Murder With My Husband - 195. The Billionaire Murders - Barry and Honey Sherman

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

In this episode, Payton tells Garrett the case of Barry and Honey Sherman and how the billionaire couple where found dead in their home. What happened and who was it? Socials, discount codes, and More:https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: Bloomberg.com - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-03/barry-and-honey-sherman-s-murders-lead-to-family-succession-drama CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barry-sherman-honey-sherman-2017-murders-35-million-reward/ CNN.com - https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/17/us/toronto-billionaire-sherman-killings-reward-cec/index.html ABC - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-03/canada-billionaire-murder-mystery/101815016 CBC News - https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/barry-honey-sherman-deaths-investigation TheStar.com - https://www.thestar.com/news/sherman-murders/ CTV Toronto - https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/relative-believes-someone-was-making-a-statement-in-murder-of-barry-and-honey-sherman-unsealed-documents-show-1.5740847 “The Billionaire Murders” by Kevin Donovan Forbes.com - https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesdigitalcovers/2019/11/25/honey-and-barry-sherman-billionaire-murders-kevin-donovan-book-excerpt/?sh=6fdaf5dd365e Medium.com - https://medium.com/crimebeat/inside-the-world-of-barry-sherman-d19ed1d08a99 PharmaVoice.com - https://www.pharmavoice.com/news/barry-honey-sherman-murders-mysteries-Apotex/637332/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TWS the first night home for the holidays and all through your town, not one thumb was quiet, a lot of swiping going down. You created the perfect mumble profile with care and hopes that your dream guy or gal may be out there. When what to your wandering eyes should appear but a ton of faces you haven't seen in years. There's a rando for high school, your ex from eighth grade, a kid you used to babysit, and your literal uncle Dave. As cringe as this feels, the only thing worse would be if one of them stumbled upon your profile first. But there's no need to panic or race your face from the app. You can go in Cognito with one simple

tap. Disappear from the others till you say they're a match and have more fun finding your next hometown catch. With peace of mind and your profile hidden from sight, happy holidaying to all and to all a good night. Happy holidaying with Incognito Mode from Bumble. Download today. This is a paper check. First used in the 1700s, it's still used every day by businesses everywhere.

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You're listening to an ONO media podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. Thank you so much everyone for listening we truly love you all and I hope that you guys are

all having a wonderful holiday with that being said Garrett let's get right into your 10 seconds this week I was thinking do you guys ever get annoyed of our intro or is it kind of just like on auto play Anyways, kind of my first question that came to thought. Other than that, running, sore, can't move, my knees hurt, body hurts. Now I'm complaining, but I'm gonna complain. So it's about all I got going right now, just running and getting ready for the holidays.

We actually are recording this for a little earlier than we normally do. And last time we talked about those who could use some extra support around the holidays. So we've been going through that list and I'm not sure if we're going to post on social media about it. We might just do it in private because I know some people don't want everything blasted on social media. So just an update. If you don't see anything on social media about that, media is just an update if you don't see anything on social media about that. That is why. And it's kind of just hop into this week's episode. All right, our sources for this episode are the billionaire murders by Kevin Donovan,

Bloomberg.com, CBS news.com, CNN.com, ABC, CBS news, the star.com, CTV Toronto, Forbes.com, medium.com, and form of voice.com. Just a trigger warning, this episode features discussions of suicidal ideation, so please listen with care. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. A saying that's especially true when it comes to business. And let's face it, the more successful you get, the more friends and enemies you start to collect.

Which was exactly what happened to the victims of today's story. A powerful real estate mogul and his wife, worth billions, with their hands in so many different ventures that their suspect list reads like a game of clue. Was it international assassins in the pool house with the rope, a scorned former employee in the bedroom with a gun, a contentious investment partner in the library with a candlestick? Unfortunately, this was the guessing game the public and the victim's family had to play. Particularly because the police were of little help, dishing out half-baked theories that'll make you realize

money can buy you friends and enemies, but it can't always buy you answers. So for today's case, we're traveling back to the summer of 1960 to Toronto, Canada. Walking the streets with a bag full of urine samples and a badge reading, Empire Laboratories, is 18-year-old Barry Sherman. Bright eyed and bushy-tailed, Barry's more than happy to have taken this summer gig at his Uncle Lou Winters pharmaceutical company, delivering urine for in-lab pregnancy tests.

And remember, this is the 60s, so at- home tests just weren't a thing yet, which is why he's carrying urine around. Barry knows that if he can prove his worth, he'll climb the ladder fast here. Sure, nepotism on his side, but Barry was also exceptional at math and science. So much so that he'd already been attending the University of Toronto's engineering program for the last two years, since he was 16 years old, making him the youngest person ever to be accepted into the program at least at that time.

So while Barry doesn't know it yet, this summer job will change the course of his life forever, especially because retrieving urine samples will turn into pitching new pharmaceutical drugs to buyers. Something Barry will later realize he has a strong passion for. But not before Barry explores a few other career paths first. Barry even goes on to spend a summer working for NASA before venturing on to MIT to receive his PhD in astrophysics. With experience like this, there's nearly no job in the world.

Barry isn't qualified for. Couldn't really imagine being that smart. I'm going to go work for NASA, MIT. What else can I do? Yeah, and like going to college is 16 years old. Yeah, it's insane. Yet, Barry keeps thinking about that one summer job with Uncle Lou.

There's something about the pharmaceutical business the intrigues Barry that feels like a new frontier a new industry with endless possibilities and endless ways to make a profit and lots of money with lots of drugs Oddly enough in 1965 the same year Barry graduates from MIT with a perfect 5.0 GPA. He receives a call that appears to be destiny. He's told his uncle Lou has passed away at the age of 41 from an aneurysm. It's shocking and heartbreaking news for Barry, of course. A man he admires, who's given him one of his first big opportunities, is gone. And Barry isn't going to let Empire pharmaceuticals get sold for parts.

So he takes what money he saved over the years, accepts a few loans from banks and family members, and recruits the help of his childhood friend Joel Ulster, that in August of 1967, he and Joel buy Empire pharmaceuticals. According to Barry, they got the company first a steal, mainly because it wasn't doing so hot at the time of Uncle Lou's death. Empire hadn't introduced any new products over the last few years. Its offices were in shambles, and the factories were using outdated machinery. I mean, basically in Barry Sherman's own words, the company he had just bought was a disaster.

Still, Barry saw Merit in turning the operation around. At the time, there weren't too many pharmaceutical companies making generic drugs. And by generic, I mean, when you walk into a pharmacy and see the CVS brand as opposed to Tylenol. Yeah. With the same ingredients just at a lower price. It was a sizable hole in the market at the time and Barry Sherman was ready to plug it up. He even worked in opportunities for his cousins, Lou Winters, four young kids, so they wouldn't get burned in the deal.

He promised there would be a job for them at Empire when the time came if they wanted it, and they'd each be able to purchase 5% of company shares if certain conditions were met. What Barry didn't realize was that soon he'd have his own little family to care for as well. Three years after buying empire, Joel Ulster's wife came to Barry and told him there was someone she wanted him to meet.

A candy striper at Toronto's Mount St. I Hospital who was looking to meet a nice Jewish doctor. What is a candy striper? It's actually a teenage volunteer hospital worker. And the reason that they're called candy strippers is because the uniform they would wear was traditionally striped like some candies. Yeah. Okay. So basically a volunteer at a hospital who was looking to meet a nice Jewish doctor.

Her name was Anna Reich aka Honey. Now Barry probably wasn't the kind of doctor Honey had in mind, but once they met, that no longer matter to her. She was charmed by Barry who up until this point had little experience dating women. And Barry quickly fell head over heels for Honey too. He loved how dedicated she was to giving back to her community, particularly after hearing her backstory. See, honey had been born into a displaced persons camp in Austria after her parents were freed by the Allied

forces during World War II. Then they emigrated to Canada with the help of a Jewish agency to start a new life. When Barry finally proposed, Honey gladly accepted, and the two tied the knot on July 2nd, 1971. By the following year, Barry and Joel had turned empire around, finally hitting about two million a year in cells.

But now, Barry was dreaming of starting up his own venture. So in 1973, he sold Empire to create his own pharmaceutical company from the ground up. Oh wow. He called it Apatex. Barry began gobbling up drug patents with the goal of making Apatex the largest generic drug manufacturer on the planet. Okay. And by 2016, it was certainly one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Canada controlling about 40 one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in Canada controlling about 40% of the market. They had over 10,000 employees manufacturing 25 billion doses of drugs a year. So they're huge. They're ginormous. Yeah.

Apatex was so ahead of the curve, they were even searching for ways to turn the active ingredients in marijuana into pill form. But the Sherman's weren't just growing their wealth. They were also growing their family at the time, eventually having four children. Lauren, Jonathan, Alexandra, and Kaylin, while Barry buried his head and work, honey consumed herself with motherhood and philanthropy. I was just thinking about it. It's interesting that they were trying to turn active in greeneans in marijuana depot

firm isn't that basically edibles. Yeah, I would think so. That's kind of funny. But it is the slight 70s. Yeah, I guess that's true, OK? So it's reported that over their lifetime, the couple actually donated tens of millions of dollars to charities.

When Barry was once asked what he did for fun, his answer was give away money. The two were particularly big supporters of the Jewish community, earning them the title of the King and Queen of Jewish fundraising. Honey herself sat on several boards while the couple was said to write a check to almost anyone who needed assistance. What shocked so many people was how frugal the couple actually seemed to be in other areas of their life. Aside from a weekly housekeeper and a personal trainer, the couple didn't hire around the

clock staff. And I know you're like, okay, this is crazy, but these guys are billionaires. I mean, their company is worth billions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Jeff Bezos, I mean, maybe I'll thought high, but they're rich. Yes. And when they traveled, they preferred to fly coach, which is definitely a statement. Like I said, considering that Barry's net worth by 2017 was close to $4.7 billion. Oh, that's so interesting. And I know a bunch of people will probably say, oh, well,

they didn't want to waste money on private travel or first class, but it wouldn't even even been a drop in the bucket to them. And maybe, maybe they're just, but you know, some people, that's just, they just like doing that, you know, each their own. But I will say becoming a billionaire in this case requires some sacrifices. According to some sources, Barry was rarely ever home, and it took a toll on his relationship with honey and their kids, especially when honey was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, and was left to rely on friends and her children to help fight

her battle. When Barry did join the family for holidays and other important affairs, his head was usually buried in his briefcase or his ear glued to his cell phone. And many on the receiving end of those calls would say that Barry was a completely different person when it came to business. If somehow in an alternate universe, some murder with my husband is ever worth a billion dollars, you guys will see me not working anymore. And are we doing something else? I'll be running marathon.

Yeah, because that's so much money. I would just be like, I'm done. Yeah. I'm done working. So, but according to people that he worked with, Barry was ruthless. And some former colleagues and adversaries had a few choice words to say about him. One claimed Barry was the only person they met with, quote, no redeeming qualities whatsoever. A University of Ottawa law professor once told the press that Barry was, quote, a deplorable human being, primarily because of the contentious industry he was in.

Many felt that Barry was gouging the Canadian public on drug prices and manipulating the medical industry to line his pockets. I mean, aren't all pharmacies just spitting that out there? They also claimed that Barry Sherman was never worried about the ethics of his company, and that he didn't seem concerned about the opiate-based drugs he was manufacturing out of Apatex. The way he saw it, the doctors were the ones prescribing his medications. He just made the supply to meet their demand. While this corner of Barry's legacy is still hotly contested, there

was one formidable side of Barry Sherman that no one could deny. He was wildly litigious. See, Barry wasn't just investing in pharmaceuticals, yet all types of ventures in the works, many of which fell through, and often felt the wrath of Barry Sherman's legal team shortly after. But the truth was, Barry would go to court over almost anything. Patents disputes with his competitors, suspicions of corporate espionage, you name it. By 2017, he had an estimated 1,200 cases against the Canadian federal government alone. That's ridiculous.

Mainly over regulatory decisions against Apatex. That's what I'm saying. If I have a billion dollars, I don't have time to be doing this stuff. I'm going to an island that I'm sleeping. In fact, Barry once joked to his employees that Apatex was a legal company that sold drugs on the side. Sometimes he'd even say things like, it would be easier for his adversaries to just knock him off than have to deal with him in court.

But Barry Sherman didn't always get his way. In September 2017, he actually lost a court battle with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and had to pay them about $300 million dollars in damages. Oh, you're crap. It was a major blow against Apatex's finances, equalling about a year in their

development budget. As a result, Barry had to cut some of his side businesses loose to pay Apatex's fines, which likely made some people pretty unhappy. Especially if they knew Barry and Honey were looking to move to a bigger $30 million home and one of Toronto's most exclusive neighborhoods.

It was around November 2017 when Barry and Honey put their old mansion on the market. It was time to say goodbye to the home they'd raised their children in. But their current home, equipped with a tennis court, a six car garage, even an indoor swimming pool, would be a trailer compared to the new house that they were building. Live in the high life, man. With the holiday season approaching, the house sat on the market for longer than the couple would have expected. But on December 13th, they treated the morning like any other.

Barry spent about an hour from 830 to 930 working with their personal trainer, Denise Gold, in their private gym. While he complained per usual Denise reminded him it was Honey's wish that he would take better care of himself. And while Barry could be a formidable workaholic, everyone knew he would do absolutely anything to make Honey happy. So he pushed through with Denise claiming he seemed even chattier today than most days. Once he finished Barry showered and took off for the office, but not before kissing Honey goodbye. She said she'd see him there in a few hours, they had a meeting with the contractors to

go over the plans for their new house. Honey spent the next few hours packing for a girls trip to Miami and making sure everything was ready for Barry for the days she was gone. Then around 5pm she got in her car and drove over to the Apatex office. Between 5.30 and 6.30, Barry and Honey met in the boardroom with their contractors. Then she left the office around 6.30, but Barry told her it was going to be a late night. He stuck around and sent off a few more emails before packing up his briefcase around 8.30 p.m. to head home.

Twas the first night home for the holidays in all through your town, not one thumb was quiet. A lot of swiping going down. You created the perfect mumble profile with care and hopes that your dream guy or gal may be out there. When what to your wandering eyes should appear, but a s*** ton of faces you haven't seen in years. There's a rando from high school, your ex from eighth grade, a kid you used to babysit

and your literal uncle Dave. As cringe as this feels, the only thing worse would be if one of them stumbled upon your profile first. But there's no need to panic or erase your face from the app. You can go in Cognito with one simple tap. Disappear from the others until you say they're a match, and have more fun finding your next hometown catch. With peace of mind and your profile hidden from sight,

happy holidaying to all and to all a good night. Happy holiday with Incognito Mode from Bumble. Download today. Most businesses juggle up to three different commercial cards. One for fuel, another for paying vendors, and another one for travel. It seems crazy. Well, Corpay's commercial card is the one card program

built to do it all. Plus, we give you competitive payment terms, customized controls, and over 180 types of alerts to help reduce fraud. Wow, one mighty card with three average ones. Now, that's smart. Corpay, the smarter Dan's company. But the following morning, on December 14, several Apatex employees noticed that Barry wasn't at his desk.

Now it wasn't unusual for Barry to take his time coming into the office, but the fact that he hadn't responded to their emails the night before set off alarm bells. Barry would respond almost immediately, no matter the time. That same morning, Honey also failed to show up for a committee meeting she was a part of. But he did go to his personal trainer, correct? The morning before. Oh, got it. Okay. So this is the morning. This is the next day. Others suspected that honey just had a doctor's appointment and fell to inform them that she'd be missing that week's session. Doctors appointment and fell to inform them that she'd be missing that week's session. Even the Sherman's daughter, Alex, began to wonder by Thursday evening why she hadn't

heard back from her parents. Just last night, she'd sent them pictures of her new baby, and they never passed up an opportunity to fawn over their grandchild. Still, Alex figured she'd give it another day. She was going to see her mother on the afternoon of Friday, December 15th anyways. Well, when that morning came around, a cleaning lady showed up at the Sherman home at around 8.30 a.m. for her weekly appointment. She got right to work, but that's when she heard a cell phone ringing. She followed the sound and noticed honey's cell was sitting on the powder room floor, only there was no sign of honey.

The cleaning woman eventually made her way to the primary bedroom to find that the bed was still made. It didn't appear to have been slept in the night before, which was unusual. Typically, the Sherman's left the bed on made so she could change the sheets. So she just wondered, did they forget she was coming? Well, apparently she wasn't the only one who wondered this.

Because around 10 a.m., the couple's real estate agent, Elise Stern, arrived. She tried to reach the couple a few times to see if she could show the house that afternoon. Figuring the couple was just busy with work, she decided to invite the clients and their agent over anyway and began touring them around the house shortly after. Elise, eager to show them one of the main features of the home,

led the prospective buyers down to the basement pool room. When she opened the glass door, she spotted Barry and Honey Sherman along the far side of the swimming pool. She apologized to them, turned to the couple and said the Sherman's appeared to be practicing yoga so they'd revisit the room later. So they were there?

Yes, in the pool room. And they're still just not replying to anyone. Is that a little weird? Yes. OK. Are they are they alive in there? Like she sees them. Well, as Elise led them back upstairs, she realized something just didn't seem right.

So she went back down for a better look and realized Barry and honey Sherman were seated in front of the pool. Their legs outstretched and both of their necks were tied with leather belts to the railing next to the pool. Oh my gosh. They were still wearing the same outfits they'd been spotted in at Apatex on Wednesday afternoon for their contract or meeting. The 75 year old Barry's face looked unharmed, but the 70-year-old honey had a fresh injury to her face.

And it was obvious to Elise that both had been dead for some time. By 11.43 AM, the police were dispatched to the Sherman's home. After countless hours of assessing the scene, one homicide detective came before the media to say, one, they appeared to be no forced entry into the home. And two, they weren't looking for any suspects at this time. What?

Now anyone who knew the Sherman said the no forced entry thing meant nothing. The Sherman's especially honey would open their home to any stranger that came knocking. Unfortunately, their property was also void of outdoor security cameras, which meant anyone coming and going might have been able to do so completely unnoticed. Oh, that surprises me that they're that wealthy and don't have any security cameras. In 2017. And yeah, that's, that doesn't make any sense. They are in their 70s though.

Maybe they figure, oh, we're in a super nice area. Nothing's going to happen. Maybe. So maybe they figure oh, we're in a super nice area. Nothing's gonna happen. Maybe But what really shocked the public was the second statement that the police weren't looking for any suspects at the time Mainly because they had already formed a theory that was going to prove hard for them to shake the police felt Confident this was a 100% a murder suicide. Yeah, no way. So on Saturday, December 16th, pathologists began autopseeing the shermans and almost right away they found something

that fills a bit counterintuitive to the murder suicide theory. Around Barry's neck, they discovered abrasions from the belt that had been looped around it. But there's a tiny horseshoe-shaped bone just above the Adam's apple called the hyoid bone. Typically, when someone is strangled violently or hanged, like it appeared Barry was, then this bone is broken.

Only Barry's was still perfectly in place. Plus, Barry had some marks around his wrists as if he'd been tied up with rope or plastic zip ties at some point. Except there was nothing still on his wrists when his body was found, almost as if they'd been removed. And as we know, someone who takes their own life can't then wake back up and remove the zip ties from their own wrists. As we know, you never know. As for honey, she had a giant cut on her face, but no bruising, which told pathologists that she was likely struck right before or after she had died, because bruises only form when the blood is circulating.

Like her husband, she had marks around her neck, but her hyoid bone wasn't broken either. So the reason this doesn't make sense with a murder suicide is it's almost like they were hanged after they were dead because their hyoid bones are still intact. Plus, she too had those inexplicable markings around her wrists. Still, they determine the Sherman's cause of death to be asphyxiation. Now, if you couldn't already sense it, there was a lot about this murder suicide theory that just wasn't adding up. For starters, Honey was about the same height and weight as Barry.

If he had attacked his wife, dragging her down to the pool room, that would have been a major feat for the unathletic Barry Sherman. Plus there was the method. If Barry Sherman did decide to kill his wife and then himself, A, you think he might leave behind a suicide note, and B, he might have chosen a less complicated method other than slowly strangling his partner and then himself. Also, if there's one thing I've learned about Billionaires is they don't commit suicide. I just feel like they don't.

They're too busy working and doing stuff. I feel like it doesn't happen. Really? I feel like rich people commit suicide all the time. Rich people are sure, but there's a difference between billionaires and rich people. That's interesting. Someone's going to fact check you on that. Yeah, fact check me.

Yeah, fact check me. Let's see it. So not to mention, if this was a murder suicide by hanging, it would be the first case in recorded history. When the Sherman's four kids hear the murder suicide theory from police, they are utterly offended by how quickly they're willing to close the case as such. Oh, I blame them. As they should be. Of course, people have demons that even family members are sometimes unaware of. But in a case like this that has evidence of foul play, it's

fair for them to say absolutely no way would bury take his or his wife's life. Not to mention, Barry and Honey were making plans. They had things to look forward to. Their youngest daughter, Kaelin, was getting married in Mexico in May. Honey had been packing for a trip to Miami just earlier that day, where Barry was scheduled to come meet her. They had a brand new grandchild they loved spending time with. As far as the Sherman kids were concerned,

suicide was just not on the menu. So they hired their own investigative team to get to the bottom of it all. Six weeks later, after reviewing the evidence and the autopsies, that team announced that they had their own theory about what had happened to Barry and Honey Sherman. Okay.

They suspected they had been deliberately, maybe even professionally, attacked in their home, and that the police should be treating this not like a murder suicide, but instead as a double homicide. Which I am sure the police did not like that they were told that. So I'm curious to see what they did next. Now the strange thing about this case is, when you have one as high profile as this, investigators usually pull out the big guns, right? Yep.

Like, all hands-on deck, let's use all resources we've got to find the culprits and look like heroes. So it's weird that Toronto police are not only quick to close the book on this one, like murder suicide done, they also seem to really drag their feet when it comes to doing any real investigating. For example, security apotecs hands them over the security footage just days after the deaths to see if there was any suspicious activity around the offices. Only police don't get into those tapes until well over a month later. Oh, something's going on. In January of 2018, a similar situation happened with one of the Sherman's neighbors.

Right after the Sherman's died, they said their security cameras captured some strange activity happening in front of the Sherman's home on Thursday, December 14th. This was the day before they were found. The video showed a dark, four-door car driving up and down the street and a man who appeared to enter the house three times over half an hour. Now, you think this would be a massive piece of evidence that the police should have been rushing to collect, only they didn't. Instead, the neighbors had to call the police several days in a row to ask if they were

coming to get the tape, mainly because every seven days the footage was written over by the next week's surveillance. They've got to be involved. There's got to be a payoff, there's some mob stuff going on somewhere. It was around the sixth day when the police finally came to collect the evidence. Which look, I get that there's probably a lot for the police to comb through. Maybe they just don't have the manpower to be on top of everything. But according to several sources, they dropped the ball in other areas as well. Like for months, they didn't obtain any DNA or fingerprints

from people who had come and gone from the Sherman household around the time they disappeared. But you think this would be the first thing they would do so they could eliminate people as suspects. And the Sherman's had a lot of people coming and going between real estate agents, perspective buyers, contractors, housekeepers, personal trainers. There, that's a lot of potential witnesses and suspects to rule out. Plus, those who worked with Barry, either at Apatex or on other ventures, waited months to finally give

their side of the story to authorities. But it seemed like the pressure of the private investigation finally got to the Toronto police. Because on January 26, 2018, the lead homicide detective finally admitted they too had dropped the suicide theory and now believed they were dealing with a double homicide. Right. So now they're on board, it just took a long time. Of course, the media went wild with theories about who could have been responsible

and all kinds of stories began to unfold, ranging from international assassins to hell's angels to the Clinton administration, none with any merit, of course, probably because the truth was much likely closer to home. Which I feel like it always is, kidnappings, anything like this. It is always so much closer to home than people realize. I would say yes. I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one because. Well, yeah, you did, you know this one. Okay, yeah, okay, take out the fact that I know the case. I think when you're dealing with high-end clientele or victims like this, it could definitely

be a lot more conspiracy theory than are you sure? with high-end clientele or victims like this, it could definitely be. Okay, I did. A lot more conspiracy theory than our usual cases. Yeah, like a competitor in the pharmaceutical business or something like that, which... Or the Clinton and Minision Artists can't. I'm gonna be honest, you just... You never know, man, I mean, all these pharmaceutical companies and billionaires, there's stuff going on. Yeah.

So one of the few suspects that stood out to both police and the Sherman family was someone Barry had recently been ensnared in a legal battle with. Lou Winters' sons, Jeffrey and Carrie Winter, which this is actually really sad, because now that means he's in a legal battle with his cousins. In 2011, Barry's cousins sued him, stating that he'd used the money from the sale of his father's company, Empire Pharmaceuticals, to create Apatex. And in their eyes, they weren't entitled to

their share of Sherman's new corporation. Kerry claimed that Barry had failed to honor the agreement they made when Barry bought Empire, a guaranteed job and company shares. And that Barry had made a handshake deal he never honored to instead give them a 20% ownership stake in Appetex. Oh, which is hard. Handshake deals don't mean crap, usually, depending. Uh, it's just so hard when you're talking about that much money. Yeah. Barry, of course, denied this clause ever existed and claimed the two companies were not intrinsically tied. Things got so heated, they eventually made their way to court.

But Barry ultimately won the battle as this alleged agreement couldn't be found anywhere in writing. Now as I mentioned, Barry made a lot of enemies in the courtroom, but this one stood out as a bit more threatening, particularly because Carrie admitted, when he heard about Barry and Honey's death, his mind went right to his brother, Jeffrey. Apparently, Jeffrey had expressed interest in killing Barry during their heated legal battle,

but when Carrie confronted Jeffrey, he claimed he had absolutely nothing to do with it. In fact, he hadn't even heard the news yet that it cousin had died. There was one other strange thing Carrie mentioned to reporters, though. So he said, back in the late 90s, when he and Barry were close, Barry had asked him to arrange a contract killing of honey. Get ready to travel more and travel better with Arrow Plant, the travel loyalty program connecting you to more than 1, 1300 destinations around the world with Air Canada and the largest airline partner network. With so many waste earn points every day and with flight rewards starting at just 6,000 points, your next trip is closer than you think. Visit aircanada.com

slash arrow plan to learn more and get closer to your next escape. Metrolinks and cross links are reminding everyone to be careful, as Eglinton Cross-town LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, this trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. So his cousin comes forward and says, yeah, back in the 90s when I was close with Barry, he asked me to arrange a killing of his wife. What?

According to Carrie, Barry often complained about being unhappy with his marriage and was looking for a way out while still keeping all of his money. Kerry even said he contacted someone who could help Barry, only Barry never followed up with the contract killer. Of course, there's absolutely no evidence to back up what Kerry said, and when asked if he thought Barry might have just been kidding about killing his wife, he admitted, yeah, maybe. Still, Kerry insisted that he had absolutely nothing to do with Barry and Honey's death, despite admitting to the fact that he had fantasized about killing them both at one point.

What is clear, however, is that the Winter family believed Barry Sherman had stolen their future from them. That they would have been able to live off their father's fortune had Barry not gobbled up the business and sold it off for parts. But Motive Alone wasn't enough for police to close in on the winter family, particularly because a lot of people had tenuous relationships with the billionaire, including a man named Frank DiAngelo. Frank was, let's just say, a jack of all traits, a singer, a movie producer, a restaurant owner,

a juice maker, and a beer baron. But most importantly, a charmer, who seemed to have found a soft spot in Barry Sherman's heart. The duo met in 2001 when Frank's Apple Juice Company was looking for a processing plant. At the time, Barry owned a bankrupt factory in Ontario and a mutual friend suggested the two should meet up, and the rest was history. Despite having a criminal background, Barry took a strong liking to Frank, mainly because he was a guy who always had good ideas,

but never knew how to make them a reality. But Barry did. And he began investing in a variety of Frank's ventures, from movies, to beard, to soft drinks. Problem was, Frank didn't quite understand how to keep many of these businesses alive once they were off the ground. And he had a hard time paying Barry back, like $100 million worth of a hard time. Why would you keep even lending him money?

It's how to soft spots for him, so over time, Barry could no longer justify always bailing Frank out. To clean up some of the mess, Barry put his son Jonathan in charge of Frank's beer company and asked Frank to take a step back in some of his other ventures declaring bankruptcy on a few in 2007. And as a courtesy, he offered Frank a monthly allowance. And while Frank tried to get Barry to change his mind, saying that profits were just around the corner, Barry was hesitant.

Dude, he's given you a monthly allowance too. It seemed interesting. Over the years, he did end up reinvesting with Frank even though Jonathan wildly discouraged it. Now I know you're probably wondering why Frank's name comes up when people talk about suspects. But it's mainly because the Sherman children pegged him as the most likely possibility after their parents died. So the family members feel like Frank could be a suspect.

They've openly theorized that Frank was involved, or at the very least, might have roped Barry into a shady deal that eventually got him and honey killed. They even refused to let Frank come to the couple's funeral. But many, including the police, think Frank isn't unlikely culprit. When Barry died, Frank's cash flow stopped. And Frank insisted Barry was a close friend like a brother to him, plus he had an alibi at the time of their deaths. I was just going to say that. It doesn't make sense at a time because he's the one giving him all the money and paying him. He kills him. He doesn't make any money. His alibi is he was playing in a local hockey league

around the supposed time of the murders, which I just had to include because we're in Canada. And of course, he was playing in a hockey league. Now, Frank wasn't the only potentially sketchy character that Barry did business with. Barry had his hand in all kinds of failed projects from dating apps to brokering yachts to real estate investments, many of which ended up in court, like I said, causing Barry to collect more enemies.

In fact, on the day Barry Sherman died, his lawyers filed a lawsuit against a trivia game company that he'd invested in. Needless to say, Barry's portfolio sounded like a bit of a mess, but there's been other theories over the years like the possibility that this was some kind of robbery gone wrong. After all, there had been over 160 reported break-ins around the Sherman's neighborhood in the year before their death. So the way you're going with this right now, are you telling me that this is a cold case? Are you going to be heartbroken?

I'm going to be very heartbroken because now all the conspiracy theories come up and how is that possible? Like how does a billionaire get murdered and no one has any idea who did it? That is that's bull crap. There's no way That is reality. That's what's happening here. All right. Keep going. What's here? So the burglary theory the Sherman's house had been burglarized just the year before when thieves dropped through the skylights So was it possible that the Sherman's just happened to catch a robber in the act maybe So was it possible that the Sherman's just happened to catch a robber in the act? Maybe.

But others say their death might have been meant to send a message. With the Sherman's being such a strong supporter of the Jewish community, there have been a few who wondered if this was some sort of anti-Semitic attack against the couple. Of course, there's been very little evidence to support this claim either. But in 2019, the Toronto police announced they did have a theory about what might have happened and who might have done it. Only they've never shared that theory publicly out of fear of it muddling the investigation. Oh, it has to be some of their pharmaceutical company, the government, the mob has got to

be something crazy. So in 2021, however, they did release an important piece of evidence that could shine light on the couple's killer. That video, taken from the neighbor's security camera, remember the one they almost didn't collect, was finally revealed. Oh, okay. It showed what appeared to be a man between 5'6 and 5'9", in black pants and a black jacket with a hood pulled over his head, and he's walking around in front of the Sherman home around the time the murders took place.

To this day, police have not been able to determine who this person was, but they feel confident they aren't local to the neighborhood. In fact, since their deaths, no one has been arrested in the case of Barry and Honey Sherman, though many believe that the couple likely knew their killer, or at the very least the killer knew them. Whoever entered the house knew that both Barry and Honey would be home around the same time that night, something that didn't happen very often since the two had such busy schedules. They also knew how to get into the house, or how to be invited in, without having to force their way. And chances are, they weren't very seasoned at staging a murder suicide considering the mistakes they left behind, like the marks left around the wrists

and the lack of broken hyoid bone. But this still hasn't brought the family any closer to getting the answers they deserve. Jonathan Sherman is offering a $35 million reward to anyone with a tip. Oh my gosh, I'm going to Canada. That might lead to the arrest of his parents killer. We're moving to Canada.

So if you or anyone you know has information about the Sherman's, you can email Sherman tips at torontopolice.on.ca or call Crime Stoppers at 416-228477. And that is the case of Barry and Honey Sherman. It's got to be something deep because there's no way that you can, that can happen to billionaires and nothing, nothing happens because whoever did it like, he didn't get any money from them. Like what, what, what would he have really got from them? Had to be like an enemy. Yeah, so it was an enemy, it was an inside job,

because there's just too much, yeah, that's crazy, that's crazy, there's nothing, or maybe it has been discovered who did it and maybe they are staying out of it, which is maybe why I should say out of it because I don't want to get killed either. True. So, I don't want to get killed either. True. So I don't know, that's insane.

I just think it's just another case of how devastating for a family that their parents are murdered at 70 years old and there's no answers. Oh yeah, that's horrible. All right, you guys, that is our case for this week. Happy holidays, we hope you have a great week and we will see you on Christmas morning with another episode. I love it.

And I hate it. Goodbye.