If Looks Could Kill

In lieu of thanking everyone I have in all of my previous books, I wanted to take this opportunity to share the appreciation I have for all of my readers throughout the years. I am grateful for each and every one of you. I understand how overcrowded bookstore shelves are today, with far too many books being published every year, and realize the choices you have are endless. For you to choose my book(s) and spend a few days with my words is an honor for me. I understand the responsibility I have as an author. You are the reason why I write these books.

I need to thank Melissa White, who kindly handed over hundreds of pages of documents and was instrumental in introducing me to several major players involved in this case. Without Melissa’s help, or her trusting me with a story she had intended to one day write herself, I would not have been able to give this subject the in-depth reporting I feel it deserved. Additionally, if Akron-area attorney Cindy Mason hadn’t introduced me to Melissa, I’m convinced this incredible story would have never been told.

All of the detectives I interviewed while I was in Akron were kind, courteous and extremely helpful. Dave Whiddon, Russ McFarland, Mike Shaeffer and, especially, Ed Moriarty helped me in more ways than I could ever explain here. Without the time they gave me while I was in Akron and the numerous telephone calls later on, along with the countless e-mails back and forth, I surely would not have been able to get to the core of this incredible crime story. In addition, I’d like to thank Ed Moriarty’s wife for the hospitality she showed me while I was in town.

Likewise, Carrie Stoll, who is, I’m told, the heartbeat of the crimes against persons unit inside the Akron Police Department, was always willing to look things up, check details and help me gather some excellent photos.

I am indebted to everyone in law enforcement for their help. They are all true professionals.

What can I say about Christine Todaro? She is a courageous woman in every aspect of the word; someone who was willing to put others before herself, in spite of what might happen to her and what people said about her. She is a person of great moral integrity. Without her, I was told by almost every detective working the case, a murderer would have gotten away with the ultimate crime.

Jeff Zack’s mother Elayne Zack—a wonderful, gracious lady, open and honest—allowed me into a part of her life many wouldn’t have had the guts to do. I commend Mrs. Zack for her candor and sincerity. I worry that she will have a hard time with some of what’s in this book. But I could not ignore the truth.

To the dozens of other sources I used for this book: thank you for your time, honesty and willingness to see that the truth about this case was finally exposed. Without you, I would have been lost.

Lastly, my manager, Peter Miller, president of PMA Literary & Film Management Corp., has been one of my biggest supporters and guides through the landscape of film, books and television. Peter is so much more than my literary agent: friend, business manager, first reader, counselor (at times) and compass. He has been a true blessing in my life. I could never thank him enough for the work he has done for me.

Once again, Stephanie Finnegan did a wonderful job copyediting this book and saved this author some embarrassment.

In the spring of 2006, I was busy doing media interviews for my book
Murder in the Heartland,
which had just been published. While I was on a Cleveland, Ohio, radio station discussing that book, the host of the show asked me a question: “How do you find the stories you turn into books?” I answered by saying that I relied on readers, for the most part, along with tips from people who write in to my author Web site.

You
must
keep your eyes on the news, the host suggested.

Yes, in fact, I do. It’s a combination of all those things, I said, concluding, “Right now, I’m looking for a story in Ohio.”

Wasn’t sure why I said it. Only that I had looked at several Ohio stories over the years and, for one reason or another, had passed on all of them. My editor, Michaela Hamilton, had also mentioned that Ohio was a great place for a true crime story to be set.

Later that same week, I was on another radio show, in a different part of Ohio. Near the end of the interview, I gave the same answer to basically the same question. One of the hosts, a female, mentioned a murder case that had been recently adjudicated. After our interview, she e-mailed me several links to the case. “You
have
to do this one,” she said. “It’s incredible.”

After both shows, I checked my Web site e-mail and found several e-mails suggesting I look into the death of Jeff Zack (the case the second host had mentioned), a rather complicated man who had lived in the Akron region of Ohio most of his adult life. One letter was from someone closely connected to the case. From that letter and further encouragement from my new radio friend, I began looking more closely at the case. I was intrigued immediately by the dynamics of it and how long it took law enforcement to solve.

As I made some calls and began interviewing people, I realized there was a great story to tell, not to mention it was set in a location I had never covered in a book. The murder of Jeff Zack and the subsequent arrest of the triggerman and an alleged accomplice are only one small aspect of this story. The city of Akron, for example, a wonderful place I was fortunate enough to spend about a week in during my travels researching this book, became a character in and of itself. The aesthetics of the city, its growth over the years, certainly the world-renowned Tangier restaurant downtown, the Akron Police Department, and all of the people who keep the city living and breathing on a daily basis, make it the perfect location to tell a story. Most locations in crime books are ephemeral, they become an afterthought, a background for the action in the book to take place. Not Akron. It was a setting—at least I saw it that way from the day I decided to take on the project—all of the players had wandered in and out of at various times of their lives. Jeff Zack was murdered in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon in front of dozens of people at a very popular chain store. Yet no one could identify the shooter. From that perspective alone, what an interesting place, I thought, to tell this story. And as I met people in town and began to investigate this case on a deeper level, I realized that Akron is no different from any other city in America: murder is a part of the dynamic, a crime that, when a high-profileness is attached to it and a city’s elite become involved, can put a pockmark on a city that simply doesn’t deserve one. The murder of Jeff Zack never defined Akron. Rather, the people of Akron—especially those who came forward and helped crack this seemingly unsolvable crime—defined the true character of community.

The triggerman in this case answered a letter I had written to him at the start of the project. I had explained that I wanted his help. I would offer him all the space he needed to tell “his side of the story.” He had gone on A&E’s
American Justice
and, through tears, proclaimed his innocence. He said he’d had “nothing” whatsoever to do with this murder—that it was a setup from day one. Organized crime was one theory. Police corruption at the highest level another. Knowing that, I wanted his version of the events so I could go out and investigate his claims and prove them true or false.

In response, he said he wasn’t about to help me “if your intention is to portray me as a cold-blooded killer….”

I sent him back a second letter, in which I offered this excerpt:

I never heard back from this man. He stopped communicating with me after I sent my response, which is not at all surprising. You see, I have yet to meet a convicted murderer who admits he or she is guilty. I guess it’s part of having to do so much time behind bars: telling yourself—even convincing yourself—that you had nothing to do with the crime in which you are being punished is maybe the only way to deal with your surroundings.

This mentality makes me that much more empathetic to those innocent men and women serving time. Can you imagine, for a moment, what it must be like to be behind bars knowing that you have been wrongly convicted? Some religions teach us to accept heaven and hell. Living your life in prison as an innocent person must be part of that hell, or at least a purgatory that keeps your spirit restrained. Your life, in a sense, has been stolen.

Was my new pen pal one of these men? Had he been wrongly convicted, serving the sentence of another man? I had to take him seriously.

As I headed into the first months of the writing and researching process, learning all I could about the case, I received an anonymous e-mail from a woman who claimed to have information that this convicted murderer was, in fact, innocent. She said he had been set up by powerful people in powerful positions. Akron was full of people like this, she claimed. It is a town, she insinuated, under a cloud of corruption and payoffs at the highest level.

We went back and forth a few times. I figured out she was a relative. And then, when I asked her to come forward and explain, providing me with evidence and proof of her allegations, I never heard from her again.

I have never worked on a book with better documentation. The hundreds of police reports I had access to were written in a way I had never seen. The detail was exceptional. The reason you will see so much dialogue in this book is because those reports, coupled with the hundreds of hours of interviews I conducted with many of the people involved, along with the hours and hours of recorded conversations members of the Akron Police Department made with some of the major players, offered me such a rich overview of every conversation detectives involved in the case had with witnesses and suspects, that I was able to re-create, almost verbatim, many of the conversations that took place over the course of the investigation. Add to that the hundreds of letters, e-mails, the thousands of pages of testimony from two trials, witness statements and transcripts from witness interviews, and the entire story emerged, right there in black and white.

M. William Phelps
Vernon, CT, July 2007