Nicholas Firkus Wiki - Nicholas Firkus Biography
Nicholas Firkus told police about a life-or-death struggle with an intruder before his wife was fatally shot 11 years ago, investigators didn’t find evidence that items in the couple’s St. Paul home were disturbed, according to a murder charge unsealed Thursday.
Heidi Firkus, 25, also didn’t say anything about seeing an intruder when she was on the phone with 911 and no sounds of a struggle were heard before the gunshot, the criminal complaint said.
Police arrested Nicholas Firkus, who is now 38, at his Mounds View home Wednesday. The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged him with intentional second-degree murder, not premeditated.
Firkus was shot on April 25, 2010, and the couple was to be evicted from their home in the Hamline-Midway area the next day because of foreclosure. Prosecutors wrote in the complaint that the “evidence shows that Heidi didn’t know about the foreclosure or lockout.”
During Firkus’ first court appearance, his attorney described it as “still a completely circumstantial case. It was a circumstantial case where the state felt they just had insufficient evidence to proceed 11 years ago,” Joe Friedberg told the judge. He said he reviewed the criminal complaint Thursday morning and “they don’t have anything new.”
Nicholas Firkus Age
Nicholas Firkus is 38 years old.
Charges - Arrested
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said he didn’t want to get into the specifics because it’s an ongoing investigation, but he cited the FBI’s assistance and pointed to St. Paul homicide investigator Sgt. Nichole Sipes, who took over the case 18 months ago. Several investigators worked on the case through the years and Sipes then brought a “fresh set of eyes” to it, Choi said.
There was also “information that came back to us from the FBI that I think helped us better understand what had happened,” Choi said, pointing to the FBI’s work to enhance audio from 911 calls from the Firkus home.
The FBI brought to bear “highly specialized” resources, said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Krause. The Minneapolis field office assisted St. Paul police with investigative strategy and developing timelines; the agency’s behavioral analysis unit provided support; and the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., analyzed ballistics and enhanced 911 calls, according to authorities.
Heidi Firkus’ parents, John and Linda Erickson, and her two brothers listened as Choi, the police chief and and others spoke at Thursday’s press conference. Senior Cmdr. Bryant Gaden, who heads the homicide unit, read a statement on their behalf.
“Even though we know we can’t have her back, we believe Heidi would want us to have the truth,” they said. “God is honored by the truth. Heidi’s life and memory is further honored by the truth.”
Incident Detail
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell noted on Thursday it had been 4,043 days since Heidi Firkus was “shot and killed in her own home, a place where she deserved … to be safe.” Police said they never stopped working on the case.
“Every victim … deserves justice and every family who has a loved one stolen from them deserves the truth,” Axtell said. “Today, we’re one step closer to getting justice for Heidi and the truth. Heidi Firkus called 911 on April 25, 2010, at 6:32 a.m. and reported someone was trying to bring into her house on Minnehaha Avenue near Fairview Avenue.
As Firkus was providing her address, 38 seconds into the call, “a noise similar to a gunshot was heard, Heidi stopped speaking and the call went dead,” according to the complaint. Before the gunshot, “there is no significant background noise on the call, nor does Heidi say anything that would suggest that an intruder had actually entered the home,” the complaint continued.
About a minute later, a “highly emotional” Nicholas Firkus called 911 and reported an intruder shot both him and his wife, the complaint said. Police found the front door open about 1 inch. Heidi Firkus, who had been shot once in the back, was deceased on the kitchen floor just over 14 feet from the front door.
Nicholas Firkus sustained a through-and-through gunshot wound to his left thigh. He was treated at the hospital and released. At an interview at the police station that day, he reported that he heard someone fiddling at the front door. He said he woke Heidi up and told her to call the police. Firkus carried his shotgun with his left hand, saying he and Heidi decided to run to the garage. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, the front door opened. He said during his struggle with the intruder, who he described as a Black man, his finger slipped onto the trigger of his shotgun and the gun went off.
Heidi Firkus was shot and Nicholas said he and the man continued to struggle, at which time the shotgun went off again and he was wounded in the leg. He said the man fled. Given where Heidi was shot, the trajectory of that shot, if extended back to just inside the front door, would require the shotgun to be near the table inside the door,” the complaint said.
The table by the door contained a beer bottle, water bottle, and receipt. If the incident happened as Nicholas Firkus described, the intruder would have been between the shotgun and the table,” the complaint stated. “This would have put the intruder very near and probably in contact with the table. Despite this, nothing on the table was knocked over or apparently disturbed.”
Investigation Report
Nicholas Firkus told investigators their house had been foreclosed on and they had to be out of it the following day. He said they’d been planning to tell family and friends that day, along with packing and moving.
But there was no sign they’d made arrangements to stay elsewhere, and Heidi had made plans on the Sunday she was killed to go to church and get pedicures with friends, Lamin said at Thursday’s press conference.
“We do not believe that Heidi knew of this foreclosure,” Lamin said. “There’s no mention of it in any text messages, emails between them. She said nothing to any friends and family.” There was an eviction hearing in March 2010 and Nicholas Firkus attended it alone.
The Ericksons previously said the couple, who were married for four-and-a-half years, had both agreed he would manage their finances. Heidi’s parents also said she would have told them if she had known about the financial problems.
The couple’s bank account was overdrawn and they owed the bank $1,736. An REI credit card had a balance of more than $17,000, the majority of which Nicholas had charged, the complaint said.
Heidi Firkus repeatedly asked her husband in emails from March and April 2010 “to handle and respond to creditor phone calls that she was receiving,” according to the complaint. “Nicholas Firkus would respond by assuring Heidi that he was taking care of it and telling her that he was in contact with US Bank regarding an audit involving some fraud with their account.”
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