April 15, 1969 – January 16, 1997
This is another story that could get quite convoluted – if I don’t stay focused. Before I go on, does anyone get irritated when Bill Cosby graces the screen? God, I can not stand that guy. I wouldn’t wish what he went through on anyone, but frankly, Bill Cosby bugs my ass. I stopped eating pudding pops because of him. Anyway, on to his handsome son…
Ennis normally lived in New York City. He was pursuing a Master’s in special education at Columbia University. The following pictures of his New York home come courtesy of Findadeath.com’s New York contingent, Stacy Weinstein and Joanne Melito. Thanks again, you two. Ennis’ house is just down the street from where Montgomery Clift lived. The address is 243 E. 61st Street (Monty’s was 217). Here’s the front door. I wonder if those bars have been there all along, or did it turn into a fortress after the murder?
Ennis was on a two-week vacation in Los Angeles. At around 1am on Thursday the sixteenth of January 1997, he was driving his convertible Mercedes (it was registered to his father’s production company) northbound on the 405 freeway. This is the same freeway that OJ Simpson had his famous car chase. I always thought OJ should have blown his brains out when he had a chance. Sorry, I digress.
Ennis Cosby was on his way home to cook a steak for himself, and then he was going to see his friend of five days, Stephanie Crane, who is a screenwriter and also has special education interests. They were just friends. Ennis was coming up to the Sepulveda Pass, when he got a flat tire, not far from Stephanie’s home. He pulled off the freeway on to the service drive, Skirball Center Drive,
just south of Mulholland.
He used his mobile phone to let Stephanie know that he was going to be late, and ask her to lend a hand. A few minutes later, Stephanie (in a mink coat) drove her Jaguar to Cosby’s convertible, and used her headlights to help him change the tire. She spoke to him briefly, then returned to her own car to stay warm.
A few minutes later she saw a white male standing next to her car window. He said to her, “Get out of the car or I’ll kill you.” Instead, she booked. She drove up about 50 feet and spun around to illuminate the area. What she saw was the white male running from the scene, and Ennis lying on the ground. She freaked (again, who wouldn’t?) and tried to flag someone down. One man did stop, looked at Ennis and told her it “did not look good,” and left. Dick. Stephanie finally called 911, and police arrived to find Ennis dead. He was only 27.
Ennis was shot once in the head. He was clutching a pack of American Spirit cigarettes (the killer probably asked to bum one). He was also wearing a Rolex, and had 3 $20 bills in his pocket. Stephanie described the killer to the police as “white trash” who looked like the character Sean Penn played in Dead Man Walking.
There was another witness that passed by the scene. He was driving a blue hatchback car, and was finally tracked down at a Chinese Restaurant in Torrance, CA. He went in to borrow a spoon (that’s laughable.). He knew that the police were looking for him, but chose not to get in contact with the authorities because he “did not see anything of substance.” He should have been thrown in jail, just for that, but he was questioned and released.
Ennis’ body was discharged from the County Coroners Office (thanks Bob), and flown back east. On Sunday the 19th of January, there was a private funeral at the Cosby home, in Massachusetts. Ennis is buried on the family estate on Bardwell Ferry Road, in Shelburne.
In March of 1997, Bill Cosby (ugh.) visited the scene of the murder, and placed a cross at the site which bore the message, “Thank you, friend.” In August of the same year, I visited the site. I don’t know if the cross in the photograph is the same one. Highly doubtful. As you can see, there were flowers there, and a note to Ennis from someone. Why is it that people leave notes for dead people? Its not like they read them, and others (like myself) just mock them. Flowers are nice, but the note thing has always had me baffled. Anyway, here are some rocks I took from the scene.
After a huge manhunt, with The National Enquirer and America’s Most Wanted joining in, a massive reward was set up for the capture of the killer. The killer is Mikail Markhasev. He lived on Magnolia Blvd, in LA. His building is located at 12411 Magnolia, and he worked at a place called, “Mainly Seconds” just down the road. He was bragging shortly after the murder, that he killed a black man, and it was all over the news. One of the people he was bragging to, Christopher So, called The National Enquirer and snitched on Markhasev. They in turn told the cops, and Markhasev was arrested.
On a routine search of Markhasev’s jail cell, a note with the words “it was a robbery gone bad” written on it, was found. On August 11th, he was sentenced to life in prison. Upon hearing the news, he flipped the bird to anyone that would look. Charming.
Update Feb 20, 2001 from Findadeath.com friend Maryann:
Several days ago, Markhasev stopped all of his appeals and admitted his guilt and apologized to the Cosbys.
July 2011 – The Ennis Cosby memorial marker on the roadside is still there. Findadeath friend Mark Masek snapped this picture.
I don’t know why you are so hard on the two people, one of whom stopped but only briefly, and one of whom “passed by”. There was already a person there who could, and did, call the authorities. Even if there hadn’t been, calling authorities does not necessitate staying on the scene. Neither was a physician who could have rendered medical assistance. And it was dark, an act of violence had just taken place, and neither had any way of knowing whether or not the perpretrator was still on the scene. They didn’t want to put their own lives at risk, and would could blame them? Well, you apparently, but not me.
He is a rapist but it can be about race. You sound dismissive, and that’s the problem we have in the US. Everything is about race here.
The infamous aerial shots of the crime scene show Ennis’ body lying next to a tire iron. If he was changing a tire, where was the jack? Where was the spare tire? Why call someone to come out at 1:15 in the morning to shine their headlights when he could have easily driven off the freeway onto a lit street? Why would a lone female go out in the middle of the night and meet someone she just met the week before on a dark and deserted road? If it was a robbery, why didn’t he take the Rolex Ennis was wearing or the $60 in his pocket? Who tries and carjacks someone on a freeway service road? Who tries to carjack someone whose car has a flat tire? According to Stephanie Crane, a man appears out of the darkness and threatens her with a gun. She accelerates 50′ forward and turns her car around. Then she hears a shot. The autopsy report says the gunshot wound suggests the murderer was 4 feet away from him. Prior to the shot, what was Ennis doing while all of this was happening? Just standing there? Ennis was clutching a pack of American Spirit cigarettes in one of his hands, with some suggesting he was offering his killer a cigarette. So this guy threatens Stephanie Crane with a gun who then drives off and Ennis offers him a smoke? In a short TIME Magazine article, the author was able to look at the crime scene photos and autopsy report. The autopsy report states that he had been either hit or kicked in the mouth after he was murdered. Does that sound like a robbery or something personal?
Mentioning Bill Cosby and his dirty deeds is absolutely justified. I will always believe that Mikhail Markhasev was the fall guy and Ennis’s murder was actually a contract killing in retaliation for one of his father’s transgressions.
Mattox, you are probably busy now impressing your friend (maybe two friends) with your next conspiracy theory, but take another look at the photo. Look at the distance between front wheel well and the tire and compare it to the back. The car was clearly raised in the front—almost as if someone was using a jack to change a tire.
Crap grapple?
It came out in court proceedings that Bill gave interviews about his late son to tabloids in exchange for them to not print stories about his alleged rapes. Hard to imagine a sleazier situation or person.
If. Enis was alive he be ashamed of his dad Enis isnt alone he has his Sis up in heaven with him God Forgive me but the Wrong. Cosby. Died That. Night
Wrong time and place. Even the write up is out of order. RIP son.
Hear me when I say: I am most definitely NOT CONDONING Anything that Mr. Bill Cosby did. However, this is about his son Ennis and the tragedy that took his young life. No need to dishonor his memory by mentioning or continuing to drag his dad. We did this with Whitney Houston and so many others, but we did not do this with Elvis. I honestly believe that had we been as mindful of Bobbi Kristina as we were with Lisa Marie, Krissy probably would still be here. Mr. Cosby, his children, Mama Cissy Houston, Mother Katherine Jackson , are families that have been utterly devastated. Regardless of what their loved ones have done or were vindicated of having done. Their families have a right to crap grapple the magnitude of these losses apart from your relentless public humiliating comments and retain their dignity as they do so! It never matters what happens to someone else, it’s all fair game….Until it happens to someone we love or that matters to us! Our parents taught us, That if you can’t find something good to say, then say nothing at all! Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!
Elvis has been the butt of sooo many jokes since he passed …he gets called a child molester and his kid gets trashed anytime she blows wind …I see what you’re trying to do and it’s silly lmfao stop
I’m with JJ on this one. Don’t try and make this about race because Bill Cosby is a rapist and happens to be black. Ennis didn’t deserve what happened to him, but his father deserves all the sh*t that’s coming to him. Bill Cosby is a rapist, plain and simple. The fact that he’s black doesn’t change that. The whole rape stories broke because Hannibal Buress, who is black, called him out publicly. So stop with the race crap Cathryn Coleman.