Maritime Law Expert: Charges Possible in Bahamas Yacht Wife Disappearance Without Body

A maritime law expert says federal authorities could bring charges in the Bahamas disappearance of Lynette Hooker even without finding her body.

Images taken by Fox News Digital on Tuesday show crime tape around portions of Lynette and Brian Hooker's sailboat, Soulmate, as it docked at the U.S. Coast Guard station in Fort Pierce, Florida. A source said the Coast Guard seized the vessel over the weekend. Investigators were processing evidence onboard Tuesday, and that work appeared to continue Wednesday.

Brian Hooker initially told Bahamian officials that his wife fell off a dinghy after leaving shore at Hope Town around 7:30 p.m. on April 4. He said Lynette fell overboard with the ignition key. Local authorities said he arrived at a marina in Marsh Harbour around 4 a.m. on April 5 after paddling to shore, about eight hours later. A search lasting weeks failed to locate Lynette Hooker.

Brian Hooker faces no charges. The Coast Guard Investigative Service is examining his wife's disappearance.

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 the Coast Guard probe could lead to criminal charges despite the missing body.

"They can't file charges without substantial evidence, but that's why they're on the boat. They're looking for evidence. And what will have to happen is the Coast Guard can develop the evidence that's necessary in conjunction with the U.S. attorney in Florida," he said. "Sometimes it takes more effort to develop evidence, and this is the case where that's the situation because you don't have the body."

"That's a much more difficult process without the body, but it's not impossible to do," Engerrand said.

Engerrand said Coast Guard investigators needed no warrant to search the American-flagged sailboat.

"They have a specific federal statute for that, and the courts have upheld that, with just a few limitations and so the Coast Guard can conduct a complete investigation with respect to the boat and activity that occurred on the boat under that statute that's valid until they get to the point where they are doing a focused criminal investigation. They don't need a warrant for any of that and once they get to the point of focusing on him, all they need is reasonable suspicion," he said. "They don't even have to have a warrant then to do investigation in connection with activity on a vessel that is an American flagged vessel."

Brian Hooker was detained five days by Bahamian police after his wife's disappearance but faced no charges. His Michigan-based attorney, Crystal Marie Hauser, 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," Hauser said.

Brian Hooker left the island for the U.S. to tend to his very ill mother, his Bahamian attorney said earlier.

After Lynette Hooker went missing, Brian posted on Facebook that he was heartbroken.