Crown wants consultant qualified as cellphone tracking expert at Fertuck murder trial

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By trying to qualify an expert in the field of cellphone tracking, the Crown hopes to establish circumstantial evidence that Greg Fertuck was at a Kenaston-area gravel pit when his cellphone pinged off a nearby tower the same day his estranged wife disappeared from the pit.

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Justice Richard Danyliuk is to rule on Thursday whether Bruce Funk, a cellphone security consultant who has done work for the RCMP, will be qualified as an expert in the areas of cellphone tower interpretation and cellphone tracking, records and transmission, and can therefore give both factual and opinion evidence on Greg’s cellphone records.

Most of Wednesday’s global voir dire at Greg’s Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench trial was spent in a qualification hearing. Funk has yet to give his actual testimony on the voir dire.

Sheree Fertuck, a 51-year-old gravel hauler and mother of three, was separated from Greg when she went missing on Dec. 7, 2015.

Although Sheree’s body has never been found, Greg was charged in 2019 after telling undercover police officers, during a Mr. Big sting, that he shot Sheree twice in the pit.

When Greg was initially arrested in 2017, RCMP officers told him they had proof that his cellphone pinged off a tower near the pit around 1:20 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2015.

Greg later said he went to the pit to get five pails of gravel for his yard, and planned on running into Sheree to ask her if she had any gravel hauling work for him. He told police he did not see Sheree while at the pit, so he headed back to Saskatoon.

The Crown is trying to establish evidence outside of the police statement, which has not been made admissible on the voir dire.

Bliss argued that if Greg gives evidence about where he says he was the day Sheree disappeared, Funk’s evidence will show where his cellphone was around the time Sheree was at the pit.

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Court heard Funk worked as a field technician, investigator and security manager with cellphone companies. He said he’s been interpreting records from Bell and Rogers for many years, and some companies he’s done work for called him “the guru of cellphones.”

Defence lawyer Mike Nolin argued Funk had included data on a cell tower map months before he got the data. He said the Crown wants an expert opinion that a cellphone will access a tower with the strongest signal. While Funk can present facts, Nolin argued he isn’t qualified to say what the cell tower map means.

Under cross-examination on the qualification hearing, Funk said he programmed both the gravel pit and the closest cell tower into his map. He said he was informed that cell service at the pit was spotty.

Denise Murley, a security associate with Bell Canada, testified that a phone number belonging to Greg was accessing data between 12:15 p.m. and just after 5 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2015.

She said the only reasons a data session would end would be if someone turned off their phone, put it on airplane mode, a session window expired or maintenance was being done. Losing cell service would not end a session, she testified.

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bmcadam@postmedia.com

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