The Greg Fertuck murder trial viewed GPS tracking and listened to covert audio recordings Thursday, documenting the time before and after the Saskatoon man told a fake crime boss he killed his estranged wife, Sheree Fertuck.
The audio also revealed the accused’s failed attempt to avoid police tracking.
On Jan. 21, 2019, Fertuck, who is now 68, entered the James Hotel in Saskatoon to meet with the crime boss in a suite. On the stand, an undercover officer recalled telling Fertuck to “just be honest with him.”
For the third day, the operation’s “primary operator” testified in Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench. He worked with Fertuck more than anyone else while the accused thought he was employed in a criminal organization.
Court has yet to hear audio or see video of Fertuck’s admission to the boss, but previous police witnesses have stated the accused told the man that he shot and killed Sheree before disposing of her body in a rural area. Sheree was last seen by family on Dec. 7, 2015 leaving their farmyard to haul gravel.
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The crime boss instructed Fertuck to lead his co-workers to the gravel pit where the shooting allegedly happened and the rural area where Fertuck said he hid Sheree’s body.
After the conversation, Fertuck left the hotel with the primary operator and his supervisor. Outside the hotel, they got in a vehicle with the organization’s “cleanup” expert.
Court viewed software that showed the GPS location of the vehicle as it moved. It left the hotel just after 1:30 p.m. and arrived at the Stonebridge Home Depot to pick up supplies. After getting food and filling up with fuel, they drove to the Kenaston, Sask. area, about 85 km south of Saskatoon.
“I’m going to shut my phone off so the f—–g cops don’t track me,” Fertuck can be heard saying on the recording.
At Kenaston, the vehicle turned off of Highway 11 to drive eastbound on Highway 15. As the primary operator drove, Fertuck gave him directions.
“Turn right up here, just around this curve,” he said. “That’s the gravel pit.”
Fertuck and the undercover police got out of the vehicle at the pit. They then drove east of the pit past a large slough before heading north, then west at a farmyard. The vehicle turns north again before coming to a stop.
An impassable “goat path” kept the group to the grid roads, the undercover officer testified.
Fertuck led the officers to three poplar bluffs where he told them he’d dragged Sheree’s body 10 to 15 feet into the wooded area before covering it with some logs, court heard.
“I’m pretty certain it was that field,” Fertuck can be heard at one point.
“I remember that slough,” he said on another occasion.
The group contended with thick vegetation, rain and mud, but didn’t find anything. They returned the next day with rain gear and all terrain vehicles, but were unable to find Sheree’s body.
To this day, her remains are still unaccounted for.
The fake criminal organization approach is known as a “major crime technique” among police, but it is better known as a Mr. Big sting. Mr. Big stings are permissible in Canada, but remain controversial. Critics say the method is a form of manipulation that often leads to false confessions.
The judge-alone trial, now in its sixth week, has been heard entirely within a voir dire, or admissibility hearing. At a later date, Justice Richard Danyliuk will rule on what evidence can be admitted.
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Crime boss directed Greg Fertuck and operators to ‘clean up’ Sheree Fertuck disappearance -
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