Suspect in Cosby Slaying Identified

Police on Thursday identified an 18-year-old Russian immigrant as the man who allegedly shot and killed Ennis Cosby during a bungled robbery attempt nearly two months ago.

Mikail “Michael” Markhasev was arrested two days ago on suspicion of murder. Police said Markhasev, who immigrated to the United States eight years ago and lives in the San Fernando Valley, has a criminal record.

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams said at a news conference that investigators have recovered a knit cap and a handgun that have been linked to the case. He said tests determined that the gun was used in the Jan. 16 slaying of Cosby, the 27-year-old son of entertainer Bill Cosby. A witness had described Cosby’s assailant as wearing a knit cap.

The younger Cosby was trying to fix a flat tire on his Mercedes-Benz convertible on a side road above Bel-Air when he was attacked.

“It appears that robbery was the motive,” Williams said. “It was happenstance. . . . It could have been a man, woman or child, black, white or gray. . . . There is no relation between the suspect and Mr. Cosby. It could have been you or I.”

Williams said a man and a woman who were detained Wednesday for questioning in connection with the slaying were released from custody and are not considered suspects at this time. The investigation, however, is continuing, he said.

“We’re not looking for any other suspect involved in the shooting at this time,” Williams said. “We may find out that somebody may have been involved before [or] knew something, hid something from us afterwards, so that’s the part that’s still ongoing.”

He said homicide investigators tracked down Markhasev with information provided by a tipster who initially called the National Enquirer in January seeking the tabloid’s $100,000 reward.

The paper passed the caller on to LAPD detectives who used the information to help them obtain at least three search warrants and conduct surveillance.

“It’s amazing,” said David Perel, executive editor of the National Enquirer. “It’s not too often that a newspaper can help solve a murder.”

The tipster will receive the reward if Markhasev is convicted of the killing, Perel said.

According to Perel, the tipster claimed that the murder was part of a botched robbery attempt by a man connected to a Russian car theft ring. Although Markhasev is of Russian heritage, Williams said, there is no evidence to suggest that he is part of any criminal organization. Williams said Markhasev has a criminal record, but he would not elaborate.

“This guy was a street thug,” one police source said. “He had a pretty healthy record. We have a lot of repeat customers and he’s definitely one of them.”

According to documents and school records, Markhasev has moved several times in recent years, attending schools in Reseda, Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Orange County. Most recently, he resided in an apartment in North Hollywood where neighbors said he lived with a woman and tended to keep to himself.

“He seemed just like a normal guy. I thought he was a student,” said Sean Devlin, 24, who lives down the hall from Markhasev.

Devlin said he saw police searching the apartment Wednesday night.

“I could tell they were intent on finding something out,” he said. “The apartment door was wide open and they were going in and out.”

Police said the tip from the National Enquirer helped locate one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case: the murder weapon. Sources said a .38-caliber handgun was recovered in an open area a few miles from the crime scene during a search Friday by investigators and Police Academy recruits. On Monday, the LAPD’s ballistics experts confirmed that it was the gun used in the Cosby killing.

Prosecutors in the district attorney’s Major Crimes Division expect to file charges against Markhasev today, said spokeswoman Suzanne Childs.

Police declined to say whether the primary witness in the case had identified Markhasev as the gunman. However, investigators have said the suspect matches the description she provided to police after the slaying.

According to police, the witness told authorities that Cosby had called her on his cellular phone, seeking assistance in fixing his flat tire. She said she drove to the scene, and while there, was accosted by a man with a gun. The woman, a 47-year-old self-described screenwriter, told authorities she was frightened off and returned to find Cosby’s body lying next to his car.

“Everything this first witness told us has been corroborated,” Williams said.

Cosby, a graduate student at Columbia University who was spending a two-week vacation in Los Angeles at the time of the shooting, had made plans to meet with the woman the night he was killed.

At the woman’s Sherman Oaks home Thursday, police officers stood guard and did not allow reporters to approach the residence.

News that the National Enquirer played a role in the apprehension of the suspected killer was a bittersweet revelation for the Cosby family. Shortly after the slaying, Bill Cosby challenged the tabloid to offer reward money instead of paying for interviews, which had the potential of tainting the credibility of possible witnesses.

The National Enquirer and the Globe responded by offering sizable rewards. The Cosby family, however, grew upset with the tabloids’ coverage of the incident and demanded that they rescind the offers.

The tabloids gave extensive coverage to a woman who, in the midst of the Cosby family’s ordeal, allegedly tried to extort $40 million from Bill Cosby. She had threatened to go to a tabloid with her claim that she was his illegitimate daughter. In a nationally televised interview to discuss the loss of his son, the entertainer acknowledged an extramarital affair with the woman’s mother but said he did not believe the woman was his daughter.

“The Cosby family is grateful for any way in which leads are found, said David Brokaw, the family’s spokesman. “With that being said, they [would prefer] it wasn’t the Enquirer. . . . They did some of the most insensitive and inhumane pieces that had no basis of truth.”

Nonetheless, the Cosby family was thrilled that an arrest had been made, Brokaw said.

Times staff writers Alan Abrahamson, John J. Goldman, Josh Meyer, Jim Newton, Amy Pyle and Beth Shuster contributed to this story.