Greg Fertuck receives life sentence for murder of Sheree Fertuck

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As Sheree Fertuck’s sisters read their victim impact statements in a King’s Bench courtroom in Saskatoon, they said their mother, Juliann Sorotski, died of grief over the loss of Sheree, not knowing what happened to her on December 7, 2015, in a gravel pit in Kenaston, Saskatchewan.

Glenda Sorotski said she could not get rid of the image of her sister’s final moments before her murder.

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“We will never escape the horror of the pit,” she said.

While the conviction of Sheree’s estranged husband Gregory Mitchell Fertuck has given them some closure in their relationship, it will not be complete until her body is found, sister Teaka White said during Fertuck’s sentencing hearing on Thursday.

“There is only one person who can provide this for our family,” she added.

Fertuck, 71, was found guilty of first-degree murder and desecration of human remains on June 14.

Judge Richard Danyliuk found that Fertuck shot Sheree first in the shoulder and then in the back of the head during an argument over money at the gravel pit. He said Fertuck then used a loader to lift her body into the bed of his truck and dumped it on a cottonwood hill northeast of the pit.

Despite several searches, Sheree’s remains were never found.

The conviction was based in part on confessions Fertuck made to undercover police officers posing as fake criminals during a “Mr. Big” operation, which led to Fertuck’s arrest in 2019.

Reading from his written decision last month, Danyliuk called Fertuck’s confessions “chilling and compelling.”

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Intentional murder carries a life sentence without the right to parole for the next 25 years. Danyliuk imposed the sentence along with a concurrent four-year prison sentence for the insult charge.

“You are a cold, heartless and emotionless killer,” he said.

Addressing Sheree’s family, Danyliuk said that a trial must focus on the defendant and that it may have felt like Sheree was “lost in the shuffle.”

“She didn’t,” he assured them.

When a defendant is found guilty, judges can look at the bigger picture, he said, adding that he hoped this trial had helped them find the truth.

“It haunts me that there was never an expression of regret or remorse, that evil was preferred to good, and that darkness was worn like a badge of honor,” Sorotski said.

When given the opportunity to speak, Fertuck said, “I feel no remorse because I have never committed a crime. I have been wrongly accused and will prove my innocence on appeal.”

Family members said in court that Sheree lived in fear of Fertuck but remained brave with her three children. After the verdict, her sisters told reporters they knew Fertuck, a self-professed alcoholic, could kill Sheree because he had threatened to do so during previous domestic disputes.

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Danyliuk said it was a “shameful fact” that Saskatchewan leads the country in the number of domestic violence cases.

“And you, Mr. Fertuck, are among the worst of the worst in this bunch,” he said in a raised voice.

“You acted like a moody two-year-old child in a man’s body. You robbed the world of the light that emanated from Sheree.”

During the trial, it was revealed that Fertuck and Sheree were living separately and Sheree was filing for divorce. Fertuck wanted $15,000 from his pension, but Sheree refused to agree until they had sorted out the division of assets.

He was still working for her gravel hauling company. On the morning of Dec. 7, 2015, Sheree was angry because she believed Fertuck had accumulated more hours than he had worked and wanted to call the bank to stop his payments, prosecutors said during closing arguments.

Fertuck planned to confront her about money and had a loaded gun in the back of his car in case the conversation went badly, Danyliuk said last month.

“You know you did it, I know you did it; now everyone knows you did it,” he told Fertuck on Thursday, adding that Fertuck will be forgotten while Sheree’s kindness, love and bravery will live on.

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In his court testimony, Fertuck, who is representing himself, said he was convicted based on a lie he told to impress a group of fake criminals and that the prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence and “malicious slander.”

Prosecutors Carla Dewar and Cory Bliss turned to look at Fertuck as he vowed to prove his innocence to his estranged children.

At the request of Sheree’s family, several restraining orders were imposed on Fertuck.

In her statement read by Dewar, Sheree’s daughter Lanna Fertuck said her mother tried desperately to keep the family together despite Fertuck’s emotional and physical abuse.

She said deep down she knew Fertuck had killed her mother and she feared he would kill her grandmother, Juliann, too.

“Greg never cared about his family or how his actions would affect others. He constantly said, ‘I had a life before I had kids.’ Well, I hope Greg thinks about the life he has built for himself,” Lanna wrote.

“Greg had created an alternate reality in which (Sheree) took everything away from him, even though he was the one who destroyed his family.”

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She said that since her mother was murdered, she has found it difficult to develop compassion for others.

“‘Isn’t she the girl whose father is on trial for murdering her mother?’ becomes your identity and you try desperately to escape it.”

Michelle Kish, Sheree’s third sister, said in a statement that she continues to feel great sympathy for Sheree’s children and grandchildren.

“We all have such a tragic family story to tell now.”

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