Photos reveal Honey Sherman likely attacked inside her house

The Star has previously learned that Honey purchased gifts — one from the Bay and one from Baby Gap —  just before coming home the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017. Investigative sources say this suggests she had time to get in the house and put her belongings down in an orderly fashion, before the killer or killers pounced.

Other interior photos show Barry’s car was found in their underground garage, door closed. A previous police photo, made public as part of a court process, showed the driver’s-side door open, but it appears that was taken while police were inspecting the inside of the vehicle for clues.

The significance is that the photo suggests Barry also had time to enter the house unmolested. The Star has previously reported that his BlackBerry, some real estate documents and his leather driving gloves were found in the hallway immediately outside the underground garage.

Billionaire philanthropists Barry, the founder of generic drug giant Apotex, and his wife Honey were found murdered two days later on Friday, Dec. 15. The case remains unsolved.

For almost seven years, the Star has been investigating the Sherman case. The Star’s initial investigation focused on the police theory that it was a murder-suicide — that Barry killed Honey and then took his own life. After the Star published forensic information suggesting it was a double murder, the Toronto police held a press conference confirming the finding. Since then, the Star’s investigation has focused on a series of police mistakes made in the investigation.

The Star has been arguing in court that thousands of pages of police documents detailing the investigation should be unsealed. To date, roughly half of the 3,300 pages have been unsealed. This is an ongoing process and the Star returns to court later this year to argue the matter in front of a new judge, David Porter (Justice Leslie Pringle, the judge who previously presided over the case, has retired).

Today, the Star can present a detailed examination of the movements of the Shermans just before their deaths, based on photos, documents and interviews contained both in police records and additional information the Star has obtained outside the court process.

The morning of Dec. 13, 2017, there was a flurry of activity in the Sherman home. Their house on Old Colony Road was for sale at a cost of $6.9 million. There was an offer on the table for $1 million less, but Barry was insistent the property was at least worth what he was asking for.

Two painters, a housekeeper, and the Sherman’s agent were in the house, preparing for showings.

A friend and personal trainer arrived at 8:30 am. Barry worked out for one hour in an alcove off the master bedroom; Honey’s slot was 9:30-11:30 a.m. Before Barry left for work at Apotex, he came back into the alcove where Honey was stretching with the trainer. He showed off a belt he was wearing for the first time. Honey had purchased two from a discount rack at Canadian Tire and both belts had sat unused in the bedroom for more than a month.

Barry headed to the office as Honey continued her workout. Then, at 11:30 a.m., a masseuse arrived for a two-hour massage. After that, she headed out to do some shopping. It was the second day of Hannukah and she had gifts to buy, including for the couple’s new grandchild, born to her daughter Alexandra and her then-husband Brad.

Before she left, Honey gave Sheila Stanley, her assistant, the next few days off — Sheila was preparing to go on vacation with her family.

Workers continued preparing the house for showings. Barry had told the family’s agent that he would bring home a copy of the home inspection report — marked up by Barry, showing specific features he wanted to point out to prospective buyers.

At Apotex, Barry had several routine meetings with other executives. His longtime second in command, Jack Kay, had left with his wife for New York earlier that day — to attend a concert with tickets Honey encouraged Jack to buy at a charity event earlier that year.

At 5 p.m., three home builders arrived for a meeting at Apotex to discuss plans for the $30 million Forest Hill mansion Barry and Honey were building not far from their daughter and grandchildren and close to where Barry had grown up. Honey arrived shortly after 5 p.m. and the meeting lasted until 6:15 p.m. Honey then left in her champagne-coloured Lexus SUV and the builders left in their own vehicle. Barry, an unabashed workaholic, stayed at the office. One of the builders later told police that Barry, who usually stayed at Apotex until 10 p.m., made a comment to the builders in the meeting that he had to leave early that day. The builder told police he couldn’t recall Barry’s reason.

Honey called a friend at 6:21 p.m., while she was driving. The friend’s husband had had an operation and Honey was checking to see how it went. It was a completely normal conversation, the woman told the Star.

Honey drove from Apotex to Bayview Village Mall, a drive that would take less than 30 minutes. At the mall, she did some shopping and, according to police documents, visited the CIBC ATM.

She arrived home at Old Colony Road at about 8 p.m. Her normal routine was to park her Lexus on the right side of the house, leaving room for Barry to drive down the ramp to the underground garage (sometimes Barry parked on the half-circle driveway — sometimes underground). That evening she parked in her normal spot.

Crime scene photos obtained by the Star show a number of objects on the kitchen table, in the first room she would normally have entered after coming into the house from the side entrance (the Shermans rarely used their front door).

Among those items: A white gift bag from Baby Gap and a slightly creased gift bag from the Bay (the Bay at Yorkdale Mall would have been on her route home from Apotex). Also on a chair beside the table is what appears to be her handbag. Sources have told the Star that inside her handbag, police found her wallet, containing $7,500 in cash. It’s possible this was cash Honey planned to use as holiday gifts for the many staff who worked for the Shermans.

The police photo also shows a water purifier filter on the table, a basket of snacks and on another chair, a bag of newspapers, including an edition of the Toronto Star. (Honey’s friends say she was in the habit of collecting newspapers, to read when she had time, typically on trips.) A copy of the book, the “Human Body,” is also on the table, along with a document with a cheque attached.

The fact that the recently purchased gift bags are seen placed neatly on the table, with no signs of a violent struggle, led investigators (both police and the private team hired by the Sherman family) to conclude that Honey had time to enter her home and put down her belongings before she was attacked.

Meanwhile, at 8:23 p.m., Barry sent a routine work email from his desktop computer at Apotex and headed home, arriving around 9 p.m.

Police photos of the underground garage show Barry’s parked Ford Mustang convertible. The real estate agent who discovered the bodies on the Friday morning said that she found the home inspection report and Barry’s driving gloves scattered on the floor of the hallway just outside the door leading from the garage to the house. Barry’s Blackberry was also there, according to sources.

Investigators have concluded from this that Barry parked his car, took his belongings and then walked out of the garage into the corridor where he was attacked, his belongings spilling to the floor.

One curiosity from the photo is Honey’s cellphone. The police photo shows it on the kitchen table. But it was actually on a bathroom floor when the housekeeper arrived Friday morning and began to clean the house. The housekeeper’s instruction for the day was to help Honey make potato latkes for a Hannukah event at their daughter’s home in Forest Hill on the Friday evening. The housekeeper was also to tidy the house in advance of more real estate showings. As she moved through the main floor before the bodies were discovered, the housekeeper discovered Honey’s phone face down on the floor beside the toilet in a bathroom at the front of the house that Honey never used. The housekeeper picked it up and put it on the vanity and then someone (the Star does not know who) moved it to the table, where it would later be photographed by the police. Investigators have speculated that it dropped or fell when she was trying to escape attackers.

Honey’s phone still had power when it was discovered. When an investigator pressed the side button to wake the phone, her last known phone call — to the friend whose husband had the operation — could be seen. A police photo was taken of this screen.

As previously described by the Star, police photos of the basement swimming pool room show Honey and Barry’s bodies positioned at the far end of the pool — the furthest point from the entrance to the pool room. Both are held in an upright position by leather belts. Barry is held up with the belt he was wearing that morning. It is unclear where the belt around Honey’s neck came from; it does not appear to be a man’s belt.

The photos, which look down the length of the pool, show Barry’s feet neatly crossed at the ankles, with his glasses perched normally on his nose. In the images, his body bears no outward signs of violence. Honey’s body does — she has a cut to her right cheek and there is dried and mottled blood. Based on the mottling, investigators believe a plastic bag may have been put over her head at some point, and then removed.

There is also a bloody smudge mark on the railing near where the belt around Honey is tied, and what appears to be a blood mark on one of Barry’s pant legs. Investigators theorize that Honey was put in position first, then Barry was lifted over her by the killers — getting blood (possibly from the injury to Honey) on his pant legs in the process.

In their search warrant documents, police have said that nothing forensically learned at the crime scene has helped them with the investigation.

The police probe continues.

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