Sherman Murders: 50 Old Colony Road
Of the more intriguing parts of the Sherman probe relates to the history and consequence of the billionaire couple's grand estate.
We have covered much of the murky ground in the Sherman murder case. The mysterious walking man. The bizarre 911 call and the unexplained person outside the estate on the morning after the murders. The eerie parallels to the Garland case.
These weird features of the Sherman probe stand out, of course. But inside this story, there are other oddities and peculiarities. One of these is the physical estate itself - 50 Old Colony Road.
Situated near Toronto’s notorious Bridal Path, a convergence of the most expensive homes in Canada, sat what was referred to in one Toronto magazine as Sherman’s poured ‘concrete colossus’.
The sprawling home covered an approximate 12,000 square feet. Built in the 1980’s by Sherman, construction costs at the time came in at around $2.3 million, but not for him to pay. As it would turn out, he recouped nearly 90% of the cost to build after proving the contractor’s breach of contract and shoddy construction work in a subsequent lawsuit. By 2017, the Shermans were intent on selling the home and had it listed for $6.9 million in the weeks before they died. I’ve attached the schematics of the house below.
At the time of the murders, the home was furnished, at least in some parts, as if it was still 1985. In one of the more bizarre twists to the story, Toronto Star investigative reporter Kevin Donovan uncovered an eerie set of sculptures in one of the Sherman’s basement rooms during an interview with Sherman’s real estate agent. Eerie, in part because of superficial similarities between the two robotic figures and the similar position the Sherman bodies were discovered in.
For the record, I’m not sold on that being a conscious choice on the part of the killer or killers. There are other explanations that make at least as much sense when it comes to the staging. There is some cognitive remanent left over even if you entertain those other theories, though. Donovan correctly categorized the finding as being at least eerie, indeed.
Other oddities with regard to the estate persist. It has been widely speculated that the killer or killers knew the close movements of the Shermans leading up to the killings, but so too it has been speculated that they knew the layout of the house. The side entrance, for example, classically unlocked, is Donovan’s favored point of entry.
They also seemed so comfortable inside the home. Spending time on all three levels of the estate spells this out clearly. It has been speculated that they even wandered as far as the master bedroom to retrieve the second belt - a fact that is also congruent with a knowledge or at least comfort in moving around what was a maze of a home.
The Sherman estate was demolished in early 2019 at the request of the family. As detailed in Donovan’s new documentary on the killings, nearly all of their belongings were left in the house. This fact, it has been said, angered construction crews on the job. All the trappings of high society, but all the personal items, too - ripped down and pulverized by heavy machinery.
The demolition catches most as a bit peculiar. Sure, the place holds a house of terrors. I’m not sure I wouldn’t want it destroyed myself if I were in the shoes of the family. But still, the investigation is ongoing and certainly not over. Did police really have no vested interest in at least maintaining the structure of the building on the off chance that it would again become useful at some point in the investigation?
It is likely they had no say once the keys were quite literally turned over to the family and the private investigative team. The private team, in its own right, thoroughly examined the estate and uncovered numerous pieces of important evidence Toronto police unsurprisingly missed.
After the murders, but before the demolition, an urban explorer entered the home and confirmed later reports that the house was chock-full of personal belongings and sentimentality.
More curious than this was a series of holes in the master bedroom’s walls. Donovan uncovered the detail after speaking with the urban explorer.. The explorer had photos and video of the inside of the home to substantiate his claims, including the outstanding holes in the walls. Donovan has since suggested that someone may have been looking for Honey Sherman’s missing will.
Whether will-hunting by an interested party, or routine pre-demo work by the construction team, the weird detail is symbolic of the weirdness of the case as a whole.
And on that front, the grand estate the Shermans left behind in North York finds no friends with exception.
A lot more to come.
Barry Sherman’s memoir is quite an interesting read. The CBC podcast brought the writing to life in a unique way. That podcast also embarrassingly linked Sherman’s atheistic and absurdist philosophy of life with suicide. The unfinished memoir was made public following its discovery in a long-standing legal dispute between Sherman and his estranged cousins. Take a read.
