Inside 'The Cosby Show' Curse — Including Bill Cosby's Only Son's Brutal Murder, Geoffrey Owens' Financial Struggles and Malcolm-Jamal Warner's 'Accidental Drowning'

The Cosby Show curse seemed to rear its ugly head with the heartbreaking accidental drowning of Malcolm Jamal-Warner, who played Theo Huxtable on the iconic NBC sitcom.

In the years since the series went off the air in 1992, some of those who appeared on the show have been touched by tragedy, including the murder of Bill Cosby's only son, the cancer death of actress Michelle Thomas, Geoffrey Owens' financial struggles and more, as RadarOnline.com breaks down the victims of The Cosby Show curse.

Bill's only son, Ennis Cosby, returned home to Los Angeles on winter break from studying to earn his doctorate degree in special education from New York's Columbia University when the unthinkable occurred.

The 27-year-old was driving home from visiting friends in the early hours of January 16, 1997, when his Mercedes got a flat tire and he pulled off the 405 freeway in the Sepulveda Pass. He was shot in the head and killed in a botched robbery attempt.

Ennis called his girlfriend, Stephan Crane, who arrived and saw him changing the tire when a man allegedly came to her window and said, "Open the door or I'll hurt you."

She got scared and drove a short distance up the road when she heard the gunshot that killed her boyfriend.

In his first interview weeks after his son's murder, Bill revealed that his son had been buried in a garden at the family's home in Massachusetts.

"I've always imagined if somebody killed one of my kids, I mean, I would go get five 357 magnums. Then you start to think about the person that you love who's gone, and then that part of them comes to you and says, 'Hey dad, you have to go back to work.' And you start to laugh. His spirit from there wouldn't allow us to walk off and be anything other than what he wants our family," Bill bravely shared.

Crane worked with a sketch artist to describe the man she saw at her window that fateful night, and the rendering was widely distributed. In March 1997, police arrested Mikhail "Michael" Markhasev, an 18-year-old who had emigrated from Ukraine. His trial began in July 1998, where a letter he wrote from jail to an acquaintance was introduced as evidence that read: "I shot the n-----. I went to rob a [drug] connection and obviously found something else."

Markhasev was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He later apologized in a letter from prison in 2001, writing: "I am guilty, and I want to do the right thing ... More than anything, I want to apologize to the victim's family. It is my duty as a Christian, and it's the least I can do, after the great wickedness for which I am responsible."

Life imitated art when Warner fell for actress Michelle Thomas, who played Theo Huxtable's girlfriend Justine Phillips on The Cosby Show from 1988 through 1990. The pair dated for six years, amicably ending things in 1994.

Phillips went on to continued success as Steve Urkel's girlfriend, Myra Monkhouse, on Family Matters from 1993 through 1998. In August 1997, Thomas was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer. After doctors removed the tumor the size of a lemon from her abdomen, she was expected to make a full recovery.

In October 1998, Thomas had to take a medical leave from the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, needing emergency surgery following the rupture of a second cancerous growth. She died at the age of 30 on December 23, 1998, with Warner by her bedside in her final days. Michelle's mother later called the actor the love of her daughter's life.

Fans were shocked when a photo emerged in 2018 of Owens — who played Elvin Tibideaux on The Cosby Show — working at a Trader Joe's market in New Jersey, bagging items to pay the bills after he was unable to support himself as an actor.

Owens defending his way of making a living. “This business of my being this Cosby guy who got shamed for working at Trader Joe’s, that’s going to pass,” he said at the time. “But I hope what doesn’t pass is this idea that people are now thinking, this rethinking of what it means to work, the honor of the working person, and the dignity of work.”

He later quit his position, saying: "I wasn’t going to be able to handle that scrutiny, that kind of attack on my privacy. But Trader Joe's was a wonderful job."

Owens explained how his residuals from The Cosby Show ran out years prior, and weren't very substantial to begin with, as he only appeared in about a fifth of the show's episodes during its run.

After news of Owens working at Trader Joe's became public, some doors to the industry began to open, with Tyler Perry inviting him to come work on one of his OWN dramas, tweeting, "Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist."

He landed a role on NCIS: New Orleans later that year.

Warner's heartbreaking death shocked fans of The Cosby Show when a source claimed on July 21 that the actor's death was the "result of an accidental drowning." He had been on vacation at the time in Costa Rica with his wife and daughter.

He reportedly died the day prior from asphyxia after he was caught by a high current while swimming and drowned.

Warner said in 2023 that his "proudest achievement" was "being able to have a post-Cosby life and post-Cosby career and still have my head on as straight as possible."

"I've had such an awesome life," he continued. "I've got my ups and downs and all of that, but if I die tomorrow, I know I would go with a smile on my face."

Warner added, "I have peace of mind, and for me, you can't put a price on that. And I can definitely say that I feel successful in my post-Cosby life and having a peace of mind."