Sheree Fertuck and Heather Mitchell didn’t always live in the same city, but they remained close friends for decades — before one of them disappeared.
Outside Saskatoon provincial court on Monday, Mitchell told reporters about trips the pair took and how they kept in touch over the phone.
“I just really feel like somebody needs to be here for Sheree,” she said through tears. “It’s just really about justice for Sheree and her family.”
Sheree was 51 when she was last seen driving a semi-truck away from her family’s farmhouse in the Kenaston, Sask., area on Dec. 7, 2015.
One day later, her mother found Fertuck’s semi-truck at a nearby gravel pit, along with Sheree’s keys, cell phone and jacket.
Kenaston is about 75 kilometres south of Saskatoon.
In June, police announced a first-degree murder charge had been laid against Sheree’s estranged husband, 65-year-old Greg Fertuck.
Mitchell also knows Greg Fertuck. The group once took a ski trip to Montana, she said.
“In the early years, it was awesome. We used to have lots of fun together,” Mitchell said.
Over the years, the relationship between Sheree and Greg deteriorated, according to Mitchell.
Seeing him Monday via video in an orange, correctional centre-issued shirt, left Mitchell feeling “kind of indifferent.”
Mitchell chooses to remember Sheree as a hard-working, fun-loving mother who cared about her children and grandchild.
“She’s just a really, really good person. I loved her a lot.”
WATCH (July 18, 2019): Search areas identified by homicide investigators trying to find Sheree Fertuck
Last week, Saskatchewan RCMP appealed for the public’s help finding Sheree’s body. Police sought information about a dark polyethylene or tarp-like material.
They also released these search parameters:
- north of a gravel pit that is directly south and adjacent to Highway 15;
- south of the Highway 764 grid extension; and
- east of the Highway 764 grid extension.
In civil court documents filed in 2016, an RCMP corporal stated he had reasonable ground to believe Greg Fertuck murdered his estranged wife.
Greg Fertuck denied the allegation. He’s due back in court in mid-August.
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