April 22, 2025 • 19 mins
Barry and Honey Sherman seemingly had it all, and weren't afraid to share. But did their lifestyle and riches anger someone close to them so much, that it led to murder?
Do you have any insights, or even a case you’d like to suggest? Feel free to send it to me, you’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Thank you strangeco.blogspot.com, grunge.com, eadt.co.uk, everything2.com, suffolkchurches.co.uk, biblegateway.com and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhart, edited by John Lordan and is produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Do you have any insights, or even a case you’d like to suggest? Feel free to send it to me, you’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Thank you strangeco.blogspot.com, grunge.com, eadt.co.uk, everything2.com, suffolkchurches.co.uk, biblegateway.com and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode was written by Christy Arnhart, edited by John Lordan and is produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
From aspirin to drugs that combat life threatening diseases. Pharmaceuticals
are a part of daily life for most of US.
In twenty twenty three, pharmaceutical companies made one point six
trillion dollars here in the US, according to STATISTICA, and
Canadian pharmaceutical companies made forty one billion dollars. While Canada
(00:42):
does have far less citizens. There are also other reasons
for that large price difference. Canada has systems for controlling prices,
like the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, and even though
they do recognize patents, there are conditions where they will
allow generics to be created before these patents have expired.
(01:02):
Of course, this isn't something that big pharma really likes.
A wopping three fourths of all drugs dispensed in Canada
are generics, and sometimes you have US citizens traveling there
to buy those drugs and bring them home. Toronto is
a big hub of the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, from research
(01:22):
and development to investing and manufacturing. This industry attracts a
strong pull of talent to this highly competitive field, and
everyone in it takes their job very seriously. But would
an industry so focused on health also have a dark underbelly,
one that could even lead to murder. That's something that
(01:42):
one has to wonder when you learn about the seriously
mysterious case of Barry and Honey Sherman. Bernard Charles Sherman
didn't seem to start as a man destined for greatness.
As an adolescent, the young Canadian described himself as lethargic,
physically awkward, and introverted. He had few friends and just
(02:03):
kept to himself. He also suffered a devastating loss when
his father would die of a heart attack when Barry
was only ten years old. He didn't do very well
in school either, that is until he realized just how
much he loved math and science, and he found that
he was extremely talented at physics. This was the catalyst
that would turn his life around. Once he graduated from
(02:25):
high school, he went on to attend the University of
Toronto and graduated in nineteen sixty four with the highest
honors in his class. His thesis also won him the
University's Governor General's Award. Good grades and a keen mind
led him to a summer's work at NASA, which was
soon followed by a move to Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States. There he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
(02:49):
or MIT. He graduated in nineteen sixty seven with a
perfect five point zero grade point average and a PhD
in astrophysics. When he wasn't in school, Barry fill this
summer's working for various companies, one of which was his
uncle Lou's pharmaceutical company, Empire Labs. Empire Lab specialized in
making generic drugs. In a memoir that he wrote that
(03:13):
was never officially published, Barry said, although I did not
know it at the time, these summers at Empire Laboratories
would later prove to be of critical importance to my
future career. He knew that he didn't want to simply
work as an engineer. He had much larger aspirations. When
his uncle Lou died in nineteen sixty five, with his
wife following. Just a few weeks later, Barry and a
(03:35):
high school friend named Joel Ulster bought Empire Labs. However,
uncle Lou also had four young children, and there was
one condition that Barry was to abide by. When Uncle
Lou's sons reached twenty one years of age, they would
be given the opportunity to work for the company, and
after two years they could buy five percent stakes in Empire.
(03:56):
There were also some royalties from four of their products
that the boys were to receive. It seems that Barry's
life was on a path and one that could be
extremely lucrative. In the early nineteen seventies, he was introduced
to a young candy striper at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Her name was Anna Deborah Reisch, or Honey as she
(04:17):
was known to friends and family. The two married on
July second, nineteen seventy one, at the York County Courthouse
and went on to have four children of their own, Lauren, Jonathan, Alexandra,
and Caylin. Honey's parents were both Holocaust survivors, with Honey
herself being born in a displaced persons camp in Austria
back in nineteen forty seven. This part of Honey's heritage
(04:40):
touched Barry through the years. Barry and Honey Sherman became
donors and supporters of many organizations over the course of
their lives. The Shermans would give tens of millions of
dollars to numerous healthcare organizations, education centers, political figures, and
particularly Holocaust remembrance organanizations. Her work is still known and
(05:02):
appreciated to this very day. She was a go getter
and very headstrong. Some even labeled her as difficult to
deal with. It was Honey's way or no way. At
the end of nineteen seventy two, Empire was bringing in
just under two million dollars a year. The next summer,
Barry and his friend Ulster sold Empire for two million dollars.
(05:24):
Now Barry could realize his next big dream, having his
own pharmaceutical company. He named his new business Appitex and
built it from the ground up. By the time Barry
was done, Appitex was one of Canada's top generic pharmaceutical companies.
In every Canadian home, one out of five prescriptions were
from the apitec's generic drug catalog. Their first big hit
(05:46):
was the generic version of a drug called AZT, one
of the earlier treatments for HIV. They were also one
of the first to develop a generic version of Prozac.
At its height, Appitex had a net worth of three
point six billion dollars by the two thousands. The Shermans
led a life full of charity events and positions in
(06:07):
civic councils. Everyone who was anyone knew Berry and Honey Sherman.
His work was his life, and Barry took it with
him on vacations. He rarely made it to any of
his children's extracurricular activities. Honey would take her sister, Mary Sheckman,
and her sister's family on trips and vacations. One of
their happiest places to go was a condo in Miami,
(06:29):
and of course, trips to Disney World. Barry and Honey
would also give her sister family loans, and because of
those loans, their finances became somewhat entangled. Mary's husband, Alan,
also ran several businesses, some of which were for Barry,
but in the end none of those businesses really worked out.
Allan was left owing thirty two million dollars in loans.
(06:52):
Mary tried to do her part working for the Shermans
as well. She was paid to decorate homes and they
lent her money to buy different properties, both in Canada
and the US. Some of Barry and Honey's children were
in the same boat. Barry loaned his son Jonathan one
hundred and twenty five million dollars to build a self
storage business and a marina. If you were Barry's child
(07:13):
and you asked for something, you generally got it. Honey
wanted the children to be more independent, but Barry still
continued to lend money to the children and the Schmans,
as well as their children. Mary and Honey were afraid
that their children would be totally dependent on Barry. Mary
constantly scolded her children about it, and was especially upset
(07:34):
with her son, Noah. She became enraged and threatened to
remove Noah from a trust that the Shermans had set
up for the family. This infighting eventually ruined Mary's relationship
with Noah, and after removing him as beneficiary from her
real estate portfolio, the two quit talking. Barry did all
of this while showing little of his wealth to the public.
(07:56):
He worked all the time, never missing a day, but
he was still driving his old Ford Mustang, and he
tended to wear tattered, older clothing. For his fiftieth birthday,
Honey bottom of Mercedes. Even though it was used, Barry
became agitated and made Honey return it. He hated to
waste money, and even though he had it in abundance,
(08:17):
he didn't want to see a penny slip through his fingers.
Barry's business also kept him very active in Canadian courts,
creating generics and working against big pharmaceutical companies. Was always
bringing about some kind of lawsuit, and Barry loved to
sue people as well. He had more lawsuits than any
one person could keep up with, and he wasn't afraid
(08:38):
to drag anyone into court. He made many enemies and
even wondered if someone would eventually just prefer to have
him killed over constantly fighting him in court. After Uncle
(09:02):
Leo and his wife died so many years previously, their
four sons were adopted by other people. One of his sons,
Carrie Winter, was adopted by a family whose father was
particularly abusive, and at an early age, Carrie ran away
from home. This led to encounters with the police and
a drug addiction that he would struggle with for decades.
(09:23):
At first, Barry tried to help Carry. When the young
man was in his twenties, Barry paid for rehab and
helped support his renovation business. Sadly, money can turn a
lot of people sideways and create a lot of tension
in families. Carrie and his brothers eventually found what they
considered proof that Barry had cheated them out of a
lot of money and cheated them out of their father's business. Remember,
(09:48):
when Barry bought Empire Labs, there was a clause that
would give the boys an option for five percent of
the drug company when they came of age. Unfortunately, by
the time they came of age, Barry had sold the company.
In two thousand seven, the children sued Barry, seeking twenty
percent of his interest in Appitecs. Barry countered, saying that
(10:08):
he had offered to help the four boys with millions
of dollars. The boys alleged that this was only a
tactic to make them dependent on Barry, and it would
also keep their hands off of the business. After ten
years of litigation, in twenty seventeen, the Ontario Superior Court
ruled against the boys and ordered them to pay three
hundred thousand dollars in legal costs back to Barry. To
(10:31):
say that this left bad blood between the family members
would be a vast understatement. In the winter of twenty seventeen,
Barry and Honey decided to sell the home that they
had lived in for nearly thirty years, The house at
fifty Old Colony Road in Toronto was lovely. Honey listed
it for sale at six point nine million Canadian dollars
(10:52):
about five million US. At this time, the Shermans were
worth somewhere between five and ten billion dollars. While selling
the house, they were also building a twenty five million
dollar mansion in one of Toronto's most exclusive neighborhoods, called
Forest Hill. They also had plans to take a vacation
in Miami. Honey would leave first, and then Barry was
(11:12):
to follow a week later. On the afternoon of December thirteenth,
Barry and Honey met a builder at the Appitec's offices
to discuss designs for the new home. Afterwards, the two
returned to fifty Old Colony Road, where Barry sent his
nightly email to his team at work. At six twenty
one pm, Honey made a phone call, speaking briefly with
a friend. No one heard anything else from Barry or Honey.
(11:36):
The following day, Barry missed work, something that he would
never do. On Friday, December fifteenth, the Sherman's gardener and
housekeeper came to work and noticed that the alarm system
for the house was turned off. They didn't see Barry
or Honey. Shortly after, the real estate agent who was
handling the sale of the Sherman home came by with
a couple who were interested in the property. As the
(11:59):
group entered, the real estate agent found Barry's gloves and
the house inspection paperwork he had brought home with him
near the door between the basement and the garage. Feeling
confident that the couple were at home, the real estate
agent and potential buyers looked at the main level and
then headed downstairs to view the lap pool and hot
tub area. When they walked into the indoor pool area.
(12:21):
From a distance, they could see Honey and Barry Sherman.
The real estate agent initially thought that the two were
doing yoga, but that quickly changed upon closer inspection. She
could see that the seventy five year old Barry Sherman
had been strapped to the railing of the pool with
a men's leather belt, leaving him in a seated position.
Seventy year old Honey was on her side with a
(12:42):
bruise on her face. Their coats had been pulled down
and used to restrain their arms. Neither appeared to be breathing.
When police and paramedics arrived, they found that the Shermans
had indeed passed away, and rigor mortis was already setting.
In Strangely, police would find a sculpture in the basement
area that matched Barry and Honey's positions at death. Barry
(13:04):
even had one leg crossed over the other, just as
one of the statues had. There was no forced entry
into the home discovered, but the Shermans were known for
leaving their windows and doors unlocked. The real estate agent
was able to confirm with police that a window and
door in the basement had been left open as well.
Honey's phone was found in a bathroom that she didn't
(13:24):
use very often, leading police to believe that she may
have hid there while trying to evade her attacker. The
original post mortem examination concluded that both died of licature
net compression, and with Honey being the only one to
have additional injuries to her face. Police initially considered that
Barry had murdered Honey and then taken his own life
(13:44):
in a murder suicide. That assumption was let loose in
the press, and Barry and Honey's families were outraged at
the accusation. Unimpressed with what police had turned up so far.
The Sherman children immediately hired their own investigative team to
find out the truth of their parents deaths. Brian Greenspan,
one of Canada's leading attorneys, was the head of this team.
(14:05):
He stated that the family had been understandably outraged by
the unfounded police statement, which they believed from the outset
had jeopardized and indeed compromised the integrity of the investigation.
This assumption created a situation where the crime scene wasn't
fully processed for a homicide. The private investigators found that
(14:26):
the Toronto police did not complete a standard protocol for
fingerprint elimination, and that they also missed at least twenty
fingerprint or palm impressions that the private team discovered. The
autopsy would confirm the ligature net compression being the cause
of death, but also found that there were marks on
both of their wrists that suggested they had both been
tied up with zip ties prior to their deaths. The
(14:49):
time of death was estimated to be around thirty six
hours before the bodies were found, and with that six
weeks later, police investigators finally determined that the Shermans had
died by homicide. That's six weeks of no potential suspects
being looked into and no leads being tracked down. Many
(15:09):
different companies that Barry was involved in lawsuits with were
looked into, but no solid leads panned out of that.
Before their deaths, a federal lobbying commissioner had started to
investigate Barry over fundraising events that he had held for
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. No connection to the murders was
found there either. When Barry's family was looked into and questioned,
(15:31):
a disturbing report was given to them involving Carrie Winter.
Carrie had reportedly fantasized about killing Barry for years. Quote
I was betrayed, my cousin hurt me, and now I
want to hurt him, win Or told the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation in twenty eighteen. He even went on to explain
exactly how he would do it. The way I was
(15:54):
going to do it wouldn't have been belts. It was
going to be in the Appitec's parking lot. That was
my vision and always that he'd come out of the
building at Apptecs and I'd be hiding behind a car
and I would just decapitate him. I wanted to roll
his head down the parking lot and I'd just sit
there waiting for the police. Despite his murderous fantasies, Carrie
(16:15):
denied having anything to do with the sherman's deaths. He
in turn told police that Barry had once tried to
have a hit taken out on Honey. He claimed that
Barry had actually called him and asked him to set
up the murder. He said that eventually the plan was
called off, but for him, it only gave more credence
to the theory that Barry had killed Honey and then himself,
(16:36):
despite the autopsy's findings. When he was asked to take
a lie detector test to prove the truth of these claims,
he volunteered to take one and then he failed it.
After that, on advice of his attorney, Carrie Winner refused
to take another lie detector test. It was also considered
that Honey's sister and her family could be behind the murders.
(16:56):
At the time of Barry and Honey's deaths, they had
been essentially cut off and were no longer receiving money
from them. Some wondered if this could have angered them
enough that they killed their one time benefactors, but again
no solid connection could be made and no charges would
come of it. The case remained open, and four years
after the initial investigation, police released a video of a
(17:19):
person who could potentially be the Sherman's murderer. A CCTV
camera captured a man on the day of the murders
outside of the home for a lengthy amount of time.
Investigators pointed out that the figure in the video walked
with an unusual gait. The person's face cannot be seen
and they've never been identified. They were described as wearing
(17:39):
a hat, kicking up their right boot with each step,
and appeared to be between five foot six and five
foot nine inches tall. Today, the murder of Berry and
Honey Sherman still remains a mystery. The investigation is still
open and ongoing. If you have any information regarding this case,
please contact Toronto a Police's Homicide Division at four one
(18:01):
six eight zero eight seven four zero zero, or you
can email them at Homicide at Toronto Police dot O,
n dot CA. If you need to remain anonymous for
any reason, you can also call four one six two
two two tips. That's four one six two two two
eight four seven seven. The Sherman Home at fifty Old
(18:22):
Colony Road was demolished in twenty nineteen, the land sold
by the Sherman children the following year. Despite the children's
efforts to honor their parents by continuing to help many
charitable organizations, they are now being sued by two of
Mary's children. As someone once said, greed is not a
financial issue, It's a heart issue. Do you have any
(18:47):
insights or even a case you'd like to suggest, Feel
free to send it to me. You'll find a comment
form and case submission link at Lordnarts dot com, or
you can follow and message me on x at Lorden Arts.
Thank You, Town and Country dot com, Bloomberg dot com,
All Things Interesting, CBC, Cbsnews, Encyclopedia dot US, h m
(19:07):
M dot Org, Statistica dot com, IBISWorld dot com, TPS
dot ca A, The CJN, Financial Postcom, and Wikipedia for
information contributing to today's story. This episode was written by
Christy Arnhardt, edited by John Lordon, and produced by Lordenarts.
Thank you to our audience here for the live recording
session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts Studio two,
(19:30):
and a big thank you to everyone that supports seriously
Mysterious over at lordenarts dot com. I'm John Lorden. Please
join us again next week for another case I know
you'll find seriously mysterious
From aspirin to drugs that combat life threatening diseases. Pharmaceuticals
are a part of daily life for most of US.
In twenty twenty three, pharmaceutical companies made one point six
trillion dollars here in the US, according to STATISTICA, and
Canadian pharmaceutical companies made forty one billion dollars. While Canada
(00:42):
does have far less citizens. There are also other reasons
for that large price difference. Canada has systems for controlling prices,
like the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, and even though
they do recognize patents, there are conditions where they will
allow generics to be created before these patents have expired.
(01:02):
Of course, this isn't something that big pharma really likes.
A wopping three fourths of all drugs dispensed in Canada
are generics, and sometimes you have US citizens traveling there
to buy those drugs and bring them home. Toronto is
a big hub of the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, from research
(01:22):
and development to investing and manufacturing. This industry attracts a
strong pull of talent to this highly competitive field, and
everyone in it takes their job very seriously. But would
an industry so focused on health also have a dark underbelly,
one that could even lead to murder. That's something that
(01:42):
one has to wonder when you learn about the seriously
mysterious case of Barry and Honey Sherman. Bernard Charles Sherman
didn't seem to start as a man destined for greatness.
As an adolescent, the young Canadian described himself as lethargic,
physically awkward, and introverted. He had few friends and just
(02:03):
kept to himself. He also suffered a devastating loss when
his father would die of a heart attack when Barry
was only ten years old. He didn't do very well
in school either, that is until he realized just how
much he loved math and science, and he found that
he was extremely talented at physics. This was the catalyst
that would turn his life around. Once he graduated from
(02:25):
high school, he went on to attend the University of
Toronto and graduated in nineteen sixty four with the highest
honors in his class. His thesis also won him the
University's Governor General's Award. Good grades and a keen mind
led him to a summer's work at NASA, which was
soon followed by a move to Boston, Massachusetts, in the
United States. There he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
(02:49):
or MIT. He graduated in nineteen sixty seven with a
perfect five point zero grade point average and a PhD
in astrophysics. When he wasn't in school, Barry fill this
summer's working for various companies, one of which was his
uncle Lou's pharmaceutical company, Empire Labs. Empire Lab specialized in
making generic drugs. In a memoir that he wrote that
(03:13):
was never officially published, Barry said, although I did not
know it at the time, these summers at Empire Laboratories
would later prove to be of critical importance to my
future career. He knew that he didn't want to simply
work as an engineer. He had much larger aspirations. When
his uncle Lou died in nineteen sixty five, with his
wife following. Just a few weeks later, Barry and a
(03:35):
high school friend named Joel Ulster bought Empire Labs. However,
uncle Lou also had four young children, and there was
one condition that Barry was to abide by. When Uncle
Lou's sons reached twenty one years of age, they would
be given the opportunity to work for the company, and
after two years they could buy five percent stakes in Empire.
(03:56):
There were also some royalties from four of their products
that the boys were to receive. It seems that Barry's
life was on a path and one that could be
extremely lucrative. In the early nineteen seventies, he was introduced
to a young candy striper at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Her name was Anna Deborah Reisch, or Honey as she
(04:17):
was known to friends and family. The two married on
July second, nineteen seventy one, at the York County Courthouse
and went on to have four children of their own, Lauren, Jonathan, Alexandra,
and Caylin. Honey's parents were both Holocaust survivors, with Honey
herself being born in a displaced persons camp in Austria
back in nineteen forty seven. This part of Honey's heritage
(04:40):
touched Barry through the years. Barry and Honey Sherman became
donors and supporters of many organizations over the course of
their lives. The Shermans would give tens of millions of
dollars to numerous healthcare organizations, education centers, political figures, and
particularly Holocaust remembrance organanizations. Her work is still known and
(05:02):
appreciated to this very day. She was a go getter
and very headstrong. Some even labeled her as difficult to
deal with. It was Honey's way or no way. At
the end of nineteen seventy two, Empire was bringing in
just under two million dollars a year. The next summer,
Barry and his friend Ulster sold Empire for two million dollars.
(05:24):
Now Barry could realize his next big dream, having his
own pharmaceutical company. He named his new business Appitex and
built it from the ground up. By the time Barry
was done, Appitex was one of Canada's top generic pharmaceutical companies.
In every Canadian home, one out of five prescriptions were
from the apitec's generic drug catalog. Their first big hit
(05:46):
was the generic version of a drug called AZT, one
of the earlier treatments for HIV. They were also one
of the first to develop a generic version of Prozac.
At its height, Appitex had a net worth of three
point six billion dollars by the two thousands. The Shermans
led a life full of charity events and positions in
(06:07):
civic councils. Everyone who was anyone knew Berry and Honey Sherman.
His work was his life, and Barry took it with
him on vacations. He rarely made it to any of
his children's extracurricular activities. Honey would take her sister, Mary Sheckman,
and her sister's family on trips and vacations. One of
their happiest places to go was a condo in Miami,
(06:29):
and of course, trips to Disney World. Barry and Honey
would also give her sister family loans, and because of
those loans, their finances became somewhat entangled. Mary's husband, Alan,
also ran several businesses, some of which were for Barry,
but in the end none of those businesses really worked out.
Allan was left owing thirty two million dollars in loans.
(06:52):
Mary tried to do her part working for the Shermans
as well. She was paid to decorate homes and they
lent her money to buy different properties, both in Canada
and the US. Some of Barry and Honey's children were
in the same boat. Barry loaned his son Jonathan one
hundred and twenty five million dollars to build a self
storage business and a marina. If you were Barry's child
(07:13):
and you asked for something, you generally got it. Honey
wanted the children to be more independent, but Barry still
continued to lend money to the children and the Schmans,
as well as their children. Mary and Honey were afraid
that their children would be totally dependent on Barry. Mary
constantly scolded her children about it, and was especially upset
(07:34):
with her son, Noah. She became enraged and threatened to
remove Noah from a trust that the Shermans had set
up for the family. This infighting eventually ruined Mary's relationship
with Noah, and after removing him as beneficiary from her
real estate portfolio, the two quit talking. Barry did all
of this while showing little of his wealth to the public.
(07:56):
He worked all the time, never missing a day, but
he was still driving his old Ford Mustang, and he
tended to wear tattered, older clothing. For his fiftieth birthday,
Honey bottom of Mercedes. Even though it was used, Barry
became agitated and made Honey return it. He hated to
waste money, and even though he had it in abundance,
(08:17):
he didn't want to see a penny slip through his fingers.
Barry's business also kept him very active in Canadian courts,
creating generics and working against big pharmaceutical companies. Was always
bringing about some kind of lawsuit, and Barry loved to
sue people as well. He had more lawsuits than any
one person could keep up with, and he wasn't afraid
(08:38):
to drag anyone into court. He made many enemies and
even wondered if someone would eventually just prefer to have
him killed over constantly fighting him in court. After Uncle
(09:02):
Leo and his wife died so many years previously, their
four sons were adopted by other people. One of his sons,
Carrie Winter, was adopted by a family whose father was
particularly abusive, and at an early age, Carrie ran away
from home. This led to encounters with the police and
a drug addiction that he would struggle with for decades.
(09:23):
At first, Barry tried to help Carry. When the young
man was in his twenties, Barry paid for rehab and
helped support his renovation business. Sadly, money can turn a
lot of people sideways and create a lot of tension
in families. Carrie and his brothers eventually found what they
considered proof that Barry had cheated them out of a
lot of money and cheated them out of their father's business. Remember,
(09:48):
when Barry bought Empire Labs, there was a clause that
would give the boys an option for five percent of
the drug company when they came of age. Unfortunately, by
the time they came of age, Barry had sold the company.
In two thousand seven, the children sued Barry, seeking twenty
percent of his interest in Appitecs. Barry countered, saying that
(10:08):
he had offered to help the four boys with millions
of dollars. The boys alleged that this was only a
tactic to make them dependent on Barry, and it would
also keep their hands off of the business. After ten
years of litigation, in twenty seventeen, the Ontario Superior Court
ruled against the boys and ordered them to pay three
hundred thousand dollars in legal costs back to Barry. To
(10:31):
say that this left bad blood between the family members
would be a vast understatement. In the winter of twenty seventeen,
Barry and Honey decided to sell the home that they
had lived in for nearly thirty years, The house at
fifty Old Colony Road in Toronto was lovely. Honey listed
it for sale at six point nine million Canadian dollars
(10:52):
about five million US. At this time, the Shermans were
worth somewhere between five and ten billion dollars. While selling
the house, they were also building a twenty five million
dollar mansion in one of Toronto's most exclusive neighborhoods, called
Forest Hill. They also had plans to take a vacation
in Miami. Honey would leave first, and then Barry was
(11:12):
to follow a week later. On the afternoon of December thirteenth,
Barry and Honey met a builder at the Appitec's offices
to discuss designs for the new home. Afterwards, the two
returned to fifty Old Colony Road, where Barry sent his
nightly email to his team at work. At six twenty
one pm, Honey made a phone call, speaking briefly with
a friend. No one heard anything else from Barry or Honey.
(11:36):
The following day, Barry missed work, something that he would
never do. On Friday, December fifteenth, the Sherman's gardener and
housekeeper came to work and noticed that the alarm system
for the house was turned off. They didn't see Barry
or Honey. Shortly after, the real estate agent who was
handling the sale of the Sherman home came by with
a couple who were interested in the property. As the
(11:59):
group entered, the real estate agent found Barry's gloves and
the house inspection paperwork he had brought home with him
near the door between the basement and the garage. Feeling
confident that the couple were at home, the real estate
agent and potential buyers looked at the main level and
then headed downstairs to view the lap pool and hot
tub area. When they walked into the indoor pool area.
(12:21):
From a distance, they could see Honey and Barry Sherman.
The real estate agent initially thought that the two were
doing yoga, but that quickly changed upon closer inspection. She
could see that the seventy five year old Barry Sherman
had been strapped to the railing of the pool with
a men's leather belt, leaving him in a seated position.
Seventy year old Honey was on her side with a
(12:42):
bruise on her face. Their coats had been pulled down
and used to restrain their arms. Neither appeared to be breathing.
When police and paramedics arrived, they found that the Shermans
had indeed passed away, and rigor mortis was already setting.
In Strangely, police would find a sculpture in the basement
area that matched Barry and Honey's positions at death. Barry
(13:04):
even had one leg crossed over the other, just as
one of the statues had. There was no forced entry
into the home discovered, but the Shermans were known for
leaving their windows and doors unlocked. The real estate agent
was able to confirm with police that a window and
door in the basement had been left open as well.
Honey's phone was found in a bathroom that she didn't
(13:24):
use very often, leading police to believe that she may
have hid there while trying to evade her attacker. The
original post mortem examination concluded that both died of licature
net compression, and with Honey being the only one to
have additional injuries to her face. Police initially considered that
Barry had murdered Honey and then taken his own life
(13:44):
in a murder suicide. That assumption was let loose in
the press, and Barry and Honey's families were outraged at
the accusation. Unimpressed with what police had turned up so far.
The Sherman children immediately hired their own investigative team to
find out the truth of their parents deaths. Brian Greenspan,
one of Canada's leading attorneys, was the head of this team.
(14:05):
He stated that the family had been understandably outraged by
the unfounded police statement, which they believed from the outset
had jeopardized and indeed compromised the integrity of the investigation.
This assumption created a situation where the crime scene wasn't
fully processed for a homicide. The private investigators found that
(14:26):
the Toronto police did not complete a standard protocol for
fingerprint elimination, and that they also missed at least twenty
fingerprint or palm impressions that the private team discovered. The
autopsy would confirm the ligature net compression being the cause
of death, but also found that there were marks on
both of their wrists that suggested they had both been
tied up with zip ties prior to their deaths. The
(14:49):
time of death was estimated to be around thirty six
hours before the bodies were found, and with that six
weeks later, police investigators finally determined that the Shermans had
died by homicide. That's six weeks of no potential suspects
being looked into and no leads being tracked down. Many
(15:09):
different companies that Barry was involved in lawsuits with were
looked into, but no solid leads panned out of that.
Before their deaths, a federal lobbying commissioner had started to
investigate Barry over fundraising events that he had held for
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. No connection to the murders was
found there either. When Barry's family was looked into and questioned,
(15:31):
a disturbing report was given to them involving Carrie Winter.
Carrie had reportedly fantasized about killing Barry for years. Quote
I was betrayed, my cousin hurt me, and now I
want to hurt him, win Or told the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation in twenty eighteen. He even went on to explain
exactly how he would do it. The way I was
(15:54):
going to do it wouldn't have been belts. It was
going to be in the Appitec's parking lot. That was
my vision and always that he'd come out of the
building at Apptecs and I'd be hiding behind a car
and I would just decapitate him. I wanted to roll
his head down the parking lot and I'd just sit
there waiting for the police. Despite his murderous fantasies, Carrie
(16:15):
denied having anything to do with the sherman's deaths. He
in turn told police that Barry had once tried to
have a hit taken out on Honey. He claimed that
Barry had actually called him and asked him to set
up the murder. He said that eventually the plan was
called off, but for him, it only gave more credence
to the theory that Barry had killed Honey and then himself,
(16:36):
despite the autopsy's findings. When he was asked to take
a lie detector test to prove the truth of these claims,
he volunteered to take one and then he failed it.
After that, on advice of his attorney, Carrie Winner refused
to take another lie detector test. It was also considered
that Honey's sister and her family could be behind the murders.
(16:56):
At the time of Barry and Honey's deaths, they had
been essentially cut off and were no longer receiving money
from them. Some wondered if this could have angered them
enough that they killed their one time benefactors, but again
no solid connection could be made and no charges would
come of it. The case remained open, and four years
after the initial investigation, police released a video of a
(17:19):
person who could potentially be the Sherman's murderer. A CCTV
camera captured a man on the day of the murders
outside of the home for a lengthy amount of time.
Investigators pointed out that the figure in the video walked
with an unusual gait. The person's face cannot be seen
and they've never been identified. They were described as wearing
(17:39):
a hat, kicking up their right boot with each step,
and appeared to be between five foot six and five
foot nine inches tall. Today, the murder of Berry and
Honey Sherman still remains a mystery. The investigation is still
open and ongoing. If you have any information regarding this case,
please contact Toronto a Police's Homicide Division at four one
(18:01):
six eight zero eight seven four zero zero, or you
can email them at Homicide at Toronto Police dot O,
n dot CA. If you need to remain anonymous for
any reason, you can also call four one six two
two two tips. That's four one six two two two
eight four seven seven. The Sherman Home at fifty Old
(18:22):
Colony Road was demolished in twenty nineteen, the land sold
by the Sherman children the following year. Despite the children's
efforts to honor their parents by continuing to help many
charitable organizations, they are now being sued by two of
Mary's children. As someone once said, greed is not a
financial issue, It's a heart issue. Do you have any
(18:47):
insights or even a case you'd like to suggest, Feel
free to send it to me. You'll find a comment
form and case submission link at Lordnarts dot com, or
you can follow and message me on x at Lorden Arts.
Thank You, Town and Country dot com, Bloomberg dot com,
All Things Interesting, CBC, Cbsnews, Encyclopedia dot US, h m
(19:07):
M dot Org, Statistica dot com, IBISWorld dot com, TPS
dot ca A, The CJN, Financial Postcom, and Wikipedia for
information contributing to today's story. This episode was written by
Christy Arnhardt, edited by John Lordon, and produced by Lordenarts.
Thank you to our audience here for the live recording
session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts Studio two,
(19:30):
and a big thank you to everyone that supports seriously
Mysterious over at lordenarts dot com. I'm John Lorden. Please
join us again next week for another case I know
you'll find seriously mysterious
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