Akron police cost Cynthia George, spouse of Tangier proprietor, in 2001 homicide of Jeffrey Zack

This text was initially printed within the Akron Beacon Journal on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005.

Akron police on Monday charged Cynthia George, a central determine within the 2001 homicide of Jeffrey Zack, with complicity to commit aggravated homicide.

The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Activity Pressure arrested George, 50, of Granger Township, round 8 p.m. on the West Market Plaza in Tub Township. She was in Summit County Jail on Monday night.

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 Membership on Residence Avenue.

John Zaffino, 38, was convicted of aggravated homicide in March 2003 — via what jurors known as overwhelming circumstantial proof — and is serving 23 years to life on the Toledo Correctional Facility.

The case turned tawdry after police realized George, married to Tangier restaurant proprietor Ed George, was romantically concerned with Zack and Zaffino.

Zack is the daddy of considered one of George’s youngsters.

At Zaffino’s sentencing, Akron Police Lt. David Whiddon mentioned George was nonetheless a suspect and that the investigation was ongoing.

Prosecutors argued at Zaffino’s trial that George had an issue with Zack after ending a protracted affair with Zack in Could 2001. Testimony within the case indicated Zack could have positioned harassing telephone calls to each Cynthia and Ed George after the breakup.

Prosecutors mentioned financial institution information present that Cynthia George could have offered the cash used to buy the motorbike Zaffino drove within the taking pictures, and mobile phone information indicated Zaffino and George spoke at pivotal factors, together with earlier than and after Zack’s homicide.

Elayne Zack, Jeffrey Zack’s mom, did not mince phrases when she was reached in Phoenix on Monday.

“I am thrilled. I am elated. She had a lot goddamn nerve to do it and to suppose she’d get away with it,” she mentioned.

Elayne Zack testified at Zaffino’s trial that she was conscious of the affair and had met Cynthia George a number of occasions throughout visits to Ohio.

There have been loads of different twists and turns within the case.

Cynthia George refused to testify earlier than a grand jury investigating the homicide after which invoked her Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination at Zaffino’s trial — and that did not escape the discover of jurors, who weren’t advised why her testimony was halted after eight questions.

“From the proof I heard, she undoubtedly had data of what was occurring,” juror Deborah Dorsey of Richfield mentioned after the responsible verdict. “I believe it is a disgrace that in our system that somebody who, for my part, performed a key function in a murder could not be questioned. Her absence was proof to me.”

Ed George was known as to take the stand a short while after his spouse, however he invoked marital privilege rights and wouldn’t testify about conversations he had along with his spouse.

Regardless of no stable alibi, Zaffino, a truck driver from Warren, Pa., who lived in Akron on the time of the slaying, all the time maintained his innocence.

Zaffino’s lawyer, Lawrence Whitney, argued that no direct proof linked Zaffino to the homicide — the motorcyclist was by no means positively recognized due to the helmet.

Zaffino wasn’t as silent when speaking to considered one of his ex-wives, Christine Todaro. Police have been led to Zaffino after they realized of feedback made to her, together with that Zaffino had fought with a “white-haired Israeli” shortly earlier than Zack’s taking pictures.

Zack had silver hair and served within the Israeli military; when Todaro known as Zaffino at 3 a.m. a day after the killing, she requested if the person he had fought with was Zack.

His reply: “Effectively, let’s simply say the man’s going to have a tough time parting his hair to any extent further.”

Zack and his ex-wife, Bonnie Cook dinner, had a son who was 12 on the time of Zack’s demise, Cook dinner famous throughout Zaffino’s sentencing. Cook dinner advised Zaffino he was a fall man for George.

“If it wasn’t for Cindy George, my husband would not have been shot. My son would not have misplaced his father. And also you would not be wanting ahead to spending the remainder of your life in jail,” Cook dinner advised Zaffino in courtroom.

The case, with its most lurid particulars highlighted, was documented within the A&E present American Justice within the episode “Who Whacked Zack.” That present first aired in November.

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