Canada - Barry, 75, & Honey Sherman, 70, found dead, Toronto, 15 Dec 2017 #14

[dotr]

Notifications again stopped, but here's a news report I just got. It's behind a paywall. Does anyone have more information?
Homicide detectives have a ‘person of interest’ in the Barry and Honey Sherman murder investigation

Have you checked out this recent link <modsnip>?
Homicide detectives have a ‘person of interest’ in the Barry and Honey Sherman murder investigation

 

[MistyWaters]

Hopefully an arrest is coming soon, otherwise I can’t think of any reason TPS would make this sort of disclosure >>>

Person of interest identified in murder of Barry, Honey Sherman: Toronto police
“Toronto police said on Wednesday they had identified a person of interest in the high-profile murders three years ago of a Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire couple but had not made an arrest...

.....“The Toronto Police Service can confirm that a person of interest has been identified but not arrested,” spokeswoman Jenifferjit Sidhu said by email. She did not give more details.”.....

 

[nuff]

I sometimes think one can " read between the lines " of Kevin Donovan's articles, and in his book. In an excerpt from his book, The Billionaire Murders, published in Forbes Magazine: Who Killed Honey and Barry Sherman: Investigating The Unsolved Billionaire Murders :
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMO

I think the implication in KD's book is pretty clear, and continues in his latest Star article.

 

[CAMBRIAN]

The person of interest is Barry Sherman. The double homicide theory does not hold water. Professional hired killers would simply not stage the macabre scenario. Impossible. We must keep in mind that not a soul appeared to provide information to obtain the fat reward. <modsnip>The second autopsy cannot be a certification of the double murder theory; it simply paints a different possibility. In any event, that is my two cents worth.

 

[AddyFinch]

.. interesting.... the kids know what their father and mother's relationship was like....and they aren't talking, or did they????

 

[Satchie]

Hopefully an arrest is coming soon, otherwise I can’t think of any reason TPS would make this sort of disclosure >>>

Person of interest identified in murder of Barry, Honey Sherman: Toronto police
“Toronto police said on Wednesday they had identified a person of interest in the high-profile murders three years ago of a Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire couple but had not made an arrest...

.....“The Toronto Police Service can confirm that a person of interest has been identified but not arrested,” spokeswoman Jenifferjit Sidhu said by email. She did not give more details.”.....

IMO, Donovan keeps submitting requests in court to have warrants unsealed, so that TPS has to keep appearing before the judge to justify keeping them sealed. It's the only way he can get any information.

TPS know they can't stall the judge forever, so possibly they've revealed this crumb to show it's not a completely cold and dead case. A person of interest does not mean a suspect, perhaps it's only someone they think might know more than they're saying. They may have decided the time is right to turn up the heat a tiny bit, and watch what happens.

I'm interested in the comment that the case is not about going around searching/interviewing now, but is analysis. Also, that they noticed 'patterns.'

That might be patterns in terms of footage of a vehicle following the Shermans around or visiting the home days before the crimes, or in cell phone movements (say, a cellphone number that was identified as frequently following them or hanging around the home) or cellphone calls between people, or in bank payments.

I'm thinking of the Daybell/Vallow case in the US, where FBI reconstructed the crimes through detailed analysis of one person's phone GPS. Two perps used disposible burner phones, but not the third conspirator.

 

[dotr]

The person of interest is Barry Sherman. The double homicide theory does not hold water. Professional hired killers would simply not stage the macabre scenario. Impossible. We must keep in mind that not a soul appeared to provide information to obtain the fat reward. <modsnip>The second autopsy cannot be a certification of the double murder theory; it simply paints a different possibility. In any event, that is my two cents worth.

Welcome to Ws CAMBRIAN!

 

[Satchie]

RBBM- Meaningful or not, intentional or not, or whether he even knows whether its true, KD specifically states that TPS went "OVERSEAS" to obtain information. This would seem to rule out the USA or Mexico, and bring into focus a couple of different countries IMO- Japan and Israel amongst them

I think that's implying that KD knows it's not the US. Yet he says himself, TPS has refused to reveal which jurisdiction. They did not tell him "outside the US", or for sure he would have splashed that around.

IMO it was most likely the US, because the Shermans had property there.

I don't know why he says "overseas", but I can see how it would appeal to a mystery writer, which he has essentially become.

 

[ldlager]

Hopefully an arrest is coming soon, otherwise I can’t think of any reason TPS would make this sort of disclosure >>>

Person of interest identified in murder of Barry, Honey Sherman: Toronto police
“Toronto police said on Wednesday they had identified a person of interest in the high-profile murders three years ago of a Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire couple but had not made an arrest...

.....“The Toronto Police Service can confirm that a person of interest has been identified but not arrested,” spokeswoman Jenifferjit Sidhu said by email. She did not give more details.”.....

Maybe they want to gauge the persons reactions or actions to this news. Would LE do that?

 

[MistyWaters]

.. interesting.... the kids know what their father and mother's relationship was like....and they aren't talking, or did they????

Welcome but you’ve probably joined the thread recently - The Sherman deaths were determined to have been a targeted double homicide on January 26, 2018. So the M/S argument has become much like flogging a dead horse.

But to answer your question, initially when the media was running rampant from a “police source” indicating the deaths were m/s, within days the children issued this statement -

Family of Barry and Honey Sherman release a statement
A statement from the Sherman family, released by Apotex, Saturday afternoon said,

"Our parents shared an enthusiasm for life and commitment to their family and community totally inconsistent with the rumors regrettably circulated in the media as to the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
We are shocked and think it's irresponsible that police sources have reportedly advised the media of a theory which neither their family, their friends nor their colleagues believe to be true.
We urge the Toronto Police Service to conduct a thorough, intensive and objective criminal investigation, and urge the media to refrain from further reporting as to the cause of these tragic deaths until the investigation is completed."

 

[ldlager]

I think that's implying that KD knows it's not the US. Yet he says himself, TPS has refused to reveal which jurisdiction. They did not tell him "outside the US", or for sure he would have splashed that around.

IMO it was most likely the US, because the Shermans had property there.

I don't know why he says "overseas", but I can see how it would appeal to a mystery writer, which he has essentially become.

I can’t imagine TPS would have waited almost 3 years to get a warrant for what is surely low hanging fruit in the form of info from the USA.

 

[kiwi50]

I will never believe this was murder/suicide.
If Barry wanted to kill Honey then commit suicide, why the drama, he could have hired a killer or given her an overdose of something, and then taken something himself, but I don’t really see anything to suggest he wanted to die anyway.
Why waste the last hours of your life with a stupid staging.
I still think its follow the money trail.

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
Toronto police have person of interest in billionaire deaths
By Rob GilliesThe Associated PressWed., Nov. 25, 2020
''Toronto police said Wednesday that they have identified a person of interest in the killing of Canadian drug company billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife nearly three years ago.

Police Constable Jenifferjit Sidhu confirmed a report by the Toronto Star that a person of interest had been identified but not arrested.''

 

[Lexiintoronto]

rbbm.
Toronto police have person of interest in billionaire deaths
By Rob GilliesThe Associated PressWed., Nov. 25, 2020
''Toronto police said Wednesday that they have identified a person of interest in the killing of Canadian drug company billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife nearly three years ago.

Police Constable Jenifferjit Sidhu confirmed a report by the Toronto Star that a person of interest had been identified but not arrested.''

...announced just before most of us are going into another COVID lockdown here in some parts of Canada, especially Toronto.

 

[Warwick1991]

I can’t imagine TPS would have waited almost 3 years to get a warrant for what is surely low hanging fruit in the form of info from the USA.

“Overseas” might even be India - Apotex has a plant there that had some issues. In addition to a person close to Barry and Honey, the myriad of lawsuits with other drug companies all over the world are also potential sources of a murder for hire plot.

 

[MistyWaters]

<snipped to reply>
Homicide detectives have a ‘person of interest’ in the Barry and Honey Sherman murder investigation
''During the October hearing, Supreme Court Justice Michael Moldaver commented that “this was a very, very sophisticated crime, in my view, committed by a very sophisticated organization, at least it has those hallmarks.”
.''

A few pages back there’s a link to a podcast, comments from another experienced crime reporter who was either present or listened in on the Supreme Court hearing. He was quite puzzled by the highly unusual comments made by the Judges. He gave sort of a comparison, as if it the Judges were repeating the types of speculative comments made by high society following the Sherman murders. Why the Judges would do that, I have no idea but there had to have been a reason. But by the impression he left, I really doubt these judges were giving away specific clues in solving the case.

JMO

 

[swedeheart]

Cops identify person of interest in 2017 murder of billionaire couple after they were found hanging | Daily Mail Online

 

[deugirtni]

I have got what I feel to be, an interesting possible theory on what is generally believed to have been confusion during the first six weeks in regard to manner of death. Bear with me, I'll try to make it as brief as I can, although I seem to experience difficulty in being brief. ;[

If it is true, it's something they cannot speak of at this time, for obvious/political/politically-correct/relationship/etc, reasons.

I was thinking about my dismay that they chose to use what I considered to have been a 'junior' forensic pathologist for the autopsies of both victims in this case, considering this case seems to be not your everyday murder/case, seems to possibly have some staging and therefore possible deception involved (imho). I don't want to argue with anyone about the 'junior' status. I know that six and a half years seems a long time to be in a position, however imho, a forensic pathologist role is a lifelong learning occupation.. the longer one is doing it, the more they will see, the more experience they will gain, etc. I don't think anyone could dispute that?

When the family hired Chiasson, I was surprised that some felt that his assessment would/could/might be inferior somehow, to Michael Pickup's assessment, considering Chiasson has been considered an expert in forensic pathology in over 200 court cases and had performed thousands of autopsies before December 2017 (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/james-turpin-murder-trial-defence-1.3614416), he once held the role of Pickup's boss (Chief Forensic Pathologist for the province of Ontario) for seven years (1994-2001) (interesting reading in 'the Goudge Report'). Even worse that some might even possibly entertain the thought that a pathologist of Chiasson's stature would risk his reputation just because he was hired privately by a family hoping for a certain outcome.

I was afraid of mixing up Michael Pickup's name with his boss, Michael Pollanen, so I was doing some looking around. Barry and Honey were murdered in December 2017. I came across some articles which suggest that Pollanen has somewhat of a documented history of what is sometimes referred to as 'tunnel vision'.. looking at a scenario, making a decision, and then seeking backup to support that decision, rather than the opposite, which is supposed to occur. Also, that he has been accused of messing with other pathologists' findings, bullying them, etc.

Given this information, what IF...... all along, Pickup, the pathologist who actually performed both autopsies, had believed it to be a double homicide (he had removed both victims' wrist skin samples to keep as evidence of some kind), but his hands were tied by his superiors, in remaining undetermined?

For example.. it has been reported that police spent an enormous amount of money investigating this case. I suspect that the financial resources available to police could not continue indefinitely, and especially if there was nothing from the ME's office to say that the deaths were homicides. I also suspect that TPS wasn't super interested in dealing with the family's assembled team of detectives, legal, and pathologist, because it *seems* like it may have been, or at least had the potential to create, a conflict in many different ways (imo).

As a further 'what IF..', for all we know, a situation of this sort could have been happening also within the TPS, whereby certain higher-up LE believed it to be one thing, while perhaps others, possibly those doing the actual investigating, believed it to be another thing? Then along comes KD with his headline news one day, that the couple was murdered, as per the second pathologist... an announcement which reportedly seems to have supposedly led to police finally meeting with him, and then making their 'targeted double homicide' announcement/press conference. It may have been what had been suspected by most all along, but hands were tied, until kind of publicly forced into action. IIRC, I recall there being reports that Susan Gomes had said that she hadn't ever thought it was M/S, or something to that effect?

All of this is just to say... we, the public, don't have a clue what is going on behind various doors, until things become unveiled, like at a trial, or an inquiry. imo.
----
"Pollanen fell into several major pitfalls laid out by the landmark Goudge inquiry sparked by Smith's work, Molloy found.

Among them was confirmation bias - reaching a conclusion and working backward to find evidence to support it, and professional credibility bias - being unwilling to change an opinion once stated"

DR. MICHAEL POLLANEN-SLAMMED-ONTARIO CHIEF PATHOLOGIST
----
In a case that parallels a scathing judge’s decision about Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist two years ago, Dr. Michael Pollanen has been accused of interfering in the work of the province’s other forensic pathologists, pressing them to change their findings in suspicious deaths and undermining those who disagree with him.
...
Dr. Jane Turner, a forensic pathologist who worked for almost two years at the Hamilton Regional Forensic Pathology Unit and is now working as a consultant in St. Louis, Mo., made the allegations in an Aug. 12 letter to Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.

“My complaint against Dr. Pollanen is not that I am always right and Dr. Pollanen is always wrong, but rather that his interference, bullying and insistence on compliance threaten the integrity of the system of death investigation,” Turner told Jones.

“No one is allowed to challenge his views.”

Christie Blatchford: 'Bullying' Ontario chief forensic pathologist accused of interfering with cases | National Post
----

 

[deugirtni]

I can’t imagine TPS would have waited almost 3 years to get a warrant for what is surely low hanging fruit in the form of info from the USA.

It seems TPS received the 'foreign' information in May 2020... which may have been requested in the first place, many months prior to that. It's possible that whatever information was gleaned from this 'foreign information', may have been the instigator leading to the further warrant and production orders in Ontario, which came later than September 1st this year.

I agree however, on KD's meaning. Personally I doubt if KD would've twice in one interview used the word 'overseas', if he had in fact been referring to the US. jmo.

 

[deugirtni]

Maybe they want to gauge the persons reactions or actions to this news. Would LE do that?

Maybe TPS is in full control about how and when and how much they reveal to KD at thee court hearings, and it is all geared to their own purposes.. and further, maybe KD is a willing participant. jmo.