One Step Behind

Hide and Seek

As much as he wanted to, Steve Goodenow had not headed straight for Majuro. Yes, he was already far, far behind Neil Mackay, much less Rodger Cotting, who had a three day head start on Mackay. Yes, he risked losing the kid altogether. He had his reasons: He wanted to make sure he had all his ducks in a row before rushing headlong into Scotty’s last known location. That, it seemed, was a precautionary step. A mandatory step.

"It was decided that we would petition the high court on Saipan where we felt we would receive favorable judgment to compel the Cottings or whoever had custody of Scotty on Majuro to release him into my custody." 

Even with this distinct disadvantage, however, Goodenow had at least one ace card in his pocket: the Micronesian lawyer he’d hired, Ramon Villagomez. That was as inside as one can get in the vast archipelago that awaited them. And with Ramon came a bonus step: his cousin, Felix Cabrera. Not only was Felix the Majuro chief of police, they both happened to be in Saipan. And Felix let it drop that he was heading back to Majuro. Photos in hand, Cabrera agreed to determine whether the boy was still on the atoll.

Remember: there were precious few places to hide on that narrow strip of land: for the most part, there was one — and only one — narrow road, which wound its way along a slender buffer, surrounded by nothing more than the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Another Baby Step

Simultaneously, Goodenow conferred with Brook Hart in Honolulu and that brought a new revelation: Hart had become aware that Neil Mackay was possibly leaving Majuro very soon, on an Air Micronesia flight bound for Honolulu. And guess what? When Felix arrived in Majuro, he observed Neil S. Mackay departing on the very next flight for Honolulu. Bonus: Scotty was not with him. They couldn’t decide whether that was good news — or just another bad omen.

The hitch was that Cabrera could not relay that information until Goodenow arrived in Majuro: The only “reliable” extra-island communication “service” was by going to the Majuro Weather Station, where they could use the facility’s communication network and contact the Kwajalein U.S. Army base. Once contact was made with Kwajalein, they could reach a satellite hookup with the Mainland. It was, to say the least, slow and sometimes unreliable.

Yes, they really were in the middle of a vast archipelago.

Not all was lost. Separately — and independently — Goodenow took the step of covering the Guam Airport with a security firm by the name of Miles Security Agency. They were to check Guam Airport when flights came out of the Majuro area, this to see if Scotty Mackay might be on the plane. Deepening the intrigue, they had also learned that a mystery man by the name of Chuck Wolfe might have joined the parade. He was a car mechanic friend of… You guessed it — Jean Sullivan. The ostensible reason for Wolfe’s — or whoever’s — presence? He seemed to be Scotty’s latest temporary “friend.”

Chuck Who?

And, indeed, a man using the name of Chuck Wolfe did attempt to board a Continental Airlines flight to Majuro in Honolulu. That person, however, had apparently slipped his boarding pass to an unknown person who eventually did board the plane, then headed out and arrived at Majuro on or about the 14th or 15th of March. This Wolfe character had also booked a through ticket to Guam — confirmed by Continental Airlines sources — with passage from Majuro to Guam on the 17th of March. Goodenow was, by now, fairly certain who was behind all this frippery: Neil Mackay and Jean Sullivan, who increasingly seemed like masters of deception.

Saipan High Court

Ramon, meanwhile, strategized a Petition and Order to be presented to High Court Judge Robert Hefner. His reasoning was abundantly clear. “It was decided that we would petition the high court on Saipan where we felt we would receive favorable judgment to compel the Cotting’s or whoever had custody of Scotty on Majuro to release him into [Goodenow’s] custody.”

During the evening of March 15, 1978, Ramon worked on that document. In Hefner’s chambers, things went quickly. Testimony was given by Goodenow. Documents signed by Judge Hefner. An Air Micronesia Saipan-to-Majuro flight was then boarded. They were on their way, with documents in hand, at approximately 2:30 p.m., March 16, 1978. Since Goodenow was unable to contact Cabrera on Majuro, they could not confirm the status of Mackay’s transit.

So: the win still goes to Neil Mackay. The communication difficulties would continue to plague his pursuers. 

Finally On Their Way

A new investigative milestone did, however, soon drop into Goodenow’s lap. It was the most promising one yet. “By 6:00 a.m. Guam time on March 16, 1978, I became aware that Mackay had arrived in Honolulu.” Villagomez and Goodenow finally arrived in Majuro at about 12:35 a.m. Friday morning, March 17, 1978. It had been a hard day’s night.

It was with some apprehension that we departed the plane. By this time I had worked with Honolulu on the Neil Mackay apprehension and thus Mackay's people knew Majuro might be expecting us. During the flight, I had spoken to one of the stewardesses, who was Marshallese and lived in Majuro. After being shown a photo, she said she had seen Scotty on the previous Sunday. This was the most current sighting of Scotty Mackay that we had up to that point. Based on the various flights which were now being covered in Guam and Honolulu, it would have been impossible for Scotty to get out unless he had possibly taken an Air Nauru plane. This seemed unlikely since Scotty was known not to possess a valid passport.

Steven Goodenow, Lawyer's Aid, Inc.

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