Greg Fertuck, who was found guilty last month of the first-degree murder of his estranged wife, received his sentence Thursday.
“You know you did this. I know you did this. Everyone knows you did this.… You killed Sheree and you disposed of her body,” Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench Justice Richard Danyliuk said Thursday before delivering the sentence.
“You Mr. Fertuck are among the worst of the worst in the lot. You acted as a petulant two-year-old in a man’s body.… you robbed the world of the light that shone off from Sheree.… You are a cold callous heartless killer. You are a murderer.”
Fertuck faced an automatic life sentence for the first-degree murder conviction with no eligibility of parole for 25 years. Danyliuk also gave Fertuck a four year sentence that shall “run concurrently to his life imprisonment” for indecently interfering with Sheree’s remains.
With time served, Fertuck can apply for parole in 20 years, when he’s 90 years old.
Sheree Fertuck, a 51-year-old mother of three, vanished on Dec. 7, 2015. She was last seen leaving her mother’s farm near Kenaston, Sask., just after 1 p.m. CST that day, en route to a gravel pit where she worked.
On June 14, 3,113 days later, Danyliuk ruled that Fertuck went out to the gravel pit that afternoon of Dec. 7, got into a confrontation with Sheree, shot her twice, then loaded her body in his truck and dumped her in a rural area.
This is the scenario that Greg presented to undercover police posing as criminals in a sting operation years after Sheree disappeared. He later recanted that story, saying that he made it up because he was enticed by money and perks from the fictitious criminal organization the officers were pretending to be a part of.
Sheree’s body has never been found.
‘I will not have complete closure until Sheree or her remains are found’
Fertuck sat in his orange prison clothes, with unkempt white hair and a beard, listening to the emotional victim impact statements Thursday.
The Crown presented five statements, three from Sheree’s sisters and two from her daughters.
The statement from Lauren Fertuck, one of Sheree’s daughters, was submitted to the judge and not read out in court.
Crown prosecutor Carla Dewar read out a statement from Lana Fertuck, Sheree’s other daughter.
Lana shared about being in her first year of university when her mother was murdered, and how this case and trial defined her life.
“‘Isn’t she the girl whose dad is on trial for murdering her mom?’ became my identity” her statement read.
She wrote about how Greg always tried to make her mother into a villain.
“I knew deep down that Greg murdered my mom,” Dewar read, looking at Greg. “I no longer shed tears.… I have learned to shut my emotions.”
A judge has found Greg Fertuck guilty of first-degree murder in the disappearance of his estranged wife, Sheree Fertuck, more than eight years ago. Sheree’s sisters, Michelle Kish, Teaka White and Glenda Sorotski, said justice has been served.
Sheree’s sisters, Teaka White and Glenda Sorotski, shared their statements themselves, while Michelle Kish’s statement was read out.
Sorotski spoke about her mom, Juliann Sorotski.
“Within two short years of Sheree disappearing, our mom became ill,” she told the court. “We will never escape the horror of the pit.”
Teaka White, Sheree’s younger sister, gave a very emotional statement while looking at Fertuck.
“I will not have complete closure until Sheree or her remains are found.”
Sheree Fertuck, a 51-year-old mother of three, vanished on Dec. 7, 2015. More than eight years later, a King’s Bench judge has found Sheree’s estranged husband guilty of first-degree murder, despite her body never being found. The host of CBC’s podcast The Pit, Kendall Latimer, lays out the twists and turns of the case.
Danyliuk said in his written ruling that Fertuck went to the gravel pit prepared to kill Sheree — he had a gun and heavy plastic wrap — if a conversation about finances didn’t go well.
“Greg had a considered plan in place to deal with Sheree. That it was a plan that was, arguably, contingent upon the settlement conversation going poorly does not make it any less a plan,” he wrote in his decision.
“Even if killing Sheree was Greg’s ‘Plan B’ it was no less a plan for that fact. Once the event triggering the contingency occurred, Greg executed his plan and executed Sheree.”
On Thursday, Danyliuk said that while Fertuck would be rendered as a mere footnote in these proceedings, the world will remember the bright light Sheree was to everyone.
“This has been long and often fascinating and often outright bizarre,” he said. “I have never seen anything like this.”
Sheree Fertuck’s disappearance, the ensuing investigation and Greg Fertuck’s trial are the focus of the CBC podcast The Pit. Listen to all the episodes here.