WITH A TIP FROM A TAB

By ADAM COHEN

More than a thousand calls came into the National Enquirer's Ennis Cosby hot line after the paper posted a $100,000 reward in the case. One came just a few days after the Jan. 16 murder, when an edgy informant with a slight foreign accent got on the phone with a junior reporter in the Enquirer's Los Angeles office. "You guys are the ones who did the O.J. Simpson case," the caller said as he divulged information about a man who had admitted shooting an African American with a .38-cal. gun in the same area where Cosby was killed. "The tipster was afraid," says Enquirer editor Steve Coz, but "he was interested in the money."

It turned out to be the phone call that broke the case. Last Wednesday, six weeks after receiving the information from the Enquirer, Los Angeles police arrested Mikail Markhasev, 18, an immigrant from Ukraine, and charged him with the murder of comedian Bill Cosby's only son, who was shot on a dark stretch near a Los Angeles highway while trying to change a flat tire. Police say the killing was the result of a spontaneous and botched attempt to steal Cosby's $130,000 Mercedes-Benz. "It appears that robbery was the motive," L.A.P.D. chief Willie Williams said. "It was happenstance." Williams also said that after examining Cosby's tires, his department had rejected theories that the flat was set up as part of a conspiracy to stage a robbery.

The Enquirer had given police the name and beeper number of the tipster, who led investigators to a field off Cold Water Canyon Road, about five miles from the crime scene. There they found a gun that ballistics experts have reportedly linked to the murder, and a knit cap believed to have been worn by the killer. The trail also led to Markhasev, who was arrested at his North Hollywood apartment.

The background of victim and suspect could not be more different. Cosby, 27, was the son of a cultural icon whom many Americans felt they knew as part of his father's sitcom family, only to discover that the real-life son led a quieter yet deeply inspiring life. Markhasev came to the U.S. at age 10. After a start in a gifted-students program, he drifted in and out of schools in Los Angeles, West Hollywood and Orange County, picking up the nickname "Pee-wee," for a purported resemblance to Pee-wee Herman. Eventually, Markhasev found his way to L.A.'s mean streets, where he allegedly hooked up with Mexican gangs, picking up their slang and behavior. In 1995 he was sent to probation camp for six months, reportedly after being charged with possession of marijuana and assault with a deadly weapon. Now he may face the death penalty.

The authorities went out of their way to deny reports that Markhasev has links to the Russian mafia, which has been a growing presence in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, or to immigrant auto-theft rings that target luxury cars. Police released a man and a woman, who had been brought in for questioning last week, and say they are not looking for additional suspects. Meanwhile, the sole witness at the crime scene reportedly viewed a lineup last week, the results of which have not been made public.

The National Enquirer's role in the case has been a tumultuous one. Not being able to print the tipster's tale while cooperating with the police demanded unusual discipline. "We were sitting here with a blockbuster dynamite story that we could have splashed," says Coz. In the interim, however, the paper incurred the wrath of the Cosby family by printing the story of Bill Cosby's affair with the mother of Autumn Jackson, the 22-year-old woman who claimed to be his illegitimate daughter in an attempt to extract money from him and who is facing federal extortion charges. After that story appeared, Bill Cosby's wife Camille publicly called on the Enquirer and other tabloids to withdraw their rewards, saying "My husband and I do not want their money to be associated with our son." Even after the arrest, the family expressed displeasure with the paper. "They were very happy to get the information," says Cosby family spokesman David Brokaw, "but they had real reservations and regrets that the way it was found was through the Enquirer." Still the paper contends Markhasev's arrest is the ultimate vindication of its controversial approach to information gathering. Says Enquirer executive editor David Perel: "Money can be a very valuable and powerful tool to pry loose the truth."

--Reported by Sylvester Monroe/Los Angeles and Andrea Sachs/New York

With reporting by SYLVESTER MONROE/LOS ANGELES AND ANDREA SACHS/NEW YORK