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For years, kinfolk and pals of 25-year-old Heidi Firkus have been puzzled by her loss of life in 2010 on the dwelling she shared together with her husband, Nick, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Heidi died from a single shotgun blast to her again that her husband stated she suffered as he wrestled with an intruder. Nick Firkus advised police a person burst by means of their entrance door within the daybreak hours of April 25. Moments earlier, at his request, Heidi had known as 911 to report an intruder was breaking into their dwelling.
Heidi’s homicide was unsolved till investigator Nichole Sipes of the Saint Paul Police Division was assigned the case.
“It by no means felt proper. The story by no means made sense to me,” Sipes tells “48 Hours” contributor Jamie Yuccas in “Demise on the Entrance Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus?” airing Saturday, Dec. 2 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+
When Sipes took over the investigation in 2019, she reviewed the complete case file and listened to the 911 calls made on the day of Heidi’s loss of life.
“Somebody’s making an attempt to interrupt into my dwelling,” Heidi advised a 911 operator. Close to the tip of her name, a loud noise is heard, adopted by a scream from Heidi. Roughly 65 seconds later, Heidi’s husband known as 911 from her telephone. “Anyone simply broke in my home and shot me and my spouse …”
Sipes realized when first responders arrived on the scene, Heidi was pronounced useless. Nick was transported to the hospital, the place he was handled for a gunshot wound to his leg. A couple of hours later, Nick arrived on the police station for an interview. He advised investigators he awoke within the early hours to get a drink of water from the lavatory and stated he heard somebody fidgeting with the entrance door. Nick then stated he grabbed his shotgun from the closet, woke Heidi and advised her to name 911. Nick stated he rushed Heidi down the steps so they may escape however as they handed the entrance door, the intruder entered and that battle ensued.
“So my finger slipped onto the set off … she was operating away, so I positively hit her within the again,” Nick advised investigators. That is when the intruder shot him within the leg, earlier than fleeing, he stated.
As investigators examined the crime scene and canvassed the neighborhood, neighbors stated they didn’t see anybody operating away from the Firkus home. Nonetheless, Brendan O’Connor, who was home sitting kittens subsequent door, advised police he heard a muffled argument coming from Nick and Heidi’s home adopted by gunshots and a voice yelling, “you shot her, you shot me, please, please, no …”
Nick additionally advised investigators he and Heidi have been behind on payments, had misplaced their dwelling to foreclosures and have been scheduled to maneuver out in 24 hours. “There was no communication between the 2 of them to point that she had any thought of the depth of their monetary points,” Sipes stated. The investigator believes Nick was intentionally hiding their monetary troubles from Heidi.
“I imagine he was involved in regards to the disgrace of what he had achieved, how it will look … that he could not come clear together with her,” Sipes stated.
Sipes realized Nick had remarried after Heidi’s loss of life and was now divorced. When Sipes interviewed his ex-wife, Rachel Firkus, she advised her Nick had not been paying their payments. A secret, she says, he stored from her.
Rachel says it was a sample that appeared just like the monetary state of affairs years earlier with Heidi. “He was positively repeating the identical issues he did with Heidi with me,” Rachel advised “48 Hours.” Rachel even shared audio recordings of her conversations with Nick and what she says have been his lies concerning their monetary issues.
In 2021, prosecutors stated that they had sufficient proof to cost Nick Firkus with Heidi’s homicide. They stated there was no intruder on the dwelling that day and Nick shot himself within the leg after he murdered Heidi.
On Jan. 27, 2023, Nick Firkus went on trial. He was discovered responsible on two counts of homicide. A couple of months later, at Nick’s sentencing, he refused to simply accept guilt: “I do preserve and can preserve to my dying breath my innocence of this crime.” The decide gave Nick a life sentence with out parole. Firkus is interesting his conviction.
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