The Gruesome Execution-Style Murder of Successful Businessman Jeff Zack: Love, Lust, and a Fatal Love Triangle

Accident – Death – Obituary News : Investigation Discovery’s latest episode of ‘Vengeance: Killer Millionaires: Love, Sex, and Greed’ delves into the shocking murder of successful Akron businessman Jeff Zack in mid-June 2001. The police had their suspicions focused on a local socialite as the person of interest from the very beginning of the investigation, but it took them a year to gather enough evidence for an arrest. The episode explores the possibility of a fatal love triangle as the motive behind Jeff’s brutal execution-style murder.

Jeff Zack, born on January 20, 1957, in Detroit, Michigan, had a tumultuous upbringing. His biological father abandoned him as a child, leading him to take his stepfather’s name. With a reputation as a womanizer and a disregard for the law, Jeff had multiple criminal convictions, including ties to an illegal escort agency in Arizona in 1981 and sexually harassing a young girl in a hardware store in 1996. In 1991, he married Bonnie Cook, and together they had a son named Brian. However, after authorities pursued his Arizona firm for financial misconduct in 1991, Jeff decided to start fresh in Akron, Ohio.

By June 2001, Jeff, now 44 years old, owned a successful vending machine servicing business in Ohio. On the morning of June 16, he left his Akron residence without informing his family of his plans. It was not unusual for him to go out on Saturday mornings to purchase supplies for his vending machines at BJ’s Wholesale Club. While refueling his SUV at a gas pump on Home Avenue, a stranger wearing black approached his passenger-side window on a bike and fired a single shot, instantly killing Jeff. The killer then quickly fled the scene.

With only grainy surveillance video from the gas pump, bullet fragments, and a witness statement from the pump attendant, Carolyn Hyson, the Akron detectives had limited leads. The footage showed a mysterious motorcycle with a dark-helmeted killer, making it impossible to identify any facial features. The police interviewed Jeff’s family and friends, learning about his short temper and criminal record, but none of the leads resulted in a breakthrough.

It wasn’t until the investigators spoke with Cynthia “Cindy” and Ed George, longtime friends of Jeff, that they made significant progress. Ed was a wealthy Akron restaurateur, and Cindy, his wife, had met him at his supper club, the Tangier, in 1978. They married in 1984 and had seven children together. Jeff’s widow revealed to the police that her husband had recently ended a long-term affair with a married woman, and it didn’t take long for them to discover that the woman in question was Cindy George herself.

According to Jeff’s mother, Elayne, the affair had been an open secret, and Cindy’s beauty and the allure of her mansion had captivated Jeff. It became suspicious when Jeff was murdered less than a month after the affair ended. The police also found a threatening message on Jeff’s answering machine, hinting at a personal connection to the killer. Their suspicions grew stronger when they discovered that one of Cindy and Ed’s children had been fathered by Jeff.

After a year of investigation, an anonymous tip led the police to Christine Todaro, the former wife of John F. Zaffino, an unemployed trucker. Cindy had been involved with John since 2000, juggling both lovers before finally ending her relationship with Jeff in May 2001. When the police played the anonymous threat message to Christine, she immediately recognized John’s voice. Further evidence, such as John’s purchase of a .357 Magnum, which was identified as the murder weapon, and his phone records, disproving his alibi, led to his arrest on September 25, 2002.

John’s trial began in February 2003, and he was convicted of aggravated murder. He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole for at least 23 years. However, Jeff’s friends and family believed that Cindy had orchestrated the hit. Records showed that she withdrew a large sum of money just before John purchased the getaway bike. Cindy was arrested on January 10, 2005, and charged with complicity and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

Cindy’s trial began in November 2005, and the prosecution used an alleged confession from John to a fellow inmate as evidence against her. The defense requested a bench trial, and she was convicted of complicity in aggravated murder, receiving a sentence of 23 years to life. However, her conviction was reversed by the Ninth Ohio District Court of Appeals on March 22, 2007, and the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the reversal on August 30. Due to constitutional protection from double jeopardy, Cindy cannot be retried for Jeff’s murder.

John Zaffino, now 57 years old, remains incarcerated at the Grafton Correctional Institution. He will be eligible for parole in September 2025. The case of Jeff Zack’s murder continues to raise questions about the involvement of Cindy George and the true nature of the love triangle that may have led to his untimely death..