'Dad, just tell the truth': Court sees RCMP video of dramatic confrontation between Greg Fertuck, daughter

A court was shown video Tuesday of an interview in which Greg Fertuck admitted to RCMP that he was at the gravel pit where his wife, Sheree, went missing — on the very day that she vanished.

Greg Fertuck is now on trial at Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatoon for Sheree's death. She was last seen on Dec. 7, 2015. Her body has never been found, but her semi-truck was found abandoned in a gravel pit near Kenaston, Sask., on Dec. 8, 2015. 

Greg Fertuck is now on trial for first-degree murder in connection with her death. He has pleaded not guilty.

The video of Greg Fertuck's interview with RCMP at the Saskatoon detachment, which was played in court Tuesday, shows RCMP officers called Fertuck's daughter Lanna into the interview following his admission that he was at the gravel pit.

They explain to her and Greg, as she sits across from her father, why she was invited.

"Lanna needs to hear some of the key things, to see why Greg is here," Staff Sgt. Charles Lerat says in the video.

"[Sheree] is a victim of foul play, for what your dad did."

Greg interjects at this point, the video shows, saying, "Lanna, I didn't do anything to your mother."

Lerat and Sgt. Chad Clark then offer Lanna a synopsis of their investigation, honing in on how a blood spot found in Greg's truck was a match with Sheree's DNA and how a "ping" from a cellphone tower placed Greg at the gravel pit that day.

Greg had denied that he was at the gravel pit for the first hours of the interview, which was done on Oct. 25, 2017. Then he changes his story, saying he had originally denied it because "everyone thought I had done something to Sheree."

In the video, he says that he had gone to the pit to pick up five pails of gravel for some work on his fence and to hopefully bump into Sheree and discuss future work. But he said he never did see her at the pit.

The two officers suggest that this admission casts into doubt the entire timeline that Greg had constructed to account for his movements on Dec. 7, 2015.

Lanna becomes emotional at that point in the video, as her father continues to protest his innocence.

"Dad, just tell the truth," she says through tears. "She's gone and not coming back."

"I don't know where she is," Greg replies. "Lanna, I never did nothing to your mother."

Shifting narrative

Greg Fertuck's trial is now in its third week. The Crown has so far called more than 30 witnesses.

The prosecution's theory is that Greg shot his ex-wife twice during a confrontation at the gravel pit and then moved her body to another location in the country.

The theory is based on disclosures Greg made to undercover police officers posing as criminals in an elaborate operation known as a "Mr. Big sting" in 2019.

The admissibility of these statements has yet to be determined by Justice Richard Danyliuk.

The video shown Tuesday was part of a voir dire — a mini-trial within the ongoing proceedings — to determine the admissibility of the statements.

Staff Sgt. Charles Lerat did the primary interview after Greg Fertuck's arrest in 2017, repeatedly challenging him to account for how the cellphone tower placed his phone near the Kenaston gravel pit at 1:20 p.m. CST. 

After adamantly denying that he'd gone anywhere near the gravel pit at the start of the interview, he abruptly admitted to Lerat that he had gone to the pit — but claimed he did not see Sheree.

"I would never harm the mother of my children. I don't care what you guys say."

Lerat and Sgt. Chad Clark both scoffed at Greg's explanation for why he drove to the pit, a 230-kilometre round trip for five pails of gravel, and why he never admitted it to police.

"You're not making much sense. Try again," Clark said.

"Why drive 130 miles for five pails of gravel?" Lerat added.

When Greg said that he had also wanted to speak with Sheree about work but that she wasn't there, Clark asked why he had not phoned her later that day to check. Greg said he didn't think Sheree would pick up because she was hauling gravel.

"What are we going to tell these kids?" Clark said. "That your dad has given some pretty crappy excuses?"

'They believe their dad did it'

The officers then played Greg videotaped messages from his two daughters, Lanna and Lauren, who had just learned hours earlier that he was arrested for allegedly murdering their mother.

"You're still going to be my dad," Lanna is heard saying on the tape. "We all need some closure. It's gone on long enough."

"I'll always love you," said Lauren. "Just tell the truth, dad."

Clark then asked how the video messages make Greg feel.

"It sort of breaks my heart," he said.

"It should break your heart," Clark replied. "They believe their dad did it."

It was after showing Greg the video messages — and his continued denial that he confronted and killed Sheree — that the officers physically brought Lanna into the interview. 

Although RCMP arrested Greg on Oct. 25, 2017, and interrogated him for six hours, he never admitted to killing her and was not charged.

It was another two years, following the undercover sting, before he was charged in her death.

In the 2017 interview, Lerat told Greg they could charge him without finding her body.

"There's no doubt in my mind you killed Sheree," he said. "It's a fable, a myth, that with no body there is no crime."

Fertuck's trial, which is being heard by judge alone, is scheduled for eight weeks.