It's been almost a decade since her murder.
By Samantha Maffucci — Written on May 09, 2019
It’s been almost 10 years since one of the most mysterious murders in Minnesota history. And while investigators know for certain that the victim is gone, her family has yet to receive justice for her killer.
Who killed Heidi Firkus? It’s what people in St. Paul, Minnesota have been wondering since her murder on Aprik 25, 2010. According to Heidi’s husband, Nicholas Firkus, an intruder found their way into the couple’s home and shot his wife in the back. Firkus said he armed himself with a shotgun, and in an attempt to fight off the intruder, the gun went off.
But was Nicholas lying? Is he the one who is actually responsible for Heidi’s death?
Just one year after her murder, he was still considered a possible suspect, and the authorities still had questions for him. St. Paul police Sgt., Jim Gray, worked on the case when he was a homicide investigator, and said, “He’s a person we would like to talk to, continue to talk to, since he was there when this incident took place. I’m not going to label him one way or another.”
Even now, nine years later, police say the investigation continues and they have “resubmitted crime scene evidence for additional DNA testing as recently as last month.” And even more recently, authorities released the 911 call Nicholas Firkus made that night.
He said he heard someone entering the home, and woke up Heidi so she could run to the garage. Heidi dialed 911, said “Someone’s trying to break into my house,” and gave the address. Then, according to the transcript, there was a loud sound and scream of, “No!” The 911 operator was then unable to reach her.
Nicholas dialed 911 a short time later, and said, “Help me!” and, “Please, please, someone just broke into our house and shot me and my wife.” He was sobbing, crying, “Oh, my Heidi!” and, “My wife is dead! Please get here!” He claimed he was shot in his thigh and groin while in the kitchen with Heidi, and answered the operator’s questions about the intruder, eventually providing a description to police, who released a sketch a few weeks later.
What makes this case even more confusing is that things don’t seem to add up. After Heidi’s death, her friends and family found out that the couple’s home was in foreclosure, and they were set to be evicted the following day.
However, not only were her friends and family unaware of this but nothing in the home had been packed up. The affidavit noted, “The house was fully furnished, and nothing was packed.”
Heidi’s mom, Linda Erickson, revealed, “I don’t think she knew, and I feel certain she would have either told us or we would have been aware that something was really, really wrong, because that would have been completely inconsistent with who she was. Her sense of place and home was really big to her, and the notion that she knew she had to be out of the house the next day is unbelievable to me.”
According to her family, Nicholas was responsible for the finances, and anything Heidi knew was information her husband told her. In the months before her death, she told her parents there was a problem with the couple’s bank account, though it wasn’t clear what was wrong. Said her mother, “the bank had messed things up with their account somehow and she was very concerned about that, and Nick was the one managing through that and trying to work things out with the bank.”
Heidi also told her parents they were looking for a new home and discussed renting somewhere temporarily. She wanted to do a short sale of the home, according to Erickson, “because of the housing market at the time, she knew they hadn’t been in the house long enough to be able to profit from the sale of the house.” Yet they knew nothing of the foreclosure.
Though there has been no closure for her family, they do everything in their power to keep her memory alive. They gather every year on the anniversary of her death, but her birthday in December is what they really focus on.
Her mother is dedicated to this.
“That was such a wonderful time for our family when she was born, and then just celebrating all the years that we had with her. She was effervescent... April 25 is a day that we pray to get through. We’ll never get over the loss of Heidi, but we want to know the truth and then have the person responsible held accountable for that.”
Samantha Maffucci is an editor for YourTango who focuses on writing trending news and entertainment pieces. In her free time, you can find her obsessing about cats, wine, and all things Vanderpump Rules.