TORONTO -- The private investigation into the murder of billionaire couple Barry and Honey Sherman is over, Toronto police said Monday, however authorities are still appealing for tips from the public.
Police and the Sherman family released a joint statement to announce the private investigation, led by the family’s lawyer Brian Greenspan, is now closed.
At a news conference, Insp. Hank Idsinga, the head of the Toronto police homicide unit, reminded the public that the police investigation remains active and asked that any existing tips sent to private investigators be resubmitted to police directly.
Idsinga said that while police received 205 tips directly from the public, 343 tips were provided to them through the private investigative team.
“Having tips come directly to us and avoiding any delay in receiving that information is going to be huge for us,” Idsinga told reporters Monday. “We have always said the tips should be coming to us … The next few weeks is going to be very busy.”
He said having the tips submitted directly will help avoid delays, as well as any “potential editing” of the tips.
The update came as the family, who were not present at the news conference, marked two years since the billionaire couple was found dead under mysterious circumstances in their mansion at 50 Old Colony Road on Dec. 15, 2017.
The home has since been demolished.
At the time of the initial investigation, police sources said the prevalent theory in the case was that it was a murder-suicide. But, about six weeks after the Shermans' deaths, homicide detectives said they believed the Shermans were the victims of a targeted double homicide.
The family, who hired the team of private investigators to probe the murders shortly after the couple was found dead, had offered a $10 million reward to anyone with information that could lead to the apprehension of the couple’s killer.
The reward will now be administered in consultation with police instead of through the private investigation, Idsinga said.
Police said that so far, 150 items have been submitted for testing, 243 witnesses have been interviewed, and four terabytes of security video have been obtained.
Idsinga said he is not bothered by how long the investigation has taken so far, and that police are still “combing” through lots of information. He said the sheer volume of the information is “overwhelming.”
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“The family and the police urge anyone who has reliable information regarding the murders, no matter how small or unimportant that information may seem, to please contact the police,” Idsinga said.
So far, no arrests have been made and police have not publicly identified any possible suspects.
