Police Capt. Cogswell Responds

Ponape District, Micronesia

We’ve heard from Steve Goodenow. His account of the Ponape “highjacking” is compelling. But… It’s only one side of the story and doesn’t quite reach the overarching issue, namely all the countermoves by competing interests. We are fortunate, then, to have a second view, from the “opposite” side: That of Executive Police Captain Robert Cogswell of the Ponape District. Ponape, of course, is another “venue” where the “rescue” of Scotty Mackay goes sideways. Here, in a slightly abbreviated form, is Cogswell’s account of the same incident. Again, we remind you that Goodenow and Cogswell are “friends,” although “professional associates” might be the more apt description. And, yes, the line of legitimate custody regarding Scotty is quite clear:

FROM: Executive Captain Robert Cogswell

INITIAL INVOLVEMENT
We became involved in this incident on Friday March 17, 1978 at 2200 hours. The Chief Of Police of Majuro telephoned an alert for a small eight passenger seaplane reportedly bound for Ponape carrying the subject with several other persons, including a Roger COTTING. Chief Felix requested they be detained upon arrival and Majuro notified. We indicated we would assist in any way possible.

Request for Assistance Altered

Twenty-four hours later on March 18, 1978 at 2030 hours we telephoned Chief Felix in Majuro to inquire on the status of the alert. No aircraft described by him had arrived in Ponape up to that time. He replied that the group had been located and the latest information was they would be passing through Ponape the next day. He related they would be aboard Continental Air Micronesia’s [Air Mic] flight 661 enroute to Guam. He requested us to assist in any way possible and informed us of reports that person or persons unknown might attempt to abduct the boy. Again we assured him of every cooperation.

He identified the members of the group as follows:

1. MACKAY, Neil Scott (Scotty) (Subject)
2. VILLAGOMEZ, Ramon (Guam attorney, representing subject’s family)
3. GOODENOUGH, Steven (Private Investigator escorting boy to Alaska)
4. WEIGHT, Michael (Honolulu atty representing boy’s father)

Judge Brown Received Different Request

On Sunday March 19, 1978 Judge Arvin H. BROWN of Ponape received a telephone call at the Public Safety Office in Ponape at 1130 hours. The call was from a George ALLEN of Majuro. Mr. ALLEN had asked Judge BROWN to sign papers amounting to a restraining order preventing the private investigator GOODENOUGH [Goodenow] from taking the boy out of the Trust Territory. The papers were reported to be enroute to Ponape aboard the same flight as the group. They were supposedly in the possession of DEBRUM, Tony. An identical set of papers were also reported to be enroute aboard Air Nauru’s flight 721 from Guam to Nauru arriving on Sunday, March 19, 1978 in Ponape. A Mrs. Susan ALLEN was supposed to be bringing them.

Clarification Attempted

We informed Judge BROWN of the request we received to do the exact opposite. To attempt to clarify the situation Chief FELIX in Majuro was called by us. Chief FELIX indicated that the request to assist the group was in no way changed and if there were difficulties then to contact Judge BROWN.

Judge BROWN was present then and spoke to Chief FELIX briefly in my presence. Chief FELIX informed Judge BROWN that if clarification was needed then to contact Judge HEFNER in Saipan under whose ruling they were operating. I remained with Judge BROWN while he attempted to contact Judge HEFNER during several attempts without success [emphasis added].

[NOTE: The failure to contact Judge Hefner was a major break in the chain of authority. Even, I would suggest, a fatal one… Because at the very least it threw “authority” to a man who had a bet on an alternate outcome: One George M. Allen. SEE BELOW.]

George Allen Called Again

In an effort to clarify the situation Judge BROWN called George ALLEN again. He informed me after this call that the whole situation was a custody battle originating out of Alaska, and that several different court orders for various things had been issued. These included one from Alaska, one from the Hawaii family court, one reportedly by Judge HEFNER in Saipan, and the latest one issued by Judge Kabuakabua (exact spelling unknown). The contents of Judge HEFNER’s ruling were unknown since no copy was available and neither had Judge HEFNER in Saipan [been available].

Decision Made To Talk With All Concerned

Judge BROWN indicated that since there were so many persons involved — and it appeared conflicting court orders were possessed by the parties — that he would have to talk with the parties involved in order to determine the appropriate course of action. To do this he requested our assistance in having the various persons taken off the aircraft to meet with him in the terminal of the Ponape International Airport.

Group Arrives in Ponape

Continental Air Micronesia flight 661 from Majuro arrived on schedule. Aboard were the following persons. The first four listed on page of this report and:

5. DEBRUM, Tony (Brought papers addressed to Judge BROWN)
6. Sullivan, Jean (Baby sitter for Scotty)

All the members of the group were deplaned. It should be noted here that DEBRUM was not with the group but was seated separately from them. It appeared to the writer that the others were not aware of his presence or purpose. Upon arrival of the aircraft the writer boarded it and was approached by Boisse CORREA, Chief Of Police, Truk — who was returning to his duty station from Honolulu. Boisse introduced the writer to DEBRUM who handed me a legal-size envelope addressed to Judge BROWN.

Group Brought to Terminal

We then met with the members of the group who at first refused to leave the aircraft and demanded court papers to this effect. They were informed that Judge BROWN was in the terminal waiting for them and that it was his request they meet with him bringing the boy also. They then requested to go out and meet with Judge BROWN leaving the boy and his baby sitter aboard the aircraft.

Ed. Note: If you were expecting a fancy waiting room at the Ponape Terminal… NOPE. See below.

Meeting Not Attended

This request was denied due to Chief FELIX’s warning, and the need for constant security for the boy. Later it was learned this was a good decision since the two men, WEIGHT and GOODENOUGH represented opposing factions. [1] Had one or the other left with the boy the remaining person could have claimed or brought numerous charges of collusion. This last request came from Mr. WEIGHT. Following this, all were deplaned and brought to the terminal to meet with Judge BROWN. NOTE: Due to the need to keep Scotty under constant security, Cogswell did not attend the airport terminal meeting between the various parties.

Air Nauru Arrives

Air Nauru flight 721 arrived on schedule, Continental Air Micronesia was still on the ground due to the meeting still in progress. The Nauru aircraft had to be stopped on the apron, boarded, and Mrs. ALLEN escorted off and to the terminal, bringing the total number of persons at the meeting to eight.

Meeting Results

The meeting ended with the following decision. I was present for this portion. It was agreed by the persons present that on the following Tuesday March 21, 1978, all the persons present including Judge BROWN would return to Majuro via Air Micronesia and on the following day, Wednesday March 22, 1978, Judge BROWN would conduct a hearing into the entire matter. The only two exceptions to this were the attorney from Guam, Mr. Ramon VILLAGOMEZ and Tony DEBRUM who were not seen by the writer following this meeting and were believed to have re-boarded the aircraft to continue onto Guam.

Hey, Cogswell… What Just Happened?

To some degree, even Bob Cogswell was baffled. You may recall the following “threat” from our previous installment, where Steve Goodenow argued for a different outcome and then noted Bob’s response: “Cogswell would take Scotty off the plane and that Goodenow, as well as those traveling with him, would be forced off the plane.” Clearly, there were conflicting demands from every direction — from Steve Goodenow and George Allen, from Tony DeBrum, from Judge Brown, from Judge Hefner, from Susan Allen… And, yes, at some points each of them were schoolchildren. On the playground, yelling at the top of their lungs.

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[1] Goodenow and Weight had more in common than Cogswell realized. After his Honolulu arrest, Neil Mackay wanted Scotty returned to Hawaii. Weight and Goodenow were actually aligned on that goal — though it was Goodenow and Jean Sullivan who ultimately took Scotty back to Alaska.

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Copyright Leland E. Hale (2026)