Police see no Connection Between Ennis Cosby Slaying, Extortion Arrests
January 21, 1997 Tuesday, METROPOLICE SEE NO CONNECTION BETWEEN ENNIS COSBY SLAYING, EXTORTION ARRESTS
BYLINE: Compiled From Wire Reports
DATELINE: LOS ANGELESPolice in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance picked up two possible witnesses to the killing of Ennis Cosby on Monday and turned them over to investigators for questioning.
Meanwhile, authorities in New York arrested two suspected extortionists in what was described as a failed attempt to blackmail comedian Bill Cosby.
Officials stressed Monday that they do not think the two investigations are connected.
A source familiar with both investigations said the extortion suspects were nabbed Saturday after they allegedly were preparing to take a story to the tab-loid news media accusing Bill Cosby of fathering an illegitimate child - an al-legation denied by Cosby’s spokesman.
Officials on both coasts conferred Monday about that case and last Thursday’s shooting of Bill Cosby’s son, graduate student Ennis Cosby, 27, and concluded that they are not part of a single plot against the Cosby family.
The two people thought to be witnesses were picked up at a Torrance drugstore and turned over to Los Angeles police investigators. KCBS-TV said police went to the drugstore after a neighbor reported seeing a blue hatchback that appeared to match one driven by the witness shown in a police sketch.
Police said that the witnesses were not suspects, and wouldn’t say whether they matched the sketches or the information about the car.
“The most I can tell you . . . is they are being identified as witnesses,” said Torrance Police Lt. Steve Gilliam.
The suspect in the Cosby killing was described as a white man, 25 to 32 years old, of average height and weight and wearing a light-colored knit cap. Police also were seeking a white man in his late 20s to early 30s with a mustache, a goatee and possibly a mole on his left cheek, who was wearing a dark-colored be-ret and driving a blue hatchback car.
Driven in part by the release of composite photographs and in part by an es-calating tabloid reward derby, Los Angeles police detectives are being forced into a sort of investigative triage as they try to separate factual from fanci-ful accounts of Ennis Cosby’s slaying.
By midday Monday, police were sifting through more than 300 tips, some possi-bly serious clues, others passing observations or dubious suggestions.
On Sunday, Bill Cosby, speaking through his publicist, challenged print and electronic tabloids to stop paying for information about the case and instead use that money to offer a reward. The National Enquirer was quick to respond, posting $100,000 for information leading to apprehension of the killer.
Monday, Globe Communications, parent company of The Globe tabloid, upped the ante, offering a $200,000 reward. The Globe also intends to create a toll-free telephone line to accept tips about the case.
Stan Goldman, a Loyola University law professor, cautioned that - just as in the O.J. Simpson murder case - the tabloids could do more harm than good.
He pointed out that a witness testified before a grand jury that she saw Simpson driving away from the crime scene at the time of the killings of his ex-wife and her friend. But because she sold her story to a tabloid, the prosecu-tion feared she was tainted and never called her.
At the Los Angeles Police Department, Cmdr. Tim McBride said police would prefer to have witnesses go straight to authorities. “We are encouraging people to come to the police,” McBride said. “We’re not in partnership with the tab-loids.”
Bill Pavelic also known as William Bill Pavelic and Zvonko Bill Pavelic, a former LAPD detective, who works as an investigator and con-sultant, said 99 percent of the calls to the police department are likely to be worthless - some from psychics.
In the extortion attempt, Autumn Jackson, 22, who allegedly claims Bill Cosby is her father, demanded the money to keep from going to a tabloid, officials said. She and Jose Medina, 54, who was to write her story, were arrested Satur-day at a New York law firm representing Cosby after signing a purported $24 mil-lion settlement to “end everything,” said U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.
According to an FBI affidavit, the family of Bill Cosby apparently had made payments to Autumn Jackson for educational purposes for several years, as he does for numerous other young people in need of assistance.
A family spokesman confirmed the details of the arrangement to ABC News and said Cosby categorically denied that this woman is his daughter. Spokesman David Brokaw said Cosby’s lawyers had a copy of the woman’s birth certificate proving he is not her father.
Private eyes probed : State checks Simpson’s in-vestigators
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
SECTION: FRONT; Pg. A9
LENGTH: 429 words
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
Private investigators hired to sniff out flaws in the case against O. J. Simpson are themselves being investigated by the state consumer affairs depart-ment.
The probe follows complaints that Simpson’s investigators lack California li-cences and are taking jobs from in-state detectives.
“If you’re doing traditional investigative work, such as interviewing people or scoping out the scene of a crime, then you need to be licensed,” said Louis Bonsignore, spokesman for the California Department of Consumer Affairs.
Bonsignore said Thursday the investigators being investigated were Zvonko (Bill) Pavelic of Glendale, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective; John McNally of New York; and Patrick McKenna of West Palm Beach, Fla.
They are part of the team working for Simpson, who has pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Gold-man. His trial is set for Sept. 19.
Under state law, private investigators must undergo a background check, apply for a licence, pass a test and pay a fee. The penalty for doing detective work without a licence is up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Simpson’s lawyers — Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran and Leroy Taft — did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Bill Pavelic also known as William Bill Pavelic and Zvonko Bill Pavelic has said he isn’t a licensed private investigator and has never claimed to be one. He says he is a defence consultant whose job is to look for mistakes, oversights and violations of police policy in the official investiga-tion.
“If he’s only doing analysis, then he’s probably not in violation of the law,” Bonsignore said.
Sue Sarkis, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Criminal Defence Investigators Association, said she was “very, very, very concerned about these out-of-state people.
“I’m afraid they’re going to impugn the integrity of the licensed investiga-tors,” she said. “They don’t know the laws. They’re not familiar with what our limits are.”
In another development Thursday, a Denver private investigator claiming to work for acquaintances of Nicole Simpson said a witness can place either Simpson or his vehicle near the murder scene at about the time of the killings.
Robert Peterson, head of the R.W. Peterson Investigative Agency, declined to identify the potential witness and said he could not vouch for her credibility. He said she had spoken to one of his investigators.
“I think she may be a valid witness, but I’m not sure yet,” he said.
Peterson declined to identify his clients and has not turned over any infor-mation to authorities.
LOAD-DATE: September 21, 2002
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
TYPE: News