COSBY SON BURIED IN PRIVATE RITE : FAMILY GATHERS IN MASSACHUSETTS; POLICE CONTINUE HUNT FOR SUSPECT.

Byline: Stacy Finz and Dennis Love Daily News Staff Writers

Ennis William Cosby was buried Sunday in a small, private ceremony at his family's Massachusetts estate, three days after the entertainer's son was shot in the Sepulveda Pass while changing a flat tire.

Police are pursuing numerous tips, but have made no arrests.

Calls started pouring into Los Angeles police Saturday night, shortly after investigators released composite sketches of the suspected gunman and a possible witness, who is believed to have been driving near the scene around the time of Cosby's shooting.

``Obviously not all the tips are good,'' said Los Angeles police spokesman Vincent Aguirre. ``Some people call to say they had a dream about it last night. But we're listening to all the tips that have come in. There are detectives working around the clock on the case.''

In western Massachusetts, Cosby, 27, was buried at his family's expansive estate after a memorial service attended by his father, actor and comedian Bill Cosby, his mother, Camille, four sisters and best friend Phil Caputo, said David Brokaw, the actor's longtime friend and agent.

Among the tips that Los Angeles police are investigating is one from Placer County, where sheriff's officials noticed similarities between the sketch of Cosby's suspected killer and that of a man who shot and wounded a sheriff's deputy in Lake Tahoe last month. That suspect also is at large.

Cosby was found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head at about 1:45 a.m. Thursday next to his Mercedes-Benz convertible.

He had pulled off the San Diego Freeway near Bel-Air and parked on a darkened road to change a tire. Police believe the motive was robbery.

The suspect in Cosby's killing is described as a white male, age 25 to 32, of average height and weight, and wearing a light-colored knit cap.

The suspect in the Placer County case is described as a white male, in his 30s, with a slim build and sunken cheeks. Both wear knit caps in the sketches.

Aguirre said detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery-homicide unit, which are handling the Cosby case, are investigating a possible connection.

However, Placer County sheriff's Sgt. Don Owens said that Los Angeles police detectives indicated to his office that they doubted the two shootings were related.

Police also were seeking a possible witness, described as wearing a dark-colored beret and driving a blue hatchback car with possibly out-of-state license plates. He was described as a white man in his late 20s to early 30s with a mustache, a goatee and possibly a mole on his left cheek.

Near the Cosby home in Massachusetts, police blocked the road leading to the estate. Earlier, flowers were delivered to the home, and a man tacked a large sign that read ``Hello Friend'' to a post inside the front gate.

In Los Angeles, fans and curiosity-seekers flocked to the site of Cosby's killing, where mourners had placed bouquets of flowers.

TV camera crews were there in abundance, filming what has become a macabre Los Angeles tradition - the public pilgrimage to the scene of a sensational crime.

``This will be as bad as Bundy for a while,'' one cameraman muttered, referring to the Brentwood street where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were slain in 1994.

``I just wanted to see where it happened,'' said Karim Marcus, 22, who rode his motorcycle from his Montclair home to the spot. ``So when you see it on TV, then you know what they're talking about.''

Early Sunday afternoon, three well-dressed women, fresh from church, stood at the memorial hand-in-hand and in fervent prayer.

``We must pray for all our children,'' said Lucille Snow of North Hollywood. ``All of our children are in danger.''

CBS announced Sunday that Bill Cosby's new television show, ``Cosby,'' will air as scheduled at 8 tonight, followed by a special tribute to his son.

``At the front of the episode we will have a notification to viewers that the show will go on because Mr. Cosby wanted it to go on,'' said Terri Corigliano, director of series publicity for CBS.

The tribute also will honor television producer and actor Sheldon Leonard, who died 10 days ago at age 89. Leonard was a father figure to Bill Cosby.

This week, the actor began a previously scheduled, one-week break from production of his show ``Cosby.''

Taping of the show will resume whenever Cosby wants it to, Corigliano said. In the meantime, the network will air previously taped episodes.

Meanwhile, the National Enquirer took up Cosby's challenge to the tabloid media to offer a reward for information on Ennis Cosby's killer. The paper is offering a $100,000 reward, details of which still need to be worked out with the Cosby family and police, editor Steve Coz said Sunday.

Cosby issued the challenge through his publicist who played a message from Cosby on his answering machine: ``If the tabloids were looking for something and they're paying money for pictures, they're paying money to have witnesses talk, why couldn't the tabloids look ahead, put out the word . . . something for someone to come forward and they could have the exclusivity.''

Also Sunday, a Cable News Network official again apologized for the cable station's decision to broadcast close-up film footage of Ennis Cosby's body at the crime scene Thursday.

Appearing in Pasadena before a gathering of television critics from around the country, Tom Johnson, president, chairman and chief executive officer of CNN News Group, called the close-up ``a serious mistake'' and said that CNN has a ``very clear policy not to go tight on graphic violence or bodies.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Police block off Bardwell Ferry Road near the entrance to the Cosby family estate in Shelburne, Mass., where Ennis Cosby was buried Sunday in a private service. Cosby was killed in Los Angeles on Thursday.

(2) Officials in Placer County circulated a composite sketch of a suspect in Northern California who resembles a man wanted in the killing of Ennis Cosby.

Associated Press

(3) Sketch of suspect