I asked AI to scan thousands of Barry and Honey Sherman murder case documents. Here’s what it told me I missed
I was skeptical, but curious if AI could tell me something that I had not already learned from endless days and nights perusing documents. Here’s what I found.
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Comment by William.
Guided and interpreted properly AI is a very useful tool in many areas. It's just one more investigative tool like fingerprints, DNA, ballistics analysis, and so on. To Donovan's key point it needs the review of a human.
What strikes me most about this case is that except for Donovan, it appears that it's a case nobody really wants resolved. If the family, and anyone else with a key legitimate interest, wanted this solved the Chief of Police wouldn't have a quiet moment in his day until it was resolved.
Comment by Diane.
What is frustrating about AI for writing, is while it often it does a great job, based on the command, and the profile set up, once in awhile it is well below par, and further prompts don't improve it. For a recent task, part 1 and 2 were great, then part 3, it used a different format and the content was longer and in a different style. A prompt asking it to use the same format did not work. It is still a valuable tool for some tasks, but in needs good review to ensure accuracy.
Comment by ROBERT.
Interesting. Thanks Kevin.
What I have a problem with is that Det. Const. Dennis Yim of the homicide unit said in court that he and Price are up to the task of solving the Sherman murders. And to boot, he didn't think it was time to get help from Det. Sgt. Steve Smith of the Cold Case Unit (who reportedly has had numerous successes in solving old cases)? At this rate they could all be retired from the force and the case will continue to remain unsolved.
Comment by Darcy.
Funny, when I read of Rob Reiner and his wife's suspected murders this morning, I immediately thought about the Sherman cold case. And thought about it again when it was revealed that a close family member of Reiner was already in custody.
I have no insight into the circumstances of the Sherman deaths but the statistics certainly suggest that the motives behind the killings have a direct correlation to family circumstances. The cautionary reminder is the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife who with good police and laboratory work led to human frailties instead of the sinister notions that immediately came to mind.
Comment by Aaron.
I enjoy the author’s work and appreciate the dedication to this case, but this is an article about “I don’t know how to use a computer.” If you used the Gemini app, you likely exceeded its capacity by 125x, which means all it will do is make stuff up. If you used Gemini in aistudio then you still exceeded capacity by 4x - still the wrong tool. The closest thing to what you wanted as a consumer tool is notebookLM, which wouldn’t have had the problems you wrote your whole article on. Instead you described how hammers are not good at cutting wood, then drew broad conclusions about hammer in general. I would recommend choosing the right tools next time, because they would be invaluable in your line of work.
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Comment by Christine.
AI was a bust. Interesting. But why wasn’t Jack Kay interviewed again well before his death? Why isn’t the part-time investigator taking Justice Porter’s suggestion in releasing more info to potentially aid the investigation? And, why isn’t the part-time investigator passing the case to a Cold Case investigator who actually has a successful track record? Ego? Or just more incompetence?
Comment by Louisa.
Interesting the killer(s) used items in the home. If you plan to kill two people, and high profile people no less, don't you think you would come with a good plan and your own weapons? This reeks of the killer within.
Comment by ATC.
This isn't just a domestic murder investigation given the prominence of Apotex in international finance and I'd like to see how much extra jurisdictional engagement is going on which is active and accountable.
• Integration triggers: “What specific criteria did TPS use to engage RCMP, CSIS, and FINTRAC? Provide the written policy or decision memo.”
• Process metrics: “List, in aggregate, the number of MLAT requests filed, jurisdictions contacted, and financial disclosures received to date.”
• Timeline discipline: “What are the agreed inter‑agency response timelines, and how often were they met or missed?”
• Deconfliction: “Who is the designated inter‑agency coordinator? Provide their role description and escalation pathway when deadlines lapse.”
• Post‑hoc transparency: “Commit to a redacted process audit within 12 months of case resolution (or a time‑boxed status review if unresolved).”
Apotex was valued at ~CA$3.9 billion in worldwide sales in 2023, making it Canada’s largest generic drug manufacturer. If the company were destabilized or ruined, the primary beneficiaries would be global competitors in the generic and biosimilar pharmaceutical markets. Hence the engagement of more than just TPS.
Comment by Martin.
this a seriously no one knows for a very long time like maybe like long after we are all gone or so it seems or never. I mean like some go for generations
Comment by Joel.
my bet is this is already happening at major police departments, but if not all police forces should be dumping cold case files for ai to review. there are so many cases that go on over years and things naturally get missed that were there all along to see. why not let AI have a shot at it. obviously any results are going to be checked and verified by investigators afterwards
Reply by Louisa.
Advancement in DNA technology will help the most. I don't disagree that advancements in AI can be useful too.
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