In December 2017 a Canadian billionaire couple, Barry and Honey Sherman, were found dead in their Toronto home. At first the police suspected a murder-suicide, but after protests from the family and a private counter-investigation, the police were persuaded to change their theory of the case. The investigation is ongoing. This post provides links to three podcast series that I find helpful for learning about the case in all its complexities.

For background about the case from a non-Canadian point of view, see Rebecca Armitage, “Who killed Barry and Honey Sherman? The billionaire couple’s son is offering $35 million to catch the killer,” Australian Broadcasting Corp., 2 Jan. 2023 (https://www.thestar.com/podcasts/thismatters/2022/12/13/the-barry-and-honey-sherman-murders-kevin-donovan-reflects-five-years-on.html, accessed 19 March 2023).

At the fifth anniversary of the murders, two Canadian media groups started new podcasts about the investigations into the murders. As of March 2023, both are releasing new episodes weekly. You can find links to the podcasts in the articles below.One is presented by Kathleen Goldhar for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Lionsgate Productions. For an interview with Goldhar and a link to the series, see Mehek Mazhar, “New Podcast Shines a Light on the Lives — and Deaths — of Billionaire Couple Barry and Honey Sherman,” CBC, 20 February 2023 (https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/sherman-podcast-q-a-1.6751495, accessed on 19 March 2023).

The other is presented by Kevin Donovan for The Toronto Star. For an interview with Donovan and a link to the series, see Raju Mudhar, “The Barry and Honey Sherman Murders: Kevin Donovan Reflects Five Years On,” The Star, 13 December 2022 (https://www.thestar.com/podcasts/thismatters/2022/12/13/the-barry-and-honey-sherman-murders-kevin-donovan-reflects-five-years-on.html, accessed on 19 March 2023).

One of the big issues that police investigators and journalists have to contend with in this case is the high volume of conspiratorial claims that tipsters and social media commentators make about the murders. On the topic of conspiratorial thinking, I recommend The Anthill’s Expert Guide to Conspiracy Thinking. Here’s a trailer for the excellent 6-part series from 2020. While it includes no discussion of the Sherman murders, the issues and patterns of public speculation its host and guest researchers discuss are relevant to aspects of the Sherman case.

For an introduction and links to the series by the presenter, Annabel Bligh, visit “How to Spot a Conspiracy Theory – Expert Guide to Conspiracy Theories, Part One,” The Conversation, 16 March 16 2020 (http://theconversation.com/how-to-spot-a-conspiracy-theory-expert-guide-to-conspiracy-theories-part-one-133802, accessed 19 March 2023).

While the 2017 murder case is not a research focus of mine in any way, I do pay attention to scholarship on conspiratorial thinking. The reason is that paranoid claims about fanatical, sectarian religious groups have shaped the history and scholarship about Europe’s adult baptizers from their earliest days.