Lexiintoronto
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From 2021, Kevin Donovan of The Toronto Star, a brief background of who Honey and Barry were and who they were connected to:
Canada - Barry & Honey Sherman, Toronto, 15 Dec 2017 MEDIA, MAPS & TIMELINE *NO DISCUSSION*
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Lexiintoronto
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My notes on the Crave documentary based on Kevin Donovan’s book The Billionaire Murders. (Post one of two. There are four episodes.)
Episode 1:
If you’re familiar with the story of what happened on Friday the 15th, that’s where the documentary starts. They have Kevin Donovan (KD) narrating as actors play the people in the house who make the discovery of the bodies.
The pool scene that you can see on the previews is graphic and eerie. Throughout both episodes they frequently cut back to that scene: Barry and Honey in a misty pool room that is illuminated only by the glow of the pool lights. It looks exactly like them and they pull in for close ups, which made my heart drop each time.
They have a number of people narrating with different insights: a former FBI profiler, Honey’s anonymous service provider who is very frank (her image and voice is altered), friends of the Shermans, Kerry Winter’s lawyer, an Apotex lawyer, Joe Warmington, various experts, and some others.
The story is told from Donovan’s perspective from the point he is handed the story by his editor at the Star and told to solve it.
He starts by trying to access the warrants and ITOs that are normally available to the public, but finds the judge has sealed them.
KD: “When someone tells me I can’t see something, it’s usually one of the best days of my life. Because I know I’m going try and see whatever they don’t want me to see.”
I think that’s the theme of this whole story: KD is uncovering the truth about what others are trying to hide.
He tells us how he cracked the case piece by piece.
They take a deep-dive into the origin stories of Barry and Honey.
Honey’s parents survived Nazi work camps and made it to a DP camp where Honey was born.
Her mother was described as harsh and demanding, and her father was described as immersed in what happened during the Holocaust. Her past had a great impact on her and shaped her life. Several people spoke of what it was like to be a child of that generation that survived the Holocaust.
They go into Honey’s personality at length. She was described as charming, but often harsh. She was rude to wait staff and service people. But she could also be warm, kind and generous once you got past that outer bitter layer. Some said her harsh exterior may have been a defence mechanism for her. People loved her and she was a high-energy, fun person. She was very bright and accomplished. Very dynamic. But she was human and had her flaws.
Barry was described as being Honey’s opposite. He was lethargic and sounded lonely as a child as he was bullied. He wasn’t athletic and he didn’t do well at elementary school. He was teased by both classmates and teachers (that wasn’t all in the documentary, but they touched on those issues.) His father died when he was 10, which threw his life into turmoil. He decided to help his mother out financially by taking every job he could.
In high school he discovered that he did well when tested. (I think that’s an important point and a possible personality trait that endured.)
He applied himself academically during high school and passed the Ontario tests (‘firsts’) and became Ontario’s top student. He went on to become an MIT rocket scientist.
Episode 2:
This episode focused on Kerry Winter’s story. There’s enough about it online so that I don’t have to recap it.
Brad Garrett (Former FBI Profiler, Crime & Terrorism), his view of the crime: “It’s all about a long-term abusive relationship between Barry and Honey and whoever killed them.” He thinks it was a personal crime.
Shashank Upadhye, former in-house counsel for Apotex spoke about when Frank D’Angelo would visit Barry at the office. He had an office close to Barry’s.
He said despite the closed doors and the walls in between, he could hear Frank yelling at Barry.
“What I heard was verbal abuse. And Barry took it for years and years and years.”
Lexiintoronto
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Kevin Donovan’s Billionaire Murders Documentary— my summary.
Episode 3:
There is a recap of the previous episodes where Honey was described as harsh and one person is quoted as telling her: ‘you can’t just do that, you can’t speak to people that way!’.
A friend described Barry as a rule-breaker, making big financial bets, side businesses, and that he was a ‘deal junky’.
Frank D’Angelo is featured in this episode. Barry financed many of his business ventures and he is described as Barry’s friend. Frank recalls his first meeting with Barry about taking over a beverage bottling plant Barry owned. Notably, Frank describes himself as being very respectful towards him, using the formal ‘yes, Sir’ when addressing him.
Barry backed all his ideas, including paying for air time for the infomercial-type show ‘Being Frank’, and funding his 7 movies. Apparently Barry loved the movie business.
Many people who knew Barry did not like his relationship with Frank as they described Frank as ‘shady’ and his business ventures were questionable. Jack Kay many times told Barry: ‘you’ve got to cut him loose’.
Former In-house legal counsel Shashank Upadhye is in this episode. He previously was quoted as saying Frank shouted verbal abuse at Barry for many years. In this episode, Shashank says he overheard Frank often yelling at Barry about financing, and needing investment money. Barry was quiet, not the type to shout back; he’d ask probing questions. Shashank suggested to Barry that he (Shashank) could ‘call security and get this guy thrown out’. Barry said no.
Frank started Steelback beer brewery with Barry’s money. Under Frank’s control, Steelback mounted up $120 million in debt from over 400 creditors. $101 million of that debt was owed to Barry.
The Sherman heirs disliked Frank and asked Jack Kay to tell him he was not invited to the memorial or funeral.
Steelback’s formation and its quick rise and fall is discussed. Jonathon took control from Frank, but it went under.
Steelback beer was described as being terrible.
Everyone described Barry’s & Frank’s relationship as odd.
KD speculates that Barry treated him like a son, and Jonathon wanted that attention from Barry for himself.
One person is quoted as saying Barry loved Frank (as a friend). And Frank talks about what a good friend he was to him.
Frank’s best story about Barry: Barry called him one afternoon and asked him if they could meet to discuss something, and suggested Frank’s restaurant which wasn’t open at that hour. Frank met him and offered Barry something to eat and made him penne and bread, and they had a few glasses of wine. They ate and talked and Frank asked him what he wanted to talk to him about. Barry said ‘nothing. I just wanted to have lunch!’ Frank said why didn’t you just ask me to make you lunch?! and Barry laughed. He seemed too embarrassed to have asked Frank straight out to cook for him.
Frank said he spoke to Barry ‘every day’, except for that last week. He spoke to him only on Monday, after Barry missed Frank’s Christmas lunch that he normally attended. (My note: KD has previously reported that call happened on Tuesday night, the night before the murders.)
This episode has frequent cuts to the graphic design images of Barry and Honey deceased in the pool room, with close ups and from different angles.
KD said that he and the private investigators have checked, and Frank has an alibi for the evening of the murders.
Frank is upset that he’s portrayed as ‘shady’.
Mary Shechtman reportedly told KD that she didn’t think Frank was involved because he ‘lost everything’ when Barry died.
KD speaks about setting up the meeting with Jonathon. (Details have been previously reported, I won’t repeat them. There’s a summary and excerpt in this media thread.)
KD believes Barry looked at Frank like a son, a son who really tried hard.
KD gets into the 2015 email argument between Barry and Jonathon about Frank and a ‘palace coup’ (also in this media thread.)
The Brian Greenspan team investigation is detailed, all things we know.
KD says he believes the Thursday morning visitor who was at the Sherman home the morning after the murders was a plain clothes police officer responding to a 911 call that was made, possibly by Honey the night before. (More of that in the next episode summary.)
The trustees didn’t want it to be known who they were. A Sherman friend on the documentary said she knew of a home (in Forest Hill) that Barry had bought. After the murders, the owners on title were changed to the trustees of the estate, and publicly noted. That helped KD in his bid to uncover the estate files that were sealed: since the heirs and trustees were publicly known, there was no possible further security risk to them by unsealing the documents and making it all public.
The destruction of 50 Old Colony is discussed. A friend watched it and saw Honey’s table lamp and desk chair she used, and family photographs destroyed. She was baffled as to why so many items were destroyed with the home.
KD says the police have a theory of case, they just can’t prove it. It’s related to the estate.
Alexandra has told many people that she suspects Jonathon, it’s not a secret.
Preview of Episode 4: did Honey have a will? KD’s visit to Jonathon’s home. KD has a theory.
Episode 4
The entire series has frequently cut to recreated images of the hall leading to the pool room and the room itself, with the deceased Shermans accurately depicted. This episode gives closeups.
KD discusses the sculptures in the home that are posed similarly to how the Shermans were found.
Former FBI profiler: This crime reeks of someone they know or someone really close to them.
KD speaks of the effect of the pandemic and the stall in obtaining information about the investigation. KD gets hold of witness interviews. Each of the four children identify people they believe are suspects, but it is blacked out.
The relationship between Honey and her children was not a positive one. Anonymous service worker: ‘The times that I heard them speak to her, they were just rude. It was hilarious because she was pretty nice and timid, and they spoke to her the way that she spoke to other people that she didn’t know. They were incredibly disrespectful.’ <Previously this person said that Honey was rude to wait staff and service people she didn’t know >.
Barry was in financial trouble prior to the murders as he was not liquid and owed a $580 million judgement. He was calling in loans.
Jonathon agreed to an interview at his home, and KD told a family source about it. A family source called him quickly and told him to ‘watch his back’: Alexandra believes he was involved in the murders.
KD describes meeting Jonathon. He videotaped his drive to the home and discusses how he told someone in LE that he was going to meet him.
Jonathon lives on a heavily wooded large estate. KD arrives, but doesn’t see anyone.
KD wonders if it’s a set up, and says “Once more unto the breach” (It’s a Shakespeare quote: ‘Once more unto the breach … or close the wall up with our English dead', which can be paraphrased as 'charge at the wall once more or die in the attempt'.)
KD says Jonathon would look off to the side when answering KD’s questions. KD describes the interview we all know (excerpt and link in this media thread.)
KD recalls that Jonathon said he believes Frank had something he was holding over Barry, but doesn’t know what it was.
To establish his alibi, Jonathon showed him a photo of his hand with crypto currency codes connected to an account, time stamped 7:17, December 13th, the night of the murders. The documentary has an illustration of the photo. It had the words : ‘cycle, giants, rollover, camping, yellow,’ (some words and numbers were covered by his fingers), a series of numbers and letters.
KD said he told Jonathon that he would still have had time to drive to Old Colony to kill them.
KD says he had previously spoken to a friend of Jonathon’s who had told him he was Jonathon’s alibi: he was with him on the night of the murders. (Later this friend says he was mistaken, he was with him on Thursday night.)
Jonathon: “Only *I* know that I didn’t kill my parents. I’m the only person that knows that.”
The 3 sisters are now against him.
Jonathon discussed firing Jack Kay as being necessary as Kay was ‘micromanaging’.
KD: ‘I believed some of the things Jonathon said. I didn’t believe everything he said. But I don’t have the proof to disprove some of the key things he said’. (That’s verbatim.)
KD recalls talking with Alexandra. She said Jonathon is ‘power hungry and she didn’t like it.’ She grew up knowing Jack Kay. She said Jonathon started butting heads with him after the murders. Jonathon was trying to control everything.
Joe Warmington recounts talking to Jack Kay. Kay told him ‘as in many murders: follow the money’.
KD discusses winning the the SCC case, a huge win. (Details in this media thread.) He got hold of hundreds of documents about the estate at 5:30, got back to the office at 6:30, and the story was online by 9:00 pm.
KD was surprised Honey died intestate. The anonymous person in this series tells of once meeting Honey a few weeks before the murders and how Honey told her that she had just updated her will.
The estate is divided between the four heirs. KD: ‘Are they in anyway involved? I don’t know. I do know the police consider the estate part of their investigation.’ He would expect at this point that the police would say the family is not involved. ‘We’ve not heard that’—KD.
Many photos and closeups of Jonathon in this episode.
KD has interviewed over 250 people connected to this case.
The day of December 13th was talked about, moment by moment (outlined in this media thread), up to the time Honey arrived home.
KD believes she arrived home at 8:20 pm, and was attacked when arriving: she was either with someone who attacked her, or someone was waiting there.
He believes she ran for the front door and dropped her phone (in the previous episode he suggested she may have tried to call 911).
She was brought to the pool either unconscious or deceased.
Meanwhile, at Apotex, Barry had no idea about what had happened at home. He sent his last email from his desktop computer at Apotex at 8:23 pm, and was home by 9:00pm.
(My note: KD has reported that lawyer Doug Hendler called Barry at 9:01 pm and that call went to voicemail. So it is possible that Barry had been accosted by that point.)
A friend says she believes the killer was waiting in the pool room and saw Barry’s headlights through the glass brick wall of the pool room as he entered the underground garage. That’s how they knew he was home. They went down the hallway and met him as he entered the home.
KD believes: Barry was taken to the pool room while still alive, and he was showed Honey. Whoever did this to him wanted him to see his wife in that situation (bloodied, tied to the railing by her neck, unconscious or deceased). He was then killed with a thin ligature and staged similarly to the statues in the home. (The pathologist said he believed there was significance to how Barry’s legs were crossed and the way he was posed or staged.)
The thin ligature was used to kill them, the belts simply kept them in position. FBI profiler: that was done as a shock factor for whoever walks in and finds them. Pathologist: the killer took delight in setting the scene.
KD discusses the Thursday morning visitor caught on cctv at the home, and the 911 call that was being investigated on Old Colony at the same time. He believes Honey made that 911 call using her cell phone on Wednesday evening when she was first attacked. (It’s difficult for the police to track 911 calls from cell phones, especially brief ones.)
A clip of Chief Saunders saying he knew who the Thursday morning visitor was and why he was at the home is played. (No one else knows who the Thursday visitor is, including the Sherman PIs). To KD, that means the visitor was a plain clothes officer in an unmarked car.
Friday, December 15th morning and the discovery of the bodies is discussed, and then the ‘Walking Man’ suspect is talked about (details are in the timeline and posts in this media thread.)
Police looked at about 300 people in the Shermans’ orbit from about September of 2017, to about 2 days after the murders to see if anyone was tracking them.
Police have cleared a few people, but their names are redacted in the court documents.
Different friends of the Shermans commend Kevin Donovan for his work on the case.
Clips of the interviews of dear Sherman friends Murray and Roda Rubin have been showed throughout the series and they’re given some of the last words, (and it’s heart wrenching).
Murray Rubin: ‘Why can’t they find who did it?! That’s all I think about.’
Last words—
Kevin Donovan: I have a theory of the case. I have a belief that I know who did it. I think the police share the same belief. They know that I’m not going away anytime soon. I’m going to keep fighting this fight. I do think that one day, the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman will be found out. I think that somebody out there knows a piece of information that will help. And my hunt continues.
Episode 3:
There is a recap of the previous episodes where Honey was described as harsh and one person is quoted as telling her: ‘you can’t just do that, you can’t speak to people that way!’.
A friend described Barry as a rule-breaker, making big financial bets, side businesses, and that he was a ‘deal junky’.
Frank D’Angelo is featured in this episode. Barry financed many of his business ventures and he is described as Barry’s friend. Frank recalls his first meeting with Barry about taking over a beverage bottling plant Barry owned. Notably, Frank describes himself as being very respectful towards him, using the formal ‘yes, Sir’ when addressing him.
Barry backed all his ideas, including paying for air time for the infomercial-type show ‘Being Frank’, and funding his 7 movies. Apparently Barry loved the movie business.
Many people who knew Barry did not like his relationship with Frank as they described Frank as ‘shady’ and his business ventures were questionable. Jack Kay many times told Barry: ‘you’ve got to cut him loose’.
Former In-house legal counsel Shashank Upadhye is in this episode. He previously was quoted as saying Frank shouted verbal abuse at Barry for many years. In this episode, Shashank says he overheard Frank often yelling at Barry about financing, and needing investment money. Barry was quiet, not the type to shout back; he’d ask probing questions. Shashank suggested to Barry that he (Shashank) could ‘call security and get this guy thrown out’. Barry said no.
Frank started Steelback beer brewery with Barry’s money. Under Frank’s control, Steelback mounted up $120 million in debt from over 400 creditors. $101 million of that debt was owed to Barry.
The Sherman heirs disliked Frank and asked Jack Kay to tell him he was not invited to the memorial or funeral.
Steelback’s formation and its quick rise and fall is discussed. Jonathon took control from Frank, but it went under.
Steelback beer was described as being terrible.
Everyone described Barry’s & Frank’s relationship as odd.
KD speculates that Barry treated him like a son, and Jonathon wanted that attention from Barry for himself.
One person is quoted as saying Barry loved Frank (as a friend). And Frank talks about what a good friend he was to him.
Frank’s best story about Barry: Barry called him one afternoon and asked him if they could meet to discuss something, and suggested Frank’s restaurant which wasn’t open at that hour. Frank met him and offered Barry something to eat and made him penne and bread, and they had a few glasses of wine. They ate and talked and Frank asked him what he wanted to talk to him about. Barry said ‘nothing. I just wanted to have lunch!’ Frank said why didn’t you just ask me to make you lunch?! and Barry laughed. He seemed too embarrassed to have asked Frank straight out to cook for him.
Frank said he spoke to Barry ‘every day’, except for that last week. He spoke to him only on Monday, after Barry missed Frank’s Christmas lunch that he normally attended. (My note: KD has previously reported that call happened on Tuesday night, the night before the murders.)
This episode has frequent cuts to the graphic design images of Barry and Honey deceased in the pool room, with close ups and from different angles.
KD said that he and the private investigators have checked, and Frank has an alibi for the evening of the murders.
Frank is upset that he’s portrayed as ‘shady’.
Mary Shechtman reportedly told KD that she didn’t think Frank was involved because he ‘lost everything’ when Barry died.
KD speaks about setting up the meeting with Jonathon. (Details have been previously reported, I won’t repeat them. There’s a summary and excerpt in this media thread.)
KD believes Barry looked at Frank like a son, a son who really tried hard.
KD gets into the 2015 email argument between Barry and Jonathon about Frank and a ‘palace coup’ (also in this media thread.)
The Brian Greenspan team investigation is detailed, all things we know.
KD says he believes the Thursday morning visitor who was at the Sherman home the morning after the murders was a plain clothes police officer responding to a 911 call that was made, possibly by Honey the night before. (More of that in the next episode summary.)
The trustees didn’t want it to be known who they were. A Sherman friend on the documentary said she knew of a home (in Forest Hill) that Barry had bought. After the murders, the owners on title were changed to the trustees of the estate, and publicly noted. That helped KD in his bid to uncover the estate files that were sealed: since the heirs and trustees were publicly known, there was no possible further security risk to them by unsealing the documents and making it all public.
The destruction of 50 Old Colony is discussed. A friend watched it and saw Honey’s table lamp and desk chair she used, and family photographs destroyed. She was baffled as to why so many items were destroyed with the home.
KD says the police have a theory of case, they just can’t prove it. It’s related to the estate.
Alexandra has told many people that she suspects Jonathon, it’s not a secret.
Preview of Episode 4: did Honey have a will? KD’s visit to Jonathon’s home. KD has a theory.
Episode 4
The entire series has frequently cut to recreated images of the hall leading to the pool room and the room itself, with the deceased Shermans accurately depicted. This episode gives closeups.
KD discusses the sculptures in the home that are posed similarly to how the Shermans were found.
Former FBI profiler: This crime reeks of someone they know or someone really close to them.
KD speaks of the effect of the pandemic and the stall in obtaining information about the investigation. KD gets hold of witness interviews. Each of the four children identify people they believe are suspects, but it is blacked out.
The relationship between Honey and her children was not a positive one. Anonymous service worker: ‘The times that I heard them speak to her, they were just rude. It was hilarious because she was pretty nice and timid, and they spoke to her the way that she spoke to other people that she didn’t know. They were incredibly disrespectful.’ <Previously this person said that Honey was rude to wait staff and service people she didn’t know >.
Barry was in financial trouble prior to the murders as he was not liquid and owed a $580 million judgement. He was calling in loans.
Jonathon agreed to an interview at his home, and KD told a family source about it. A family source called him quickly and told him to ‘watch his back’: Alexandra believes he was involved in the murders.
KD describes meeting Jonathon. He videotaped his drive to the home and discusses how he told someone in LE that he was going to meet him.
Jonathon lives on a heavily wooded large estate. KD arrives, but doesn’t see anyone.
KD wonders if it’s a set up, and says “Once more unto the breach” (It’s a Shakespeare quote: ‘Once more unto the breach … or close the wall up with our English dead', which can be paraphrased as 'charge at the wall once more or die in the attempt'.)
KD says Jonathon would look off to the side when answering KD’s questions. KD describes the interview we all know (excerpt and link in this media thread.)
KD recalls that Jonathon said he believes Frank had something he was holding over Barry, but doesn’t know what it was.
To establish his alibi, Jonathon showed him a photo of his hand with crypto currency codes connected to an account, time stamped 7:17, December 13th, the night of the murders. The documentary has an illustration of the photo. It had the words : ‘cycle, giants, rollover, camping, yellow,’ (some words and numbers were covered by his fingers), a series of numbers and letters.
KD said he told Jonathon that he would still have had time to drive to Old Colony to kill them.
KD says he had previously spoken to a friend of Jonathon’s who had told him he was Jonathon’s alibi: he was with him on the night of the murders. (Later this friend says he was mistaken, he was with him on Thursday night.)
Jonathon: “Only *I* know that I didn’t kill my parents. I’m the only person that knows that.”
The 3 sisters are now against him.
Jonathon discussed firing Jack Kay as being necessary as Kay was ‘micromanaging’.
KD: ‘I believed some of the things Jonathon said. I didn’t believe everything he said. But I don’t have the proof to disprove some of the key things he said’. (That’s verbatim.)
KD recalls talking with Alexandra. She said Jonathon is ‘power hungry and she didn’t like it.’ She grew up knowing Jack Kay. She said Jonathon started butting heads with him after the murders. Jonathon was trying to control everything.
Joe Warmington recounts talking to Jack Kay. Kay told him ‘as in many murders: follow the money’.
KD discusses winning the the SCC case, a huge win. (Details in this media thread.) He got hold of hundreds of documents about the estate at 5:30, got back to the office at 6:30, and the story was online by 9:00 pm.
KD was surprised Honey died intestate. The anonymous person in this series tells of once meeting Honey a few weeks before the murders and how Honey told her that she had just updated her will.
The estate is divided between the four heirs. KD: ‘Are they in anyway involved? I don’t know. I do know the police consider the estate part of their investigation.’ He would expect at this point that the police would say the family is not involved. ‘We’ve not heard that’—KD.
Many photos and closeups of Jonathon in this episode.
KD has interviewed over 250 people connected to this case.
The day of December 13th was talked about, moment by moment (outlined in this media thread), up to the time Honey arrived home.
KD believes she arrived home at 8:20 pm, and was attacked when arriving: she was either with someone who attacked her, or someone was waiting there.
He believes she ran for the front door and dropped her phone (in the previous episode he suggested she may have tried to call 911).
She was brought to the pool either unconscious or deceased.
Meanwhile, at Apotex, Barry had no idea about what had happened at home. He sent his last email from his desktop computer at Apotex at 8:23 pm, and was home by 9:00pm.
(My note: KD has reported that lawyer Doug Hendler called Barry at 9:01 pm and that call went to voicemail. So it is possible that Barry had been accosted by that point.)
A friend says she believes the killer was waiting in the pool room and saw Barry’s headlights through the glass brick wall of the pool room as he entered the underground garage. That’s how they knew he was home. They went down the hallway and met him as he entered the home.
KD believes: Barry was taken to the pool room while still alive, and he was showed Honey. Whoever did this to him wanted him to see his wife in that situation (bloodied, tied to the railing by her neck, unconscious or deceased). He was then killed with a thin ligature and staged similarly to the statues in the home. (The pathologist said he believed there was significance to how Barry’s legs were crossed and the way he was posed or staged.)
The thin ligature was used to kill them, the belts simply kept them in position. FBI profiler: that was done as a shock factor for whoever walks in and finds them. Pathologist: the killer took delight in setting the scene.
KD discusses the Thursday morning visitor caught on cctv at the home, and the 911 call that was being investigated on Old Colony at the same time. He believes Honey made that 911 call using her cell phone on Wednesday evening when she was first attacked. (It’s difficult for the police to track 911 calls from cell phones, especially brief ones.)
A clip of Chief Saunders saying he knew who the Thursday morning visitor was and why he was at the home is played. (No one else knows who the Thursday visitor is, including the Sherman PIs). To KD, that means the visitor was a plain clothes officer in an unmarked car.
Friday, December 15th morning and the discovery of the bodies is discussed, and then the ‘Walking Man’ suspect is talked about (details are in the timeline and posts in this media thread.)
Police looked at about 300 people in the Shermans’ orbit from about September of 2017, to about 2 days after the murders to see if anyone was tracking them.
Police have cleared a few people, but their names are redacted in the court documents.
Different friends of the Shermans commend Kevin Donovan for his work on the case.
Clips of the interviews of dear Sherman friends Murray and Roda Rubin have been showed throughout the series and they’re given some of the last words, (and it’s heart wrenching).
Murray Rubin: ‘Why can’t they find who did it?! That’s all I think about.’
Last words—
Kevin Donovan: I have a theory of the case. I have a belief that I know who did it. I think the police share the same belief. They know that I’m not going away anytime soon. I’m going to keep fighting this fight. I do think that one day, the murders of Barry and Honey Sherman will be found out. I think that somebody out there knows a piece of information that will help. And my hunt continues.
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Lexiintoronto
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Filmed shortly before the murders:
Lexiintoronto
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JS= Jonathon Sherman
AL= Andrew Liss, aka Andrew London (Jonathon’s ex-boyfriend)
FM= Fred Mercure ( Jonathon’s husband)
AP= Adam Paulin (Jonathon’s friend and business partner)
I’m trying to put a timeline together for AL. This is rough and I’d be happy to hear corrections and additions:
2001 (approximately)—JS and AL started dating when JS was 18 and AL was 14. (JS went to university in NY. Did they meet or live together there?)
2004 — when JS would have turned 21. Mary S. told the police each child was given $1 million when they reached that milestone.
Date unknown—AL lived at 50 Old Colony.
(I’m unsure of the date and the details: Jonathon worked for Apotex for a few months after completing university. He then quit and joined his sister Alex who was on a charity hike somewhere in Africa. JS couldn’t complete the hike because *FM* became injured. So maybe JS dating AP & FM overlapped? Or they were friends.)
2006— JS purchased a large wooded property north of Toronto for $2 million that is still his main residence.
May 2008— JS took over Steelback, he did a lot of media and events promoting the brewery.
July 2009— Steelback’s president left the company followed by a layoff of 35/39 employees.
January 2010—All employees left were terminated and the brewery quietly shut down. JS didn’t respond to media requests about the closure.
2011—JS convinced Barry to buy AL a $4 million home.
2011 (?) AL and JS approached Barry with a business idea for AL to build and sell homes. Barry agreed with the caveat that JS not be involved. He wanted JS to work at Apotex. Barry in total loaned AL $50 million for the project.
2011/2012— AP and JS asked Barry to finance their plan to start a storage company, buying existing businesses. Barry agreed.
2011-2015— Barry advanced a total of $14 million that was attached as a mortgage on AL’s first home.
2014— year of a photo of JS and FM together that KD included in his book. (I don’t know when they started dating or married.)
2015—AL’s home sold at a loss for $11.5 million. It had been ‘destroyed by too many parties’.
2015—JS sent emails to Barry questioning him about financing Frank D. He then sent emails to his sisters saying Barry was financially incompetent and suggested his removal from making decisions. Barry called it an attempted ‘palace coup’.
August 2016— AL’s business crashed down. He was not skilled or capable of the work involved. Barry stepped in and sold two of the homes. Barry said he had lost millions.
(Spring and summer of 2017 a few things happened: Barry loaned AP and JS $50 million of a running total of anywhere between $127-200 million, but a few months later started to ask for $50-60 million to be returned. Barry made a few changes to the trustees for his estate, but kept Jonathon as one of them.)
Date unknown—AL moves to a countryside villa in Portugal and travels, offering luxury travel consulting.
July, 2017— Barry stopped paying AL a monthly stipend. (Somewhere between the business failing and Barry cutting him off financially, AL later told police that he felt betrayed by the Shermans.)
September, 2017— $1.5 million is advanced from AP’s & JS’s holding company towards the construction of a cottage in the name of AP & JS.
Then a lot of things happened from that point covered in the main timeline…still working on this.
AL= Andrew Liss, aka Andrew London (Jonathon’s ex-boyfriend)
FM= Fred Mercure ( Jonathon’s husband)
AP= Adam Paulin (Jonathon’s friend and business partner)
I’m trying to put a timeline together for AL. This is rough and I’d be happy to hear corrections and additions:
2001 (approximately)—JS and AL started dating when JS was 18 and AL was 14. (JS went to university in NY. Did they meet or live together there?)
2004 — when JS would have turned 21. Mary S. told the police each child was given $1 million when they reached that milestone.
Date unknown—AL lived at 50 Old Colony.
(I’m unsure of the date and the details: Jonathon worked for Apotex for a few months after completing university. He then quit and joined his sister Alex who was on a charity hike somewhere in Africa. JS couldn’t complete the hike because *FM* became injured. So maybe JS dating AP & FM overlapped? Or they were friends.)
2006— JS purchased a large wooded property north of Toronto for $2 million that is still his main residence.
May 2008— JS took over Steelback, he did a lot of media and events promoting the brewery.
July 2009— Steelback’s president left the company followed by a layoff of 35/39 employees.
January 2010—All employees left were terminated and the brewery quietly shut down. JS didn’t respond to media requests about the closure.
2011—JS convinced Barry to buy AL a $4 million home.
2011 (?) AL and JS approached Barry with a business idea for AL to build and sell homes. Barry agreed with the caveat that JS not be involved. He wanted JS to work at Apotex. Barry in total loaned AL $50 million for the project.
2011/2012— AP and JS asked Barry to finance their plan to start a storage company, buying existing businesses. Barry agreed.
2011-2015— Barry advanced a total of $14 million that was attached as a mortgage on AL’s first home.
2014— year of a photo of JS and FM together that KD included in his book. (I don’t know when they started dating or married.)
2015—AL’s home sold at a loss for $11.5 million. It had been ‘destroyed by too many parties’.
2015—JS sent emails to Barry questioning him about financing Frank D. He then sent emails to his sisters saying Barry was financially incompetent and suggested his removal from making decisions. Barry called it an attempted ‘palace coup’.
August 2016— AL’s business crashed down. He was not skilled or capable of the work involved. Barry stepped in and sold two of the homes. Barry said he had lost millions.
(Spring and summer of 2017 a few things happened: Barry loaned AP and JS $50 million of a running total of anywhere between $127-200 million, but a few months later started to ask for $50-60 million to be returned. Barry made a few changes to the trustees for his estate, but kept Jonathon as one of them.)
Date unknown—AL moves to a countryside villa in Portugal and travels, offering luxury travel consulting.
July, 2017— Barry stopped paying AL a monthly stipend. (Somewhere between the business failing and Barry cutting him off financially, AL later told police that he felt betrayed by the Shermans.)
September, 2017— $1.5 million is advanced from AP’s & JS’s holding company towards the construction of a cottage in the name of AP & JS.
Then a lot of things happened from that point covered in the main timeline…still working on this.
Lexiintoronto
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JS= Jonathon Sherman
AL= Andrew Liss, aka Andrew London (Jonathon’s ex-boyfriend)
FM= Fred Mercure ( Jonathon’s husband)
AP= Adam Paulin (Jonathon’s friend and business partner)
FDA= Frank D’Angelo. Barry financed all of his projects. He was Barry’s friend but JS hated him.
Updated AL/JS timeline.
2001 —JS and AL started dating when JS was 18 and AL was 14. (JS went to university in NY. Did they meet or live together there?) Honey disliked AL.
2004 — when JS would have turned 21. Mary S. told the police each child was given $1 million when they reached that milestone.
Date unknown—AL lived at 50 Old Colony. AL later told police his relationship with Honey was tumultuous, but he was included in family activities such as vacations.
2006— JS purchased a large wooded property north of Toronto for $2 million that is still his main residence.
May 2008— JS took over Steelback, he did a lot of upbeat media and events promoting the brewery.
July 2009— Steelback’s president left the company followed by a layoff of 35/39 employees.
January 2010—All employees left were terminated and the brewery quietly shut down. JS didn’t respond to media requests about the closure. The business failure made financial media headlines.
2011— JS wrote Barry an email telling him he was slowly becoming suicidal. He was upset that Barry was funding FDA and not him.
2011—JS convinced Barry to buy AL a $4 million home. AL later tells police that JS was depressed and AL wanted to do things and be active.
2011— AL and JS approached Barry with a business idea for AL to build and sell homes. Barry agreed with the caveat that JS not be involved. He wanted JS to work at Apotex. Barry in total loaned AL $50 million for the project. AL told police that Barry had promised to absorb his business losses in perpetuity, and allow him to keep his gains, but ‘that never happened’.
2011/2012— AP and JS asked Barry to finance their plan to start a storage company, buying existing businesses. Barry agreed.
2011-2015— Barry advanced a total of $14 million that was attached as a mortgage on AL’s first home.
2012— AL and JS broke up.
2012—FM and JS started dating.
2014— FM and JS married.
2015—AL’s home sold at a loss for $11.5 million. It had been ‘destroyed by too many parties’.
2015—JS sent emails to Barry questioning him about financing Frank D. He asked Barry for $250 million to finance his project to purchase cottages on the lake where he and AP owned a cottage. (That development was never fully done.) He then sent emails to his sisters saying Barry was financially incompetent and suggested his removal from making decisions. Barry called it an attempted ‘palace coup’.
August 2016— AL’s business crashed down and there were arguments with the Shermans. KD said he was not skilled or capable of the work involved. Barry stepped in and sold two of the homes. Barry said he had lost millions, while AL profited over $2.3 million.
AL said he was promised a downtown condo and a monthly allowance of between $10-12 thousand per month but neither happened. He was moved to another home, Barry gave him money to set himself up and also paid him an undisclosed monthly stipend.
(Spring and summer of 2017 a few things happened: Barry loaned AP and JS $50 million of a running total of anywhere between $127-200 million, but a few months later started to ask for $50-60 million to be returned. Barry made a few changes to the trustees for his estate, but kept Jonathon as one of them.)
Date unknown—AL moves to a countryside villa in Portugal and travels, offering luxury travel consulting.
July, 2017— Barry stopped paying AL the monthly stipend. AL later tells police he is unaware if Honey ever knew about Barry paying it. (Somewhere between the business failing and Barry cutting him off financially, AL later told police that he felt betrayed by the Shermans.)
September, 2017— $1.5 million is advanced from AP’s & JS’s Sherfam-funded holding company towards the construction of a cottage in the name of AP & JS.
Det.-Const. Yim’s summary of AL’s police statement:
Sherman Murders Police Affidavit 05 Apr 16 2018 1.64MB ∙ PDF file, From AB’s substack.
AL= Andrew Liss, aka Andrew London (Jonathon’s ex-boyfriend)
FM= Fred Mercure ( Jonathon’s husband)
AP= Adam Paulin (Jonathon’s friend and business partner)
FDA= Frank D’Angelo. Barry financed all of his projects. He was Barry’s friend but JS hated him.
Updated AL/JS timeline.
2001 —JS and AL started dating when JS was 18 and AL was 14. (JS went to university in NY. Did they meet or live together there?) Honey disliked AL.
2004 — when JS would have turned 21. Mary S. told the police each child was given $1 million when they reached that milestone.
Date unknown—AL lived at 50 Old Colony. AL later told police his relationship with Honey was tumultuous, but he was included in family activities such as vacations.
2006— JS purchased a large wooded property north of Toronto for $2 million that is still his main residence.
May 2008— JS took over Steelback, he did a lot of upbeat media and events promoting the brewery.
July 2009— Steelback’s president left the company followed by a layoff of 35/39 employees.
January 2010—All employees left were terminated and the brewery quietly shut down. JS didn’t respond to media requests about the closure. The business failure made financial media headlines.
2011— JS wrote Barry an email telling him he was slowly becoming suicidal. He was upset that Barry was funding FDA and not him.
2011—JS convinced Barry to buy AL a $4 million home. AL later tells police that JS was depressed and AL wanted to do things and be active.
2011— AL and JS approached Barry with a business idea for AL to build and sell homes. Barry agreed with the caveat that JS not be involved. He wanted JS to work at Apotex. Barry in total loaned AL $50 million for the project. AL told police that Barry had promised to absorb his business losses in perpetuity, and allow him to keep his gains, but ‘that never happened’.
2011/2012— AP and JS asked Barry to finance their plan to start a storage company, buying existing businesses. Barry agreed.
2011-2015— Barry advanced a total of $14 million that was attached as a mortgage on AL’s first home.
2012— AL and JS broke up.
2012—FM and JS started dating.
2014— FM and JS married.
2015—AL’s home sold at a loss for $11.5 million. It had been ‘destroyed by too many parties’.
2015—JS sent emails to Barry questioning him about financing Frank D. He asked Barry for $250 million to finance his project to purchase cottages on the lake where he and AP owned a cottage. (That development was never fully done.) He then sent emails to his sisters saying Barry was financially incompetent and suggested his removal from making decisions. Barry called it an attempted ‘palace coup’.
August 2016— AL’s business crashed down and there were arguments with the Shermans. KD said he was not skilled or capable of the work involved. Barry stepped in and sold two of the homes. Barry said he had lost millions, while AL profited over $2.3 million.
AL said he was promised a downtown condo and a monthly allowance of between $10-12 thousand per month but neither happened. He was moved to another home, Barry gave him money to set himself up and also paid him an undisclosed monthly stipend.
(Spring and summer of 2017 a few things happened: Barry loaned AP and JS $50 million of a running total of anywhere between $127-200 million, but a few months later started to ask for $50-60 million to be returned. Barry made a few changes to the trustees for his estate, but kept Jonathon as one of them.)
Date unknown—AL moves to a countryside villa in Portugal and travels, offering luxury travel consulting.
July, 2017— Barry stopped paying AL the monthly stipend. AL later tells police he is unaware if Honey ever knew about Barry paying it. (Somewhere between the business failing and Barry cutting him off financially, AL later told police that he felt betrayed by the Shermans.)
September, 2017— $1.5 million is advanced from AP’s & JS’s Sherfam-funded holding company towards the construction of a cottage in the name of AP & JS.
Det.-Const. Yim’s summary of AL’s police statement:
Sherman Murders Police Affidavit 05 Apr 16 2018 1.64MB ∙ PDF file, From AB’s substack.
Lalalacasbah
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WOW thank you for all that info and summary @Lexiintoronto. Lots of trouble stewing there...
I would love an arrest in this case. It's been too long.
I would love an arrest in this case. It's been too long.
Lexiintoronto
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Archived link to original listing of 50 Old Colony:
Archived link to the Toronto Life article that was published shortly before the murders about the home sale: Pharma titan Barry Sherman is selling his modern North York mansion
Archived link to the Toronto Life article that was published shortly before the murders about the home sale: Pharma titan Barry Sherman is selling his modern North York mansion
Bobbi Pearl
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Amazing summaries Lexiintoronto! thank you.
On the HS phone details:
KD believes she arrived home at 8:20 pm, and was attacked when arriving: she was either with someone who attacked her, or someone was waiting there.
He believes she ran for the front door and dropped her phone (in the previous episode he suggested she may have tried to call 911).
Curious now in the pictures published last week we see a apple phone on the dinning room table, is this Honeys? Reports we have been discussing for all these years has been it was found in the powder room on the floor, put on the bathroom counter by the housekeeper. Who else would leave their phone on the table with shopping bags. It does not appear the housekeeper cleaned up this table.
I am now suspect on any detail we have in a media report, to be 100% fact. If it is in the transcripts yes and pictures maybe. But this month we seem to be learning new details that make some of our conversations and assumptions/ conclusions to be not applicable to this case after all.
Lexiintoronto
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Thank you! Yes, that was Honey’s iPhone in the Star article (Barry had a Blackberry phone). Two new crime scene photos from the Star article:
Barry Sherman’s car, as it was found in the garage.
Barry and Honey Sherman’s kitchen on the day their bodies were discovered.
(Paywalled link to article.)
Kevin Donovan in his book wrote that the housekeeper heard a phone ringing, followed the sound, and found Honey’s phone on the floor near the main floor front powder room. Later the Star reported that their real estate agent found it on the counter in that room. Maybe the agent moved it to the kitchen table? But you’re right: the reporting of the story has evolved and details have been changed.
We only found out in more recent articles that Barry’s Blackberry phone was found close to where his driving gloves and home inspection report were discovered.
It’s possible for forensic specialists to check if an iPhone has been dropped, as we saw in the Murdaugh trial. The phone can record a quick change in orientation. I think it’s possible they may know the exact time Honey’s phone was dropped and then remained still until December 15th.
We haven’t heard much about their landline. They had a few old cordless phones. Quote from old Star article:
“On Dec. 20, 2017, five days after the bodies were discovered, a Toronto detective was sent to the crime scene at the Sherman home and given a “To-Do List” by a senior detective. The order was to “conduct a 911 test call from the residence.” The detective made a test call that “lasted for 1 minute and 44 seconds” using the landline phone the Shermans had, an old Panasonic phone.
At the same time, detectives examined the Panasonic phone, which keeps the last 10 numbers dialed. What those numbers were is covered by a court seal. Using this information, police obtained a production order from Pringle to check incoming and outgoing calls from the Panasonic phone.
The Star was particularly interested in this 911 test because several years ago, at the urging of one of the Sherman children, the Star looked into a report that a 911 call may have been made from the Sherman home at the time of the murders, perhaps by Barry or Honey summoning help. Here is what we found: At 9:30 a.m. on the Thursday — the morning after the Shermans were murdered but while their bodies had not been discovered — a neighbour a few doors away had a knock on her door from a Toronto police officer who said he was checking out a report of a 911 call on the street. The woman had not made a call. At close to the same time, the camera of a home across from the Shermans caught the fuzzy image of a man in a sedan pulling up to the Sherman home, parking on the street, and going back and forth to the Sherman front door over a period of about 30 minutes. ”
https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/ca...pect-with-odd-walk-almost-four-years-ago.html
We know from the affidavits that three calls were made to 911 on December 15th when the bodies were found: realtor Elise Stern and gardener CB made calls from inside the home, but we don’t know if they used their own cellphones. Honey & Mary’s cousin, who was not at the home, also called 911 after Mary called him.
Today I watched a documentary show on the Homolka/Bernardo murders from the early 1990’s. I had forgotten that police spent a full 71 days searching Bernardo’s relatively small house in St Catherines, and they still didn’t find the videos that the killers had hidden in the house. Makes me wonder how comprehensive a search LE could have done on the Sherman’s huge mansion in what I recall was only about 35 days of searching.
The final resting place of Barry and Honey Sherman's bodies speaks volumes. The containment of their bodies and their positioning. "You may sit beside your wealth, but you will never see or know your wealth again." The person carrying it out left a message. Perhaps from within themselves, as being deprived of financial gain, maybe even because of the Shermans. A strong resonating hunch was that the murderer was from the same type of business, leaving that message, because of how he felt. If it was just a hit for hire, then the murderer just had to do the job and leave them anywhere in the house. But this murderer also made sure they would not be found for days, which makes me wonder, did he leave the country after? Even if it was to give himself an alibi. He may have moved about with a false passport. Already left the country prior, under his real name, and came back in under the fake one, did the planned deed, and left again.
Lexiintoronto
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^^Reposting this informative post of dotr’s from the main thread.