Three days after Sheree Fertuck disappeared, her estranged husband Greg Fertuck was a suspect, but it took two-and-a-half years to initiate an undercover operation known as a Mr. Big sting.
Sgt. Tiffany Climenhaga of the RCMP took the stand Monday at Greg Fertuck’s first-degree murder trial, recalling the polar opposite stories police initially received following Sheree’s disappearance on Dec. 7, 2015.
“To be honest, I felt like I was in a bit of a Twilight Zone,” Climenhaga said.
During his Dec. 9, 2015 interview with police, Greg Fertuck told officers he still loved and cared for Sheree. Meanwhile, the couple’s children said Greg Fertuck was violent with Sheree, they were never getting back together and they fought over finances.
By Dec. 10, 2015, Climenhaga considered Greg Fertuck a suspect. She testified that determination was based on his criminal and domestic violence history, his poor financial situation and statements from family members.
RCMP never told the Fertuck children, now all adults, that their father was a suspect.
“The family was very much pushing us that Greg was the suspect,” Climenhaga testified.
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Initially, Greg Fertuck agreed to do a polygraph test. Climenhaga said she wanted the test to be done, but also wanted the man to “know his jeopardy.” She wanted him to recognize he was a potential suspect so he could get legal counsel.
The test was never done.
Police conducted a search warrant at Greg Fertuck’s house on Dec. 20, 2015, finding a shotgun, ammunition and a gun case missing a .22 calibre rifle.
During his opening statement, Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss said Greg Fertuck used a .22 calibre rifle to shoot Sheree twice at the gravel pit near her family’s farm east of Kenaston, about 85 kilometres south of Saskatoon.
The gun and Sheree’s body have never been found.
Greg Fertuck was arrested in October 2017, held for questioning and released. Leading up to the arrest, officers had discussed a “major crime technique” — better known as an undercover operation or Mr. Big sting.
In 2018, Climenhaga got a call from Lanna Fertuck, one of Sheree and Greg Fertuck’s daughters, who said the man had been violent toward her.
“The behaviour was pretty erratic,” said Climenhaga, who considered it an escalation of the suspect’s actions.
She submitted a plan for a Mr. Big operation and Saskatchewan RCMP received approval in June 2018. It began with surveillance of Greg Fertuck’s lifestyle, which revealed activities like staying at home, going to the grocery store and almost daily attendance at a liquor store.
A series of “scenarios” followed, Climenhaga said, beginning with Greg Fertuck meeting undercover officers in Banff, Alberta. Meetings were recorded, though none have been heard yet in court.
Climenhaga described one occasion on Dec. 12, 2018, in which the suspect stated he wanted to kill a person. Operatives worked to keep Greg Fertuck out of province, while officers searched for the person, whom they only knew by a nickname.
Eventually, Greg Fertuck said he no longer wanted the person killed.
At the beginning of January 2019, Greg Fertuck slipped and fell at his home in Saskatoon’s Holiday Park neighbourhood. He refused to go to the hospital, Climenhaga said.
After being called to the home, undercover officers found him on the floor with swelling on his head. They urged him to take an ambulance to the hospital, despite Greg Fertuck threatening to never speak to them again.
“The preservation of life of was greater than the (undercover) project,” Climenhaga testified.
Paramedics rushed him to the hospital. He later checked himself out of the facility, Climenhaga said.
Greg Fertuck eventually had an interview with a fictitious crime boss, in which the Crown has stated Greg Fertuck told undercover police he killed his wife
He was arrested in June 2019 and charged with first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body.
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