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Canadian billionaire couple dead in basement


little_dreamer

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This was a strange case that happened December 14th 2017.  Not much info yet.

http://www.businessinsider.com/barry-sherman-police-investigate-death-of-apotex-billionaire-2017-12

"Canadian police are investigating the mysterious deaths of Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, at their mansion in Toronto. Sherman is the founder of Canadian pharmaceutical firm Apotex Inc and has an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes. He and his wife's body were discovered in the basement of their home by a real estate agent on Friday, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. They had recently put the property up for sale for $5.4 million (£4 million). Police are treating their deaths as suspicious. Two bodies covered in blankets were removed from the home and loaded into an unmarked van on Friday evening."

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What a tragedy. Is it possible that there were no signs of forced entry because the couple were showing off the property to someone that turned out to be the killer(s)? It was listed online, after all. It's also possible that there was no forced entry because the killer was someone they knew...but the former seems more likely to me, personally.

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Another link

https://www.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-founder-canada-drug-firm-suspicious-death-102945462.html

"Toronto Police said on Twitter that "two people (were) found deceased in a home" in the Bayview Avenue and Old Colony Road area, after officers responded to a medical call around noon on Friday.  They labeled the deaths suspicious but, according to Canadian media, clarified that no suspects were being sought."

Maybe carbon monoxide poisoning?   Is it possible no crime even occurred?  It is very early in the investigation though.  Not sure why both died at the same time.

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One link I read said the husband killed the wife and killed himself.

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The Toronto Sun reports that murder-suicide is suspected but not confirmed yet:

http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mystery-shrouds-horrific-death-of-jewish-community-power-couple

The four adult children released a statement rejecting this theory:

http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/statement-from-the-family-of-barry-and-honey-sherman-664640343.html

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I don't know why I am interested in this case.  Maybe I think there is something deeper under the surface.

"The Probe Into the deaths has Just become a murder investigation....."

http://time.com/5068439/barry-honey-sherman-deaths-murder-canada-toronto-apolex/

“There is absolutely zero debate in my mind, this was a double homicide,” said Linda Frum, a senator in the Canadian Parliament and a close, longtime friend of the couple.  She added: “This idea that Barry would ever harm Honey — he adored her. That’s impossible. He was a gentle, good man.”

http://www.startribune.com/intrigue-grips-toronto-s-rich-after-billionaires-deaths/464853283/

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  • 1 month later...

 

I have to wonder how they ever thought this was a murder suicide from the description of how they were found that is now known.  Ligature marks on both of their wrists and hanging in a half seated position.  But something must have made their children suspicious they were not going to get the truth that caused them to order their own autopsy. 

The other thing that seems odd to me is the supposed plan for an "Open House."  People in this income bracket allowing a bunch of people to traipse through their home ?  Better yet finding suitable people in the income bracket able to purchase a home in this price range ready to participate in an Open House on a Sunday afternoon and finding enough of them to make it worth while.  

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They say they think it was a hit, and there's no short list of people who might have wanted them dead.

Apparently, bigger pharmaceutical companies and even members of his own family. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/01/26/the-billionaires-were-found-dead-in-their-mansion-now-police-say-they-were-murdered/

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been watching a documentary by the Fifth Estate about the murders of this couple in December 2017. He was a billionaire who made his money as the owner of one of only two generic pharmaceutical companies in Canada, Apotex. The couple were found strangled to death and tied by a belt to the railing around part of their indoor swimming pool by their realtor. At the time they were having a new house built to move into. The police have determined it was a double homicide, but Mr Sherman's cousin Kerry Winter claims that Barry Sherman murdered his own wife because he hated her and had previously asked Kerry to arrange to have her murdered.

Kerry himself has about 15 million reasons to hate his cousin. As a young man fresh out of college, Barry went to work for his uncle's (Kerry's father) generic pharmaceutical company, Empire Labs. Both Barry's aunt and uncle died at a fairly young age, leaving their four young sons - all under the age of 15 - orphaned. Barry bought the company from the family's estate and turned it into the multi-billion dollar industry it is today. Barry visited the boys for a little while, then just stopped seeing them. When they all reached adulthood, they had various problems in their lives. Kerry became a drug-addict, but managed to get himself clean. His older cousin re-entered his life and offered to help Kerry get his life in order. Barry allegedly paid for any education Kerry required to be a renovator and also provided capital for his own business. According to Kerry, things kept escalating as more and more capital was given and other gifts as well, including houses and cars. At some point, Kerry discovered that in the original agreement between Barry and his uncle, each of the boys was to receive a 5% stake in the pharmaceutical company, which Barry refused to acknowledge. Kerry took him to court over it and after many years, lost the case.

This programme requested that Kerry Winter take a lie-detector test regarding his claim about Barry asking him to arrange for Honey to be murdered, he failed. He also admitted to fantasizing about murdering his cousin, but refused to take a lie-detector test regarding whether or not he did it. A secondary interview with Kerry by the Fifth Estate shows Kerry laying out how he fantasized killing his cousins, even stating how, but he still claims he's not guilty. He has no alibi, but he's still claiming innocence. The Toronto police had him in for questioning, but told him he's not a suspect. To be honest, though, from what little I know of these kinds of situations, the police aren't going to tell him outright that he's a suspect. They will let him trip himself up.

I don't know what the current status is of the investigation, but the house the couple lived in has now been taken over by a private investigation team hired by the family.

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Kerry seems to be a douche who wanted a free living.  His cousin made that company into what it is and then expected a big payout.  I wouldn't doubt he did have something to do with their deaths.

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  • 9 months later...
 

Bloomberg BusinessWeek posted a long article about the case in October 2018.  Basically the crime is still unsolved.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-apotex-billionaire-murder/

The article mentioned that Barry Sherman once worked with infomercial celebrity Kevin Trudeau.  I think Kevin was in a U.S. jail at the time of the murders so he was not the killer.

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