$10M offered to find killer of billionaire couple
REWARD OFFER Family steps up after police probe stalls
The frustrated family of Barry and Honey Sherman are offering a $10-million reward for solving the high-profile murders of one of Canada’s richest couples, found dead in their Toronto mansion last December, in a bid to “light the fire” under what was described as a failing police investigation. Toronto police investigators failed to examine a lock that points to forced entry into the home, failed to vacuum the crime scene for hair or fibre evidence and missed 25 palm or finger prints later found at the scene, Sherman family lawyer Brian Greenspan said at a press conference Friday, cataloguing some of the errors or omissions he alleged police made. Greenspan urged Toronto police to embrace an unprecedented public-private partnership to solve the case, adding the family’s substantial resources to the heavy workload of Toronto police. He stood next to four members of the private team of investigators the family has funded, all of whom are distinguished former police officers, inside one of many buildings in Toronto of Apotex, the pharmaceutical giant founded by Barry Sherman in 1974. Barry, 75, turned Apotex generic drug manufacturing powerhouse, his fortune estimated at more than $4 billion at the time of his death. Honey, 70, was born in a displaced persons camp to two Holocaust survivors and was on number of community boards. Together, the couple gave millions of dollars away to charities and to support community services and institutions. The couple was in the process of selling their home on Old Colony Rd. when a real estate agent found their bodies dangling side-by-side on low railings around their indoor pool on Dec. 15.
At the time of the shocking discovery, police said there were no signs of forced entry and no suspects at large for the public to be concerned about. The initial police hypothesis was murder-suicide, a contention friends and family of the Shermans say is impossible. Toronto police later branded the deaths as a targeted double homicide but police have made no arrests and released no updates on the investigation. Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders was quick to defend his officers’ work, saying Greenspan did not have all the information detectives have uncovered to date. “If you have an opinion on it, you’re entitled to that opinion,” Saunders said of Greenspan’s criticism. “We don’t deal with opinions, we deal with facts.” The police chief added, however, that while rewards are not always effective, he supported the offer of one in this case. “Mr. Greenspan has the same objective as we do, to solve this double homicide,” Saunders said at a news conference held shortly after Greenspan’s announcement. The family’s mistrust of police started the night of the discovery. The next day, the family retained Greenspan to assist in pressing their case to police and to the public. Greenspan said the initial mischaracterization of the nature of the case jeopardized and compromised the investigation, and that the police wasted resources and time by not aggressively and immediately chasing a killer or killers. It gave the public “a false sense of security,” he said. Despite growing concern over the 10 months since their deaths, Greenspan said, and as the private investigative team has itemized apparent police mistakes or oversights, the family sat in “silence and frustration” — until now. The public statement and reward are designed to assist the probe. “We’re trying to light the fire,” Greenspan said. “After more than 10 months of silence and frustration, the Sherman family felt it appropriate for the public to understand why they believe that it is time for a new initiative.” Despite holding the crime scene for six weeks, Greenspan said the private team, led by Tom Klatt, a former Toronto homicide detective and veteran private investigator, found significant apparent oversights. The Toronto police failed to properly examine and assess the crime scene, Greenspan said. The most perplexing and upsetting aspect of the investigation was the failure to recognize the obvious: that the bodies of Barry and Hon- ey Sherman were staged post mortem “in a very deliberate manner,” said Greenspan. The bodies were found sitting side-by-side at the edge of their indoor pool with belts looped around their necks and attached to a low railing, holding them upright. Barry’s legs were outstretched and crossed, his eyeglasses were in place and his jacket pulled down at the back in a way that would have prevented him using his arms. He outlined other alleged failings Friday, including: Officers failed to recognize the “suspicious and staged manner” of the deaths. A thorough investigation of all points of entry into the home was not done or had missed a potentially key piece of information that could have helped police more quickly focus their investigation: a lock that may have been tampered with or forced. The immediate area where the bodies were found was not vacuumed, as is expected, in an effort to collect hair, fibres or other tiny elements the killers left behind. Police forensic investigators missed “at least 25 palm or fingerprint impressions that were discovered by our private team at the scene once the house had been turned over to us,” Greenspan said. Prints and DNA that were found were not compared with those of people known to have been at the scene, as is typically done, to narrow the search for evidence of unexpected or unknown people who had been there. “The failure to follow simple procedures regarding print elimination fell below the best-practice standards,” he said.