Toronto police say Barry and Honey Sherman, the billionaire couple who were found dead in their home in December, were murdered.
“We have sufficient evidence to describe this as a double homicide investigation, and that Honey and Barry Sherman were in fact targeted," Detective Sergeant Susan Gomes said in a Friday press conference.
The Shermans were last seen alive in the evening of Dec. 13. They were found dead two days later, hanging from belts from a pool railing in their home, Gomes said.
Until now, police had said little about the investigation other than deeming the deaths "suspicious," but anonymous police sources had suggested to news outlets that it was a murder-suicide.
The Sherman family, who have hired private investigators, slammed those rumours as "absurd" and said last week the couple had been murdered in what appears to have been a professional contract killing.
Gomes said police have been in "consistent and ongoing" contact with the Sherman family and said the investigation would continue.
Gomes also defended the pace of the investigation, saying the size of the couple's mansion necessitated a six-week search of the premises and that cops have interviewed more than 120 people.
“Facts guide our focus," she said. "Conjecture and speculation have no place.”