Heidi Firkus’ fatal shooting captured on her 911 call to report an intruder

At 6:30 a.m. on April 25, 2010, Heidi Firkus referred to as 911 after her husband, Nick Firkus, mentioned an intruder was breaking into their Saint Paul, Minnesota, dwelling. She was shot and killed. Nick Firkus informed investigators that his gun discharged when he struggled with the intruder – however one thing in his story struck police as odd.

“It by no means felt proper,” Sgt. Nichole Sipes of the Saint Paul Police Division tells “48 Hours” contributor Jamie Yuccas. “The story by no means made sense to me.”

A SHOOTING AT THE FRONT DOOR

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Effectively, this space of Saint Paul, the place Heidi and Nick Firkus lived, I might characterize as typically a quiet neighborhood.

Again in 2010, 9 years earlier than she took cost of the Firkus case, Investigator Nichole Sipes of the St. Paul Police Division was a patrol cop who labored this neighborhood.

Jamie Yuccas: Do you keep in mind first listening to concerning the Firkus case?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I do.

NICK FIRKUS (to 911): Ahh, please, please, any individual simply broke in our home and shot me and my spouse.

911 OPERATOR: OK …

It was early on a Sunday morning.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: The 911 name was at 6:30.

Nick Firkus’ story of a burglar did not make sense to Sipes.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Most individuals are dwelling at 6:30 on a Sunday morning, particularly in a household neighborhood like that. … the very last thing that almost all burglars need to encounter are individuals.

Jamie Yuccas: Did police ever have any luck monitoring down the intruder that Nick described?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: No.

Branden O’Connor: You understand, I am trying, I did not see anyone come out of that home.

Branden O’Connor was home sitting subsequent door to the Firkus’ and taking good care of kittens.

Branden O’Connor: I used to be woken up by the kittens kinda strolling round. … Some noise bought my consideration, so I caught my head out the window (factors to the window). Kinda hear.

In his first TV interview, O’Connor says he remembers listening to a muffled argument coming from the Firkus’ home, listening by means of an open window.

Branden O’Connor: That is after I ended up listening to what gave the impression of gunshots.

Round this time, O’Connor mentioned he additionally heard that voice crying out.

Branden O’Connor: Sort of this agonizing yell of, “you shot her, you shot me. Uh, please, please, no,” one thing alongside these traces after which — then it was finished.

First responders rushed to the scene. There was nothing they may do for Heidi; she was pronounced useless. Nick was rushed to a hospital and handled for a graze gunshot wound to his leg. He appeared not to make sure whether or not or not Heidi had been killed.

SGT. KANE (on the hospital): Like I mentioned, we’ll do our greatest to learn how, how Heidi is doing, OK?

NICK FIRKUS: Please.

Hours later, Nick was transported to the St. Paul Police Division.

Sgt. Jim Grey:  Then Nick and I began to have our dialog within the convention room.

Nick entered the convention room utilizing  crutches. Sergeant Jim Grey took Nick’s assertion.

SGT. GRAY (police interview) You understand, I do know this can be a very traumatic scenario, OK? And, I am simply going to attempt to ease into it, OK?

NICK FIRKUS: OK.

Nick mentioned the couple ordered in meals the night time earlier than and watched the film “Avatar.” They went upstairs to their bed room round 11 p.m. The subsequent morning, Nick bought up round 6 a.m. to get a drink of water from the toilet.

NICK FIRKUS (police interview): I’m going again to sleep. I simply kinda fitfully sleep for 10 or quarter-hour, after which I heard the display screen door open. … kinda let it go for a short while, however then I began listening to fidgeting with our doorknob.

SGT. GRAY: And is Heidi nonetheless sleeping then?

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

SGT GRAY: OK.

NICK FIRKUS: Like a rock.

Nick mentioned he retrieved his shotgun from the closet.

NICK FIRKUS: I preserve two shells for simply in case issues go bizarre … So after I heard issues, this morning, I did load it. … after which I get up Heidi.

SGT. GRAY: OK.

In accordance with Nick, he informed Heidi somebody was attempting to interrupt in and to name 911. As she spoke with the dispatcher —

HEIDI FIRKUS (911 CALL): Somebody’s attempting to interrupt into my dwelling.

They headed downstairs so they may get out of the home.

SGT GRAY: Alright. So, you’re going first down the steps, or is she, is she behind you, or she in entrance of you, or what?

NICK FIRKUS:  Umm, she is entrance as a result of I am kinda attempting to maneuver her alongside rapidly.

Nick mentioned as they handed by the entrance door, it burst open.

NICK FIRKUS (police interview) The man was there … I believe he — he grabbed the barrel. … I do not keep in mind precisely however the gun went off. So, my finger slipped onto the set off.

Nick informed Sergeant Grey throughout the wrestle over the weapon, the gun fired, hanging Heidi who he mentioned was within the kitchen.

HEIDI FIRKUS (to 911): [Heidi screams]

SGT. GRAY:  OK, so the gun’s —

NICK FIRKUS: Gun’s right here, chest excessive.

SGT. GRAY: Yep.

SGT. GRAY (stands to demonsrate):  You and I are like this?

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

SGT. GRAY: After which the gun goes off?

NICK FIRKUS: Mm hmm. I imply, you realize, I do know it hit Heidi. I simply know I did. … She was working away, so I positively hit her within the again.

SGT. GRAY: It hit her within the again?

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

Marcus Sarazin: I could not imagine it. I — I do not need to imagine it.

Katina Sarazin: it could’t be true, that is — there is not any approach.

Katina and Marcus Sarazin mentored Heidi at Calvary Church.

Katina Sarazin: I believe she’s a kind of individuals that you would be able to’t not like. Everybody favored Heidi. … She genuinely liked individuals … she was the lifetime of the celebration … at all times discovering enjoyable methods to interact individuals. … and he or she was very loyal.

The couple met on the church, and in 2005, Heidi, 20, and Nick, 22, bought married.

Marcus Sarazin: Nick Firkus … had a really heat and interesting persona, at all times smiling … he carried himself with confidence. … and he … had excessive character, excessive integrity within the church. That was the repute he constructed for himself.

However simply few hours after Heidi’s demise, Sergeant Grey discovered himself questioning Nick Firkus’ account. He could not work out why the couple would depart the security of their bed room.

SGT. GRAY (police interview): You come upstairs, you realize, I hate to let you know this however my home, you realize … I am justified in killing you in case you come breaking into my home.

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah, I assume the …

Nick defined that the couple had a plan in place. In the event that they had been ever in a precarious scenario, they might keep away from a confrontation and escape to their automobile within the storage and get away.

NICK FIRKUS: If we will save ourselves, let’s, let’s try this as an alternative of getting in a scenario the place —

Sgt. Jim Grey: His story, did not make a whole lot of sense to me.

Grey began probing into their marriage.

SGT. GRAY: You guys, uh, have any issues or something like that?

NICK FIRKUS: Simply the traditional stuff like, ah, you realize, stresses about funds and high quality time and holidays and all that stuff. 

SGT. GRAY: Yeah.

NICK FIRKUS: However —

SGT. GRAY: You guys aren’t behind on the payments or something like that?

NICK FIRKUS: We’re behind on the payments which is a bit nerve-racking. … In actual fact we had been planning on shifting tomorrow. Um —

SGT. GRAY: Transferring the place?

NICK FIRKUS: Effectively, we hadn’t figured that out but. … We had been and that is, ah, a tough, it is a laborious place for us, however we, we’re foreclosing, we foreclosed on our home.

Nick revealed they had been behind on their mortgage funds and simply 24 hours away from being evicted from their dwelling.

SGT. GRAY: Effectively, that is sort of, I imply, kinda shut discover.

NICK FIRKUS: It’s. And I believe the reason being trigger we’re each kinda coping with the disgrace of the entire thing …

Grey says his suspicions had been raised. And, minutes later, he was struck by the best way Nick requested about Heidi.

NICK FIRKUS: Effectively, I simply wanna know the ultimate reply on, ah, the ultimate reply on Heidi.

SGT. GRAY: She did not make it.

NICK FIRKUS: I figured that. I imply —

Jamie Yuccas: Is that sometimes how somebody asks if their liked one or partner has been killed?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Not solely is that not typical, that that is how they’d ask it, however they would not wait an hour and 40 minutes into this dialog to ask that query.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I’ve watched the interview clearly quite a few instances. And I perceive … individuals react to trauma in another way. … However this was completely different than what I might seen. … anyone that is watched that interview can not assist however be struck by Nick’s demeanor throughout it.

Jamie Yuccas: And that demeanor was?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: This was simply one other day. This was one thing he needed to get by means of …

Skeptical of Nick’s story, Grey confronted Nick about what occurred that day.

SGT. GRAY (police interview):, I, you realize, a part of me desires to ask you this query … Did you’ve something to do with this?

NICK FIRKUS: No, completely not.

SGT. GRAY: OK.

NICK FIRKUS Completely not.

SGT. GRAY: Alright.

NICK FIRKUS: Why is there part of you that desires to ask that?

SGT. GRAY: Effectively, Nick. I am, I am a police officer, OK? I bought to ask, I bought to ask the robust questions, alright?

After the interview, Nick left the police station. That day, investigators returned to the Firkus dwelling with a search warrant. Grey says it didn’t appear like anybody was planning to maneuver out the subsequent day.

Sgt. Jim Grey: Nothing was packaged up in any respect. … the closet was nonetheless full of garments. … We seen that there was nonetheless meals within the fridge.

And there was one thing else that investigators questioned.

Sgt. Jim Grey: We did not see any indicators of … compelled entry into the home. … primarily based off of the bodily proof on the scene … his model of the incident could not be believable.

A LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE

48 hours after Nick Firkus mentioned an intruder shot and killed his spouse Heidi, police went again to the crime scene to take a look at his story.

Sgt. Jim Grey (on the Firkus home): He informed us that there was a … life and demise wrestle inside the home.

However Grey says the proof on the scene did not match Nick’s account.

Sgt. Jim Grey (on the Firkus home): There was a vase, some receipts, a beer bottle … and none of that was knocked over. In order that sort of raised suspicion to us that if there was such a wrestle, why wasn’t any of these things knocked over?

Grey says he examined the entrance door for indicators of a break-in and did discover some markings.

Sgt. Jim Grey (on the Firkus home): … nevertheless it wasn’t something new … that will lead us to imagine that the, the door had been compelled open … the day of the homicide.

In his interview with police, Nick mentioned he heard somebody fidgeting with the entrance door from upstairs.

SGT. GRAY: Now what they had been doing? I imply, had been they simply going like this? (jiggles door knob within the interview room)

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah.

SGT. GRAY: Kinda like that?

NICK FIRKUS: Yeah. Simply shaking the knob —

SGT. GRAY: OK.

NICK FIRKUS: — and shoving the door.

That day, Grey and his colleagues did a reenactment to find out if they may hear the entrance door shaking from the bed room.

SGT. GRAY (police video): April twenty seventh, 2010.

OFFICER: I am within the bed room …

Sgt. Jim Grey: Sergeant Shackle and Sergeant Wright had been upstairs within the bed room.

SGT. GRAY: I am on the entrance door, so let me know once you guys are prepared, I am going to attempt to knock for 15 seconds then….

OFFICER: We’re prepared.

Sgt. Jim Grey: They may not hear me fidgeting with the door.

SGT. GRAY: Alright.

Grey says he additionally doubted Nick’s story concerning the couple’s eviction, and a scheduled transfer the day after Heidi was shot.

Sgt. Jim Grey: There did not seem like something boxed up or packaged as much as go. … There have been a couple of empty packing containers within the eating room space … there was not a grand stack of packing containers … or something for that matter that will lead us to imagine that they had been going to pack up all in someday.

In the meantime Heidi’s mentors from Calvary Church, Marcus and Katina Sarazin, had been studying the main points about her demise and the eviction.

Marcus Sarazin: it simply did not add up. It is simply — one thing wasn’t proper with that story.

Katina Sarazin: It appeared so out of the atypical that she could be shifting and never have notified anybody, not have something ready for that. … as a result of she deliberate issues out and he or she favored issues to be orderly.

On April 30, 2010, 5 days after her passing, the Sarazins attended Heidi’s funeral.

Marcus Sarazin:Yeah, the ambiance on the funeral was … there was a whole lot of emotion.

On the funeral, Marcus and Katina say they had been struck by Nick’s demeanor.

Katina Sarazin: I keep in mind going by means of the receiving line and shaking his hand … there was no grief displaying.

Marcus Sarazin: … it simply felt like he lacked emotion.

Marcus says he went so far as asking a few of the couple’s pals if Nick might have shot his spouse.

Marcus Sarazin: And the reply I bought was, no, there is not any approach that Nick killed Heidi. … He liked her, there, there’s simply no approach he might have finished that. And I simply wasn’t so positive about that.

Sgt. Jim Grey: From what we gathered throughout our investigation, Nick and Heidi had been in a loving relationship. There was no issues or points that anyone noticed.

Joe Friedberg: Your first impression upon assembly Nick Firkus is … no approach on the planet might he have dedicated a violent act.

The day after the taking pictures, Nick’s household employed lawyer Joe Friedberg who suggested Nick to cease speaking to the police.

Joe Friedberg: It did not take lengthy to comprehend that he was being checked out as a suspect.

When investigators requested Nick to sit down down with their artist to attract a sketch of the intruder, Friedberg suggested him to not.

Joe Friedberg: They had been going to make use of it as a chance to additional interview him.

As an alternative, Nick and his lawyer employed their very own sketch artist.

Sgt. Jim Grey: It was fairly odd that Nick would work with a personal … sketch artist.

And introduced that drawing to police.

Sgt. Jim Grey: And at that time, we had been principally informed that Nick … wouldn’t be answering any extra questions close to our investigation.

Investigators launched Nick’s sketch to the general public, nevertheless it did not generate any leads, they stored working the case…Nick moved out of their dwelling a couple of weeks after Heidi’s demise.

Two months later, he started a friendship with the sister of certainly one of Heidi’s greatest pals, Rachel Sanchez, who was going by means of a divorce.

Rachel Firkus: On the time I assumed … as a result of we shared one thing traumatic, there was a deep connection there. … As a result of I had come out of one thing traumatic myself in a relationship …

Rachel Firkus: I believe Nick gave the impression to be dealing with issues nicely … it felt like he was very grounded … he was, along with his pals lots, and so they had been processing collectively. So I believe simply his — his steadiness … was a lovely high quality …

Rachel says the 2 bonded over their religion. They started courting within the spring of 2011.

Rachel Firkus: On the time, God performed a giant half in my life … And I believe that is one other high quality that I noticed in him, that he, he liked God like I did.

One 12 months into their relationship, Nick proposed.

Rachel Firkus: I knew it was coming. We had checked out rings earlier than, and so it wasn’t actually an enormous shock.

And some months later, the couple married. They began a household.

Rachel Firkus: We did have children fairly rapidly.

And shortly had been the dad and mom of three kids.

Andrew Erickson: He completely loves his children a lot.

Andrew and Emily Erickson are pals of Nick. They are saying for a very long time, Nick did not discuss a lot about Heidi’s homicide.

Emily Erickson: Yeah, it simply did not appear to be there was a whole lot of room for his grief throughout that point.

However they are saying when he did speak about it, his story was at all times the identical.

Jamie Yuccas: What did he let you know?

Emily Erickson: Identical factor he is at all times informed everybody from the primary day, identical factor he’d let you know in the present day. … That somebody was breaking into the home, and so they had been gonna attempt to get out. And there was an altercation and tragically, Heidi was killed

Investigators nonetheless didn’t imagine that story, however 5 years after Heidi’s demise, with little motion within the case, they lastly bought a break when somebody referred to as in a tip —

Rachel Firkus: There was any individual that appeared precisely just like the sketch.

— and put a reputation to Nick’s sketch.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Someone referred to as … and mentioned, “I’ve an expertise with this man. I believe I do know who it’s.”

A NEW LOOK AT THE CASE

After 5 years with no break in Heidi Firkus’ homicide case, out of the blue, a tipster referred to as police with a reputation after seeing the sketch of the suspect. However there was an issue, says investigator Sipes.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He was already in jail on the date of Heidi’s demise. 

Nick’s second spouse Rachel says her husband hardly ever talked concerning the case being solved. 

Rachel Firkus: I had requested him … “are you gonna put effort into seeing if you’ll find the person who did this?”

Rachel Firkus: He did not attain out to anybody so far as I do know. … I do know that from his attorneys he was informed to “simply keep silent.”  

Police discovered it odd Nick by no means checked in. 

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: By way of 4 investigators on this case … he by no means contacted certainly one of us to ask the standing.

Prosecutors Rachel Kraker and Elizabeth Lamin joined the investigation in 2015. 

Jamie Yuccas: Was this case ever thought-about a chilly case?

Rachel Kraker: It wasn’t ever thought-about a chilly case … as a result of …

Rachel Kraker: There simply was not a whole lot of new data coming in. 

Elizabeth Lamin: Heidi’s household … would verify in on her birthday …. Is there something, new growth? 

And there could be new developments when Sipes took over Heidi’s case in 2019.

Jamie Yuccas: It appears her contemporary set of eyes actually made an enormous distinction.

Rachel Kraker: It was completely essential 

Elizabeth Lamin: I believe Sipes positively restarted one thing.

Sipes dug deep — reviewing all the case file, together with an examination of a monetary timeline she compiled with the assistance of the FBI.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I had the posh of trying again on all of these items a number of years later. 

Sipes realized Nick labored at his household’s carpet set up enterprise; they had been contractors for Residence Depot. Heidi was a clerk at a monetary providers firm in St. Paul. Their mixed revenue was about $70,000 a 12 months.

Elizabeth Lamin: They appear like they had been on prime of all of the payments earlier than they purchased the home. 

However Lamin says the house buy in 2007 strained the couple’s funds. 

Elizabeth Lamin: And that dwelling was simply an excessive amount of for them. 

By the point Heidi died in April 2010, the couple was deeply in debt.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He had not paid the mortgage in 22 months.

In actual fact, the couple had misplaced their dwelling to foreclosures and could be compelled to maneuver out. However Sipes found Heidi apparently had no concept. After reviewing the couple’s texts and emails, Sipes noticed no proof Nick ever informed Heidi they had been in monetary bother.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: There was no communication between the 2 of them to point that she had any concept of the depth of their monetary points.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: I used to be in a position to decide by means of the foreclosures and eviction attorneys that there was no paperwork Heidi had signed, that no person had ever talked to Heidi, no person met Heidi. … Heidi did not go to the eviction listening to on March eighth, 2010.

Sipes says Nick and Heidi’s household and pals did not know the couple needed to relocate. 

Elizabeth Lamin: And if she was critical about shifting … she would’ve gotten the time without work.

Jamie Yuccas: So she was planning to go to work?

Elizabeth Lamin: Sure.

Jamie Yuccas: Why do you suppose he stored her at the hours of darkness so lengthy?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Disgrace. … I imagine he was involved concerning the disgrace of what he had finished, how it will look … that he could not come clear along with her. … You understand, it had gotten too large at that time.

And when Sipes talked to the couple’s pals, she realized why Nick wished to cover their monetary scenario.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: He was described by his pals as being smart and being the person who they might go to for recommendation.

Rachel Kraker: Nick Firkus actually offered as any individual who had a few of these greater, more durable life questions discovered. … What sort of individual do you need to be? … What sort of relationship do you need to have with God? 

Jamie Yuccas: What does that let you know as you are investigating the case and also you see somebody in that sort of persona?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: It simply grew to become simpler to see that this was somebody who didn’t need … his pals, his household … to know the extent to which he had failed.

Sipes says she found extra of Nick’s lies when she realized a few dialog Heidi had with a pal simply the day earlier than she died.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Heidi had talked to us about how Nick had informed her that they had been victims of identification theft. … it was someplace round $180,000 to $200,000 price of identification theft. 

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Wasn’t true. They weren’t the victims. … This was all unfaithful.

However as Sipes tried to determine if there was a connection between Nick’s lies and Heidi’s demise, she realized Nick and Rachel had divorced.

Rachel Firkus: I keep in mind very nicely when Nikki Sipes got here to my door.

And that Nick had additionally stored secrets and techniques from her.

Jamie Yuccas: Did Rachel ever say something about why their marriage dissolved?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: She did. … There have been monetary points between the 2 of them … Nick was mendacity about a whole lot of issues.

Rachel Firkus: This can be a story that is occurred earlier than, and it did not finish nicely. … that terrified me. 

WHAT DID RACHEL FIRKUS KNOW?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: May there even have been an intruder? 

After spending 19 months digging deep into the Firkus case file, reviewing crime scene pictures, 911 calls and Nick’s video interview, Sipes had come to at least one conclusion. 

NICK FIRKUS (police interview): She was working away so it positively hit her within the again …

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: What actually issues is what occurred in that lobby. … and there was no third individual.

Jamie Yuccas: You by no means discovered anybody else’s DNA?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: No. … No DNA proof, no bodily proof, no signal of a wrestle. To me, there have been solely two individuals in that home when Heidi was killed.

Jamie Yuccas: They usually had been?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Nick and Heidi. 

As a part of the brand new investigation, Sipes reached out to Nick’s second spouse Rachel. What did she know? 

Rachel Firkus: In 2020 she got here to my door … And I used to be like,  “Why are you right here?” And she or he was like, “To speak about Heidi Firkus.” 

At first, Rachel, then divorced from Nick, says she was reluctant to speak.

Rachel Firkus: You are asking for lots once you become involved in one thing like this. And I did not need to. … However … I additionally knew that it was the appropriate factor to do, and it was for reality. 

Rachel informed Sipes Nick had lied about their funds throughout their marriage.

Rachel Firkus: I discovered a letter saying that we hadn’t paid our property taxes. And that we had been gonna get evicted in 2020 if we did not pay them. And after I noticed that, I used to be like, Oh, no. … Like he was positively repeating the identical issues he did with Heidi with me.

Throughout that point, Rachel says Nick’s dishonesty began to make her query whether or not he had additionally lied about Heidi’s demise.

Rachel Firkus: And I mentioned, “We gotta sit down and discuss.”

Rachel secretly recorded the dialog on her telephone.

RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): Your actions have induced me to only mistrust you utterly. 

Rachel Firkus: If there was gonna be a confession, I used to be gonna ensure that … I might show that he mentioned it. 

RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): And the truth that your mendacity was really easy so that you can do in entrance of me time and again and over. Makes me suppose —

NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording): That I might homicide my spouse?

RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): — that you would lie about one thing.

NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording):  That I might homicide my spouse.

RACHEL FIRKUS (on audio recording): Sure.

NICK FIRKUS (on audio recording):  Oh— 

RACHEL FIRKUS: After I hear, I believe “this silence kills me.”

Rachel Firkus: He is offended at me … How dare I believe these issues. … Why aren’t you saying you did not? … Inform me I am not proper. 

Rachel later shared the recordings with Sipes.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: The habits that he exhibited in his marriage with Rachel was virtually duplicative of … how he hid issues from Heidi.

Elizabeth Lamin: We can not let this man be out on the road any longer. 

For prosecutor Elizabeth Lamin, the time had come to behave. 

Elizabeth Lamin: I informed Sergeant Sipes …  “we’re charging him. Let’s do it.”

On Could 19, 2021, 11 years after Heidi was shot to demise, a Saint Paul Police SWAT group arrested Nick Firkus at his home and charged him with second-degree homicide. A grand jury in the end indicted Nick on first- and second-degree homicide prices. 

Marcus Sarazin: Our minds had been completely blown. 

Heidi’s pals Marcus and Katina Sarazin had been relieved. 

Marcus Sarazin: It is laborious to, to say, I do not know what emotion you even put to it, it is laborious to say excited.

Katina Sarazin: I felt grateful. 

Emily Erickson: We do not perceive.

Nick’s pals Emily and Andrew Erickson.

Emily Erickson: It’s important to imagine {that a} good man with no historical past of violence … killed the lady that he liked greater than something in life for no motive. … That is what you must imagine. We will not get there.

After remaining free on bail for nearly two years, on Jan. 27, 2023, Nick Firkus went on trial. Prosecutors wouldn’t be allowed to name Nick’s second spouse Rachel to testify or use her taped dialog with Nick. The decide dominated her testimony, and the recording had no bearing on the case. 

Natalie Micheal: I went into it with an open thoughts. 

Natalie Micheal served on the jury. 

Jamie Yuccas: Did he appear as if a person who would kill his spouse?

Natalie Micheal: No, he didn’t. .. Quite a bit by means of the trial … he was placing his head down … after they confirmed the pictures of the 2 of them collectively, you realize he appeared like he actually was in love along with her. 

Elizabeth Lamin: I believe Nick was … somebody who … lived two lives.

Prosecutors offered an uncommon motive. They informed the jurors Nick Firkus staged a housebreaking as a result of he was determined and ashamed his secrets and techniques had been about to be revealed to Heidi and everybody else.

Elizabeth Lamin: All of his sort of playing cards of lies are about to crumble. … He would have been uncovered as an entire failure, a liar … to his pals and neighborhood. And as an alternative, he is a sufferer. … He walks away from this … supported by his pals, supported by his household. 

Joe Friedberg: Nick had no motive. 

Nick’s attorneys Joe Friedberg and Robert Richman say that merely is mindless as a motive. 

Robert Richman: There was nothing about murdering the lady who everybody agreed he liked that will assist his scenario.

They usually say the state’s competition that Heidi did not know concerning the couple’s funds merely was not true. 

Joe Friedberg: Nick … mentioned she was in on all the main choices. … He would say to us that … they’re making Heidi out to be an imbecile.

Natalie Michael: At first, I used to be questioning how she could not know … concerning the funds or a few of the foreclosures or a few of the issues taking place. 

However Natalie Micheal says the prosecution’s case didn’t hinge on motive. 

Natalie Micheal: The prosecution mentioned … it truly is — was there an intruder in the home or was there not an intruder?

Robert Richman: It was our place … that there had been an intruder precisely the best way Nick described to the police, on the 911 name.

NICK FIRKUS (911 CALL): Someone simply broke into our home and shot me and my spouse … 

Robert Richman: On the scene —

Sgt. Jim Grey: The data that Nick have on the scene is that this intruder got here into the home.

Robert Richman: On the hospital —

NICK FIRKUS (police interview): He simply got here in …

Robert Richman: — and to Sergeant Grey.

NICK FIRKUS (police interview): The man that was there, I believe he, he grabbed the barrel … 

Nick’s attorneys say police did not discover the intruder’s fingerprints or DNA on the scene as a result of, as Nick informed investigators in his interview on the hospital, the intruder was carrying gloves.

OFFICER (hospital interview): And what else are you able to describe from him …

NICK FIRKUS: Gloves.

OFFICER: He is carrying gloves. 

Joe Friedberg: You do not at all times go away DNA and particularly when your arms are coated.

However prosecutors say there was one thing else lacking from the scene in addition to fingerprints.

Jamie Yuccas: So what am I taking a look at right here?

Elizabeth Lamin: This can be a bodily mannequin to scale that was created by the FBI. 

They used a mannequin to indicate the jurors there was no proof of a wrestle. 

Elizabeth Lamin: I felt that it was essential for us to have the ability to recreate how small that entryway is.

Jamie Yuccas (present and inform): As an example the intruder will get in … they’ve the wrestle….

Elizabeth Lamin: They usually have this life and demise wrestle proper on this space with nothing disturbed.

Jamie Yuccas: On the desk?

Elizabeth Lamin: Precisely. … After which Heidi will get shot sq. within the again in a really clear shot.

Animation created by the FBI exhibits that the bullet that killed Heidi was probably shot from shoulder degree.

Elizabeth Lamin: The peak at which Heidi is shot suits precisely on Nick’s shoulder to goal and to fireplace.

Nick’s attorneys say there was direct proof that confirmed there was an intruder. 

Robert Richman: In actual fact, there have been device marks within the door, which might be per somebody wedging a screwdriver between the body and the door. 

Legal professional Joe Friedberg says Firkus’ subsequent door neighbor Branden O’Connor testified he heard a voice. 

Branden O’Connor: ” … you shot her, you shot me. Uh, please, please, no,” one thing alongside these traces… 

Joe Friedberg: Meaning there should have been one other individual in that home. … Nick was speaking to a 3rd individual when he mentioned that.

However prosecutors say O’Connor might have misheard Nick whereas he was on the telephone with the 911 dispatcher.

Elizabeth Lamin: He’s screaming about being shot … And he did that over virtually seven minutes.   

NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Someone simply broke into my home and shot me and my spouse.

NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Please!

911 OPERATOR: Please keep on the telephone with me, OK?

Nick Firkus didn’t take the stand. After an 11 day trial, the case went to the jury. 

Emily Erickson: If there’s something on this case, there’s affordable doubt.

Andrew Erikson: Yeah.

JUSTICE FOR HEIDI

Because the state and Nick Firkus’ protection group offered their closing arguments on Feb. 10, 2023, attorneys on either side had been hopeful the jury would make the appropriate resolution.

Elizabeth Lamin: It was a hard-fought litigated trial. 

Elizabeth Lamin: We had nice, we thought, circumstantial proof that what Nick mentioned occurred didn’t occur. 

Joseph Friedberg: It is not sufficient when you have a hunch.

Joseph Friedberg: There was no direct proof that Nick murdered his spouse. 

In her closing argument, Prosecutor Kraker mentioned Nick shot Heidi whereas she was on the telephone with the 911 operator. 

911 OPERATOR: Somebody’s attempting, west … 

[Gunshots heard] 

HEIDI FIRKUS: [Screams]

RACHEL KRAKER: So, that decision does finish with a really, very loud noise, and the decision goes useless. … And we imagine … that that is the gunshot. 

In accordance with telephone data, 65 seconds handed from that second till Nick made his 911 name.

NICK FIRKUS (TO 911): Hey, please, please … any individual simply broke in our home and shot me …

Kraker reenacted for jurors what she believed Nick did earlier than he made that decision.

Rachel Kraker: I walked over within the courtroom … to roughly so far as Heidi would have been on the bottom, crouched down, turned her over to verify for her pulse to make certain that she was, in actual fact, deceased … Walked again over. Picked up the firearm … and demonstrated how he might … shoot himself … and … name 911.

911 OPERATOR: The place’s the man that shot you? 

Rachel Kraker: At 65 seconds … there was greater than sufficient time for all of that to occur.

To show their concept Nick shot himself within the thigh, they level to marks left by shotgun pellets on the backside of the entrance door.  

Elizabeth Lamin: When he shot himself, we imagine that Nick was about right here (places mannequin going through the entrance door)

Elizabeth Lamin: Which is how you’d brace your self, most likely in opposition to the door … in case you’re doing it to your self. 

However Firkus’ attorneys challenged the 65-second timeframe. Legal professional Robert Richman says telephone data additionally present Nick misdialed two numbers earlier than getting by means of to 911, making it inconceivable to shoot himself.

Robert Richman: What they reenacted was … 65 seconds, which was … ignoring the 2 misdials, which occurred at 38 seconds.

Robert Richman: The truth that we can not discover the intruder … is just not proof that there was no intruder. … And if something, due to the subsequent door neighbor, due to the device marks … due to the 38 seconds, we really feel that the proof helps that there was an intruder.

Emily Erickson: This is not blind perception.

Nick’s pals Emily and Andrew Erickson had been satisfied the prosecution didn’t show Nick was the shooter. 

Andrew Erickson: We had been open to listening to … an inconsistency of what Nick mentioned … however that did not occur.

On Feb. 10, 2023, the jurors bought the case and in 5 hours returned with a verdict.

Emily Erickson: My final textual content to Nick was … it needs to be harmless. There isn’t any approach that they bought to responsible this rapidly. … We rushed to the courthouse, and we had been so flawed.

Nick Firkus was discovered responsible on two counts of homicide — premeditated and intentional. 

Katina Sarazin:  I imagine justice was served.

The Sarazins had been within the courtroom when the decision was learn. 

Marcus Sarazin: Justice might have been sluggish … however happily, the jury bought it proper. … it appears like that is the start of therapeutic … it is the start of a — of a brand new chapter. 

Elizabeth Lamin: Heidi’s mother truly mentioned … That for thus a few years they needed to reside with Nick Firkus’ narrative. … They usually knew it was flawed, however they simply did not have one other narrative. And to lastly be capable of … have him lastly held accountable it meant lots to us …

For Sergeant Sipes, there’s nonetheless the thriller of what led to the couple’s monetary issues.

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: We weren’t in a position to definitively say what the cash was spent on.

Jamie Yuccas: Does that frustrate you?

Sgt. Nichole Sipes: Drastically. I believe it will assist full the image for some individuals. 

On April 13, 2023, Nick Firkus was again in court docket for his sentencing listening to and to listen to sufferer influence statements.

Peter Erickson (in court docket): Rising up, Heidi was the quintessential little sister to me.

Peter Erickson Is Heidi’s brother.

Peter Erickson: Due to the lies we had been informed as early because the day after her homicide … it has been just about inconceivable to seek out closure to our grief.

Nick refused to confess guilt. 

NICK FIRKUS (in court docket): I do keep and can keep to my dying breath my innocence of this crime … my physique stands condemned to serve one other man’s sentence. However my soul, my soul stays free.

Decide Leonardo Castro imposed the utmost sentence.

JUDGE CASTRO: It’s the sense of legislation and judgment of this court docket that you just be dedicated to the fee of corrections for the rest of your life with out the opportunity of launch … Good luck to you sir, Godspeed.

Rachel Firkus: My children are at all times what I consider first. … They misplaced on this too, as a result of someday they’d a dad that they thought was any individual, and the subsequent day he isn’t that individual anymore.

Nick’s second spouse Rachel typically thinks about Heidi, too.

Rachel Firkus: I wish to suppose I’ve a reference to Heidi. … she did not get to have the voice that I’ve now. And so I can solely hope that my voice — is one thing she could be pleased with. 

Katina Sarazin: Heidi was a real, loving, honest younger lady who wished to reside life to the fullest.

Katina Sarazin: She … would not need individuals to turn into bitter or offended due to what she needed to expertise. … I believe that Heidi would need individuals to decide on to like no matter circumstances. 

Nick Firkus is interesting his conviction.

Produced by Asena Basak and Paul LaRosa; Jordan Kinsey is the sphere producer; Ryan Smith and Michelle Fanucci are the event producers; Richard Barber and  Michael Baluzy  are the editors; Anthony Batson  is the senior producer; Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor; Judy Tygard is the chief producer.

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