Witnesses in Cosby killing revealed 2 say suspect's intention was armed

  robbery

  Jonathan T. Lovitt ; Richard Price

  05/01/1997

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 03A

  (Copyright 1997)

  LOS ANGELES -- Mikail Markhasev, the man accused of killing Ennis Cosby,

  was with two friends who witnessed the shooting Jan. 16, according to court

  documents and a relative of one witness.

  It's the first indication that others may have been with Markhasev that night, or

  that police may have witnesses in the killing of entertainer Bill Cosby's only son,

  who was 27. Both witnesses were questioned and released. Authorities would not

  say whether they are suspects.

  The documents also confirm that police have two other witnesses who say they

  helped Markhasev in a frantic but vain search for the weapon days after the

  killing.

  Markhasev, 18, a Ukrainian immigrant, is scheduled to be arraigned this morning

  on a murder indictment handed up by a grand jury.

  In statements to police, Eli Zakaria, 23, and Sara Ann Peters, 21, both of

  Huntington Beach just south of Los Angeles, said they were driving around with

  Markhasev in Zakaria's gold Acura in the early hours of Jan. 16.

  Zakaria's uncle, Carlos Rodriguez, says Zakaria told him the three were high on

  drugs and looking for a drug dealer to find more. ``He told me he was out of it

  and that they pulled over to use the phone,'' Rodriguez, 30, said.

  According to statements Zakaria and Peters gave police, the three friends picked

  a phone in a park-and-ride lot just 450 feet down the road from the isolated spot

  where Cosby was killed. He had pulled off Interstate 405 to repair a flat tire on

  his father's $137,500 Mercedes Benz.

  While Zakaria spoke on the phone, Markhasev headed up the street toward

  Cosby, the witnesses' statements say.

  Zakaria told Rodriguez that as Markhasev walked away, he said ``he was gonna

  jack'' Cosby. Rodriguez said Zakaria's definition of ``jack'' is to rob at gunpoint.

  But nothing was taken. Instead, Zakaria told his uncle, ``Mikail just lost it'' and

  shot Cosby, then came running back to the car and said, ``Let's get out of here.''

  The three raced off. The witnesses told police the same story.

  The judge has imposed a gag order on all lawyers in the case. Prosecutor Ann

  Ingalls and Markhasev's lawyer, Darren Kavinoky, declined comment. Police

  would neither confirm nor deny the material in the court documents.

  If the witnesses' stories are accurate, experts say, both technically could have

  been charged as accessories to murder. ``By failing to contact police under those

  circumstances, they became accessories after the fact,'' Southwestern University

  law professor Robert Pugsley said.

  Another witness, a woman Cosby called after he had the flat, apparently saw the

  man who shot Cosby but was unable to pick him out of a police lineup that

  included Markhasev.

  Zakaria has an arrest record dating back to 1990 that includes assault with a

  deadly weapon. He had gotten out of jail not long before the murders, his uncle

  said.

  Rodriguez said both Zakaria and Peters are staying with Zakaria's mother in her

  gated, Huntington Beach condominium. A man who answered the door Monday

  said they weren't available.

  Rodriguez said the family was stunned by Zakaria's involvement in the case and

  that both witnesses are determined to get their ``act together. . . . (Zakaria)

  doesn't want to go back to jail,'' Rodriguez said.

  Authorities potentially have other witnesses who allegedly can tie Markhasev to

  the revolver that killed Cosby. They are identified in court papers as Christopher

  So and Michael Chang of Los Angeles.

  According to So's statement to police, Markhasev called Chang days after the

  slaying and asked for help in finding the gun he had hurriedly thrown away that

  night.

  Because Chang didn't have a car, So drove him over to Markhasev's home. The

  three searched through trees and shrubbery on a strip of land adjacent to the Los

  Angeles River in the community of Sherman Oaks. But they found nothing.

  So reported the incident and led police to Markhasev. Another search turned up

  the gun and a knit cap. Although the gun produced no fingerprints, ballistics tests

  confirmed it as the crime weapon.

  PHOTO, B/W, Reuters; PHOTO, B/W, Nick Ut, AP; PHOTO, B/W,Mark

  Osterman, AP