Akron police charge Cynthia George, wife of Tangier owner, in 2001 murder of Jeffrey Zack

This article was originally published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005.

Akron police on Monday charged Cynthia George, a central figure in the 2001 murder of Jeffrey Zack, with complicity to commit aggravated murder.

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested George, 50, of Granger Township, around 8 p.m. at the West Market Plaza in Bath Township. She was in Summit County Jail on Monday evening.

Zack, a 44-year-old Stow businessman, was killed June 16, 2001, by a helmeted motorcyclist who shot him as he sat in his SUV at BJ's Wholesale Club on Home Avenue.

John Zaffino, 38, was convicted of aggravated murder in March 2003 -- through what jurors called overwhelming circumstantial evidence -- and is serving 23 years to life at the Toledo Correctional Facility.

The case turned tawdry after police learned George, married to Tangier restaurant owner Ed George, was romantically involved with Zack and Zaffino.

Zack is the father of one of George's children.

At Zaffino's sentencing, Akron Police Lt. David Whiddon said George was still a suspect and that the investigation was ongoing.

Prosecutors argued at Zaffino's trial that George had a problem with Zack after ending a long affair with Zack in May 2001. Testimony in the case indicated Zack may have placed harassing phone calls to both Cynthia and Ed George after the breakup.

Prosecutors said bank records show that Cynthia George may have provided the money used to purchase the motorcycle Zaffino drove in the shooting, and cell phone records indicated Zaffino and George spoke at pivotal points, including before and after Zack's murder.

Elayne Zack, Jeffrey Zack's mother, didn't mince words when she was reached in Phoenix on Monday.

"I'm thrilled. I'm elated. She had so much goddamn nerve to do it and to think she'd get away with it," she said.

Elayne Zack testified at Zaffino's trial that she was aware of the affair and had met Cynthia George several times during visits to Ohio.

There were plenty of other twists and turns in the case.

Cynthia George refused to testify before a grand jury investigating the murder and then invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at Zaffino's trial -- and that didn't escape the notice of jurors, who were not told why her testimony was halted after eight questions.

"From the evidence I heard, she definitely had knowledge of what was going on," juror Deborah Dorsey of Richfield said after the guilty verdict. "I think it's a shame that in our system that someone who, in my opinion, played a key role in a homicide couldn't be questioned. Her absence was evidence to me."

Ed George was called to take the stand a short time after his wife, but he invoked marital privilege rights and would not testify about conversations he had with his wife.

Despite no solid alibi, Zaffino, a truck driver from Warren, Pa., who lived in Akron at the time of the slaying, always maintained his innocence.

Zaffino's lawyer, Lawrence Whitney, argued that no direct evidence linked Zaffino to the murder -- the motorcyclist was never positively identified because of the helmet.

Zaffino wasn't as silent when talking to one of his ex-wives, Christine Todaro. Police were led to Zaffino after they learned of comments made to her, including that Zaffino had fought with a "white-haired Israeli" shortly before Zack's shooting.

Zack had silver hair and served in the Israeli army; when Todaro called Zaffino at 3 a.m. a day after the killing, she asked if the man he had fought with was Zack.

His reply: "Well, let's just say the guy's going to have a hard time parting his hair from now on."

Zack and his ex-wife, Bonnie Cook, had a son who was 12 at the time of Zack's death, Cook noted during Zaffino's sentencing. Cook told Zaffino he was a fall guy for George.

"If it wasn't for Cindy George, my husband wouldn't have been shot. My son wouldn't have lost his father. And you wouldn't be looking forward to spending the rest of your life in prison," Cook told Zaffino in court.

The case, with its most lurid details highlighted, was documented in the A&E show American Justice in the episode "Who Whacked Zack." That show first aired in November.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cindy George charged in murder of ex-lover Jeffrey Zack in Akron