SASKATOON – An 18-day voir dire is scheduled to start Tuesday in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench for Robert Pich and John Gregoire who are accused of kidnapping and killing Edward (Ted) Geddes more than a decade ago.
There is a publication ban on identifying any of the witnesses or evidence presented during the voir dire. A voir dire is a trial within a trial generally held to determine a question of law, such as admissibility of disputed evidence. The evidence presented during a voir dire is held in the absence of a jury and jurors aren’t told the purpose of the voir dire. A jury trial for the two men has been scheduled in Battleford Court of King’s Bench for April 2024.
Pich and Gregoire were arrested in February 2022 after an almost year-long investigation by Saskatchewan RCMP Historical Case Unit and RCMP Major Crime Unit. They are charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping with a firearm. Pich is additionally charged with careless use of a firearm, while Gregoire faces an additional charge of indecently interfering with human remains.
Gregoire was released on bail after a bail hearing in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench in March 2022. A month later, Gregoire was charged in the R. M. of Hillsdale with four counts of storing loaded unsecured firearms, possession of a restricted firearm, possession of a restricted firearm with readily accessible ammunition without a license, and possession of a firearm obtained in the commission of an offense. At the time, he remained out on bail.
Ted Geddes was 64 when he was last seen in April 2011 in the Baldwinton area. Police had gone to Geddes' home in Baldwinton with an arrest warrant in an unrelated incident and they found his dog dead in the entrance way. Police say the dog’s death wasn’t from natural causes. At the time, Geddes was wanted for theft over $5,000 stemming from an offence in April 2011 in nearby Neilburg.
In October 2022 police found human remains on private land in a rural area approximately three kilometers southwest of Baldwinton. RCMP said the person located is believed to be Edward [Ted] Geddes but still haven’t confirmed whether or not the remains are that of Geddes. Baldwinton is in the R. M. of Hillsdale and is about 117 kilometres west of Battleford.
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