Sherman emails may have fuelled mistaken murder-suicide theory

Police obtained tense exchange between couple weeks before killings

- KEVIN DONOVAN

In an email exchange shortly before their deaths, Barry Sherman accused his wife, Honey, of being "abusive to me for over 40 years."

In the days following the discovery of Barry and Honey Sherman’s bodies, Toronto police vigorously pursued a murder-suicide theory, despite forensic evidence to the contrary. The theory was only abandoned six weeks later following the Star’s publication of the results of a second set of autopsies revealing it was a double murder.

Why did homicide detectives stick to the murder-suicide theory for so long? That’s a question the Star has been trying to answer since the high-profile case began nearly seven years ago.

From day one, police were scouring the Sherman home and their electronic devices, looking for a suicide note, while at the same time asking family and friends why Barry would have done such a thing, according to police documents.

Emails recently obtained by the Star may shed light on why investigators jumped to the conclusion that there was enough acrimony between the couple to lead to violence. In an email exchange shortly before their deaths, Barry accuses Honey of being “abusive” to him for their entire relationship. And abusive to their four children.

“You have been abusive to me for over 40 years,” Barry wrote in an email to Honey on Nov. 6, 2017, five weeks before the murders. “You were also persistently abusive to the kids.”

Barry, founder of generic drug giant Apotex, and his wife, Honey, were found dead on the deck of their basement swimming pool on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017. They died two days earlier. No arrests have been made and police say the homicide investigation continues.

The couple were found in a seated position on the pool deck, leather belts around their necks, tied to a low safety railing that surrounded the water. Police now believe this was staged by the killer or killers to look like a murder-suicide or double suicide.