Sheree Fertuck may have been his competitor in the gravel hauling business, but Jeff Sagen has testified he didn’t do anything to cause her to go missing.
Sheree and Sagen went to school together, but he didn’t consider them friends, court heard. As adults, they worked for the same rural municipality and Sheree was the one to teach him how to spread gravel. They became competitors because they were in the same industry in the same area, he testified.
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Crown prosecutor Carla Dewar asked if they had a contentious relationship.
“I didn’t feel that way at all,” Sagen answered.
Dewar also asked if Sagen had anything to do with Sheree’s disappearance on Dec. 7, 2015.
“No,” he replied.
Sheree Fertuck was last seen on Dec. 7, 2015. Her estranged husband, Greg Fertuck, was arrested and charged in June 2019.
Facebook / Saskatchewan RCMP
Greg Fertuck, 68, is on trial for first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body. The lead investigator in the case said Greg Fertuck was a suspect within days of Sheree’s disappearance. He wasn’t charged until June 2019 after the conclusion of an undercover operation known as a Mr. Big sting.
The defence has pointed to Sagen as a possible alternate suspect in Sheree’s disappearance. Court has heard Sagen was the initial recipient of a gravel hauling contract for a fertilizer plant near Hanley, Sask., but he delivered less gravel than the company wanted.
Sheree won the next round of bidding on the project.
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“I was happy she was working … she had a family to fend for,” Sagen testified.
On the date of Sheree went missing, Sagen said he drove his daughter to school in Kenaston in the morning. He didn’t leave the property for the rest of the day, spending the afternoon working on a truck with a neighbour and delousing cattle in his yard.
The next day, Sagen received a call from Sheree’s friend, asking him to check the gravel pit from which Sheree had been hauling. Worried Sheree had a fatal accident at the pit, Sagen said he declined to check the pit.
“I didn’t want to be the one to find that,” he testified.
A court exhibit image shows the gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck would use a front-end loader to fill the trailer attached to her semi-truck.
Court Exhibit
He later led a search party in an area, including land he owned. Volunteers on quads and snowmobiles weren’t able to find anything, he said.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Morris Bodnar, Sagen acknowledged making a statement to police about how he felt Sheree viewed him.
“She didn’t like me. I know that because we were in the (same) business,” Sagen police.
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Court heard Sagen provided his finger prints, DNA and phone records to police. He consented to a polygraph test, but police never took one from him.
Sagen testified that gravel was not his family’s primary business. They also ran a large grain and cattle-farming operation.
Ken Sagen, Jeff’s brother who hauled gravel for him, also took the stand Friday. He testified that he saw Sheree’s semi-truck driving on Highway 15 around 11:00 a.m. on Dec. 7, 2015.
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Later that day, he saw her truck at the gravel pit between 2 and 2:30 p.m. and again in the pit around 6 p.m. that evening.
All of the Crown’s evidence has been presented in a voir dire or admissibility hearing. Justice Richard Danyliuk will determine what evidence can be applied to the trial proper.
Testimony continues Monday with an RCMP member testifying about the “major crime technique” — better known as the Mr. Big sting that led to Greg Fertuck’s arrest.
Greg Fertuck’s lawyer suggests Sheree Fertuck may still be alive
