Inside new docuseries ‘Billionaire Murders’ with Star investigative reporter Kevin Donovan: ‘I won’t give up’

On Dec. 15, 2017, the bodies of Barry and Honey Sherman were discovered in the basement of their Forest Hill home. Ever since, the mystery of who killed them — and why — has captivated Canadians and amateur sleuths around the world.

Shortly after the news broke — amid a maelstrom of rumour, conspiracy theories and international attention — The Star’s chief investigative reporter was tasked with a twofold mission. First, find out whether the deaths were a murder-suicide or a double homicide, and second, find out “whodunit.”

That assignment has kept Kevin Donovan busy for the last five years.

In addition to breaking several stories around the case — including revealing evidence that Honey and Barry Sherman were victims of a double homicide, not the murder-suicide theory the police initially seemed fixated on — Donovan has written a book called “The Billionaire Murders,” and hosted a popular Star podcast of the same name.

Now, Donovan’s reporting has inspired a four part docuseries,“Billionaire Murders,” which is streaming on Crave. The series is a riveting play-by-play of the case, told through Donovan’s perspective.

That approach came from Joe Danisi, the executive producer and director of the series. “Joe came in as an outsider and said, ‘I want to follow it through Kevin’s eyes,’” said Donovan in an interview.

Over his almost 40-year career, Donovan has covered thousands of stories. He said the Honey and Barry Sherman story was different from the beginning.

“First of all, it’s the people involved,” said Donovan. “Barry was the founder of a well-known generic drug company, and he and Honey were really well-known philanthropists.”

The second reason for the public fascination with the case, said Donovan, is that it’s catnip for our true crime-obsessed age.

“If there had been an arrest that first day, there wouldn’t have been a book or documentary,” said Donovan. “Human nature wants answers, and people like to feel that they’re playing a part in finding those answers.”

Invariably, Donovan added, everyone he meets seems to have their own pet theory about the case.

“There’s a very active community out there on Reddit and Websleuths that go down a lot of rabbit holes,” said Donovan, noting that he prefers a “fact-based approach” to his reporting.

Much of the documentary focuses on Donovan trying to unspool the thread of the police’s behaviour around the case, including why they waited to interview certain people, or why they seemed ready to declare the deaths a murder-suicide.

Eventually, the Sherman family conducted their own autopsy, which showed evidence that it was a double murder. Donovan obtained this information through his own sources and published the story in The Star.

“I don’t think that this case would be even talked about if those sources hadn’t spoken to me,” said Donovan. “We’re nothing without people who stand up and tell us the truth.”

Still, the early missteps in the case rankle him.

“I have hoped, as a citizen of Toronto and a taxpayer that I would one day find out there was a grand plan where the police were trying to make it seem as if it was a murder-suicide so they could do some secret undercover operation with wiretaps and catch the killer,” said Donovan. “I no longer believe that at all.”

Instead, Donovan said the case was botched from the start, noting that his sources have said “the pathologist blames the police for not saying it was a double-murder, and the police blame the pathologist for saying it’s undetermined and maybe a murder suicide.”

Donovan said the case will be challenging to bring to court: “A defence lawyer for person or people X is going to have a field day.”

For the docuseries, Donovan shot all of his “talking head” scenes over five nights in the old Star newsroom at 1 Yonge St., shortly before the newspaper moved to a new headquarters.

“It’s the last video of the old newsroom,” said Donovan, adding that the desk he’s sitting at in the doc is a recreation of his actual desk, which couldn’t be shot because it was in an office. “We re-created that desk every night.”

The newsroom — the Star’s home for 51 years — is a fitting setting for a series that is ultimately a love letter to journalism.

“When people ask why the Star is spending so much time on this, I say that it’s a really important story,” said Donovan. “If these mistakes can happen in the case of really high-profile people, it begs the question of what’s happening with the many other horrible cases that happen in our community.”

Donovan remains on the Sherman case. He said he has a theory he’s fairly confident about, but he just needs to prove it — something that could take years.

“I’m seeing a new source later this week who’s got some specific information to tell me,” said Donovan, adding that he’s meeting them on a park bench somewhere in the GTA.

“I have a history of following a story to the end,” says Donovan. “I won’t give up.”

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