Bre McAdam
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Edward (Ted) Keith Geddes disappeared from the area of Baldwinton, Sask., west of North Battleford, on April 11, 2011.
He remained a missing person for 11 years, until two Saskatchewan men confessed to their involvement during an undercover investigation known as a Mr. Big sting.
On Friday, Robert (Bob) Wesley Pich, 61, and John Robert Gregoire, 73, appeared in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench. Pich pleaded guilty to second-degree murder; Gregoire pleaded guilty to indecently interfering with Geddes’s remains.
Based on information the men gave to undercover officers, RCMP drained a slough on Gregoire’s property near Baldwinton, in the RM of Hillsdale.
The remains of Geddes, 64, were found on Oct. 12, 2022, eight months after Pich and Gregoire were charged with first-degree murder.
Their remaining charge of using a pistol to kidnap Geddes will be dealt with at the conclusion of sentencing, which is set for March 20.
The case had been scheduled for a jury trial on March 17. Undercover operators laid out the details of the almost year-long sting during a voir dire in 2023 to determine if the evidence would be admissible at trial.
At the time, the Mr. Big sting evidence couldn’t be reported because it wasn’t presented in front of the jury.
Through their pleas, the men admitted to what they told undercover officers between March 30, 2021 and the day of their arrest on Feb. 6, 2022.
Their admissions formed an agreed statement of facts read out in court on Friday.
Pich lived and worked on Gregoire’s farm. Gregoire, who was Pich’s uncle, owned several businesses in the area, including Bob’s Corner Gas in Neilburg, where Geddes had been hired as a mechanic and manager.
In April 2011, Gregoire believed Geddes was stealing from the business. He told Pich to lure Geddes to the farm by saying he needed help getting a filter off a front-end loader.
As Geddes bent over the engine, Pich struck him on the head with a four-by-four piece of wood, ziptied him and put him in a barn. He fired pistol shots near Geddes while asking him about Gregoire’s money.
Geddes was bleeding and losing consciousness as Pich waited for Gregoire. When he arrived two hours later, Gregoire told Pich to put Geddes, who was still alive, in the trunk of his car and take him to Saskatoon or Battleford.
On the way, Pich lost control in the freezing rain and hit the ditch. Police were called, Pich was arrested for impaired driving, and the car was impounded with Geddes in the trunk.
Gregoire retrieved the car that morning — April 12, 2011. When he opened the trunk seven days later, Geddes was dead.
Gregoire dug a hole in a brush pile on his farm, wrapped a chain around Geddes’s feet and used a loader to get him inside. He put dead cows on top to disguise the scent.
He then went to Geddes’s home, got rid of his belongings, and shot his two dogs.
RCMP launched a missing person investigation when they couldn’t find Geddes, and his disappearance was soon believed to be suspicious.
But charges weren’t laid for more than a decade when, according to the facts, Pich and Gregoire made admissions on a hidden recording device with an undercover officer.
