Daughter of missing American in Bahamas says Brian Hooker using mother's illness as 'excuse' to leave country

Karli Aylesworth told Fox News Digital on Friday that Hooker's mother has been "terminally ill for a while." Hooker abruptly left the Bahamas Wednesday after saying he would remain in the country to search for his missing wife, Aylesworth's mother, Lynette.

"He wants to continue with the search for his wife because that is his main focus," his attorney, Terrel Butler, told Fox News Digital Tuesday. "So, as long as he can remain in the Bahamas, he'll remain in the Bahamas."

But about 24 hours later, Hooker changed his mind.

"Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother's grave illness," Butler told NBC News Wednesday afternoon. 

"He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time."

Butler did not say where in the U.S. Hooker was going, but a source familiar with the case told Fox News Digital he landed in Atlanta.

Aylesworth, who arrived in the Bahamas Thursday, has been critical of her stepfather since her mother Lynette went missing.

Hooker abandoned the couple's 40-foot sailboat, "Soulmate," anchored near a marina in Marsh Harbour.

Immediately after Lynette's disappearance, Aylesworth told Fox News Digital she was aware of "prior issues" with Brian's behavior.

Hooker says Lynette's disappearance was an accident caused by high wind and rough seas. The pair left The Abaco Inn bar on Elbow Cay in their dinghy at dusk on April 4, headed to their anchored sailboat just off the cay's western coast. The ride was a short one, but Brian said Lynette fell overboard in the choppy waters.

He has always maintained that he is innocent of wrongdoing, and has not been charged with a crime.