Inside the search for suspected murder victim Sheree Fertuck

Down a winding dirt track off Saskatchewan's Highway 15, over tufts of prairie scrub and past the occasional curious deer, there is a gravel pit surrounded by towering mounds of crushed earth. 

Neighbours often caught a glimpse of Sheree Fertuck's semi-trailer parked in the gravel pit near Kenaston, Sask., where she worked day and night. 

But it was too far off the highway for people driving past to have a clear view on Dec. 7, 2015 — the day Sheree disappeared from the pit. Her family members found the 51-year-old's truck abandoned there the following morning.

On Tuesday, three-and-a-half years after her disappearance, her estranged husband, Gregory Mitchell Fertuck, was charged with first-degree murder and causing indignity to a body, after being arrested on the outskirts of Saskatoon at about 6:30 p.m. CST on Monday.

Sheree and Greg had been married for more than 20 years and had three children.

Police haven't found Sheree's body, but believe they have enough evidence to make a case.  

"Although it's unusual, there have been successful prosecutions before without a body being found," said RCMP Supt. Derek Williams. 

"In this case, the Crown felt we have enough evidence to prosecute for first-degree murder and we'll continue to search for Sheree's body to bring that closure to the family."

New details of what police believe happened to Sheree could soon be revealed in court. 

Since her disappearance, Sheree's case has served as a haunting example of how a person can seemingly vanish without a trace in the vast rural landscape of Saskatchewan.

The day she disappeared

Sheree's day on Dec. 7, 2015, started at her home in Saskatoon. At about 9:30 a.m. CST, she drove to Kenaston, about 80 kilometres south of Saskatoon, to start her job as a gravel hauler, driving loads from point to point. Friends and family describe her as a hard worker and a strong woman. 

Sheree had lunch with her mom, Juliann Sorotski, from noon to 1:30 p.m., before climbing back into the semi-truck to go back to work. 

When she missed an appointment around 8 p.m. that night, Sheree's mom started to worry. She found the abandoned truck in the gravel pit the next morning. Sheree's coat, keys and cellphone were still inside.

By afternoon, the RCMP had sealed off the site. 

Cpl. Pascale Lauriault co-ordinated the search for Sheree in the days that followed her disappearance.  

She said police searched the pit and the Sorotski family farm with dogs trained to look for bodies, and there were planes searching from the air.  

They also used infrared technology to search inside the mounds of gravel.  

"I came to the pit with it, and I'm told that if there is a cadaver, as it decomposes, it emits some heat," said Lauriault. 

"And it was about –5 [degrees Celsius] at the time, so it should've been picked up by the [machine]. 

"I came out and looked everywhere in the pit and the piles and stuff. I didn't find any … heat signature."

Hundreds of volunteers, some on snowmobiles, searched abandoned buildings and old wells in the rural municipality of McCraney, where the gravel pit is located, but they found no trace of Sheree. 

RCMP Const. Ron Degooijer was also involved in the immediate search, which ended before Christmas, when the temperature dropped.  

He said police continued the search for Sheree in the spring of 2016. 

"The dive team was actually employed on two different occasions. The RCMP dive team was brought out to search those areas into the culverts where there was water yet, and obviously with negative results in both cases," said Degooijer.

In April of 2016, about four months after Sheree was reported missing, investigators revealed to the public that they believed her death was a homicide. There still hadn't been any banking activity in her accounts or use of her passport. 

Police suspected Greg Fertuck in 2016

In May 2016, court documents revealed police thought Greg Fertuck was responsible for Sheree's death. 

Cpl. Jeremy Anderson wrote in the Jan. 19, 2016, order, "I have reasonable grounds to believe and do believe that: Greg Mitchell Fertuck, born September 25, 1953 at or near Kenaston, Saskatchewan did commit murder on the person of Sheree Fertuck."

Her son Lucas also said in an affidavit that RCMP were investigating Sheree's husband, noting she had an outstanding divorce, child support and property application against Greg. 

Police did not reveal any further details about the case until Tuesday, when Greg Fertuck was charged. 

Supt. Williams said at Tuesday's press conference the RCMP will continue to actively search for Sheree's body. 

"I think we can appreciate the family's ongoing, certainly tragic, circumstances, and this has gone on for almost three-and-a-half years," he said.

"They were pleased with the outcome of the investigation and the fact that we've laid charges."

Greg Fertuck is scheduled to appear at Saskatoon provincial court on Wednesday, June 26.