{"id":273681,"date":"2026-05-16T19:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273681\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:42:18","slug":"boat-seized-off-florida-coast-in-connection-to-missing-michigan-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273681\/","title":{"rendered":"Boat Seized Off Florida Coast In Connection To Missing Michigan Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Fla. \u2014 The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service has taken control of a sailboat as part of an ongoing investigation<\/a> into the disappearance of Lynette Hooker.<\/p>\n

Officials said agents, working with Coast Guard crews and aircraft, stopped the sailing vessel Soulmate about 40 miles off the coast of Melbourne, Florida. The operation was part of a larger investigation led by federal authorities.<\/p>\n

After the vessel was seized, it lost power and had to be towed by the Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser. It was later handed off to a Coast Guard crew in Fort Pierce to guide it through the inlet.<\/p>\n

The Coast Guard says the sailboat is now being held as investigators continue looking into what happened to Hooker.<\/p>\n

Lynette Hooker went missing earlier while traveling aboard the Soulmate. Officials have not released many details, but say the case remains active and under investigation.<\/p>\n

At this time, authorities are not sharing additional information.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Coast Guard Investigative Service tip line<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Fla. \u2014 The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service has taken control of a sailboat as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[147,145,105779,28,30,29,116985,115428,139,115431,21351,144,146],"class_list":["post-273681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-coast-guard-cutter","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-investigative-service","tag-lynette-hooker","tag-orlando","tag-soulmate","tag-u-s-coast-guard","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}