During the second day of searching for Sheree Fertuck’s body, undercover officers and Greg Fertuck scoured the Saskatchewan countryside amid fabricated concerns about satellite imagery and a looming police search.
Greg Fertuck, now 68, was under the impression he was working for a criminal organization. On June 21 and June 22, 2021, he was joined by his work partner, his supervisor and the organization’s “cleanup guy.”
All of his companions were undercover officers who were part of a nearly year-long Mr. Big sting.
On the stand Thursday in Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench, the cleanup expert described using all-terrain vehicles on the second day to search an area northeast of the gravel pit where Greg Fertuck told a fictional crime boss he shot and killed his estranged wife, Sheree.
During a break in the search, the cleanup guy staged a phone call with an officer posing as the organization’s crime boss. The witness said the crime boss warned that the RCMP was looking into obtaining FBI-owned satellite imagery from the day Sheree went missing — Dec. 7, 2015.
If the RCMP figured out where Greg Fertuck left Sheree’s body, a police search of that area would likely begin, the witness relayed to the accused. In reality, the information was based on a fake memo.
The goal of the phony document was “to continue to motivate the target to continue searching,” the cleanup expert testified.
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Greg Fertuck, on a hidden audio recording, can be heard wondering aloud why the technology hadn’t been used earlier if police were able to access it.
On the recording, the witness can be heard suggesting to Greg Fertuck that if the criminal organization’s corrupt police contact could get the imagery before the RCMP, they might be able to beat police to the wooded area where Greg Fertuck claimed to hide Sheree’s body under two logs.
“We might be able to focus on just one bluff and tear the f—–g thing apart,” cleanup guy said on the recording.
Before the search began, Greg Fertuck drew a map of the area east of Kenaston, Sask. It showed the gravel pit where he claimed to shoot Sheree — once in the shoulder and once in the back of the head.
From the pit, his drawing directed officers eastbound on Highway 15, turning northbound on a series of grid roads. It’s a route they followed during their search.
Greg Fertuck told officers he was 100 per cent sure he turned northbound past a slough before disposing of the body. He said he was 80 per cent sure the body was in a specific field’s poplar bluffs.
At one point, the cleanup guy said Greg Fertuck looked “wide-eyed” when he misheard him, and thought the man found the body.
“He looked excited, surprised,” the witness testified.
The cleanup guy can be heard on the audio recording, asking the accused if he was sure the body wasn’t in a slough. Greg Fertuck laughed and made a joke about needing scuba diving gear in an apparent dismissal of the question.
To this day, Sheree’s remains have never been found.
Greg Fertuck has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body.
Day three of search focused on the Ruger 10/22 rifle, which Greg Fertuck said was used in the shooting before he ditched it in a bush near Biggar, Sask.
“We’ll never find it unless you put me under and hypnotize me or something,” he said on the recording.
“It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
The gun remains missing. Greg Fertuck, however, did turn over a rifle magazine, a pair of boots and two gloves to undercover officers.
Now in its seventh week, the trial has heard all of its evidence in the form of a voir dire. Also known as an admissibility hearing, a voir dire is meant to determine what can be applied to the trial proper.
Justice Richard Danyliuk has not ruled on whether any of the evidence will be admissible.
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