Pointing his cane like a rifle, Greg Fertuck recreated what he said was the shooting of his ex-wife, Sheree Fertuck.
It was more than two hours until a meeting on June 21, 2019 at the James Hotel in downtown Saskatoon. Speaking to the head of a bogus criminal organization created by RCMP, Greg Fertuck gave a step-by-step account of the shooting.
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Greg Fertuck reveals Sheree Fertuck’s murder to Mr. Big’s crime boss: ‘I ended up shooting him’
The interactions were recorded on hidden audio and video recording devices as part of a Mr. Big sting.
On December 7, 2015, he drove to a gravel pit in the Kenaston, Sask area to confront Sheree about her divorce proceedings.
Following a Mr. Big sting, RCMP charged Greg Fertuck in June 2019 with first degree murder and offering an indignity to a body. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
“I’m not sure if he was surprised (to see me) or not,” Greg Fertuck told the crime boss, who was actually an undercover police officer.
An argument broke out as Sheree and Greg Fertuck stood outside in the well. Greg Fertuck said he “snapped”, went back to his truck, grabbed a .22 caliber rifle and shot Sheree in the shoulder.
Sheree spoke her last words: “Oh my God,” as she fell to her knees, the defendant said.
During reenactment, the crime boss impersonated Sheree and knelt down.
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Greg Fertuck touched the back of the crime boss’s head, indicating where he claimed to have shot Sheree a second time.
“I never told anyone about it. You’re the first guy I ever told, ”the defendant told the crime boss. “The fewer people know about it, the better.”
The defendant said he never removed the casings from the bullets. A police search of the scene in spring 2016 revealed two casings.
He told the crime boss he used the nearby front loader to lift Sheree’s body and place it in the back of his Dodge Ram truck. He also wrapped it in black plastic, the court heard.
The video suggests that Greg Fertuck had a date in Saskatoon on the morning of December 7, 2015, went unrecorded for a few hours, and then took his truck to a car wash in the late afternoon.
Court display
Greg Fertuck drove to a nearby wooded area and left the body, still wrapped in plastic, under logs, according to the story he told the undercover officer.
The crime boss, who told Greg Fertuck that he would help “clean up” the situation, expressed concern about fingerprints and DNA that could be left on the plastic.
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“That’s going to sink your battleship, my friend,” said the crime boss.
The crime boss ordered Greg Fertuck to draw maps of the gravel pit, where he disposed of the body and where he hid the rifle in Biggar, Sask. zone.
Neither of them has ever met.
Greg Fertuck drew this map for the fake crime boss, illustrating where he thought Sheree Fertuck’s body had been left.
Court display
On December 7, 2015, after the shooting, Greg Fertuck was caught on surveillance video at an 11th Street West car wash in Saskatoon. It shows him leaving the driver’s seat, opening the tailgate, and rummaging in bed before entering the laundry room.
“I just washed the back of the tailgate,” Greg Fertuck said.
The court has heard that the defendant lost a blood stain, inside the tailgate, that matches Sheree’s DNA.
A DNA expert says the blood found inside the tailgate of Greg Fertuck’s truck matches the profile of samples taken from Sheree’s razor.
Court display
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During their meeting, the crime boss showed Greg Fertuck a fake letter claiming to be from an RCMP staff sergeant to a superintendent. It stated that investigators contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, DC, requesting satellite images of the gravel pit, the Kenaston area, and Saskatoon beginning in December 2015.
The purpose of the letter, according to the testimony of the crime boss, is that a person who is not guilty would appreciate the images because they would provide exoneration.
When questioned by defense attorney Morris Bodnar, the crime boss said he was unaware of a brain hemorrhage and a blood clot that Greg Fertuck suffered after hitting his head on January 1, 2019.
The witness said he knew that Greg Fertuck had memory problems because he did not remember a meeting the two men had. The defendant was also unable to recall the location of the rifle due to his head injury, he said in the undercover recording.
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Mr. Big’s bites are controversial, as some legal experts say the approach leads to false confessions. While advocates say the sole purpose of the operation is to determine the truth, opponents often argue that the bites are examples of police tunnel vision, with officers trying to get a specific target to confess a crime.
Greg Fertuck has pleaded not guilty to first degree murder charges and offering an indignity to a body.
His lawyers have argued that undercover police took advantage of the man while he was dealing with a head injury and alcoholism. They have also featured examples of when Greg Fertuck lied to undercover operators to question the validity of his admission to the crime boss.
The entirety of the Crown case for more than six weeks has been presented at a voir dire hearing. Judge Richard Danyliuk will decide what evidence can be applied to the trial itself.
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