Canadian billionaire and his wife were murdered, police conclude

Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife Honey Sherman were victims of a targeted murder, according to police.

Barry (75) and Honey Sherman (70) were found dead in their north Toronto home hanging by belts in a semi-seated position by their pool on December 15th, two days after the couple had last been heard from, Toronto police homicide Det Sgt Susan Gomes told reporters on Friday. There were no signs of forced entry at their mansion, she said.

“We have sufficient evidence to describe this as a double homicide investigation and that both Honey and Barry Sherman were in fact targeted,” Det Sgt Gomes said.

The bodies of the Apotex Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc founder and his wife were found under "suspicious" circumstances. The post-mortem examination concluded that both deaths were caused by "ligature neck compression", signaling a type of strangulation. Media reports initially said there were no signs of forced entry into the house and police had said they were not looking for any suspects.

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The Shermans’ family criticised the police and media immediately after several reports speculated on the cause of death, including a widely circulated account of a murder-suicide. The family hired private investigators, including several former Toronto homicide detectives, to conduct a separate investigation into the deaths.

The independent investigators recently concluded that the couple were murdered by multiple killers, according to reports last week by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and other media outlets.

Mr Sherman, who had a PhD. in astrophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was chairman of the closely held Toronto-based generic-drug maker and was ranked by Forbes as Canada’s 12th-richest person with a net worth of about $3 billion (€2 billion). – Bloomberg