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Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210

November 25, 2022 / 59:00

This episode discusses the double homicide of Barry and Honey Sherman, focusing on the investigation details, their backgrounds, and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

The Shermans were last seen alive on December 13, 2017, and were found dead in their Toronto home on December 15. They were discovered hanging by belts in a semi-seated position by a pool railing, with no signs of forced entry into their home.

Barry Sherman was a billionaire and founder of Apotex, a major pharmaceutical company. The episode details his rise to wealth and his philanthropic efforts, alongside his wife Honey, who was known for her community involvement.

Initial police theories suggested a murder-suicide, which the Sherman family strongly disputed. They hired a private investigator to conduct their own inquiry, leading to further scrutiny of the police investigation.

The episode covers the family's reactions, the media coverage, and the ongoing investigation, including the lack of a suicide note and the peculiar circumstances of their deaths.

TLDR

Barry and Honey Sherman were found dead in a suspicious double homicide, sparking controversy over police theories and family responses.

Episode

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[Music] thank you foreign what we have come to learn so far in our investigation that I'm willing to
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confirm with you today is that honey and Barry Sherman were last seen alive in the evening
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hours of Wednesday December the 13th 2017. neither of the two had communicated with
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friends family or Associates from that time frame until their discovery on Friday December the 15th
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there are no signs a forced entry on all access points to the home honey and Barry Sherman
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were found deceased in the lower level pool area hanging by belts from a poolside railing in a semi-seated
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position on the pool deck they were wearing their clothing We Believe now through the six weeks of
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work review we have sufficient evidence to describe this as a double homicide investigation
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and that both honey and Barry Sherman were in fact targeted we are in the process of attaining or have executed 20
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judicial authorizations and searches legal complexities and some executions have been challenging giving the
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litigious nature of Barry Sherman's businesses in particular the search and seizure of electronics and Barry
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Sherman's workspace at apotex two Residential Properties belonging to the Shermans have been searched
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the primary Sherman residence is a three-story family dwelling of a size warranting six weeks of searching
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forensic review and seizing of evidence this morning we return the residents to the family
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to date close to 150 bulk or packaged items have been seized and are currently being reviewed and forensically analyzed
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a total of 127 witness statements have been compiled this number continues to grow each day
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neighborhood canvases have occurred in the area surrounding the Sherman residence
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these this has included the collection of approximately four terabytes of security video from both commercial and
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residential properties we hope that through today's release that we'll Garner a few more or a significant
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amount of witnesses we have the 348 investigative actions to follow up on we have all of our seized evidence that we
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have yet to review or certainly continue the submissions through the center of forensic Sciences confirm with our
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expert Partners in the field I mean it's it's endless foreign [Music] Barry Sherman was one of the wealthiest
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men in the world before his death in 2017. Barry was born Bernard Charles Sherman in 1942 but to tell you the
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complete story of Barry's life and death we need to go back in time and first talk about Barry's Uncle Louis Lloyd
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winter who was born in Toronto in 1924. he studied biochemistry at the University of Toronto and after
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graduating with a master's degree he borrowed ten thousand dollars from his father to open his first company in the
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family's garage there he would process blood work and pregnancy test for local medical offices and his business
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skyrocketed quickly now Lewis also saw a need he knew that the prescription drugs
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well they were way too expensive and many people could not afford them at the time so winter started a generic
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Pharmaceuticals Company by 1959 he had to purchase a whole building for his operations and created what was then
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called the Empire Laboratories Limited by 1964 it was Canada's largest pharmaceutical company Winter's life was
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cut short at the young age of 41 when he had a sudden aneurysm now 17 days later
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his wife died of leukemia the company was taken over by their nephew who is Barry Sherman Barry
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Sherman lost his father when he was just nine years old and he grew up working for his uncle's Drug Company after
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graduating from the University of Toronto and getting a PhD in astronautics at MIT he was able to take
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charge of Empire and in January of 1972 Sherman and Ulster limited sold Empire Laboratories in 1973 Sherman started
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opatex this was with with a few of the former Empire Laboratories personnel and he had Incorporated it in 1974. now this
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was a privately owned and sherman-controlled Company and at one point claims to be Canada's largest
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canadian-owned pharmaceutical manufacturer Sherman married his wife honey in 1971 she was a fellow
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University of Toronto graduate born in 1948 in Austria to polish Holocaust Survivors they had four children a son
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Jonathan and three daughters this is Lauren Alexandra and Kalin by 2016 opatex employed over 10 000 people as
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one of Canada's largest pharmaceutical manufacturers with over 260 products selling in over 115 countries now it's
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charitable armed the opatex foundation has donated over 17 million dollars in free medications Sherman himself has
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donated over 50 million dollars as well to other philanthropic causes in the Toronto area and Beyond opatex has seen
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a fair number of litigation issues as companies have pushed back on its efforts to sell cheaper no-name options
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one of the most high profile of these clashes occurred when Pharma giant Bristol Myers squib Sue food opatex in
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2006 to try and stop it from selling the first generic form of the heart disease
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treatment Plavix yeah but these lawsuits would happen for a multitude of different reasons but one of the main
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reasons was that when you created a drug that there was a window where you weren't allowed to manufacture a generic
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version of that drug but Sherman didn't like to wait so if if the generic wasn't
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supposed to be made available until next year he'll start making it this year and
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if you want to sue him go ahead and zoom that way so once once the patent Has Lifted he's ready to go to market with
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this product immediately well he and he would also face legal action from family
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members over the years who allege that they had been cut out of the company that he now owned now on Friday December
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15 2017 emergency crews were called to the home at 50 Old Colony Road in the Bayview Avenue and Highway 401 area this
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is around 11 45 a.m EMTs responded to a medical emergency that's where Toronto police say that a male and a female were
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found and pronounced dead on the scene the deaths were deemed suspicious but on that day police did not confirm the
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victim's identities nor where in the home they were found they would also not say if there were any signs of trauma to
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the bodies speaking to reporters detective Brandon Price said the deaths are suspicious but
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are not yet being treated as homicides that's because price said investigators are still trying to determine if there
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is Foul Play involved or not and at this point they cannot say 100 percent with any certainty if there is or was not
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it also said that we're going to know a lot more tomorrow adding that the results from the post-mortem
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examinations have yet to be received also they would not say who found the bodies but the CBC Toronto confirmed
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with a police source that they were found by a non-family member that night police would state that they're not
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looking for a suspect and there was no sign of force entry into the family's home the following day on December 16th
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the Canadian pharmaceutical giant opatex confirmed that its founder Barry Sherman
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and his wife honey Sherman were dead and they stated all of us at opatex are deeply shocked and saddened by this news
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and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time a neighborhood resident this is Sarah
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Alvey she lived across the street from the Shermans and she said that she was shocked at the site of police activity
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and what she described as a lovely and quiet neighborhood she said we've never seen something like
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this on this street especially with these people everybody knows who they are it was really surprising it was
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heartbreaking now Alvey said that when she heard that the Shermans were selling their home she had gone for fun just to
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check it out at the time she said she spoke with honey Sherman who she knew quite a bit better than Barry
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she said that everything looked normal when she looked went to look at the house the kids rooms were gorgeous it
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was quote picture perfect and then we have this article that comes out Captain this is by Joe warmington of
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the Toronto Sun with the headline murder suicide suspected in the deaths of Toronto billionaire and wife yeah and
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the article reads Barry Sherman a billionaire businessman and philanthropist was found dead alongside
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his wife honey in their Toronto Mansion Friday morning sources say police were working on the theory the demise of the
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billionaire and his wife which has stunned the city and those who knew them may have been a murder-suicide this was
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the theory that the Toronto police service was reportedly going with sources close to the case believe honey
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may have been killed in a secondary location in the 6.9 million dollar Old Colony Road house and then moved to the
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location where she was later found with her deceased husband forensics needs to be done but at this stage it appears
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there was no forced entry and no evidence sense of anybody else in the house a police Source said emergency
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responders found the pair hanging from a railing that surrounds a lap pool inside
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the house inspector Brian Bott who heads up the homicide unit would not confirm or comment on the details of the case
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but he did tell the Toronto Sun at this time we are not searching for any suspects bot said homicide detectives
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will conduct a full investigation and all avenues will be explored that said police did not immediately find a
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suicide note and a search of the massive house which included reviewing the home's video surveillance system was
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just beginning now we know the system now today Captain we know that the system was ADT uh because ADT techs were
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seen at the crime scene working with the Toronto Police Service yeah what we don't know is whether the cameras that
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were inside the home and outside the home if they were turned on because we have Barry who was notoriously known to
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not use the system we're going to pay for the security system but we're not going to use that
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thing well and later we would learn that in fact there was a camera in the actual
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pool area where the bodies were found so law enforcement's going with this idea that this is a murder suicide and the
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family is going to come out and say hey this that's impossible so they get another investigative team involved well
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not only are they not going to be quiet about this but they're not going to be slow about getting their thoughts and
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opinions to the media either because very quickly they released a statement and the statement says our parents
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shared an enthusiasm for life and a commitment to their family and Community totally inconsistent with the rumors
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regrettably circulated in the media as to the circumstances surrounding their deaths right we the family the Sherman
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family are shocked and think it's irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory
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which neither their family nor for their friends or colleagues believed to be true the family comes right out and
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makes a public statement that they aren't buying the murder suicide Theory they go on to say that they urge the
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Toronto Police Service to conduct a thorough intensive and objective criminal investigation and urge the
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media to refrain from further reporting as to the cause of these tragic deaths until the investigation is complete
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now we have friends backing up the family so the Sherman family these are adult children of the of the Dead
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obviously uh disagreeing with the early assertion that the police believe that the father killed their mother and then
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staged the scene and took his own life right and as we heard the friends uh there you know there's plenty of friends
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coming out and saying this is impossible this whole idea is impossible it doesn't
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make any sense to us so we have the the children saying not likely and then the friends backing them as well so the
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family they hired a lawyer this is Brian Greenspan to help their own investigation into the tragedy the
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attorney Greenspan he hires a private investigative firm led by a well-respected retired Toronto Police
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homicide detective who touts discretion and definitive final conclusions for his
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clients the company is clat investigation which is led by Tom clatt who spent 14 years in homicide drug and
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intelligence bureaus with the Toronto Police Service before his retirement in 1998. now he went on to co-found a
00:17:34
different private investigative firm before launching his own outfit in 2015. he has investigated more than 70 murder
00:17:42
investigations bringing a successful conclusion to as many or more than any homicide investigator in Canada this
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according to his online biography clatt's clients according to himself well I I don't want to receive any
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pushback from people going well that's not true I'm I'm basing this off of what he has told us and keep in mind it could
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be accurate information that he's putting out there but it's also it's also a sales point you know he's he
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needs he's in the business of getting clients so his clients have included high profile groups many of Canada's
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wealthiest families who were in the process of dealing with life-altering family issues it has been reported that
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the family conducted their own forensic autopsy on the bodies of the Shermans before their burial as well so we're
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seeing the family one they have the means to do so a lot of the cases that we cover on here captain we're not
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dealing with this level of wealth and and I want to be clear what we're talking about here we're not talking
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about rich people we're not talking about somebody that lives in the big house in a in a nice neighborhood we're
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talking about somebody that might live in the biggest house in the nicest neighborhood these are these are not
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rich people these are wealthy people I think they're selling their house for like 5.4 million dollars or something
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like that and then they're building a new house which I believe was like 16 000 square
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foot or something like that yeah I mean these these are just huge homes so what we're seeing here is when you have a
00:19:18
pole and a hot tub in your basement that's what kind of house we're dealing with yeah but we're also talking about a
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family that has the means to go to this level of investing when when they've decided that you know what what the
00:19:31
initial investigation is showing we're not cool with that right well we got the dollars to put together our own team and
00:19:39
these are no slouches and look I understand their concern and I also I agree with the idea that there should be
00:19:46
an investigation but I also think the idea that people come out and go this is impossible it's like there's a lot of
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people that commit suicide that people didn't see that coming or somebody committed a murder and they didn't see
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that coming either right and I agree with that and I don't know that that's the uh I don't know that that's this the
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scenario here I think the scenario here that they're unhappy with is that the police have not outwardly said at no
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point are they on camera going you know what this is a murder suicide and we're gonna dig down deep and figure out
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exactly what happened right what has happened here is the police are saying these deaths are suspicious we have no
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we're not looking for any suspects there's no forced entry to the home that's what they're saying on camera now
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according to the media now we're going to take this with a grain of salt here according to the media reporting on the
00:20:39
case they're stating that police sources are telling them this is a murder suicide and this is how we're looking at
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this so from the outside looking in from the family members perspectives they're
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feeling that hey it's irresponsible of the police to leak this information before they've
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completed their investigation right and it's also irresponsible of the media to drag our good parents names through the
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mud until this investigation has been completed as well and they just I think what they're worried about is that
00:21:12
they're seeing things that they don't like from the get-go and they want to see you don't want this train to get too
00:21:18
far off the tracks before you try to reel it back in right so and the thing here is they have to they have to move
00:21:25
quickly because if they're going to have a second autopsy performed on The Bodies
00:21:30
well you know the the Shermans were were Jewish and Jewish tradition requires like most religions requires that the
00:21:38
bodies be buried within a certain amount of time so the uh and that did happen funeral services were held for the
00:21:45
Shermans on December 21st uh this was in a Toronto suburb and attended by several
00:21:52
thousands of people and to to to give everybody an idea of the level that Barry and his wife honey Sherman were on
00:22:02
the Prime Minister attended this service as well as the mayor Justin Trudeau yes as well as the mayor and the
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uh the Ontario Premier so we're talking about some of the highest political figures attending this service for these
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good people and the Shermans were donating to their campaigns and things like that so obviously that's why they
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showed up now I do want to be clear though uh that it should be noted that the Toronto police still had control of
00:22:33
the crime scene this being the Sherman's home where the bodies were found but the private experts at this time
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they were conducting a secondary investigation and they would not be able to conduct an investigation inside the
00:22:47
home until after the police were finished so we don't have the family here trying to interfere
00:22:54
I don't see the family interfering with the investigation I see them bringing in
00:22:58
their own team and maybe aiding the investigation and conducting their own once the police say that they are done
00:23:06
the problem with the police being done is this is a giant home yeah and like you when you hear the
00:23:13
trailer she said uh it took us about six weeks to do all the forensics that we needed to do in this property because of
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how big it was well and with new investigators well there's going to come new theories
00:23:29
so these new investigators are not going to go into the scene and say hey we think we're dealing with a murder
00:23:36
suicide they're going to work under the assumption that there are three main scenarios for these private
00:23:42
investigators to consider one possible double suicide or a double homicide or a murder suicide
00:23:51
now Captain do you do you find it strange you know while we're on the topic that the police are hinting toward
00:23:57
murder suicide so very quickly after finding the bodies especially now that we know that no note was found or no
00:24:05
message was sent to someone to indicate uh that's what what had happened I I don't even know what the percentage is
00:24:12
of uh suicides are left with a note but I would I would assume that a murder suicide
00:24:21
there'd be less notes because you would be committing the suicide probably based off the fact that
00:24:27
you you know you had just murdered a loved one and you can't well I can't even call
00:24:34
him loved one at that point but he just murdered this person that you're close with and now you're killing yourself
00:24:39
probably because you murdered that person and you don't want to deal with those consequences I don't find it
00:24:46
strange or odd that they quickly were hinting toward murder suicide scenario and I and I say that because
00:24:53
you know there's been so many times throughout my life that I hear oh there's there was a shooting in
00:24:59
Northeast Ohio uh suspected two people dead and that's that's like the first information you
00:25:06
hear and then within an hour or two you're hearing likely murder suicide you know and and
00:25:13
it usually can quickly what I'm getting at is it seems to me in most scenarios when police arrive and that ends up
00:25:21
being the actual result after an investigation has taken place and they've ruled that it was in fact a
00:25:27
murder suicide it seems to me that it's very often that very obvious signs of that when police arrive on the scene
00:25:35
what I find strange here is not so much that they might have suspected that to begin with
00:25:43
I find it strange one what was at the scene that was the indicator for police that that was the route to look at
00:25:51
because I'm not hearing anything in the initial reports that point toward that for me but then furthermore
00:25:59
it's the other thing too is usually when that's the initial thought that ends up
00:26:04
being the result right and I don't think that that's what we're going to end up with here
00:26:08
[Music] foreign [Music] cheers cheers captain now we haven't really got into what is known about this case the
00:26:36
facts and the details surrounding the Sherman couple's death but you know and I apologize that we haven't got to it
00:26:43
yet there was some information we needed to get out but there's also kind of a little bit of doing that on purpose
00:26:49
because with this case and you and I were talking about this the other day you know for this garage investigation
00:26:56
there was a lot of rumors and speculation that were coming out before any real information was coming out yeah
00:27:03
and what information came out early in this investigation the first two or three weeks or so
00:27:09
well it was just a lot of speculation that was regurgitated from one newspaper article to magazine to internet to so on
00:27:17
and so forth and you never really got any sense of what possibly could have happened to these two people so after
00:27:25
some some much digging we were able to piece together a chain of events here in this case so let's get right into the
00:27:33
thick of it let's go through that chain of events of the facts and what is known
00:27:37
about the case now keep in mind when we're going through this when we are examining these couple of days the
00:27:45
Sherman's daily lives they're probably vastly different from most of ours these are very successful
00:27:52
wealthy people who are probably they have a lot of business obligations they're probably busier than most of us
00:27:58
what are you trying to say I got some business well the other thing though too that I
00:28:04
want everybody to keep in mind when we go through this is there are two major events going on simultaneously during
00:28:09
this time in their lives one their home is for sale and actively being shown to potential buyers and two the Shermans
00:28:19
are designing and building a new home to move into eventually right okay so first
00:28:25
on December 12 2017 this is the day before the couple was last seen alive honey missed a scheduled meeting at the
00:28:34
Bay Crest Center Foundation where here's what I've learned from this okay okay they have stated that
00:28:44
had it been any other board member for this Bay Crest Center Foundation no one would have really paid much attention to
00:28:52
this um but with honey they they kind of dubbed her the Beloved queen bee of this
00:29:00
of this group right and so they found it strange that she did not attend and the
00:29:06
other thing that they found strange and and actually the foundation's president Josh Cooper is outwardly said
00:29:14
it was quote bizarre that she was not there now they were a little concerned that she didn't show up so they sent her
00:29:22
an email to make sure that she was okay and she did respond back fairly quickly and her response was short and simple it
00:29:31
just said sorry uh she was dealing with some stuff and unable to attend right and when you're selling a house they
00:29:38
might you know had a showing that she had to get the house ready for or it could have been some last minute meeting
00:29:45
because they didn't break ground on their new construction yet right I don't believe so this was still very
00:29:53
much I'm a little confused and I got to be outwardly honest with you on this because we're not talking about time
00:29:59
you're honest we're not talking about the shotgun house that I live in this is you know this is a project this is going
00:30:06
to take a team of people to design this thing and as a lot of people out there know when you're building something big
00:30:12
like this their new home you run into obstacles and things need to be changed and
00:30:18
you know people change their minds and opinions on things of how they want things done through that process as well
00:30:23
well and it could be as simple as the an architecture or engineer contacting them
00:30:29
saying hey we need these decisions made today and if not this is going to hold up the process even more so it could be
00:30:37
something as simple as that maybe she didn't want to dive into the details well and we can read as much or as
00:30:44
little into it as we want but it should be thrown out there that the day before she missed a meeting that she would
00:30:50
otherwise not typically Miss to the point where the president of the foundation said it was bizarre that she
00:30:58
was not there and then her response seems vague and given the outcome right right very ominous so now on the day the
00:31:09
day that they were last seen the Shermans met with the Architects at on Wednesday afternoon this is December
00:31:15
13th at the this is at Sherman's work at Barry Sherman's work apparently honey left the business after the meeting and
00:31:25
this was sometime roughly before 5 PM now it's assumed that she went directly home from that time and we say that
00:31:33
because there are no more reported sightings of her that day right now no one is go ahead I was going to say that
00:31:41
so she goes to the meeting this is at her husband's place of work correct and they're going to meet with the
00:31:47
Architects yes of the of the new build their new home now she drives I don't know if you found this odd but I just
00:31:54
thought this was a little strange kind of like you know put a little pin in my um my notes she drives a champagne color
00:32:04
Lexus a newer Lexus like SUV and he drives a 1999 Mustang just found out a little straight well
00:32:17
that's kind of one famous thing about Barry Sherman and I don't know if it's if it's myth or if it's true but right
00:32:25
but everything you just said would point to it being true there is a thought that
00:32:30
as as extremely wealthy as Barry Sherman was yeah um he in his adult life it's rumored he only owned four cars
00:32:39
and meaning that he owned a car would drive it until it could not drive anymore and then he would go get another
00:32:45
car and repeat this process throughout the course of his life which I just thought it was a little strange because
00:32:52
well maybe not even strange but to me you're you're building a 16 000 square foot home that is
00:33:01
that's a statement you know people come to your house they see a house that big you have no problem letting people know
00:33:10
you have some money right now you're driving a 1999 Mustang that's the opposite of that you know
00:33:18
that's the well this car still works so I'm going to still drive it so I think you have
00:33:24
two different personalities and we should probably get into this just touch upon it before we go through this
00:33:28
timeline okay but um I think you have two different personalities just because Barry Sherman is extremely wealthy and
00:33:35
he's made hit a lot of you know he was born into success in a sense that his uncle was successful with that company
00:33:42
right but he's also taken that what he was born into and and done very well for himself through probably a lot of hard
00:33:51
work and determination so right right he was lucky enough to get the opportunity but most people want
00:33:59
to work have worked as hard as Barry did to make it even a bigger company and when you look back on Barry's life in
00:34:06
the way that he was set up and the way that he carried himself it was almost like a Can't Fail situation really to me
00:34:13
when when you when you when you have somebody that steps into that role that is given a certain
00:34:21
leg up on everything but also is extremely Intel I mean the guy graduated I think he he either attended or
00:34:28
graduated college at 16. so we're not talking about a dummy here this is a very very smart guy he goes on to get a
00:34:36
doctorate from MIT so this is a brilliant dude and a hard-working dude it was almost like I said when you look
00:34:43
back on it you're like well this is a a recipe for Success this is a Can't Fail situation but just because he was very
00:34:51
wealthy and successful I don't know that he that he cared what a lot of that wealth could afford him
00:35:00
right so there were several of his friends that were were quoted as saying things like Barry didn't care about
00:35:07
things he didn't care about objects he didn't care about cars um you know several people had reported
00:35:14
that Barry would would often be seen working long hours at his company wearing wrinkled shirts and
00:35:23
you know a pair of pants that looked like he had owned them for 15 20 years right so that that that gives you a
00:35:30
sense of of kind of that makes the car make more sense but there's also individuals that just get
00:35:36
um attached to vehicles too and they can't let them go well and he's also on record and I I believe this was a
00:35:44
newspaper or magazine article where he had done an interview before he was before his death
00:35:52
where he said something to the effect of he thought that they would live in their
00:35:56
current home for the rest of their lives I mean now mind you Barry's 75 at the time of his death and his wife I believe
00:36:02
was 70. right so we're talking about an older couple but this we're also talking
00:36:06
about an extremely nice home and he had said he had thought that they would live in
00:36:12
that home for the rest of their lives however honey told him it was time to get a new house so I guess we're moving
00:36:17
was was right that's not verbatim but that quote is pretty close there okay so back to the timeline let's we're
00:36:25
talking about the day that it is believed that they were last seen right we have this meeting where the two of
00:36:31
them attend this meeting at Barry's work the meeting with the architects who are
00:36:35
designing their new home this meeting is over sometime in the evening early afternoon
00:36:43
um and we have honey who leaves Barry's work around 5 PM again it's assumed that she
00:36:51
went straight home now as far as Barry goes no one is certain about what time he left the building what time he left
00:36:58
the business to go home now there are a couple reports out there that state that this could have been as
00:37:03
early as 6 30 PM but most reports have stated that he stayed there as late as 8 45 p.m and I actually think that this
00:37:13
might be more accurate than the earlier time of 6 30. the reason being is I've seen it
00:37:19
reported that he would often this would be 8 45 would be a little more consistent with the hours that he
00:37:25
typically put in and while we don't know that this time for sure the police probably have a much
00:37:32
better idea on this time because of a couple things what we do know is that Barry spent most
00:37:38
of that evening responding to emails at work that day all right before leaving and it's believed that the last known
00:37:46
email sent from his opatex account was at 8 30 p.m that night now I couldn't find it reported as to what the
00:37:57
emails were regarding or if they were responded to but it's believed that that he sent this last email 8 30 and then
00:38:06
just like his wife likely went straight home that night now Barry Sherman did not show up to
00:38:13
work on Thursday which for some reason didn't immediately raise any alarm Bells yeah
00:38:20
yeah now on Friday morning at 8 30 a.m a housekeeper and another person who watered the plants both arrived at the
00:38:28
house at 8 30. these were both regular visits each week on Friday morning this two people these two people would enter
00:38:36
the home so both the housekeeper and the plant water they busied themselves on the main level in the second floor for
00:38:45
approximately the next two hours and they saw nobody correct now keep in mind both floors are roughly
00:38:55
um according to this report both floors are roughly 3 600 square feet and they have multiple rooms
00:39:02
now neither the housekeeper or the person watering the plants descended to the lower level now the lower level
00:39:08
includes a garage a recreation area and a swimming pool at 10 30 a.m two real estate agents and
00:39:17
a couple that was interested in purchasing purchasing the house arrived the house was listed for sale by agent
00:39:25
Judy Gottlieb now Barry Sherman and his wife honey were selling their home uh the reports are kind of all over the
00:39:32
place Captain but the one that seems the most accurate was it was being listed for 6.9 million dollars
00:39:38
I was off yeah this is some good coin right there yeah I was off by a little bit um it was listed with uh Forest Hill
00:39:47
real estate Incorporated and Judy Gottlieb the listing agent was she's reported to be a close friend to
00:39:56
the Shermans I don't know exactly what that means but that's what's reported now Gottlieb was away in Florida so
00:40:04
another agent was taking her place that day the other agent uh present represented the prospective purchasers
00:40:13
Okay so we have we have two agents just to clear this up we have two people that are looking at
00:40:21
the home they're interested in buying it a couple wealthy couple okay and we their agent is going to be
00:40:29
escorting them on this visit also on this visit will be this Judy Gottlieb it's going to be her assistant
00:40:36
because remember Judy Gottlieb is gone right so we have two agents and we have this couple that are going to be walking
00:40:43
the property walking the house checking everything out meanwhile we had the housekeeper and the person watering the
00:40:49
plants who have been busy on two different floors but not gone to the lower level so after touring the Upper
00:40:56
Floor the agents and the clients went downstairs and walked along a corridor leading to the pool area gottlieb's
00:41:04
assistant went first she walked through the doorway to the pool room and then she comes running out
00:41:11
of there at the other end of the room she saw two bodies backs to the pool held in a sitting position by something
00:41:20
tied around their necks she turned and and ushered the other agent and the clients back making an excuse saying
00:41:27
this part of the home is off limits at the moment now I mean I don't mean to laugh but
00:41:36
basically her real estate instincts kicks in and she sees two bodies and still is trying to comfort the buyers
00:41:45
because she's still trying to make the sale well I don't I think she's being very I
00:41:52
think she's been thrown into a situation that no one could expect to be and she's
00:41:56
handled it extremely professionally this discovery was made shortly after 11 A.M
00:42:01
on Friday so gottlieb's assistant called up to the housekeeper telling her what she had seen then made a phone call
00:42:09
seeking Direction on what to do now it's not been made public who she called at this time but she did call someone
00:42:17
meanwhile the housekeeper called 9-1-1 the Toronto police 9-1-1 system records the call coming in at 11 43 a.m police
00:42:28
were in route by 11 44. Toronto EMS told the star that's one of their local newspapers they dispatched two paramedic
00:42:37
Crews and a supervisor at that same time now let's go through some of the other findings and some of the other things we
00:42:46
know regarding this discovery the couple's grown children this is you know this is adding you know
00:42:54
what's already bad making it even worse but uh apparently they heard about the death of their parents through the media
00:43:02
and through social media rather than the police or somebody coming to tell them what was happened so well let's see
00:43:11
here's the other issue here too is we haven't really I mean I think people who are assuming this but you know Barry and
00:43:17
honey were so wealthy that there were almost Celebrity Status right and so that's one of the problems
00:43:26
with them uh hearing it through the media yeah and and like you said Captain these are people that are so wealthy you
00:43:32
would it wouldn't be uncommon to see them in the news or to read about them in the newspaper or or them being
00:43:39
interviewed for a magazine article you know these were people that their faces and names were very well known so
00:43:47
I one thing I want to dive into here briefly is the time of death because we have we have a couple that is last seen
00:43:56
sometime Wednesday evening and they're not found until Friday morning there are some Outlets reporting that
00:44:03
the Shermans died on Thursday and personally I believe this is mostly speculation
00:44:11
um I don't know if this is just early reports coming out that were wrong of people jumping to conclusions but uh the
00:44:18
consensus is that the Shermans were last seen on Wednesday evening like we said um
00:44:24
and it is unclear whether they were killed soon after that but I think Wednesday is the likely time that they
00:44:32
were killed and I only say that because honey Sherman was found wearing the clothing that she had been seen wearing
00:44:39
on Wednesday right which would make the most sense my issue is not so much that the children hear about the deaths
00:44:46
through the media it's the fact that Barry doesn't show up to work on Thursday honey doesn't show up
00:44:53
anywhere and there was nobody at their offices calling their kids or or calling anybody it seems like to figure out why
00:45:00
they're not at work I don't know that their children would have been called I wouldn't I wouldn't doubt that either
00:45:07
honey or Barry were that they were called right um with them being so busy and let's just say powerful because
00:45:15
they're powerful individuals um you I guess you wouldn't challenge that a whole lot you know if you're if you're
00:45:22
a secretary or an assistant or somebody that works for Barry or even for honey for that fact I still think you would
00:45:29
but that's that's just me to me it that's kind of a gray spot here on why did we not why wasn't there people
00:45:39
reaching out to other people or maybe there were and it just got to the end of the day and none of the dots got
00:45:44
connected but to me it seems a little odd that especially Barry such a workaholic
00:45:51
doesn't go into work he sees him there's you know there's no call there's no checkup on him we should add though
00:45:58
I should just to clarify it seems to me like Barry was in his Twilight years let's say okay even though he's he's
00:46:06
reportedly staying at work long hours that's probably a habit he he hadn't broke but he was not the active CEO of
00:46:15
his company at that time right he had he had moved on and had somebody else taking that position it sounds to me
00:46:22
like Barry was was more just kind of going in there and checking on things and keeping an eye on
00:46:28
things so maybe he came and went as he pleased yeah I don't I don't know that he actually held any real responsibility
00:46:34
or any real Duty while he was there if that makes sense um family sources say that the last known
00:46:43
cell phone communication and I don't know if this is text or audio but the family sources say that this came from
00:46:50
the Sherman couple was on Wednesday at some point during the day as we had said earlier captain no signs of forced entry
00:46:58
into the home and no suicide note found on the scene there was also no damage reported to the inside of the home and I
00:47:06
found one report that states that there was nothing to suggest that this could be a home invasion and I want to be
00:47:13
clear on what that means I I think the way that this the way that this report reads what they are referring to is
00:47:21
where somebody breaks in either in the middle of the night to the home or kicks in the door and busts their way in and
00:47:28
takes over the scene there was nothing to point to any of that the autopsies were conducted on Saturday and Sunday
00:47:34
and this indicated that the Shermans died of a ligature neck compression sources say investigators found the
00:47:42
Sherman's side by side in their windowless pool room each with a man's leather belt wrapped around their necks
00:47:49
and tied to the pool railing both had on jackets that were pulled quote behind their backs and rolled down over their
00:47:59
arms their winter coats were on their bodies but pushed down on their backs and arms
00:48:05
if that makes any sense It is believed that the camera in the pool area had been disconnected
00:48:12
toxicology tests on the bodies reveal no sign of drugs that would have contributed to their deaths now while
00:48:20
earlier media reports suggest that they died by hanging that is incorrect they were found in a seated position at the
00:48:28
side of a pool in the lower level of the house with their legs facing away from the pool the belts were around their
00:48:34
necks with the end of the belt through the Buckle and pulled tight the free end of each belt was then
00:48:41
looped or tied around a low railing that surrounds the pool sources say a working theory of the
00:48:49
private team probing the deaths is that the Shermans were strangled by the belts
00:48:54
then the belts were attached to the railing holding them in a seated position the legature neck compression
00:49:01
was likely done by the leather belts found at the scene right now one thing that's interesting here is
00:49:10
my first thought goes to are these berries belts right because they very specifically say men's belts in these
00:49:19
reports or were these belts brought in by the Killer and it took some digging I did find one article that states that
00:49:28
that kind of points to one Belt being berries but doesn't clarify who the other belt belonged to or if
00:49:37
they knew for sure yeah and my thought on that Captain is that maybe Barry has found not wearing a belt you know around
00:49:45
his you know on his pants so therefore it's easy to assume that that man's belt was berries the one that he was wearing
00:49:54
the other one might be called into question because you know it might be one that was taken
00:50:00
from the closet and whether or not this man bought a lot of clothes we don't know however I'm assuming from people
00:50:09
that I worked with and have worked for in the past this guy's got more than two belts in the house probably
00:50:16
but interesting that they believed that they were strangled and then moved and then the belts were tied in such a
00:50:28
way to almost keep them upright yeah so they are they're hanging but they're not they're
00:50:37
not hanging in a sense that one would I mean this railing is going to be I've never been in the room I'm guessing
00:50:43
it's going to be about three three and a half foot high maybe a little taller than that so they are almost like they
00:50:50
are sitting down but slightly off the ground because the belt has connected their neck to the railing holding them
00:50:58
from being fully Seated on the floor [Music] a key finding uh was during the discovery process of the second autopsy
00:51:09
and this were marks on both Barry and honey Sherman's wrist this indicating that each person's wrists were bound
00:51:18
together at some point likely with rope or a plastic strap an examination of the
00:51:24
markings does not clearly determine if the hands were Bound in front or behind their backs right you think maybe zip
00:51:31
ties or something yeah now their hands were not bound when the bodies were discovered police also searched the roof
00:51:40
of the house and used metal detectors on the property here's one thing I want to get at
00:51:46
Captain because this this hands being bound either in front or behind their backs is not a 100 certainty it was a
00:51:55
finding in one of the autopsies I believe it's probably likely that this went down
00:52:01
but the whole winter coat thing is then very weird right I mean I know it's Toronto it's December
00:52:08
so it's obviously very cold um we know that the Shermans drove home separately I I think that they may have parked
00:52:16
their cars outside of the house and I say that because there are some crime scene photos that show Honey's Lexus
00:52:22
parked in the driveway and not the garage right so first off they have this fancy garage that's underneath their
00:52:30
home why are they parking outside that's super weird and well that might have been stopped outside
00:52:38
and then as for the coats were they still wearing their coats when they were attacked were they attacked
00:52:44
outside brought into the house they're wearing their coats obviously at separate times if they arrived at
00:52:50
separate times [Music] so they're still wearing their coats when they're attacked is is my thought
00:52:56
but the way that the coat thing is described is almost like the coat is put on you
00:53:03
to to constrict your arms as well like your arms are not in the arms of the jacket
00:53:10
it reads as if the coat is wrapped around your body and arms and then zipped up or pushed down so that it
00:53:18
would restrict movement of your arms and hands right which makes me feel like maybe the jackets were put on after
00:53:26
you know by the perpetrator and again they think that there's some kind of strangulation beforehand but you have
00:53:34
two individuals that are up in the air so what's making you think that they weren't being you know being strangled
00:53:42
in that position right and so was it like oh we bound their hands now we take those off and
00:53:48
now we're going to put their jackets on after the death and we should be clear about that
00:53:53
because I don't know if it was clear the way that I described it but it would be
00:53:57
that if this is in fact true that their hands were tied or bound that these bindings were removed from
00:54:04
the scene they were not found on on the bodies on the Shermans when they were discovered right so meaning meaning
00:54:12
Barry Sherman could not have killed his wife then killed himself and then disposed of these bindings all at the
00:54:19
same time it just doesn't work out um also if well the jacket part doesn't work out
00:54:28
because you'd have to put the jacket back on himself right well in addition the jacket part doesn't work out right
00:54:34
because what's he going to do hang himself and then pull his jacket down past his arms somehow well I want to be
00:54:39
clear the reason why a lot there was a lot of speculation about that at first was there was some bruising uh on
00:54:46
Honey's face and so a lot of people were like well there was no bruising on Barry's face so therefore murder suicide
00:54:54
but like you said you gotta get these bindings you got this the jackets um I think they were probably just met
00:55:01
outside before they even got into the garage you know and Barry probably stopped because he saw
00:55:07
you know Honey's car there so you if you base it off of the timeline you say where
00:55:14
is not leaving until 8 30 8 45 well you know that means that these attackers had honey for a lot longer
00:55:23
a couple couple hours before Barry would get home if if that scenario in fact is
00:55:28
true it would have to go down something like this Barry arrives home I'm sorry honey arrives home before Barry
00:55:34
something prevents her from parking the car in the garage or she's intending on just running into the house and leaving
00:55:42
very quickly but something happens to where she is attacked this would also explain the no signs of
00:55:50
forced entry if she was attacked outside and nobody witnessed this they could use
00:55:55
her keys to gain entry to the home then they pull her into the home they take control of the scene and I say they
00:56:01
because it could be one person could be two could be three they take control of the scene they have control of Honey now
00:56:08
I don't know if she killed at that time or not while they wait for Barry to arrive Barry would pull in seeing his
00:56:16
wife's car in the driveway wonder what's up maybe he decides to park in the driveway as well to see what's going on
00:56:21
right he goes to the front door he goes inside and when he gets inside he's greeted by
00:56:28
these people that have been lying and wait for him or they have his wife hostage and now they
00:56:35
have a bargaining chip and he's got to do what they say right right now as as we know Captain
00:56:41
um while we're on the details of what was found what is known and what is not known as we know it is typical in a
00:56:48
death investigation for police to serve production orders or search orders signed by a judge or Justice of the
00:56:56
Peace um for cell phones and to cell phone companies or to Banks to obtain records
00:57:04
showing a person's whereabouts and so forth now if permission is given by the executor of this in the which I've heard
00:57:11
that the banks have come forward and the cell phone companies have come forward in this case and said you do not need to
00:57:17
submit um search warrants we've worked we're working with the family any information that the police need we
00:57:26
will provide to you so don't delay yourself with with seeking search warrants or serve uh production orders
00:57:32
right what is weird here though is I couldn't find anywhere that indicated whether
00:57:39
the couple's cell phones were recovered from the crime scene [Music] and just a quick reminder we have four
00:57:55
episodes now captain of our new show off the Record which is available on Stitcher premium in those episodes we go
00:58:02
through some more coverage and some more thoughts on the Amy mihalovic case from
00:58:07
the northeast Ohio area and I believe next week's episode is going to be parts of the live event we did talking about
00:58:15
some new stuff in the Brian Shaffer case so if you're not subscribed to that go to
00:58:22
stitcherpremium.com True Crime garage and use our promo code garage until tomorrow be good be kind and don't let
00:58:30
him foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Episode Highlights

  • The Mysterious Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman
    Barry and Honey Sherman, prominent figures in the pharmaceutical industry, were found dead in their home under suspicious circumstances. The investigation reveals complexities surrounding their deaths, leading to various
    “The deaths were deemed suspicious but not yet treated as homicides.”
    @ 10m 50s
    November 25, 2022
  • Family's Response to Murder-Suicide Theory
    The Sherman family publicly disputes the murder-suicide theory, urging a thorough investigation. They express their shock and disbelief at the media's portrayal of the circumstances surrounding their parents' deaths.
    “It's irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory.”
    @ 15m 43s
    November 25, 2022
  • Bizarre Absence
    Honey Sherman missed a meeting, raising concerns among her peers.
    “It's bizarre that she was not there.”
    @ 29m 14s
    November 25, 2022
  • Discovery of Bodies
    A realtor discovers the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman during a house showing.
    “This part of the home is off limits at the moment.”
    @ 41m 30s
    November 25, 2022
  • Tragic News for Children
    The Shermans' children learn of their parents' deaths through social media, not police.
    “They heard about the death of their parents through the media.”
    @ 43m 00s
    November 25, 2022
  • Mysterious Disappearance
    The Shermans were last heard from on Wednesday, raising questions about their deaths.
    “Family sources say the last known communication was on Wednesday.”
    @ 46m 43s
    November 25, 2022
  • Unusual Circumstances
    No signs of forced entry were found, leading to speculation about the nature of the deaths.
    “There was nothing to suggest that this could be a home invasion.”
    @ 47m 10s
    November 25, 2022
  • Strange Discovery
    The Shermans were found in a seated position, raising questions about the circumstances of their deaths.
    “They were found in a seated position at the side of a pool with their legs facing away.”
    @ 48m 28s
    November 25, 2022
  • Coat Conundrum
    The way the coats were found suggests they may have been manipulated post-mortem.
    “It reads as if the coat is wrapped around your body and arms to restrict movement.”
    @ 53m 12s
    November 25, 2022
  • Binding Mystery
    Marks on the Shermans' wrists indicate they were bound at some point, but no bindings were found.
    “If this is true, their bindings were removed from the scene and not found on the bodies.”
    @ 54m 09s
    November 25, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • This is a beautiful copper beer, easy drinking.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210
  • Our parents shared an enthusiasm for life and a commitment to their family.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210
  • It's bizarre that she was not there.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210
  • This part of the home is off limits at the moment.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210
  • They heard about the death of their parents through the media.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210
  • It seems a little odd that especially Barry, such a workaholic, doesn't go into work.
    Barry and Honey Sherman /// Part 1 /// 210

Key Moments

  • Welcome to True Crime Garage00:55
  • Family's Statement15:26
  • Body Discovery41:30
  • Media Notification43:00
  • Timeline of Events44:29
  • Media Speculation44:46
  • Seated Position48:28
  • Coat Analysis53:12

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown