ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701200149
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: Associated Press
Police on Saturday released a composite sketch of a suspect and a possible witness in the killing of Ennis Cosby, and re-interviewed a woman who may have seen the gunman.
The killer was described as a white man of average height and weight who was wearing a knit cap, Cmdr. Tim McBride said. He was said to be clean-shaven and 25 to 32 years old.
The most probable motive was robbery, he said.
The sketch was based on information from a female friend who found Cosby's body and from several 911 calls, McBride said.
The woman, a 47-year-old screenwriter, reportedly drove off early Thursday when she saw a suspicious man near the spot where Bill Cosby's only son fixed a flat tire. She returned moments later and found Cosby, 27, dead.
Police talked to the woman again because she was too traumatized at the crime scene to provide a detailed description of the man, police said.
``The detectives are going to take as long as it takes,'' Officer Mike Partain said.
Police also released a sketch of a possible witness: a white man in his late 20s to early 30s with dark hair, a mustache and goatee. He was wearing a dark beret and driving a blue hatchback, possibly with out-of-state license plate GRH921.
His description was supplied by a private security guard, police said.
Police Chief Willie Williams said the woman is the key to solving the crime.
``That's why we want to work very, very carefully with her so that we can preserve any information that she has and lead to a successful arrest,'' Williams said Friday on CNN's ``Larry King Live.''
Williams said investigators interviewed several 911 callers and others who may have seen events before and after the shooting.
Cosby was gunned down by the side of his Mercedes-Benz sometime before 1:45 a.m. Thursday after he stopped to change a flat. Cosby had called the woman to provide light so he could change the tire. She was sitting in her car near Cosby's car when a white man tapped on her window, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.
She fled in fear but returned minutes later to find Cosby with a gunshot wound to the head, the newspaper reported. The Los Angeles Times, quoting unidentified police sources, said the woman was at the scene but was frightened away when a man with a gun accosted her and Cosby. She returned to find Cosby dead.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: AP. This is a composite sketch of a suspect sought inby CNBthe killing of Ennis Cosby.