Family starts private probe
Toronto police investigators reveal little information about billionaires’ deaths
Relatives reach out to legal heavy hitter Brian Greenspan to investigate couple’s deaths,
Grieving relatives of Barry and Honey Sherman have sought the help of a legal heavy hitter to conduct their own investigation into the couple’s deaths.
Toronto lawyer Brian Greenspan confirmed to the Star Wednesday night that he is offering informal help to the family of the billionaire philanthropist and his wife, whose mysterious deaths have shocked the city.
“I have been serving as a resource person for the Sherman family and Barry and Honey were people who I admired and respect,” Greenspan said. “The family did contact me to be a resource person for them and I’ll fill that role.”
Greenspan said he had no further comment on how the investigation would be conducted or when it will begin.
Six days after their bodies were discovered in the North York home they had recently put up for sale, there are few answers and countless questions about what led to the deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman.
The Canadian billionaires — Barry was the founder of the massive drug company Apotex — died last week, news that has made headlines across Canada and run in news outlets in the U.S., Israel, Australia and beyond. And yet, much remains to be known about the deaths of the Shermans. Here’s what we know, and don’t know, so far about the deaths:
The bodies of Barry Sherman, 75, and Honey Sherman, 70, were found inside their home at 50 Old Colony Rd. on Dec. 15. Toronto police confirmed that the 911 call came in at 11:44 a.m. A Toronto police source told the Star it was the Shermans’ real estate agent, who had been helping sell the home recently listed for $6.9 million, who found the bodies, entering the home after being unable to make contact with the couple.
A detective confirmed no suspect was being sought and police have not said otherwise in the days since. An early working theory for investigators was that the deaths were a murder-suicide.
Their four children released a statement blasting that scenario as a “rumour.”
Two days after the bodies were found, the Toronto police homicide squad officially took over as lead investigator; however, neither death has been deemed a homicide.
Police are still calling the deaths suspicious.
A post-mortem conducted on the Shermans Saturday and Sunday-concluded the cause of death for both Shermans had been “ligature neck compression.” The pathological term describes death from hanging or strangulation with a ligature — an object such as a belt or rope. A police source told the Star that the couple was found together, by their indoor pool, hanging off a nearby structure in a semi-sitting position.
Possibilities in the deaths include murder-suicide, double suicide or double homicide, former homicide cops say. Still yet to come back are toxicology results, which may help provide new information, including whether any drugs had been ingested.