This “Motion for Appointment of Geoghan Coogan, Esq. as Special Personal Representative with Request for Emergency Hearing” was submitted to the Dukes Probate Court on June 17, 2026, by Mr. Geoghan Coogan who represented the estate of Marie-Louise Rouff. He claimed that he had to oppose the request for an exhumation of her body for an autopsy because it violated her wishes for a “green burial.”
He failed to mention in the motion that the exhumation was requested by the Massachusetts State Police for an autopsy to determine cause of death, that the autopsy was requested because of evidence of criminal activity and the failure to conduct an autopsy or obtain a burial permit, and that Marie-Louise Rouff had told her son Emanuel Pastreich just days before her mysterious fall, and subsequent death that she feared for her life and that Emanuel had reported that concern to the West Tisbury Police. When the police visited her home to try to meet her, no one answered the door. Nobody would see her alive again. Some claim they saw her in the hospital in an unconscious state, but there is reason to question whether she was ever admitted to the hospital because there was no record filed of her death at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Moreover, the body could have easily been returned for burial after the autopsy, but that would have required the signature of both her sons. Mr. Coogan wished to avoid asking for the signature of Emanuel Pastreich because he did not want Emanuel to know about the autopsy and the actions of the Massachusetts State Police.
