Sheree Fertuck wanted three things from a court battle with her husband Greg Fertuck: a divorce, child support and what she felt was a fair division of her assets, according to the attorney who represented her in the family law proceedings.
Sheree approached Tammi Hackl in November 2011, seeking information on how she might part ways with Greg Fertuck. Sheree was afraid of being evicted from her home in Saskatoon and Greg Fertuck had threatened to take her away, Hackl testified Tuesday.
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“Sheree seemed very realistic to me, very practical,” Hackl said, adding that she was “not given to hysteria or drama.”
Greg Fertuck, 67, pleaded not guilty to first degree murder and to offering an indignity to a body for Sheree’s disappearance on December 7, 2015.
In his last conversation with Sheree, in October 2015, Hackl said that his client was seeking to resolve various divorce-related matters outside of court.
“She wanted to try to resolve their marital property issues and the child support issues between them,” Hackle said. “I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a lawyer.”
A banana clip and ammunition found during a search warrant executed at Greg Fertuck’s home in December 2015.
Court display
Defense attorney Morris Bodnar previously suggested that Sheree and Greg Fertuck were in the process of getting back together. Hackl testified otherwise.
“She never expressed any interest in reconciling with him,” he said.
In a December 2011 divorce petition, Sheree stated that she wanted financial support for her children who were teenagers at the time. In July 2012, a judge ordered Greg Fertuck to pay $ 871 per month in child support. His wages were later garnished, according to Sheree’s attorney.
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By the time their child support dispute reached a pretrial, Sheree had already been missing for nearly three years. Greg Fertuck owed Sheree’s estate $ 26,000 to $ 33,000 as of Sept. 12, 2018, Hackl said.
“Child support was a big problem,” Hackl said.
During their separation, Sheree also sought full possession of his home in Saskatoon, and approximately one-third of Greg Fertuck’s blocked retirement account of approximately $ 430,000 (LIRA). Sheree’s approval was required on all transactions with the account and, on one occasion, she prevented her estranged husband from withdrawing $ 15,000.
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“It didn’t give me the impression that she would allow her to get a penny of that LIRA until they had resolved the division of the property,” Hackl said.
After accounting for all of his debts, approximately $ 790,000 in assets was at stake during the family law proceedings, Hackl testified.
A display image from the court shows the gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck would use a front loader to fill the trailer attached to her truck.
Court display
During questioning, defense attorney Mike Nolin mentioned a $ 200,000 gravel hauling contract that Sheree obtained prior to his death. Because he periodically hired Greg Fertuck to drive a truck for him, Nolin said Sheree “was worth much more to Mr. Fertuck alive” than dead.
Greg Fertuck was indicted in June 2019 following a Mr. Big operation involving the Saskatchewan RCMP.
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Mr. Big’s operations are controversial. They involve undercover police officers posing as members of a criminal organization and then befriending the suspect in what is often a cold case. Undercover police befriend the suspect in order to extract a confession.
The Crown expects to present all of its evidence at an admissibility or voir dire hearing. There is no jury. Judge Richard Danyliuk will determine whether the voir dire evidence can be applied to the trial itself.
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In other testimony Tuesday, a DNA expert linked the blood on the inside of the tailgate of Greg Fertuck’s Dodge Ram truck to his ex-wife. The DNA profile was from a woman, according to Susan Borys, a forensic DNA specialist and analyst.
The blood on the back door matched two samples taken from Sheree’s razor: one from the knife head and the other from the handle. The odds of finding a match outside of the subject’s genetic family in the Canadian Caucasian population is one in 68 quintillion, Borys testified.
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
During his opening statement, Crown Prosecutor Cory Bliss said Greg Fertuck drove to the gravel pit near Sheree’s family farm before shooting him twice with a Ruger 10/22 rifle. Bliss said Greg Fertuck then used a front loader to lift Sheree’s body into his truck.
His body has never been found.
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