U.S. Coast Guard Granted Permission to Search Bahamas for Missing Woman Lynette Hooker

The U.S. Coast Guard was granted permission by the Bahamian government to send divers to previously unsearched areas in the ongoing search for missing Michigan woman, Lynette Hooker.

The authorization came from the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, as confirmed by a source briefed on the investigation to CBS News on Thursday.

Hooker, 55, was reported missing on April 5, one day after her husband, Brian Hooker, informed authorities that they had set sail for a nighttime ride aboard a dinghy from Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.

Brian Hooker told local investigators that his wife fell from the dinghy and was swept away by the current. He was initially arrested but later released and allowed to return to the U.S., where he has not been criminally charged.