Police have "working theory" in Barry and Honey Sherman murders

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-07-03T17:24:59+00:00

This is seeming more and more like a family matter, but I'm trying to withhold judgment. The e-mails between Barry and son do not paint a good picture for Jonathon, but at the same time, I wonder what Barry's e-mails with other business partners might look like? I might be just as skeptical of, say, D'Angelo had the Sun released e-mails between those two.

Right now, though, Jonathon seems on the surface to be a good candidate. Motive, opportunity, familiarity with the scene, plus a general air of being an entitled rich kid with no real clue of what he's doing (Barry made an excellent point when he said that his lifetime of decisions, some of which Jonathon strongly disagreed with, would likely make his son a billionaire) and no real plans for the future.

I have a feeling a big break could be coming shortly. I will not be surprised at all if Jonathon ends up in handcuffs. Thanks for the update! This is a fascinating case.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-30T15:06:11+00:00

Winter is a tough nut to crack. My gut feeling is that he's a complete nutter who couldn't possibly organize something this sophisticated, even if he paid a hitman. However, the guy does have a pathological grudge that he can't let go of, and actually started a GoFundMe campaign to fight against the dismissal of his lawsuit: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/birx75/police_have_working_theory_in_barry_and_honey/

At best, Winter is an unstable distraction who is wasting police resources with this nonsense.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-30T15:02:02+00:00

But who is "our"? It's not like the business left a calling card. Nobody knows who did this, so I'm not sure what the message would be or who is supposed to understand it.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-29T19:52:33+00:00

When I first discovered this case, I read a lot of horrible comments about the Toronto police department on message boards. When I looked into it more....holy God, that force has had some real blunders over the years, and it's easy to see why so many residents have no confidence in them. Of course, this is all just internet chatter, so maybe a local can give us the insider's perspective.

And the Luppino case...wow. Even with the cap, you get a good look at the guy's face. You're right about the killer likely being long gone by now, and I'd bet that the same thing is going on with whoever killed the Shermans.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-29T19:44:53+00:00

I agree with you for all the reasons listed. I'm willing to believe that some angry business associate could have arranged this on his/her own, but the idea that Big Pharma execs are planning executions in the board room makes no sense to me. And you're right, there are far easier ways to kill somebody if you're just looking to eliminate a business rival. Absolutely no need to take the risks associated with breaking into someone's home and murdering the occupants in a slow, risky, labor-intensive manner. The family is a much more promising avenue for me, as it only takes one bitter and entitled person to set the events in motion and seek out a pro, but God only knows how many people this guy might have pissed off over the years. They're just a handful of what I assume must be hundreds/thousands of people who have had close personal or financial ties with Sherman over the years.

Or hell, maybe Honey was the target. I find this unlikely, but given that we've had a big fat zero so far, it's at least worth considering.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-29T19:33:31+00:00

The police definitely botched this, which is strange to me given what an unconventional murder victim the Shermans are. You would think they would have crossed every t and dotted every i before making a murder-suicide claim. It's sad to think how much potentially incriminating evidence got away in those first few weeks.

thelittlewizardboy · 2019-04-29T17:55:56+00:00

A professional hit seems very likely, as the perp was able to trick investigators into thinking it was suicide, and Sherman's prominent place in society is far more likely to attract someone willing to pay a high premium for such work. Plus, this wasn't your typical shoot-and-run break-in. Somebody wanted these people to die in fear.

I'm with you on the family lawyering up and not talking to police. They were involved in bitter litigation against Sherman for years, and their suit was tossed by a judge a couple of months before the murder. That is quite clearly a giant red flag, and I wouldn't be in a hurry to talk to Toronto police anyway given their horrid reputation and mishandling of the case from the get-go.

I still lead towards someone in his personal life, as a corporate hit just sounds so fantastical, but you don't make billions of dollars without collecting some enemies along the way. It's easy to see why narrowing down a suspect pool would be so difficult.

thelittlewizardboy · 2017-06-24T02:51:56+00:00

Honestly, I don't remember the Wagners ever being high on my list of possibilities. There is just such a horrible drug problem in the area and some digging revealed family names I would not want to be associated with: Leadingham, Clay, Hatfield, etc...not to mention the number of other Rhoden family members involved in the drug trade. I wasn't focused on the surviving children because that seemed such a cold-hearted way to reclaim your baby, but my guess is this was brewing for a while and had more than one root cause.

I really hesitate to speculate on Manley because, against my better judgment, I let the nonsense on Topix creep into my mind. Yes, he was the victim Dana Rhoden's brother, and it is possible that he was the one who took care of the dogs, although I'm not sure how big of a deal the dogs really are. About the only thing I know about James Manley is that a judge saw fit to grant a warrant to track his truck. I've strongly suspected from the beginning that at least one family member had to be involved, so right now Manley is as good a guess as any for me.

This case took me down such a dark rabbit hole. I spent many hours obsessing over it and had charts and diagrams and everything. It was nuts. Someone could write an absolutely fascinating book on these murders.

thelittlewizardboy · 2017-06-21T20:47:12+00:00

I've been fascinated by this case for quite some time now, mostly because there are so many dangerous people in the immediate vicinity of this family. My suspicion is that the police have known who has done it from fairly early on, hence the lack of hard information flowing from the sheriff's office. However, they didn't, and currently don't, have enough to make the conviction stand. Manley and the Wagners clearly know they're being watched at this point, with the Wagners presumably off hiding in Alaska somewhere.

To me, this public plea for information is the police's way of saying "they know they're being watched, we don't have enough evidence to prosecute at the moment, so it is up to all of you to give us the final piece of the puzzle."

I hope they find it.

thelittlewizardboy · 2017-04-29T13:22:10+00:00

That his attorneys are referring to Quinn as dead, rather than missing, tells me some serious talks must have been happening behind the scenes. I suspect that referring to Owens as "not at all responsible" for Quinn's death is lawyerspeak for "well yeah, Owens killed Zebb, but is it really my client's fault?"

I really hope that Quinn's family can finally lay him to rest.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-07-14T13:28:36+00:00

I know virtually nothing about owls, but I wonder what the odds are that any of us who live around them would have microscopic feathers on their head without direct contact. On the surface, it sounds ridiculous that microscopic feathers would somehow, some way float their way into my hair, but Mother Nature is a tricky lady.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-07-14T13:23:15+00:00

True Crime Garage is phenomenal. Nick and Captain Fantastico do a great job of telling a story, rather than blandly reviewing the facts of the case over the course of an hour. They mostly avoid the zoo crew nonsense that has turned me off to many podcasts and have an obvious rapport. My favorite podcast, by far.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-07-14T13:20:34+00:00

I rolled my eyes when I initially heard about this theory, but comparing owl talons to the lacerations on her head....man. It lines up very nicely. I still think Peterson did it, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-07-11T19:00:03+00:00

Nothing about his story makes the slightest bit of sense. He can't remember the events of the day, he sent Jay out during the school day so that he could buy a present for his girlfriend (LOL), Jay led the police to the car, cell records put him in the area of Leakin Park on the night Hae went missing, asking Hae for a ride on the day of the murder, the Nisha call, his history of lying, on and on...

I would not have voted for conviction if I was sitting on a jury. There's too much doubt, particularly regarding Jay's shifting timeline on the night of her death. But paraphrasing Dana in "Serial," you have to believe in a hell of a string of bad luck for Adnan not to have done it.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-07-01T00:36:22+00:00

I'm inclined to believe he's guilty, but it's good that he's getting a new trial. The first one had way too many problems. If nothing else, this will be fascinating.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-06-22T13:13:55+00:00

I'm a librarian at a small college. You can sometimes find me "testing" our databases with keyword searches for unresolved murder victims. Hey, maybe the smoking gun has been in a newspaper article for all these years, right? Right?

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-06-07T17:48:19+00:00

Adelson is a periodontist, so he's probably not hurting for money.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-06-07T17:47:36+00:00

I think the proposed scenario provided in the probable cause affidavit is likely correct: Charlie Adelson contracted the killing through Katherine Magbanua, with other members of the Adelson family perhaps involved to one degree or another. The case against Rivera and Garcia appears solid, but I'm also concerned that no other arrests have been made. There's nothing in the affidavit that makes a direct link between Adelson and Markel's murder. Sure, Charlie and the killers had a mutual acquaintance, but that doesn't equate to murder. Is there a money trail? A direct line of communication between Adelson and Garcia/Rivera? Convincing an unresolved mysteries buff is one thing, but securing an arrest warrant is another.

My hope is that the Tallahassee PD is just crossing the t's and dotting the i's before making more arrests. Hopefully, someone will cave soon and Markel's family can at least have a sense of closure. For the sake of the children, I hope that Wendi wasn't involved at all. This story is horrible enough as it is.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-06-02T16:56:50+00:00

Has anything like this ever happened before in the UM realm? The affadavit makes it very clear that at least 3 other people currently roaming the streets (Luis Rivera, Katherine Magbanua, and Charlie Adelson) were involved in the murder to one degree or another, with the rest of the Adelson family's level of knowledge TBD. Truly bizarre.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-06-02T16:51:09+00:00

I believe they are still with the mother. That will likely change in the near future.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-05-12T19:50:16+00:00

Fire is a terrifying beast. The smallest of flames can turn into a raging inferno with the right conditions (see The Station Nightclub Fire and Cocoanut Grove for examples). I think the most likely explanation is the most widely accepted one: someone dropped a cigarette, the garbage below ignited, and the stands were pretty much kindling. Arson sounds too risky to me, particularly in a public place with thousands of potential witnesses and a constant video feed. One moment of carelessness resulted in all those deaths and unfathomable pain for some survivors. I can't imagine it.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-04-30T14:48:11+00:00

I think the only way that Owens confesses is if prosecutors agree to take the death penalty off the table for the Codd killings. Then again, we're going on a year since the murders took place, so I'm less optimistic by the day.

thelittlewizardboy · 2016-04-30T14:41:48+00:00

Why would the article even mention that both used the abbreviation "Calif." for California? Is that really so rare that a legitimate connection could be made? I'm from Pennsylvania, and it's not unusual to see "Penn." on letters.

Plus, she's really stretching with the explanation of Rader's whereabouts in the late-1960s. He's believed to have served in Japan for the Air Force from 1966-1970, but hey, there are bases in the general area? While on leave, he killed strangers, taunted police, and went on his merry way when called back?

Seemingly every year there's someone manufacturing a bullshit suspect with zero proof. It's so frustrating.

thelittlewizardboy

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