Cellular expert places Greg Fertuck’s phone near the gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck disappeared | The Canadian News

A cell phone consultant has testified that Greg Fertuck’s device accessed a cell tower near the gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck’s semi-trailer and other items were found.

At 1:20 p.m. on December 7, 2015, a call involving Greg Fertuck’s phone rang in a tower east of the gravel pit, known as the Farrerdale tower. He did not access the Kenaston tower located in the city about 85 kilometers south of Saskatoon, and just west of the corral where Sheree was last seen driving to haul gravel.

Any use of calls, texts or data on a phone requires a connection to a tower.

Greg Fertuck’s cell phone had no access to any tower between approximately 1:20 p.m. and 4:29 p.m. on December 7, 2015, the day Sheree disappeared. The 4:29 pm call sounded from a tower in Clavet, Sask.

“Before (4:29 pm), I don’t know where he is,” said Bruce Funk, a cellular security consultant and former Telus employee.

Early on December 7, cell phone pings placed Greg Fertuck in an area near his home in the Holiday Park neighborhood of Saskatoon. Later that morning, his phone accessed a tower on Millar Avenue. The court has heard that he was attending a physical therapy appointment in the far north of the city at the time.

Funk testified as an expert capable of interpreting and analyzing information from cell phones and cell towers, including cell phone tracking and location.

The general rule of thumb for cell phones and towers, Funk said, is that a phone will access the tower with the strongest signal, and that the strongest signal typically comes from the closest tower.

However, obstructions such as mountains, buildings, or dense brush can cause a phone to connect to a tower that is further away but unobstructed.

Because the gravel pit is closer to the Farrerdale tower than it is to the Kenaston tower, Crown has suggested that the ping places the defendant in the gravel pit area around the last time the family saw Sheree.

The tracking method used by Funk does not provide the exact location of a phone. With cell phone towers broadcasting a 360-degree signal, the transmission is divided into three 120-degree sectors. A phone can then be placed in one of three sectors, according to Funk.

When questioned by defense attorney Mike Nolin, Funk said he was unaware of a power outage in the Kenaston area on the night of December 6, 2015, which continued until the morning of December 7.

Cell phone towers are equipped with backup batteries in the event of a power outage, Funk testified.

During an interrogation in October 2017, Greg Fertuck changed his story about his whereabouts when Sheree disappeared. He initially denied being in the pit that day, but later told police that he went looking for gravel to put in his Saskatoon backyard.

The statement to the police was the subject of a voir dire hearing to determine its admissibility. Judge Richard Danyliuk has not ruled on whether he will be admitted or not. The voir dire of the statement occurred within a broader admissibility hearing for all the Crown evidence in the case.

Greg Fertuck was released without charge in October 2017. The Saskatchewan RCMP filed charges in June 2019 after a sting operation known as Mr. Big Sting. He pleaded not guilty to first degree murder charges and offering an indignity to a body.

Sheree’s remains have never been found.