there.

21:56 I've never seen anyone do it. He added that if they. Had encountered trouble, other nearby boaters likely would have been able to assist. When he says there's no reason to take a dinghy out there, I'm not sure I understand that, because how else would you get from the boat to the shore. Well, their sailboat isn't huge, so I think what he meant, was you know, if it's several miles away, that they could have just taken your Saleka and indocted there. That's what I'm guessing he means. After reaching land, Brian left a voicemail for his stepdaughter Carly. Hello, Honey, it's dad. I've just got a call from Hopetown Search and Rescue and they found the flotation device that I threw to mom when she fell overboard. They haven't found her yet.

22:40 Carle later said that she was struck by his monotone voice and lack of urgency. Brian has been making rounds in the media, and in each interview that I've seen he appears emotional, crying and visibly bereft. But in this miss message to his stepdaughter, he sounded, you know, pretty much fine. After the search was discontinued, Brian released a statement to the media. I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that cause my beloved Lynette to fall out of her small dinghy near Elbow, Qut and the Bahamas. Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus. I thought he was laying it on a little thick with that statement. How he's talking about the winds and how they were separated.

23:30 Yeah, sounds like he's trying to make it sound like it was really, really bad. He was, yes. Carly Aylesworth twenty eight, Lynette's daughter and only child from a previous relationship, said that there had been previous concerning incidents between Lynnette and Brian. Two days after the incident, she released a statement, I have been privy to very little information. My sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance. While the Royal Bahamian Police are investigating this matter, I would also appreciate any involvement of the federal, state, or local authorities to look into the circumstances of this tragic situation. She told People magazine how they started was not healthy. When you start out not healthy, that's usually a sign of how the relationship is going to be. In another article, Carl said, there have been prior issues brought to my attention which may be important for any thorough investigation. If This truly was an accident. I can understand and live with it. However, there needs to be an intensive review of the facts and circumstances of this tragic incident before that can be determined.

24:44 A couple quick questions for you. First, remind me how long they have been married? Over twenty years, okay? And when Carly refers to them starting out not healthy, do you know what she meant by that. I'm assuming that she means that they started with an extramarital affair because they were married right after. Lynette got divorced, Okay, so she's probably talking about the early days of their twenty year long relationship. Carly told Fox News that there is a history of domestic violence in the relationship, including choking and threats to throw Lynnette overboard. Quote, it just doesn't add up. My mom is very fit and strong. She's a good swimmer, Like, why was she swimming away from the boat. I'm confused why she has the keys because she never drove the dinghy. It was always Brian. So the story just doesn't add up.

25:33 Right now, I think that's an excellent point. Why would she be swimming? I mean, I guess Brian is saying that the current, why would she be swimming away. From the boat right? And I think the point about the keys is a really good point as well. Something else that probably is superfluous that I wanted to mention is Brian I saw a text message, like a group chat between his daughter and Carly, and he's known Carly almost her whole life, and he spelled her name wrong. Oh wow. And there was a history of domestic violence in the marriage. In twenty fifteen, while living in Kentwood, Michigan, the police had been called and Lynette was arrested for assault and battery. She was released due to insufficient evidence as to who started the assault. The police report states that Brian claimed Lynette had punched him multiple times, leaving blood streaming from his nose, and that alcohol appeared to have fueled the incident. In two thousand and five, police responded to an incident involving Brian and his daughter, during which he was accused of choking her in the course of an argument. No charges were filed.

26:41 We've talked a lot about the correlation between domestic violence and choking, and if any person ever puts their hands around your neck, you need to end this relationship. Serious red flag. The fact that he did it to his daughter is even more disturbing. Brian's friend, Dan Dan flat saw the story on the news and texted him offering his assistance. He had noticed that minutes before that Brian had liked a social media post of his and left a laughing emoji, which surprised him. Brian texted him an explanation of what happened to Lynette. The wind blew me away from her, and she swam toward the sailboat, and we lost sight of each other pretty quickly. As it was just about sundown. I drifted and tried to paddle with one oar for the next seven hours until I washed up behind the shore of the next island over and was able to get some help finally.

27:34 So it was just about sundown or was it pitch black? Yeah, little inconsistency there. Dan was immediately suspicious of Brian, saying the different versions of events he saw in the media didn't add up. He also questioned whether Brian could have had cell service, noting that he wasn't far from shore. He told CBS News, you know, my wife's missing. Facebook's the last thing I'm worried about. Going to find me out on the water searching, Brian Hooker was detained for questioning on Wednesday, April eighth, as authorities worked to piece together what had happened, though he had not been charged with a crime. He was released four days later after investigators deemed there wasn't enough evidence to charge him, but authorities made it clear that as the investigation continues, he may face charges in the future. The Bahamian Police are working with the US Coast Guard and other authorities. When police searched Soulmate, Brian was handcuffed during the search. At one point, he fell overboard had to be rescued injuring his knee in the process.

28:41 But this was really strange, Like Brian has been on boats for years and years. This is his boat, he lives on the boat, and then he's flipped and fell over, Like I was wondering, like was he trying to escape or was it just a coincidence. Yeah, it's really odd. I can't imagine you would want to go into the water with handcuffs on, Like that would be a really bad idea. So maybe he did just slip. Yeah, but it is odd. You're right. Soulmate was seized by law enforcement. After he was released, Brian left the Bahamas, citing another family emergency that required his attention, but vowed that finding Lynnette is his sole focus. His mother is an ailing health he went to see her. I'm not sure if he's back to the Bahamas yet.

29:23 Darlene Hamlet, Lynnette's mother, told ABC News that she was very careful in the water, very responsible about wearing a flotation device, and obsessive about knowing water conditions. Although water conditions can change rapidly. I wanted to mention a podcast that I listened to. I think it's a newer podcast, but I thought she did an excellent job covering this case. It's called Criminally Obsessed. With Anne Emerson. She talked to forensic diver Alex Beear, a veteran police officer and dive rescue expert. Their conversation was really interesting. Alex said that initially with in individual drowns in the water, they sink to the bottom of the ocean floor within a ten foot radius from the top of the water where they fell. Then, as a decomposition begins, they may rise to the top and then be carried away by a current. In the Bahamian waters feeding would likely occur by sharks and other marine life. I wanted to mention that the temperature of the water in the Bahamas in April isn't frigid. It's likely in the mid seventies. But even in warmer condition, hours in the ocean can.

30:33 Take a toll. Fatigue, waves and darkness can become just as dangerous as the cold. The Bahamas is currently under a level to travel advisory. Visitors are urged to exercise increase caution due to concerns about violent crime, including sexual assaults and burglaries. As well as safety risks tied. To and unregulated boating and water activities that have led to injuries and death war levels of travel advisory. So again, the Bahamas is in level two. For being the worst. Yeah, okay, do you think it's possible that someone could have picked line up from another boat? You know, I hadn't even considered that. I mean, I suppose there's a slight possibility that that happened. Doesn't seem likely, but yeah.

31:18 Out on the open water, there are no doorbell or traffic cameras, no cell phone data, and a small dinghy is unlikely to have GPS tracking wind waves and shifting currents can quickly erase any trace of what happened, and with Brian Hooker as the only eyewitness, there is little independent account of those final moments. Drowning, by its nature, often leaves very little clear evidence, making it difficult to determine whether it was accidental or intentional. I think that's very true, and we hear about so many cases, whether it's a cruise ship or people on their own personal boat, that is just really hard to know what happened because it all comes down to you know, he said, she said, there's two people on the boat, one of them goes missing, and the only account you have is the person who survived.

32:07 I'm really not sure what has happened here. I don't think there is enough evidence either way. Yeah, just before we recorded, I look to see if there was any breaking news. The only thing I found was that a bartender who served the couple that evening at the Avoco Inn said that they arrived around four thirty pm, spending a few hours at the bar and pull before leaving between seven and seven thirty. And he said that he served them at least three drinks each. And remind me how far from the shore was their sailboat. Do you mean from where the soulmate was from where they had dinner? Yeah, I think it was about four miles okay. But when they were in the dinghy, Brian said that they were about one thousand yards or roughly half a mile to Okay, so.

32:52 They were releive most of the way there according to Brian's account. But do you think that Brian is a reliable witness? I mean not really. I think it really depends on whether he is guilty of doing something or not. If he is guilty of doing something, that he's absolutely not a re liable witness. But we just don't know. I am curious about their cell phones. There's a lot that we don't know about this case. I don't know if they could have picked up any geographical location. Yeah, but we do know that they were at the Abaco Inn and you know she went missing somewhere between the two. But we have to question the timeline and the seven hours because a lot of people point out it would not have taken him seven hours to get back to the Marina area well.

33:38 Even without so he didn't Apparently he didn't have the motor running on the dinghy and with the currents and everything. I think it's theoretically possible, right, I mean, if he's trying. To get taken seven hours, Yeah, I. Mean, if he's just trying to row a dinghy three miles and the current is going whatever direction it's going in, I think. Well, people familiar to the area said that they a timeline, like what was he doing during that time? Yeah? My understanding is that boats in the area are fairly close together. And if Brian was calling for help and he I forgot to mention this, but allegedly he shot two flares off. Oh, I mean, people would have seen him or heard him. Yeah. Absolutely.

34:18 Does it give you any pause that there have been no signs of Lynette being in the water, you know, not a shoe or shoe work glasses, not her glasses, or her her bag or the key, None of those things have been found in sort. Of but you know, the water is a it's a big place, and I don't know this particular area, but you know, there's just so much open space out in the water that I think it it does give me a little bit of pause. But at the same time, I can see that it could be feasible that no trace could turn up. Or could Brian have put Lynette somewhere on land, because we have that seven ish hours and something. That seems like that would be a real if he was going to kill her, that seems like that would be a really risky thing to do.

35:01 And if Brian was going to kill Annette, it probably if he wanted to get rid of his wife, he probably would have done it on the open water in their sailboat, Like it would be more plausible to have an accident in their sailboat. Yeah right, I suppose so. Yeah, Or were they having a bad day and it was a spontaneous, you know, decision or something. We have to consider it too. It could have been an accident, could. Have been Do you know if investigators had tried to do any kind of recreation of the incident, like to look at the effect that the currents might have had or anything. That's a really good question, and I don't think that they have. I would be curious about the. Cell phones too, because I'm sure they had their cell phones on them, because you remember, they were like social media people and they always had their phones with them to record whatever they were doing. Yeah, well, I hope Ellinette is somewhere sipping a margarita on the beach, and you know, maybe she wanted to escape her husband. But as far as I know, she has not contacted her daughter or her mother, and she certainly would not want to leave them hanging and wondering and in pain.

36:06 Right, I would just say that it doesn't look very good for Brian. I think all the facts like including the choking incidents and allegations, the fact that she had told her friend that the marriage was over after six weeks on the boat, all these things make it seem really bad for Brian. I agree one thousand percent. I think it would be very hard on a marriage to be spending all your time together on the sailboat. No matter how big the sailboat was, you're basically in close quarters all the time every day. I'd love to be close to you. I'm not sure what you're talking about, how dare you so you wouldn't want to be right next to me? Love to be next to you, but I would also need a break once.

36:50 Yeah, I think it would be super hard. Well, there's an old saying in sailing, the sea doesn't care. It doesn't matter how experienced you are, how prepared you think you are. Conditions can change quickly, and small decisions can have big consequences. That's why even short trips just a couple of miles can turn serious fast. And always, always, always, always wear your life fest even if you don't think you need it. So is the boating life for you? No, I don't think it really is. So you would not want to live on us on a boat, even if we could afford like a huge yacht. No, I don't think so. It just it doesn't really appeal to me. I like being on the water once in a while, but being out there all the time.

37:37 To say that you should have a friend with a boat, never buy a boat. Boats are a ton of work. Yeah, I'm good with that. Yeah. I think a lot of people romanticize the sea. I had a friend in high school, one of my good friends, her dad and her brother, her uncle built a sailboat together. Uh huh, and they I think they took like three years and they sailed to us Australia. I know that would be amazing, would be super scary what we have. When she was little, she grew up on this sailboat. I always thought that was such a cool story. That really is Yeah, it would be very scary to do that, but it's also super impressive. Yeah, yeah, they were really smart people. But yeah, I don't I think I would get really tired of being on the sea.

38:22 All the time. Yeah, it would be sort of the opposite of claustrophobia, which I wasn't sure what the word for that was, But there is a word the lasophobia, the lasophobia, which is the fear of being out on the open ocean, like with no horizon in sight. I think that would that would freak me out after a. While, the lasa phobia, the lasophobia, was that in your vernacular before you just googled it? No, that's I said. I had to look it up because I knew there was some term for it, but I didn't know what it was. Although there is a subreddit called the lasophobia that I have seen before, but I didn't really know what it meant. But it's like pictures of things that are kind of scary. Can you give me an example.

39:03 Yeah, like like videos of like big tankers out in the middle of the ocean that are like going up and down these huge waves that are like the size of tall buildings. Things like that, and the thought of like a vast openness is intimidating and scary and feeling like you're the only person in the world. Well, a little black cat has been dying to get in this room, and somehow she got in all by. Her wants to be heard. So if you guys hear any it was the second half of the episode, and she's in here now making a lot of noise. But Clover, not Cosmo. I think we talk about Cosmo gets way more airtime than Clover he does. I feel like everyone knows Cosmo's name, but some types were like and. The girl cat.

39:43 A lot of times Cosmo comes in here and lays on the bean bag chair while we record. And listen to hear us. Yeah, we should play it like when at night, we should play it for him to go to sea. Lately he has been sleeping like on me or as close as he can get to me. Yeah, and he loves you. I don't love it. Why do scientists Why don't scientists trust Adams? I don't know what, because they. Make up everything. Why did the frog take the bus to work? I don't know his car got towed? Why did the picture end up in prison? Come on, you could guess what it was. Frame. What's the difference between a hippo and a zippo?

40:29 One's a little lighter. Okay, I'll give it. I'll give you that pretty close. All right. Well that's all I have for you. Thank you for those Hope you guys, You're welcome. I hope you all enjoyed this bonus episode. Please rate, review, follow, and subscribe. Find us on social media or YouTube, where the episodes always post a day early, but this bonus episode will probably go out everywhere at the same time. To your nodding your head, guys. Please consider supporting us on Patreon for only five dollars a mo. Once you get early ad free access. What else do they get a monthly bonus episode. Our eternal gratitude that. Too, But it's that patreon dot com slash love Mary.

41:11 Kill you saved me. Oh my mind just went blank there for a second. Until next time, don't kill your wife and don't kill your husband. M