Witnesses called in Fertuck murder trial share details of search, loader scale

Gary Decker told Greg Fertuck’s first-degree murder trial Friday that Sheree Fertuck had told him she would never reconcile with her estranged husband.

Decker, who’s from a Hutterite colony near Sheree Fertuck’s work and frequently spoke with her and repaired her equipment, said she had told him a romantic reunion with Greg Fertuck was never going to happen.

In his testimony at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench, Decker said Sheree had shared with him that Greg had been trying to “romance” her while they were both living at Fertuck’s family’s farm. Decker said she told him she and Greg were sleeping on different floors of the home, and a reconciliation was “never going to happen.”

Decker also told court Sheree had shared with him she left Greg when his abusive behaviours began to be directed towards their kids.

Sheree and Decker spoke about two to three times a day, several days a week, Decker said Friday. They had each other’s cellphone numbers and it was not uncommon for Decker to fix Fertuck’s loader and trucks after hours. Fertuck would compensate Decker for his work and replace parts he used on her equipment.

On the day Fertuck disappeared, Decker said he spoke to her around 8:30 in the morning when she called him to ask if his farm was experiencing a power outage like hers was. Decker tried calling Fertuck several times around 2 or 3 p.m. to ask if her power had come back on, but he said she never picked up.

That wasn’t unusual, Decker recalled, because Fertuck was often busy and did not have reception when she was in the gravel pit where she worked. But he became worried later in the night when Fertuck’s mother called him to ask if Fertuck was at Decker’s farm.

She was not, Decker reported telling Fertuck’s mother. After later receiving a second call asking if he had heard anything from Fertuck, Decker became worried and contemplated going out to the gravel pit to look for her, but did not end up doing so.

Search and rescue

The second witness called Friday, Eugene Whitehead, had been a pastor in the Kenaston area for about 10 years when Fertuck disappeared.

A volunteer captain for the Kenaston fire department, Whitehead received a call from police on the morning of Dec. 8, 2015. He was told there was a search for a missing person who might have been buried under a collapsed pile of gravel.

Whitehead said he responded to the scene with other volunteers and they proceeded to use hand shovels to assist in the search.

While they were searching, Whitehead said one of the searchers was able to start the loader on site, likely using the keys that were left in Fertuck’s truck.

Whitehead testified on cross-examination that searchers were concerned Fertuck might have been accidentally injured. He said the searchers did not see any blood or signs of a struggle around the truck or loader.

The loader scale

Dylan Desrosiers worked for Fertuck and loaded gravel at the pit near Kenaston to haul to projects in Davidson and Hanley, he told the court.

His last day of work for Fertuck was on Dec. 4, 2015, but he said Fertuck had told him she might need his services again in the spring.

Desrosiers explained how the scale in Fertuck’s loader worked. The scale would turn on when the loader turned on, he said, and buckets of gravel would be lifted about eight feet in the air where sensors would register the weight. The machine would then track a running total of the load weight.

A button on the screen would print a ticket for the person loading the gravel. These tickets acted as receipts for the individual loading the vehicle and helped track how much gravel was hauled and how much Fertuck was owed for the load.

Desrosiers testified he would give these tickets to Fertuck at the end of the day or the next morning, depending on when he saw her.

After printing the ticket, Desrosiers indicated using pictures of the scale that a button on the screen would allow users to “zero” the scale, resetting it to a zero amount for the next loader.

Desrosiers’s testimony about the scale follows previous testimony and cross-examination asking about the condition of the tool, its location and its use.

Decker also testified he was aware the loader scale had been vandalized sometime during the two-week period prior to Fertuck’s disappearance.

The trial is to continue next week.