The Billionaire Murders

by Kevin Donovan

  That morning, when Barry got dressed after his training session, he had donned one of the two belts Honey had purchased for him on sale at Canadian Tire. The other belt he had apparently left somewhere in the master bedroom. The autopsies indicate that both Barry and Honey were strangled with something soft, cutting off their wind but not crushing the hyoid bone in the neck. It appears likely that the recently purchased belts were used. This is an indication that at some point one of the attackers went upstairs and got the second belt. Once dead, Barry and Honey were pulled or pushed up against the metre-high stainless steel railing that surrounds one end of the basement lap pool. The belts were looped around their necks and tied to the railing, holding them up in a seated position. Their legs were straight out front, away from the pool. Of note is that more thought appears to have been given to Barry’s positioning. His right leg was crossed over his left, and his glasses, which presumably were knocked askew or off during the attack, were positioned perfectly on his nose. Whatever ties had bound their wrists were removed. Their jackets were pulled back off the shoulders and down, which would have had the effect of pinning their arms back. How that related to the binding of the wrists is not clear. It is most likely that the wrists were bound when they were alive, then unbound when they were unconscious or dead, and the jackets pulled down after they were killed, possibly as part of an attempt—a weak attempt, it seemed to many—to make it look like double suicide or murder-suicide. Barry was wearing his bomber-style winter coat when he was found. Honey was wearing a short outdoor coat of a weight more suited to fall weather.

  That Honey had damage to her face and Barry did not, and that more care was taken to position Barry, invites speculation that the killer or killers felt differently towards husband and wife. A theory discussed among close friends of the Shermans is this: perhaps the killer or killers regarded Barry more positively than Honey and wanted him to appear serene in death. Or it was simply happenstance, or an attempt to make the crime scene confusing. Or, even more simply, to give the indication that Barry had attacked his wife, killed her, then killed himself.

  Upstairs, the bed in the master bedroom was made up as it had been earlier in the day and had not since been disturbed, a strong indication that the attack happened Wednesday evening, not overnight or Thursday morning, as some have speculated. The clothes the Shermans were wearing were the clothes they wore that day at the Apotex meeting. Barry and Honey Sherman were most likely dead long before midnight. It was impossible to pinpoint the exact time of death, forensic sources say, because of the environment where the bodies were found. Human tissue decomposes faster in warm temperatures and humid conditions. Being in the pool room meant that the bodies would degrade faster than if they were in a cool, dry environment. Was that why they were left there, to make it harder to determine when they died? Or was the pool room, with its tiled floor, chosen as the best place to clean up any stray bits of evidence the killers dropped? Also, it is possible the pool room was chosen because it is out of the way and rarely used, meaning it would take longer for the bodies to be discovered.

  As to what happened during the attack, two scenarios seem most likely. First, that the attackers wanted something from Barry and showed him his injured wife and threatened to kill her if he did not do what was asked. Second, that the couple was killed outright to get them out of the way for financial or other reasons. In the first scenario, it was an attempt at extortion. In the second, either hatred or revenge were in play or it was a cold-blooded attempt to obtain something with the death of both of the Shermans. A third and unlikely scenario, that the attack was a home invasion gone wrong, does not seem to fit the crime scene, as the house was not left in disarray and nothing appears to have been missing. A fourth scenario, that this was payback specifically to Barry Sherman for some business deal, also seems unlikely, as it would have been much easier to kill him as he left his office at his usual late hour. Barry Sherman had said that to friends many times over the years, which was his primary reason for not bothering with a security protocol at home. If it was payback for a business deal, why kill Honey? And why try to make it look like a murder-suicide?

  What has also struck people close to the Shermans is the perfect storm of circumstances that kept anyone from discovering the bodies for nearly thirty-six hours. Several Apotex officials emailed Barry Sherman Thursday morning about routine matters, but there was no response. His absence did not alarm anyone enough to visit Old Colony Road looking for the boss. When Honey did not show up at her committee meeting at the UJA Thursday morning at 8 A.M., nobody checked on her. Alex Sherman had texted photos of her newborn to her parents on the Thursday. Jack Kay, who would have noticed his friend’s absence, was out of town in New York. No real estate viewings of the home were scheduled. There was the arrival on Thursday morning, caught on the neighbours’ video camera, of an unknown man who parked on Old Colony Road and, over the space of roughly an hour, appeared to either enter the Sherman home three times or stand at the front door, for a total of twenty-nine minutes on the Sherman property. Police say they know who the person was, but they will not say what if any significance his actions and identity have to the investigation. Then there is the still unexplained 911 call police investigated roughly ten doors east down Old Colony Road at the same time as the visitor was at the Sherman door. Was it a crossed wire? Was there a police officer at the Sherman door while their bodies lay dead in the basement?

  And later on Thursday, Sherman realtor Elise Stern, trying to organize a Friday morning showing, called Honey to get her permission. Honey’s phone, lying on the floor in the downstairs powder room, rang in the silent house. Stern would continue trying to reach her and eventually got in touch with Mary Shechtman.

  Outside, on Thursday evening, a light snow began to fall. Snowflakes landing on the driveway melted immediately. In New York, Jack Kay and his wife attended the Andrea Bocelli concert at Madison Square Garden. Joanne Mauro was busy at home with family activities and preparing for the holidays. Others, close friends and family, were busy with the normal routines of daily life. For many, once they learned what had happened at Old Colony Road, there were sleepless nights thinking of the possible scenarios that played out. Was it a quick death? Jonathon Sherman said in an eyebrow-raising moment in his eulogy that he and his siblings were glad “neither of you had to suffer like we are suffering now.” Friends like Frank D’Angelo have a different feeling. D’Angelo says he has nightmares, and at spare moments in the day he is visited by horrible thoughts of what it must have been like in the basement pool room at Old Colony Road that night. “I just feel sick about what they must have been going through. I am supposed to be this tough guy, and Barry should have been able to count on me to keep him safe. But I let him down and now he is dead.” Joel Ulster, Sherman’s oldest and best friend, is easily moved to tears well over a year later. “It is the brutality of it. I am seventy-five. You expect people to die at that age. But not in such a brutal way.” Lawyer Harry Radomski says he has imagined that if Barry had any time to attempt to reason with his killers, he would have looked at them and said, “It is not logical. What you are doing is simply not logical.”

  Did Barry and Honey Sherman know their killers? I believe so. After spending a year and a half delving into this case, I believe that the killer or killers had an intimate knowledge of the Shermans, including their routines. I also believe that the killer or killers were not trained professionals and that the attempt to make it look like a murder-suicide was a poor one, though it obviously worked for a while. As to having an understanding of their movements, consider this: the Shermans were killed soon after they both attended a meeting at Apotex to discuss their house-building plans. That meeting was originally scheduled a day earlier and was rescheduled with little notice. Also, they were killed in their home on a night when neither had a scheduled event that would keep them out of the home. Another timing issue is that the Shermans were killed the night before a day on whic
h Barry had no important work meetings planned and his office mate for most of his working life was away. True, Honey did have a morning meeting on Thursday. Perhaps the person knew Barry’s schedule but not Honey’s? All these pieces of the puzzle suggest that the killer or killers had more than a passing knowledge of the Shermans.

  The location of the murders is also noteworthy. I think the killer or killers knew the layout of the house, including where the pool is. In addition, while the pool had a security camera visible to anyone walking through the room, the cables to power it and connect it to a monitor had never been hooked up. Only someone with insider knowledge would know that. It is also quite likely that the killer or killers arrived at the Sherman house from the rear, accessing it from the street immediately to the north of Old Colony Road, hopping two low fences and entering the north side of the property. The basement rooms can be entered through a door from the backyard. Police say there was no sign of forced entry, but it is possible the door had been left open, or the killer or killers had a key, picked the lock, or had the access code to the lockbox. Greenspan, at the press conference where the $10-million reward was announced, said that his investigators believed police failed to thoroughly check all entry points to the home. As to the lack of outdoor cameras on the Sherman property, a casual casing of the house by the killer or killers might have been all that was needed to determine if there was visible evidence of video surveillance. But modern video cameras can be easily hidden, so it seems that the killer or killers must have known enough about Barry Sherman to know that he did not believe in having any security measures installed at his residence.

  Shortly after the bodies were discovered, a series of increasingly far-fetched rumours began circulating about who the killers were. In the “honey pot” theory, Barry Sherman had a liaison with a prostitute, her pimp was extorting him, and in a fit of anger the pimp killed both Shermans. In another theory, Mossad agents had been sent from Israel on behalf of an Israeli generic firm that had a grudge against Sherman. In another, Hells Angels bikers had committed the murders as part of a turf war over who controlled fentanyl distribution. In another, it was fraudsters being sued by Sherman, who were seeking a quick end to a lengthy litigation. Alternatively, it was arranged by the Clinton Foundation, in relation to a dispute over Apotex’s supply of drugs to relief efforts in Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Rwanda. At social events, I have been dragged into a quiet corner by a seemingly sane person who has told me he has heard from “a reliable source” that “Bill and Hillary ordered this hit.” Here is just one of dozens of emails I received after my first story on the Sherman case appeared in January 2018:

  The Sherman case will only be solved if Donald Trump exposes the Clinton Foundation and invokes the executive order he issued December 20, 2017. People in our government are involved in the cover-up. Sherman and Apotex were part of a criminal pharmaceutical ring perpetrating genocide in third world countries with the use of sub-standard drugs.

  I have never believed this was a case of international intrigue, spies, or a business deal gone bad. Big Pharma and some government regulators did not like Barry Sherman, that is true. But they sue; they do not kill. This story has always seemed to follow the same pattern as most murders: a pattern that suggests it involved someone they knew.

  SEVENTEEN

  AFTERMATH

  CANADA’S GENERIC GIANT APOTEX, Barry Sherman’s child, is up for sale. The directive, say sources close to the business, came from the four Sherman children within two months of the murders: sell Apotex at the highest price available. The Florida property, intended for opioid production, purchased for US$50 million in the months before Barry was killed, was sold for $30 million in early 2019. The European operations had been sold off six months after the murders. Though the four children technically own Apotex equally (with a few minor shareholders, including Jack Kay), Jonathon has asserted himself as the controlling force. Sisters Lauren and Kaelen have sat back and watched. Sister Alex has not. She has pushed back in certain areas, particularly in the area of philanthropy, where she has assumed the title of president of the Sherman Foundation. Mark Gryfe, a well-known figure in Canadian philanthropy circles (former president of Baycrest Foundation and campaign director of the UJA for years), said he is impressed with how the Sherman children are continuing their parents’ tradition of giving. “They have taken up the mantle in ways that I am beyond impressed. I see so many families where kids are inheriting millions and, in some cases, billions, where there is very little interest in philanthropy.” He said the four Sherman children are being approached “left and right” and there are “million-dollar gifts and multi-million dollar gifts being distributed with incredible generosity. I think Barry and Honey would be very proud.” There is tension, though, over where the charitable dollars should go. Alex and Jonathon have sparred over ideas. He and some of his business partners asked in 2019 for “$40-$50 million” from the Sherman Foundation to build what he has described to others as a “premium” hockey arena for youth and adult programs that would be affiliated with the UJA. Alex has resisted this, concerned that it does not fit her parents’ charitable vision.

  With Barry and Honey gone, the four children and the extended family have settled into an uneasy relationship. At various times, one group is not speaking to the other. Kaelen has moved to Israel; Lauren spends most of her time at her west coast retreat teaching yoga and providing therapy to clients with depression and anxiety. Jonathon and Fred, through surrogacy, now have two baby boys, and Jonathon is busy with Green Storage and a new business (Harlo Capital, a secondary market mortgage provider) he started in the fall of 2017. Meanwhile Alex has daily strategy meetings regarding the family’s goal of continuing Barry and Honey’s giving legacy. Mary, Honey’s sister, was not invited to Kaelen’s wedding in April 2018 at the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery in Kleinburg. Her marriage to the electrician did not last long. Within three months, the couple separated and by summer 2019 were divorced. People close to the Shermans use the word “collateral damage,” a military term, to refer to what happened in the aftermath of the murders. Friends like Bryna Steiner wake up from nightmares, their sleeping selves conjuring images of what happened to her friends. Joel Ulster will find himself walking along a street or watching a play and something will trigger a memory and “then the tears come.” Kerry Winter, who caused a great deal of upset to the Shermans with his comments immediately after the murders, has had his own issues to deal with. His young children have been bullied at school, harassed by fellow students who say Kerry is a “murderer.” At Apotex, veteran employees say they miss seeing Barry Sherman walking the halls in his white labcoat, at ease both with the science of the laboratory and the business of the boardroom.

  The biggest sign that there was a changing of the guard came on December 14, 2018, at the Apotex offices. It was one year after the murders. Jack Kay was sitting in his office, which used to belong to Barry Sherman. He was CEO of the organization, called in by the trustees to take over that role after Jeremy Desai left. Kay’s plan, as he had told colleagues at Apotex, was to retire on March 31, 2019. There would likely be a party—not that he liked parties—but he expected there would be some sort of event. It would be bittersweet, of course, but still a recognition of his many years of service. There had been tension between Kay and Jonathon Sherman in the past few months. Kay was balking at how fast the plans for selling Apotex were moving. He wanted to honour Barry Sherman’s legacy and ensure that the employees were protected. At one point, according to Sherman family sources, Jonathon had suggested that Kay was somehow involved in the murders, and tried unsuccessfully to convince his sister Alex that this was the case. At 5 P.M. on the dot, Jonathon Sherman and Jeff Watson walked into his office. Watson, a longtime Apotex executive and protégé of Kay’s, and a former Canadian Football League offensive lineman, was next in line in the corporate structure. Jonathon held no formal role in the company. As a source with knowledge of what transpire
d that December day describes, Jonathon told Kay that “the beneficiaries believe it is time for you to leave.” Jonathon gave Kay a paper to sign. Kay did not sign it. He asked about his files and the items on his desk. Jonathon told him they would be sent to him. Both Sherman and Watson walked Kay out of the building. A week later, while Kay was out, Jonathon delivered several boxes that held files and personal items from his time at Apotex to Kay’s home. Watson was appointed president and CEO, under direction of the estate trustees. The next day, in Apotex’s executive parking lot, Watson’s nameplate was affixed where Kay’s had been. Beside it, still adorned with a cluster of flowers, old and new, was Barry Sherman’s space and nameplate.

  At time of writing, the police investigation continues, as does the Sherman family’s private investigation. My sources tell me that the two family members who have been most active in pushing the police to stay focused on the now almost two-year-old investigation are Alex and Mary, frequently passing on information they think might be pertinent.

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  The deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman left a gaping hole in the Jewish community in Toronto and far beyond. But for some who had a close connection to the couple, there is a sense that their impact will be long-lasting. Joanne Mauro, Sherman’s steadfast assistant, has remained at Apotex. She says she misses Sherman every day.