Barry and Honey Sherman
51:44 Share

Subtle results, still you, but with fewer lines. Botox Cosmetic, adipotulinum toxin A, is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Don't receive Botox cosmetic if you have a skin infection. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow and eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eden syndrome in medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects.

For full safety information, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. See for yourself at BotoxCosmetic.com.

This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Not everyone is careful with your personal information, which might explain why there's a victim of identity theft every five seconds in the U.S. Fortunately, there's LifeLock. LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity. If your identity is stolen, a U.S.-based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year by visiting LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.

In honor of Military Appreciation Month, Verizon thought of a lot of different ways we could show our appreciation, like rolling out the red carpet, giving you your own personal marching band, or throwing a bumping shindig.

At Verizon, we're doing all that in the form of special military offers. That's why this month only, we're giving military and veteran families a $200 Verizon gift card and a phone on us with a select trade-in and a new line on select unlimited plans. Think of it as our way of flying a squadron of jets overhead while launching fireworks. Now that's what we call a celebration because we're proud to serve you. Visit your local Verizon store to learn more.

$200 Verizon gift card requires smartphone purchase $799.99 or more with new line on eligible plan. Gift card sent within eight weeks after receipt of claim. Phone offer requires $799.99 purchase with new smartphone line on unlimited ultimate or postpaid unlimited plus. Minimum plan $80 a month with auto pay plus taxes and fees for 36 months. Less $800 trade-in or promo credit applied over 36 months. 0% APR. Trade-in must be from Apple, Google, or Samsung. Trade-in and additional terms apply.

To enjoy this episode of Forensic Tales ad-free, check us out on Patreon. Patreon.com slash Forensic Tales. Forensic Tales discusses topics that some listeners may find disturbing. The contents of this episode may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. In December 2017, first responders arrived at a sprawling mansion in one of Toronto's wealthiest neighbourhoods.

What they found inside would shock the nation. Barry Sherman, a billionaire pharmaceutical tycoon, and his wife, Honey, were found dead at the edge of their indoor pool. No signs of forced entry, no note, just two lifeless bodies and a scene that felt staged. At first, the authorities suspected a murder-suicide,

But the Shermans' family pushed back on these rumors, claiming the couple had powerful enemies and the truth was far darker than anyone wanted to believe. Who wanted Barry and Honey Sherman dead? Was it a personal vendetta, a bad business deal, or rival, or something else far more sinister?

This is Forensic Tales, episode number 281, The Murders of Barry and Honey Sherman. ♪

In 2017, Barry Sherman was the 12th wealthiest man in all of Canada.

His wife, Honey, was well known for her philanthropic work and presence in the Jewish community. That same year, Barry had an estimated net worth of around $3.2 billion U.S., according to Forbes. But that estimate might have been too low. According to Canadian Business, he was worth around $4.77 billion in Canadian dollars.

Either way, Barry Sherman was a very, very rich man. Most of the Sherman's money came from Barry's company. He was the chairman and CEO of Apotex, one of Canada's largest generic drug companies. And like so many others before and after him, no one gets to be that rich without making a few enemies along the way.

Barry and Honey got married inside a York County courthouse on July 2, 1971, and both had a lot in common. They were both Jewish, although later on Barry would identify as an atheist. He had been born into a Jewish family from Toronto, and Honey was the daughter of Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors. They also both had similar educational backgrounds at the University of Toronto.

Barry had enrolled in the engineering science program when he was just 16 and graduated in 1964 with the highest honors in his class. He would then go on to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1967. Honey also went to college at the University of Toronto.

Together, the couple had four children, Lauren, Jonathan, Alexandra, and Kaylin. So how did Barry and Honey become so rich? How does one become the 12th wealthiest man in all of Canada? Although Barry would eventually graduate at the top of his class, as well as earn a PhD, he never described himself as smart.

He would later write in his unpublished autobiography, A Legacy of Thoughts, that he never performed well in school, and it wasn't until he discovered that he was good at math that his grades started to improve. Between earning advanced degrees, Barry spent a summer working at NASA and eventually worked for his uncle Lou, someone that he deeply admired.

His uncle Lou, Lou Winter, owned Empire Labs, a Toronto-based generic drug company. But this wasn't any drug company. Empire Labs is said to be one of the first of its kind in all of Canada. So when Barry wasn't working toward his degrees, he worked for his uncle's generic drug company. His job was to pick up and deliver urine samples.

so you can probably see where he got his business aspirations from. In November 1965, Barry's uncle Lou suddenly passed away from a brain aneurysm. He was only 41 years old, as well as being at the top of his game in the pharmaceutical world. He also left behind four young boys, Barry's cousins. More on them later on.

Two years later, in 1967, Barry and an old high school friend named Joel Ulster decided to buy his uncle's business.

They ran it together for about five years before selling it in 1973 for around $2 million. Then, once they had that money in the bank, Barry launched Apotex, the company that would eventually become one of the largest generic drug manufacturers in the world, the same company that brought his family all that money.

And they weren't just big in Canada. They were a big-time drug company for the entire world. Without turning this episode into one about creating and growing a generic drug company, let's just say it's not easy. And for Barry to grow his company in the way that he did, he had to fight for it. He had to litigate. He had to fight the big brand-name companies.

He possibly made some enemies on his way to the top, something that a lot of company CEOs have to do in order to make it in the business world. Most of us know that generic drugs usually cost a lot less than their brand name counterpart.

For a generic drug to be sold, it has to produce the same results in the body that the name brand drug would, but it doesn't have to be identical. Generics are just close copies. A pill has to be a pill, an injection has to be an injection, but there's something that makes the generic drug a little different.

Maybe it's an extra molecule of something. Maybe it's an extra ingredient or the lack of a particular ingredient. Something about the generic is different while still producing the same results in the body. And as long as they do that, they're usually okay to be sold to consumers.

And for many of us here in the United States, we rely on these generic drugs because they're a lot cheaper and they make vital medication more affordable for the vast majority of us. But most people will tell you the generic drug business is

isn't an easy business to be in. These companies constantly fight with the big brand name companies over copyright infringements. There is illegal drug trafficking that goes on with some of these companies. It's what some experts say is a world of quote, fraud and threats. Barry's company was no different. Sure, the company made a lot of money, but at what cost?

By 2017, Barry's company had filed an estimated 1,200 cases against the government and federal court. Most of them were in response to adverse regulatory decisions imposed by the government. They also sued competitors, other regulators. Anyone who was a threat to Barry's company was sued. Some of his legal issues even involved the U.S.,

In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, after inspecting one of its plants in India, found evidence that Barry's company might have been using fraudulent data in the manufacturing of one of its drugs.

Let's not forget, this was one of the world's largest generic drug makers. Today, the company has more than 300 generic drugs that are sold all across Canada, as well as in more than 100 countries all across the world. But in 2017, the U.S. FDA put out an import alert against the company limiting its drugs from entering the U.S.,

Later that same year, Barry was dead. Honey was also a prominent figure in the Toronto community, but not for being this powerful pharmaceutical tycoon. She was primarily known for her work in the Jewish community. It's been reported that throughout her life, she had donated a record $50 million to the United Jewish Appeal, as well as several other Jewish-centered charities.

She's been described as a fundraising powerhouse who sat on the boards of more than a dozen Canadian charities. So now the real question at the heart of this story, how does a Canadian billionaire and his charity-driven wife turn up dead?

Barry was this insanely successful businessman who provided cheap generic drugs to literally millions of people every single day. And his wife spent nearly every waking day giving back to the Jewish community. Who would want these kinds of people dead?

Only those who knew the Shermans personally can speak to the kind of people that they were. But I can't get to the events of December 2017 without at least mentioning what's been said about them, their reputation, their personalities. From what I researched, Barry and Honey had a somewhat mixed reputation. The National Post even said they had two legacies—

Toronto's Mayor John Tory described Barry and Honey as kind, good people, while others said, and here's a direct quote, Barry is the only person I have ever met with no redeeming features whatsoever, end quote. Another quote from a University of Ottawa law professor, Barry is a deplorable human being, specifically referring to his business practices.

What about Honey? Well, she also might have a mixed legacy. On one hand, she was seen as this generous and prominent figure throughout the Jewish community. She was a highly regarded person for her charity work. But on the other hand, others said that she could be loud and obnoxious. She might have even had a reputation for being difficult.

Of course, I didn't know Barry and Honey Sherman personally, so I can only speak to what's been reported about them. Only those closest to them know the truth about their personalities and whether or not that could have played a role into what eventually happened to them. That now brings us to late 2017. December 2017, the Shermans were expecting some change.

The first change was to slow down a little bit. It's been reported that Honey was hoping that she and her husband could start slowing down and start to enjoy their wealth together. She wanted both of them to spend more time together as well as spend more time with their four children and grandchildren. By all accounts, Barry Sherman was a workaholic.

While the family was on vacation in the mountains, Honey and the kids would take to the trails and go hiking, while Barry, on the other hand, would stay back, poring over work documents.

But by 2017, they were looking forward to some changes. They wanted to spend more time with their family. Change number two, sell their house. By December 2017, they had put up their longtime home on Old Colony Road in North York for sale. They planned to move into a new house in Forest Hill, which was much closer to downtown Toronto and was where most of their close friends lived.

This was supposed to be a big move for the couple, a move that they never made. Are you feeling overwhelmed by hormonal changes? If you're a woman, you are definitely not alone. There are more than 1,000 hormone disruptors living rent-free in our environment right now, in our food, our water, and they all mess with our hormones.

The good news is that we don't have to suffer through any of it anymore because now we have Hormone Harmony, a formula made only with herbal ingredients that are shown to reduce hormonal symptoms in women of all ages. Hormone Harmony is not just a hormone-supporting supplement. It's become a phenomenon.

Women cannot stop talking about it on social media. A bottle of Hormone Harmony is sold every 24 seconds. And the biggest benefit? Feeling like myself again. That's what women mention over and over in their reviews. And there are over 30,000 reviews for Hormone Harmony. For a limited time, you can get 15% off your entire first order at happymammoth.com.

In honor of Military Appreciation Month, Verizon thought of a lot of different ways we could show our appreciation, like rolling out the red carpet, giving you your own personal marching band, or throwing a bumping shindig.

At Verizon, we're doing all that in the form of special military offers. That's why this month only, we're giving military and veteran families a $200 Verizon gift card and a phone on us with a select trade-in and a new line on select unlimited plans. Think of it as our way of flying a squadron of jets overhead while launching fireworks. Now that's what we call a celebration because we're proud to serve you. Visit your local Verizon store to learn more.

December 12, 2017. Honey failed to show up to a charity board meeting.

One of those board meeting members sent her an email asking where she was and asking her if she was planning to come to the meeting. Honey replied to the email saying that she was, quote, dealing with some stuff. December 13th, 2017. Honey and Barry met at Barry's office to go over some design changes for their new house.

Honey had plans to leave for a trip to Miami just a few days later. Then Barry was set to join her in Miami about a week later. This was the last time that anyone saw them alive. The first signs that something might be wrong came later that night. Phone records showed that Barry didn't make any phone calls that night, which for him was extremely out of character.

He suffered from a pretty bad case of insomnia and would always make several phone calls every single night. But on this particular night, there were no phone calls. The next day, December 14th, Barry is a no-show at the office and no one hears from Honey, another sign that something's wrong. One day later, December 15th,

The couple's real estate agent, who was in charge of selling their home on Old Colony Road, arrived at their house with potential buyers. She wasn't expecting the Shermans to be home, so she used a key from the lockbox to let herself and the potential buyers inside. This was a $6.9 million mansion in a very affluent Canadian neighborhood.

While providing a tour of the 12,000-square-foot home, she made her way to the downstairs indoor pool and hot tub. Even though the room was dark, the real estate agent almost instantly noticed something across the basement, something that looked like two mannequins.

What she saw turned out to be the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman. They were semi-seated side by side, with belts tied around their necks and attached to the railing of the indoor pool. Barry and Honey were both dead. 75-year-old Barry was in a seated position with his legs crossed on the pool deck. 70-year-old Honey was on her side.

Some reports would say that they were posed, posed in strange yoga-like positions like someone wanted to send a message. Both were fully dressed, bruises covered their wrists, they were both facing away from the pool, and were very clearly dead.

When news about the Sherman's strange death hit the news, people were shocked. The story became something that Canadian mainstream media hadn't seen before. From the moment the news broke, this became a story that almost everyone followed. I mean, how could you not?

Here is one of Canada's richest couples now found mysteriously dead inside of their own mansion. Belts around their necks, sitting by their indoor pool in what's been described as yoga-like poses, this happened in a very affluent Toronto neighbourhood.

Within minutes of the real estate agent's discovery, the police arrived at 50 Old Colony Road and their deaths were treated as suspicious, with the Toronto Police Service Homicide Squad taking the lead. And as they stood outside of the couple's mansion, one term being thrown around pretty early on was a murder-suicide.

Although none of the investigators actually said those words outright, they were implied. There were no signs of forced entry at the house, no unidentified footprints outside in the snow, no knives or weapons were found near the bodies, no immediate suspects, nothing at the scene pointed toward this being a double homicide.

So, the initial rumors became, Barry killed his wife, Honey, and then killed himself in a murder-suicide plot. Honey had suffered face injuries, while Barry hadn't, fueling the initial police suspicion that she was the victim and Barry wasn't. But from the get-go, that theory didn't sit right with the Shermans' four children. They clapped back at these rumors, and they clapped back hard. More on them in just a moment.

Days later came the first autopsy. This autopsy determined the cause of death to be ligature neck compression or strangulation. But what wasn't clear was the manner of death. The first autopsy didn't definitively say what the manner of death was, leaving three possibilities on the table—murder-suicide, double-suicide, or double-homicide—

Now, although the initial autopsy was performed within a day or two of the discovery of the bodies, the official autopsy report wasn't made public until over a month later. But again, no definitive manner of death was determined. Barry and Honey's memorial service was held just a few days later on December 21st.

Thousands of people attended the service, including all four children, close friends, even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in attendance. For someone like Barry and Honey to die in such a strange way, it was all so unexpected. Our parents never left anyone behind. They were taken from us, Jonathan Sherman said through tears at his parents' memorial.

He added that the family took comfort in knowing that they were together in the afterlife. Quote, you were like lock and key, each pretty useless on their own, but together you unlocked the world for yourselves and for us and for so many others. End quote.

Not long after rumors began spreading that this could be some type of murder-suicide, the four Sherman children hired their own team of forensic pathologists and a team of private investigators. Not surprisingly, this decision just led to more rumors and more speculation. People began speculating that the Sherman family was now sparring with law enforcement.

The team the family hired was led by one of Canada's leading attorneys, Brian Greenspan. They also hired Tom Klett, a retired Toronto police detective, and Dr. David Chason, the retired chief forensic pathologist from Ontario. Together, their first priority became conduct a second private autopsy.

They already knew the cause of death was strangulation, but the initial autopsy failed to report on that manner of death. So Brian Greenspan and his team became determined to change that. They wanted to squash the rumors that this could have been any type of murder-suicide. They wanted to kill all the rumors so that law enforcement could get back to work.

back to trying to figure out who was responsible for this double homicide. Like I just mentioned, the official cause of the Sherman's death was determined to be ligature neck compression, but it was also revealed that they had been dead for about 36 hours before they were discovered. That explains why Barry was a no-show at the office and why no one had heard from them in almost two full days.

They were likely killed sometime during the late hours of December 13th or the early hours of December 14th. Also determined at the second and private autopsy, the manner of death.

According to the forensic pathologist, Dr. David Chasem, the former chief forensic pathologist from Ontario, they were definitely killed. This was definitely a homicide, a double homicide. This was absolutely no murder-suicide. The forensic evidence suggests that we're looking for someone responsible for murdering this couple.

Not long after the results of the second autopsy were made public, the police announced they had a new theory. Here's a direct quote about that from the police. Quote, End quote.

When questioned about whether or not the police ever considered this a murder-suicide, the department claimed that they never prematurely indicated that, saying it was a complete misunderstanding. The Shermans had been married for 40 years, they had no history of abuse or violence, and

Not only were they planning to build a new home together, but they also had plans. They had plans to travel to Japan and Israel. But either way, whether the police ever consider this foul play or not, this was now six weeks later.

Barry and Honey were killed over a month and a half earlier, but the police didn't come out and say that, that this was a targeted attack, and that yes, this was a double homicide until January 26th. So what evidence was lost at this point? What was left? Or was everything overlooked because the police didn't act right like this was a normal double homicide?

According to Brian Greenspan, the head attorney representing the Sherman children, the Toronto police likely missed a lot of valuable forensic evidence back at the scene. They never vacuumed the scene, so what physical evidence could have been left behind where the bodies were discovered? They never conducted a full examination of all the mansion's entry points, or

So we don't know if there were any fingerprints or DNA on either the windows or the doorknobs. No blood was collected from the scene. Nothing. According to Brian Greenspan, the police failed to find any forensic evidence inside of the house altogether. But when his team went out there to take a look days and weeks later, this is what they found. According to him, quote,

Aside from failing to complete the standard protocol of fingerprint elimination, the police also missed at least 25 palm and fingerprint impressions that were discovered by our private team at the scene. That's a direct quote from Brian Greenspan.

Also, the police reported early on that no signs of forced entry were discovered. Well, according to the family, there was at least one window and a door that were open and unlocked on the same day that the real estate agent found the bodies. Then there's this.

Anonymous sources early on reported that the house had several entrances. This is a multi-million dollar mansion with an indoor basement pool. So the anonymous sources said that both Barry and Honey would have been likely to let someone in if they asked for help. They were the kind of people to answer the door even for complete strangers.

So just because the police didn't find any signs of forced entry, that doesn't mean this couple didn't let their killer inside. In honor of Military Appreciation Month, Verizon thought of a lot of different ways we could show our appreciation. Like rolling out the red carpet, giving you your own personal marching band, or throwing a bumping shindig.

At Verizon, we're doing all that in the form of special military offers. That's why this month only, we're giving military and veteran families a $200 Verizon gift card and a phone on us with a select trade-in and a new line on select unlimited plans. Think of it as our way of flying a squadron of jets overhead while launching fireworks. Now that's what we call a celebration because we're proud to serve you. Visit your local Verizon store to learn more.

According to the second autopsy, the Shermans were killed around 36 hours before being discovered.

We know the last time they were seen was at Barry's office on Wednesday, December 13th at around 5 o'clock p.m. Honey left the meeting at around 5.30 to head home. Barry stayed at the office for a few more hours to finish some work. At 6.21 p.m., Honey used her cell phone to make a five-minute phone call to a friend. This seems to be the last time that any friend or any family member had heard from her.

According to court documents, Honey didn't answer at least 10 phone calls to her cell phone starting on the morning of December 14th and continued through the 15th when they were found. Now, before the real estate agent arrived at the property that morning, the house had been visited by the couple's cleaners. But according to the housekeepers, they never went down into the couple's basement where the swimming pool was.

Although we're talking about a multi-million dollar mansion in a very rich neighborhood, the Sherman residence wasn't equipped with any type of surveillance cameras. They did, however, have an alarm system, which unfortunately was turned off at the time.

But in December 2021, the police released a video from a neighbor's home security system showing a man walking near the Sherman's house on the night of the murders. He's wearing what appears to be all black and he's seen walking toward the Sherman property, but he's not captured on video coming back.

Nothing about this video says much. He's not running. He's not doing anything suspicious. He's just a man walking toward the Sherman house, but you never see him leave. But as of today, the man in the video has yet to be identified.

so his role in the murders, if any, isn't known. All we know is that in December 2021, the Toronto police asked for the public's help in trying to identify this person, and until they can find him, they consider him a possible person of interest. He could just be an innocent person out for a walk in the snow late at night right near the Sherman's house, or he could know something.

According to the family's private attorney and investigator, the Toronto police likely missed a lot of key forensic evidence. Fingerprints, DNA, blood, anything that might belong to the killer or killers. The reason it was allegedly missed was because, well, the police didn't look for them until it was pretty much too late.

Had the police done a good enough search through the house looking for DNA, fingerprints, shoe prints, hairs, fibers, anything not belonging to the Shermans, maybe we wouldn't be talking about this case in terms of being unsolved.

However, according to the family's private team, when they conducted their own search of the property, they found at least 25 palm and fingerprint impressions that didn't belong to Barry and didn't belong to Honey that supposedly the police missed. Now, to be clear, these 25 fingerprints haven't been identified, or at least that information hasn't been made public.

So we have no idea whether they have anything to do with the murders or not. But this information has to make you wonder, had the police done a better job looking for forensic evidence in the beginning, would we be sitting here today with so many unanswered questions? Could they have found a fingerprint and been able to identify a suspect? Could they have found a shoe print that may be led somewhere?

Did the killer leave anything behind at the scene that was potentially missed? In defense of the police, they said they did search the property for forensic evidence. Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders has denied all of the family's allegations, saying that Brian Greenspan, the family's attorney, weren't necessarily privy to all of the information gathered during the course of the initial police investigation.

So in other words, just because the police haven't released any details about what forensic evidence might have been found inside of the house, DNA fingerprints or anything else, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

From my research for this episode, it's entirely possible that the police do have DNA or they do have fingerprints that they believe are important, but they've just chosen to remain silent about it.

In fact, a few sources I found say the police do have foreign DNA that was collected from the crime scene. They've been unsuccessful at finding a match, but there are claims they do have DNA. So whether you believe the police or you believe the private team of attorneys and investigators, I'll leave that up to you.

In my opinion, the most likely source for DNA or fingerprints would come from the victims themselves or the belts that were tied around their necks.

If you've read anything about this case before, you've read that the bodies appeared to have been staged. And if that's the case, the killer likely left behind either DNA and or fingerprints either on the victim's bodies themselves, their clothing, or even the belts.

There's also a possibility there's evidence on the pool's railing, the door leading to the basement. There's a lot of potential places where the killer or killers, if we're talking about more than one person, might have left something behind.

A theme throughout this entire episode has been, there were no signs of forced entry, leading to two primary explanations. One, the Shermans knew their killer, or number two, this person had access. I think that's a good segue to the theories and suspects that have developed in the case since 2017.

Based on my research, the most widely accepted theory by both law enforcement and the Sherman's private investigators, this was a professional hit or some type of contract killing. Why this theory? Again, going back to the evidence, the bodies were posed in a deliberate way. No signs of forced entry or ransacking. Nothing appeared to be stolen.

The way they were killed, ligature strangulation, is both unusual and intimate. This usually points to something personal or someone sending a message. Also, the lack of forensic evidence. Someone with training or experience, possibly hired, could carry out a murder like this with such planning and such precision.

Popular theory number two, a business dispute or enemies. We know Barry Sherman had many high-stake legal battles over the years. Legal disputes involving patents, generics, business practices. He didn't become a billionaire without making any enemies over the years. So here's how that theory goes. Disputes.

Barry was known as a ruthless businessman, with dozens of competitors and legal adversaries. Some of these disputes even involved family members. In 2011, he was being sued by his cousins. These were his uncle's four children. Remember, Barry worked and eventually took over his uncle's generic drug company.

The Cousins accused him of not paying them royalties or giving them any equity in Apotex, contending that he had used the money from the 1972 sale of Empire Labs to purchase Apotex in 1973. In the lawsuit, the Cousins sought a 20% interest in Apotex or damages equal to $1 billion.

Well, in response to the lawsuit, Barry allegedly withdrew millions of dollars in financial assistance to his cousins. Now fast forward to September 2017, three months before the murders, an Ontario Superior Court justice ruled against the cousins, saying the case was, quote, wishful thinking and beyond fanciful, end quote.

So the Cousins lost this lawsuit only about three months before the murders. Barry and Honey Sherman died before they could even file the appeal, but that wasn't the only dispute that was going on. According to documents released in January of 2020, Barry owed around $1 billion to other companies leading up to his death, which he said he apparently wasn't going to pay.

Now, what do any of these disputes involving family members or non-family members mean for the investigation? Well, some believe this could have been done by a former associate, a competitor, or an investor seeking revenge or retribution. I think it's fair to say at this point, Barry Sherman may have had a few enemies. Next theory, family conflict.

We already talked about Barry's cousins, but there's been talk about other family issues. Now, I want to be clear with you. There's no evidence pointing toward any family involvement, so I'm not accusing anyone directly.

I only mention it here because 1. we're discussing theories and 2. this theory gets floated around simply because of how rich the Shermans were and the complex family dynamics at play. So the first theory thrown around involves inheritance. We know the Sherman's net worth was around $4.7 billion dollars.

We also know the couple had four children, and Barry was known to control all of their finances. Now, some reports, specifically the Toronto Star, reported that Barry and Honey had some strange relationships with one or more of their children at the time of their death.

In fact, two weeks before the murders, Barry supposedly asked his son Jonathan to repay him tens of millions of dollars that he had borrowed for his storage business. According to Jonathan, this was to get his father out of what he described as a difficult financial situation, and that his father committed to future funding when his finances improved.

By all accounts, the two of them had a very close relationship, both professionally and personally. So that leads to the question, were they killed over their inheritance? Well, again, there's no direct evidence pointing to family involvement. So I don't want to spend too much time speculating about something that simply has no proof. Next theory, inside job or known visitor.

This was someone they trusted. House staff, a business associate, a friend. Someone the couple would have let inside of their house, explaining why there were no signs of forced entry. Next theory. Honey's involvement in the Jewish community.

Court documents released in January 2022, including some statements from Honey's sister Mary, who thought the killer was, quote, making a statement and that she believed the motive may have been religion. This is part of what her sister had to say about that. Quote, the Shermans were strong supporters of Israel and Honey was very vocal about being Jewish.

There were a lot of people of a certain ethnicity going through the house at a certain time, and Honey would use phrases that were not politically correct, end quote. According to Honey's sister, about six months before the murders, Honey had gone to a lecture about, quote, "...stopping money from getting into Muslim fundamentalist hands."

In her statement to police, she said Honey's belief was that, quote, if the money were to be cut off from Muslim fundamentalists, they could bankrupt them and therefore the money couldn't be used for terror. So the theory is the target might not have been Barry, but possibly his wife Honey.

Final theory, murder-suicide. The theory that is now largely discredited. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm

I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. At Capella University, you can learn at your own pace with our FlexPath learning format.

Take one or two courses at a time and complete as many as you can in a 12-week billing session. With FlexPath, you can even finish the bachelor's degree you started in 22 months for $20,000. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu. Fastest 25% of students. Cost varies by pace, transfer credits, and other factors. Fees apply.

As of May 2025, today, no one has ever been officially named as a suspect, but that doesn't mean some people haven't drawn media attention. That unnamed person in the surveillance footage released by the police in 2021, former business associates of Barry Sherman due to various legal disputes, and lastly, family members.

Although the police have neither confirmed nor ruled anyone out there either. According to the Toronto police, they consider the case still active with a dedicated team still working on it.

As it relates to reward money, right now there is a $35 million reward being offered by the Sherman's children for any information leading to an arrest. Yes, a $35 million reward. In a quiet Toronto neighborhood, two lives ended in silence, but their deaths shouted questions that still echo to this day.

Barry and Honey Sherman weren't just billionaires. They were people who gave back, business moguls in the center of a mystery that continues to baffle investigators.

Forensic evidence revealed the couple was strangled with ligatures, their bodies eerily posed beside the basement pool in what experts call a staged scene. No forced entry, no signs of a struggle, and no clear escape route. Whoever did this knew what they were doing, and they likely knew the Shermans.

Security footage captured a shadowy figure approaching the home, but not leaving. DNA was recovered, but no matches. The scene was clean, deliberate, almost surgical in its message. And through it all, questions linger. Was it a calculated hit? A betrayal from within? Or the final chapter of a high-stakes vendetta?

Years later, we have forensics, we have theories, but we still don't have justice. Until then, the mystery of Barry and Honey Sherman remains one of Canada's most chilling unsolved crimes. To share your thoughts on this week's episode, follow the show on Instagram and Facebook. To find out what I think about the case, sign up to become a patron at patreon.com slash forensic tales.

After each episode, I release a bonus episode sharing my personal thoughts. Don't forget to subscribe to Forensic Tales so you don't miss an episode. We release a new episode every Monday. If you love the show, consider leaving us a positive review. You can also help support the show through Patreon.

Thank you so much for joining me this week. Please join me next week. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings. Forensic Tales is a Rockefeller Audio production. The show is written and produced by me, Courtney Fretwell. For a small monthly contribution, you can help create new compelling cases for the show, help fund research, and assist with production and editing costs.

For supporting the show, you'll become one of the first to listen to new ad-free episodes and gain access to exclusive content. To learn more, please visit patreon.com slash forensic tales. Forensic Tales is a podcast made possible by our Patreon producers. To learn more, please visit patreon.com slash forensic tales.

Thank you.

If you'd like to become a producer of this show, head over to our Patreon page or send me an email at Courtney at ForensicTales.com. For a complete list of sources used in this episode, please visit ForensicTales.com. Thank you for listening. I'll see you next week. Until then, remember, not all stories have happy endings.

In honor of Military Appreciation Month, Verizon thought of a lot of different ways we could show our appreciation, like rolling out the red carpet, giving you your own personal marching band, or throwing a bumping shindig.

At Verizon, we're doing all that in the form of special military offers. That's why this month only, we're giving military and veteran families a $200 Verizon gift card and a phone on us with a select trade-in and a new line on select unlimited plans. Think of it as our way of flying a squadron of jets overhead while launching fireworks. Now that's what we call a celebration because we're proud to serve you. Visit your local Verizon store to learn more.

$200 Verizon gift card requires smartphone purchase $799.99 or more with new line on eligible plan. Gift card sent within eight weeks after receipt of claim. Phone offer requires $799.99 purchase with new smartphone line on unlimited ultimate or postpaid unlimited plus. Minimum plan $80 a month with auto pay plus taxes and fees for 36 months. Less $800 trade-in or promo credit applied over 36 months. 0% APR. Trade-in must be from Apple, Google, or Samsung. Trade-in and additional terms apply.