Suspicion | The Billionaire Murders: The hunt for the killers of Honey and Barry Sherman - S2 The Billionaire Murders | E1 The Man on the Inside

Episode Date: February 10, 2023

Where are Honey and Barry Sherman? It’s a typical day for these eccentric billionaires but they’re not answering the phone. After a gruesome discovery, the Sherman children decide to tear down the mansion where they grew up. Before wreckers arrive, a mysterious intruder discovers signs of an investigation gone wrong. This is episode one of “The Billionaire Murders: The hunt for the killers of Honey and Barry Sherman,” a “Suspicion” podcast probing the strange case of the famous Toronto couple who were found strangled in their north Toronto home in 2017. For five years, Kevin Donovan has covered the case for the Star, fought court battles to access documents on the police investigation and the Shermans and their estate, and wrote a book about it.  Audio sources: CityNews, Global

It's a cool Saturday afternoon in early spring. Patchy low-lying clouds fill the sky, not even a hint of sun to warm the air. A slightly built man in his early 30s waits in his car around the corner from a house that has become notorious as a crime scene in Toronto. He's about to commit a crime himself. Getting out of his car, the man slips a small backpack over one shoulder. He's tucked the tools of his very unusual hobby inside, a camera and a powerful flashlight. He starts walking along the road.

This is one of those older neighborhoods with no sidewalks, the street about sweeping driveways most of them gated, big houses behind stone pillars. One home has no gate, no pillars, but it stands out because it is encircled by a high plywood fence. When he's certain nobody's looking, the man dips into the yard next door, hoists himself to the top of the fence, then drops like a cat to the stone patio below, landing in a crouch. He stands up slowly. The house in front of him is 50 old colony road. In two days, a wrecking crew will tear down this home, where billionaires Barry and Honey Sherman lived for almost 40 years.

And it's the same home where one went tre night, they were murdered. I was inside the mansion shortly before its demolition. I'm a photographer of abandoned vacant places, and I suppose my morbid curiosity got the better of me. It took almost a year of waiting, but eventually the conditions became right for me to sneak inside. Urban explorers, this one calls himself the Urbex Man, are people with jobs and families

and a most unusual hobby. They like to explore deserted buildings slated for demolition, taking away only photographs. They are thrill seekers and in a world increasingly hemmed in by rules and guidelines, they are unapologetic about trespassing. This particular explorer has been arrested before, so he's extra careful. He's so concerned about his identity being revealed that we're using a voice actor to read his comments.

The powers of the house had been cut. Construction hoarding went up in the high-tech security cameras that TPS had installed earlier around the property that I'll been taken down. The Urbex man's target this day is a gray, rambling home in the north part of Toronto. It's three levels, 12,000 square feet. Just over a year before, the Sherman's billionaire

philanthropists were strangled to death and left posed in a seated position on the deck of the swimming pool and their cavernous basement. Leather belts were wrapped around their necks, keeping them from falling backwards into the pool. Barry was the brilliant and eccentric founder of Apatex, Canada's largest generic drug company. His wife, Honey, was on many charity boards and a powerful fundraiser in the Jewish community. I wasn't expecting to get inside, but I was happy to find the garage door leading to

the basement was unlocked. I rolled it up and went inside. Not wasting any time, I rushed through the dirt garage area. I knew the pool was somewhere in the basement, but I wasn't quite ready to experience that just yet. The Urbex Man has a long history of roaming abandoned buildings, drains and sewers too. He likes to photograph the unknown parts of a city. You can find most of his pictures online if you know where to look.

But not the photos and videos he is about to take. He's too worried about police and the powerful Sherman family. I made my way up a spiral staircase leading to the ground floor instead. I had already seen the real estate photos before, so I had some idea of what to expect inside. Marvel floors nice light at distinct 85. I assume the place would be more or less empty. As he moved through the home, the Urbex man is surprised at what he sees. I figured a lot of stuff would have been taken out by TPS, sent to an option house or saved

by family members, but that wasn't really the case. There was stuff everywhere. Furniture, clothes, artwork, books, personal letters, memos, photos of the deceased, the works. Pretty much every room I stepped into had me saying, Jesus fucking Christ, out loud to myself, wondering what I was getting myself into. What he saw made him question just how good and investigation the TPS, the Toronto Police Service,

had done in one of the most high-profile crimes in Canadian history. I came across a note pad on a desk in which someone had written out events occurring during the days leading up to the murders. House showing at 3.30 pm, dinner at barberians, etc. It seems strange that such a thing would still be there and not at a room at TPS headquarters along with other items of evidence.

The house was dark and so silent he could hear himself breathing. In one room, he flicked on his mag light, shining its beam over piles on the floor. It was clear that someone else had been through the place looking for items of value or hidden stashes of money. Everything in the Master Bedroom was overturned, with massive holes punched through the walls. The contents of drawers were thrown out on the floor. The main bathroom upstairs had also been ransacked. Piles of cosmetics

clothing were thrown all over the floor. The site of a messy wig is one of those things that I can't unsee. The wig was a memory from a special night where honey and a good friend sang a duet as honey and share in support of a Toronto hospital. I got you to raise some money. I got you to dress like sunny. Barry was in the audience that day, as he often was, a fish out of water in a social setting, but always quietly supporting his wife. Barry would often say he liked to do two things. Make money and give it away. But they were frugal billionaires.

Most of the stuff in the house, including electronics, was from the 80s or 90s, and the majority of it was pretty cheap-looking, some of it quite tacky. The Urbex man makes his way down the spiral staircase to the basement. He walks along corridor to the indoor swimming pool. I did a quick run through the pool where the bodies were found. Needless to say, it isn't something I'd ever want to do again. Such terrible energy.

The fact that that was in complete darkness only made the whole scene that much more sinister. The Urbex Man freezes. That sound. It's the garage door being wrenched up. Someone's coming in. door being wrenched up. Someone's coming in. From the Toronto Star, I'm Kevin Donovan, and this is the billionaire murders, the hunt for the killers of Honey and Barry Sherman. Episode 1. The Man on the Inside

For the past five years, I've spent many of my waking days and more than a few sleepless nights thinking about Barry and Honey Sherman, who they were, their successes, their failures. I've spoken to their family and friends, cross-examined cops in court, head coffee and beers with investigators, learned about the pharmaceutical industry, about Barry's many side deals and lawsuits, tracked their movements leading up to the murders, and the movements of others before and after they died. It took a hard look at the many missteps of a police investigation that messed up right

out of the gate, and I've been on more than a few wild goose chases running down leads both good and crazy. All in my attempt to get closer to the identity of the killer or killers who, in December 2017, entered their home and strangled them to death. Now, this case is a who-done-it, and I have to tell you, it's inspired an astounding number of conspiracy theories. Bill and Hillary Clinton did it, that's one, Or that their murders are linked to the pandemic, which, by the way, didn't start until more than two years after they died. Here's one from a fellow

who called me up. His theory was that the murders were connected to one of Barry's drugs, and that the National Intelligence Agency of Israel was somehow involved. and commit homicide or both. Could it be one of their family members that lost a loved one? Did this shit because they had the power to? And does this smell like my side? The Sherman case has also prompted armchair detectives to get busy, banding theories back and forth in true crime chat rooms and other podcasts. And then there's the people who have a simple, though, morbid curiosity theories back and forth in true crime chat rooms and other podcasts. And then there's the people who have a simple though morbid curiosity, like the Urbex man.

You'll recall he was in the swimming pool room when he heard a rasping noise. The garage door opening. With a house about to be levelled, who would be coming in through the garage door? Not family or a worker, they'd have a front door key. The Sherman killers maybe, coming to take a last look around? As quickly and as quietly as he could, the urbex man left, exiting through a basement door, which I believe was used more than a year previous by the killer or killers. I'm still a bit rattle by the experience of it all.

I'm also still wrestling with my conscience a little because I feel like I crossed a line into something that's far darker than what I'm usually interested in, both as a photographer and as a human being. Whatever evidence or clues remained in 50-old colony road were destroyed two days later when a wrecking crew demolished the home. Paul verizing floors and walls and contents and filling in the swimming pool where our story begins. We'll be right back.

At 11.44 a.m. on Friday, December 15, 2017, we responded to a 911 call to 50 old colony road. Officers attended the address and located Barry Sherman and Honey Sherman deceased. That's the voice of Detective Sergeant Susan Gohms of the Toronto Homicide Squad, the lead officer on the case. She didn't go to the crime scene when the bodies were there, didn't go for four days. We'll get to that, and other police missteps later. That Friday morning, promptly at 8.25 a.m., Nelia Mekotange, the Sherman's housekeeper, arrives at Old Colony.

Snow has fallen overnight, enough to turn Honey Sherman's prized hydrangeas into big white puff balls. As she walks up, she feels something heavy in the air. She later tells police and friends she had a black feeling as she approached the home. Old Colony was built in the early 1980s, an article in Toronto Life Magazine referred to it as a poor concrete colossus. There's lots of opaque glass block inside, high ceilings. It set just far enough back from the road to allow for a horseshoe-shaped driveway. Recently, the Sherman's had listed the house for sale,

$6.9 million. There were two lowball offers, which Barry thought were ridiculous. Nelia walked first to the front door and collected the morning newspapers, then continued to a door on the right side of the house. The Sherman's only used the front door for deliveries in the morning news. Nelia found it odd the papers were still there. Normally, Barry would be in the kitchen reading by that time. She passed Honey's gold 10-year-old Lexus SUV parked in its regular spot just to the right

of the side door. There was snow on the windshield, no tire tracks dimpling the snow behind. In addition to cleaning, Nelia had another job that morning. Earlier in the week, Honey said she'd need help making potato ladkas for a Hanukkah dinner at the home of Alexandra, one of the Sherman daughters. As Nelia took her key out to open the side door, another woman arrived. This was Megan Young, one of several personal trainers honey employed. Nelia unlocked the side door

and was surprised to find the alarm system set to off. The Sherman's weren't big on security, but they always set the alarm when they went to bed. As Nelia and Megan entered the house, a white van from a furnace company pulled into the driveway. The Sherman home had four furnaces, and this was a regular service call. The furnace man followed the two women inside and headed to the basement with a set of tools.

It was a gloomy day. Nelia started turning on lights. She went upstairs to see if she could find Honey and Barry. In the master bedroom, she found the bed Honey slept in made, but not the way Honey would normally make the bed. Berry slept in another room due to snoring issues, and it was the same with that bed, made, but not how she would expect it to be. Neilia went into the ensuite to check the sink honey usually uses in the morning.

It was dry. Wondering if plans had changed and the Sherman's had headed to Florida for a winter vacation early, Neilia said about cleaning. The personal trainer decided to wait a little longer. Meanwhile, other people were looking for Barry and Honey. Elise Stern, one of two realtors with the listing, had a couple who wanted to see Old Call in the day that morning. Nobody was answering.

They weren't answering, so I figured, you know, whatever, I'll just show up and see what happens. Mary Sheckman, honey's sister and best friend, was also trying to reach them. Mary was in Florida, but was helping them sell the house. She called Barry's longtime assistant at Apatex, Joanne Moro, hoping she could help. Joanne was Barry's longest serving employee. Yeah, that was... Oh, it was

affordable. They were still in my life. Yeah, I got the news of the morning that something wasn't right. Yeah. Well, actually, I got the news to help look for him. So, I thought nothing of it, you know. His sister, my Mahett called me to say, if I could try and client Barry and she would continue to find honey, someone was looking for them. I can't remember if it was the agent or what. I don't remember. Was someone was looking, there was a showing or something like that. I don't remember exactly.

All she said is I need to talk to one of them. I don't know what to do because she was a Florida at the Sherman home, the trainer left. The furnace repairman left too. As he walked out the door, his gaze caught some frozen footprints on one side of the heated driveway, leading down the ramp to the underground garage. It looked like the heat was only working on one side of the ramp. He got in his truck and drove off. Across town at Apatex, Berries' executive assistant was having no luck finding her boss. Mary had called again, sounding a bit frantic.

It was just after night. And I said, okay, no problem. I said, no worries, I'll try. You keep trying, honey, I'll keep said, no worries. I'll try you. You keep trying honey. I'll keep trying berries. So I sent very an email to his phone. I said, hey, oh, I am. I'm just wanting to know if you're going to be in today. And that was it. I heard nothing. Jeremy DeSai, the president and CEO of Apatex, was also looking for Barry, had been since Thursday the day before. The in-house lawyer emailed me again,

or called me that often, said, well, I haven't heard from Barry yet. And so, yeah, I said, no, I haven't heard anything today very strange. Anyway, that was Thursday Friday morning, no response, no response. The IP lawyer then again called me and said, I haven't stood up for virus. It's sending him another email. And that was about 10-11.

Back at the Sherman home, a realtor and his two clients, a man and a woman, arrived around 10-45 AM. The couple was from China, interested in a Canadian home. A few minutes later, the Sherman's realtor,

Elise Stern, walks in the front door. Elise is one of the top real estate agents in Toronto. She's tall with dark brown hair and a thin angular face. She and Neil, you have a quick chat before Elise starts a tour. Like the Urbex man, Elise didn't want her voice heard. We have a voice actor reading from her recollection of the events. So I said to the housekeeper, you know, go turn on some lights. So we schmooze for a minute and we started upstairs and she said to me, you know, they're not home. She said the trainer came and left.

Having failed to reach Honey and Barry, Elise and Mary had decided to go ahead with the showing. They were sure the Sherman's were out and selling the house was a priority, at least for honey. She wanted to move to a more central neighborhood, just a few blocks away from daughter Alexandra and two grandchildren. With the lowball offers on the table, Barry was pushing for more. To make his point, he'd promised to mark up a home inspection report, pointing out all of the great features. Elise looked for the report when she arrived, but didn't find it.

After showing the couple the upstairs, they moved through the main floor. In a bathroom near the front door that honey's girlfriend say she never used, Elise was surprised to see a phone. Her cell phone, I didn't know it was hers, but it was in the powder room. It was worth syncing was. It was weird, because I didn't know who it was. It was glitzy, and I remember thinking, like, who's cell phone is this? Earlier that morning, wild cleaning, Nelia had seen the cell phone on the floor of the

powder room. She picked it up and put it on the vanity, not thinking anything of it. So we went through the main floor and then to the basement. Each floor of the Sherman home was 4,000 square feet. In a front room in the basement, above a couch covered with a white sheet, something else caught her eye. We looked in the front, I showed them to the front rooms, and there was a window open in the front. It's a window that I think was leaking. I think they were trying to repair it. And I think maybe I would imagine they were trying to arrow the smell of paint.

It was a sliding window, open a few inches, but the screen was in place. Elise also noticed an unlocked door in a stairwell that leads up to a patio on the west side of the house. That's the door that a year and a bit later the Urbex Man will use to make his escape. The tour continued. In the family room, an oddity, something that revealed the Sherman's quirky nature. Two life-sized figures, one male, one female, sculpted out of discarded bits of metal and wood, pipes and even a skateboard. Put together in the 1970s by a Philadelphia artist, honey loved them, their kids hated them. The sculptures were perched on two giant speakers.

Side by side, they were posed in a seated position, the male sculptures legs crossed. At least always spent as little time as possible in that room. It was kind of creepy. Next, she guided the agent and clients down a long corridor that runs from the front of the house to the back. Outside a door leading to the underground garage where Barry sometimes parked, something else. There were papers on the floor, and his leather driving gloves, and I remember thinking,

like, what the hell? I'm trying to sell a house here. It looked like the inspection report Barry had promised to mark up and bring home. Barry's blackberry was also on the floor. I picked them up, and I put them on the the side and I put the gloves on top of it, going to ledge, which is pretty horrible, but who knew? Elise continued the tour, heading to the back of the house where the swimming pool was located. All the lights were off. She flicked switches as they passed, showing them the furnace rooms,

Asana, a storage area. On their right, a wall of glass blocks that separated the corridor from the underground garage. They came to a door that was locked. Municipal code requires any indoor pool to have a security feature to keep children out. Elise pressed a red button just above shoulder height and walked into a small gym. The agent and the clients crowded in behind her.

She moved to open a big sliding glass door and stepped into the pool room. When I looked inside, the pool light was on. The room wasn't light, everything was black, but the pool light was on. Elise is referring to the underwater lighting. The blue pool cover was on, and there was an eerie glow from beneath the water's surface. It's a long room, 45 feet from one end to the other. The pool takes up most of the room. In the dim light, she can just make out something at the far end.

Anyways, I'm fiddling with the lights, and the agent says to me, what's that? And I actually thought, you know, your brain doesn't know what you're seeing, and I saw them. They were sitting, they weren't leaning, their heads were almost like extended, their heads were being held up. And then the agent said, oh, some weird art. So I thought, okay, let's just go with that. And I said, yeah, yeah, they like weird art. At the other end of the pool, in a seated position, were two people.

It looked like Barry and Honey. Something was around each neck, looped to a low railing just above their heads. They weren't moving. At least tapped on the glass window. Maybe she thought they were doing yoga. Elise knew one of the Sherman kids was a yoga teacher. Seeing no movement, she turned around and hustled the agent and clients back the way they had come.

I had my head on enough to know that whatever that was, these strangers don't need to be a part of it. It was just the most bizarre thing. Upstairs, Elise made an excuse, got the other agent and clients to leave. They asked if they could walk the property, and Elise said, sure, she'd be in touch. In the foyer, she called together Nelia, the housekeeper, and Claire Banks, the Sherman Gardener, who had just arrived to water the houseplants. Elise asked Nelia to go down and check on the shirman's. The cleaning woman says,

I walked in the house today and I felt something black, something heavy in the house. She says, what's wrong? What's wrong? So she started freaking out and then the flower lady said she'd go down. Claire Banks grabbed a butter knife from the kitchen and went downstairs. And I'm wondering, you know, have I hallucinated? And she ran downstairs and she came back two minutes later and she said, they're dead. Claire told them she walked within a few feet of the shirman's. They were dead and looked like they had been for some time.

Their mouths were purple and there was dried blood on honey's face. Elise took out her cell phone and called honey's sister Mary and Florida. Mary told Elise, call the police. Emergency, do you require police fire ambulance? Somebody's killed my clients. The call to 911 came in at 11.44 AM. Within a few minutes, police, fire, and paramedics arrived.

Elise met them at the front door, and they rushed to the basement. Here's how Brian Greenspan, a lawyer representing the Sherman children, described the scene. Sitting next to each other with ligatures pulled up around their necks and wrapped around a reeling, forcing them into an upright position. Barry Sherman's legs were outstretched, with one crossed over the other in a passive manner, wearing his undisturbed eyeglasses, and his jacket pulled slightly behind his back,

which would have prevented use of his arms. Green Span's description, taken from both witness statements and his own viewing of photos police took that day, was similar to what Elise Stern and Claire Banks told police when they arrived. That what was in the basement swimming pool room was a double murder, followed by a staging of the bodies. And so it came as a surprise that Friday evening, shortly after the bodies were removed, when junior homicide

officer, detective Brandon Price, stood outside the Sherman home and made these comments to the media. I can say that at this point in the investigation though it is very early, we are not currently seeking or looking for an outstanding suspect. For the reporters on the scene, that was code for murder suicide. Next time, on the billionaire murders, this family's worth billion and very actually snapped, killed money, and tried to stage it like a suicide. Because of their billions.

If this is a murder suicide, they're hanging. It has to be written up. It'll be the first one recorded in this piece. The billionaire murders, the hunt for the killers of Honey and Barry Sherman, is written and narrated by me, Kevin Donovan. It was produced by Sean Pattenden, Raju Mudar, Alexis Green and JP Foso, additional production from Brian Bradley and Crawford Blair.

Sound and music was created by Sean Pattenden. Look out for my book, The Billionaire Murders, and coming later this year, The Crave Documentary by the same name. In this episode, Herbex Man was voice acted by David Bond.