Mystery of the Honey and Barry Sherman billionaire murders lingers

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Eight years ago.

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At about 3 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2017, a real estate agent — showing some potential buyers through the on-the-market home of Honey and Barry Sherman — made a grisly discovery.

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It was a snowy, eerie and surreal crime scene.

There was a 12,000-square-foot, $6.9-million mansion with a “For Sale” sign out front surrounded by yellow police tape. It was a shock to the neighbourhood because everybody on the street knew the Shermans. With the successful family business, Apotex Pharmaceuticals, they were worth a reported $4.7 billion.

Neighbours had seen the stories of their philanthropic generosity and of Barry Sherman’s lawsuits, and even a later-dropped federal probe into his lobbying of the federal government. They even knew of his affiliation with movies and beverages made by his close friend Frank D’Angelo.

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However, they also knew the Shermans as people with means who did not put on airs or drive fancy cars or act conceded or elitist. One neighbour described the unassuming couple as “warm, kind and generous.”

This was going to be a big story. Many reporters were there looking in on what would soon become one of Canada’s strangest-ever murder mysteries.

What was found in the Sherman home

When the real estate tour got down to the swimming pool area, they saw the couple with their backs facing away from their indoor pool and hanging by their necks from belts that were attached to the metal railing. Honey appeared slumped over while Barry was more upright.

It was a horrifying, haunting scene. First responders were called immediately to 50 Old Colony Rd., a posh street just off York Mills Blvd. in north Toronto, and declared them dead at the scene. Cause of death was written down as “ligature neck compression” — a forensic way of saying strangulation.

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Once word got out about the deaths of two of Canada’s most wealthy people, media descended with many questions. But Toronto Police said that while these were considered “suspicious” deaths, investigators were not looking for any outstanding suspects.

Originally thought of as a murder-suicide

This was code for suicide or a domestic murder-suicide.

People were skeptical of that possibility right away. The Toronto Sun was told from sources close to the investigation that this was a homicide scene and that the Shermans had been murdered. Police iced that theory in its tracks – saying they were working it as a murder-suicide, with Barry killing his wife, moving her to the pool area and ending his own life beside her.

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But they always left the door open for it to be something else.

“Forensics need to be done and post-mortems on the bodies, but at this stage it appears there was no forced entry and no evidence of anybody else in the house,” a police source said.

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Police also said “at this time we are not searching for any suspects.”

It was a shocking narrative. And police did say, if that were to change, they would go before the cameras and explain it. This is something they eventually did. But not for six weeks.

In fact, every other news outlet was getting the same information and the public word was this was a murder-suicide.

This made for a very uncomfortable funeral that had Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mayor John Tory all in attendance among a crowd of 6,000 people. The first person to question the murder-suicide theory was Paul Godfrey, a close friend of the Shermans, who was then executive chairman and chief executive officer of Postmedia Network Inc., which publishes the Toronto Sun.

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“There is no way it was a murder-suicide or double suicide,” Paul told me minutes after the police indicated their thoughts.

‘It doesn’t make any sense’

He and his wife Gina were scheduled to meet them for lunch in Florida the following week.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Paul told me then and still believes to this day. “They had everything to live for.”

Four kids, grandkids, a new home in the planning stages, many charitable projects on the go and a thriving business.

At the funeral, son Jonathon Sherman challenged the police’s belief as well by saying “our parents never left anyone behind, they were taken from us.” From there the family commissioned their own investigation led by former Toronto Police homicide detective Tom Klatt and with the help of legendary lawyer Brian Greenspan. The family paid for a second autopsy to be conducted.

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Police, on Jan. 26, 2018, some 42 days after the horrible discovery, agreed with those who said there is no way Barry Sherman killed himself and his wife.

“We believe now, through the six weeks of work and review, that we have sufficient evidence to describe this as a double homicide,” said Det.-Sgt. Sue Gomes, who added police now alleged the Shermans were “targeted.”

And that’s pretty well where it has been for eight years. Other than a video of what police call the “walking man” caught from a security camera on Dec. 13, there has been very little made public about this case. But, partially thanks to a $35-million reward offered up by the family, there have been a lot of tips coming into police who interviewed more than 250 people.

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So many theories and a $35-million reward for the right one

One tipster contacted them three years later, indicating they knew the identity of the “walking man” with an unusual gait. The claim was this person was known to steal cars and break into houses to feed a drug habit. Perhaps he knew whose house it was as there were suspicions he may have stolen pharmaceuticals from an Apotex warehouse in the past.

Police have not commented on this theory. Detectives also have not indicated it was something they would follow up on.

Police have not named a suspect or a motive. There are so many strange twists, people and suggestions that would make a great Agatha Christie mystery novel. But this is real life.

People wonder if it could have been business related, connected to an international government or the result of all of the litigation Barry was involved in. Were the killer or killers someone they knew, or could it have been a professional hit from an aggrieved person or company — or even someone who felt they were owed money?

Some even question if it could have been a robbery that went wrong?

Eight years later, it’s still a head-scratcher.

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