5 chilling details about Heidi Firkus' murder

In 2010, Heidi Firkus's brutal murder sent shockwaves across a normally quiet suburb of Minnesota. What initially looked like a case of home invasion gone wrong, proved to be a much more complex scenario. It wasn't until well over a decade later that the case was solved.

On August 29, 2024, ID rebroadcasted the episode of 48 Hours titled Death at the Front Door: Who Shot Heidi Firkus? at 11 p.m. This episode revisits the tragic events of April 25, 2010, when 25-year-old Heidi Firkus was shot and killed in her home in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The case was full of contradictions and loopholes that intrigued many about what happened that fateful day. The following five chilling details about Heidi Firkus's murder continue to perplex those who are familiar with the case.

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Hidden financial crisis, missing intruder, and other strange facts

1) The intruder that never was

On April 25, 2010, at 6:30 am Heidi Firkus called 911 to report an intruder trying to break into her home. The call ended with Heidi Firkus screaming after a loud gunshot like sound. Almost a minute later, Heidi's husband Nick Firkus called 911 and informed the dispatcher that he and his wife were shot by the intruder.

Representative image of a crime scene(Image via Pexels)

Interestingly, no neighbor or bystander claimed to have seen a stranger fleeing the scene. One neighbor said he first heard an argument and then gunshots. Additionally, the police did not find any physical evidence or DNA evidence such as fingerprints of the third person at the crime scene.

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2) The hidden financial crisis

One of the most disturbing revelations that emerged during the investigation was the couple's financial crisis. As per the prosecutors, Nick Firkus kept their financial crisis hidden from his wife. The Firkus home was in foreclosure, and they were expected to vacate their house within 24 hours.

According to the investigators, Heidi Firkus most probably didn't know how bad their finances were. However, Nick's lawyers refuted this claim.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that Nick, desperate to avoid the repercussions of financial ruin, had set up the shooting of Heidi as a distraction.

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3) Shotgun trigger

Nick Firkus testified that during the struggle with the alleged intruder, his finger slipped onto the trigger of his shotgun and he accidentally shot Heidi. Since Heidi Firkus was shot in the back, it suggested that she was perhaps running away from Nick when she was killed. This insinuated a more deliberate act of shooting, rather than an accidental shooting.

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4) The 'suspect' who was already in prison

During the investigation, Nick provided a sketch of the intruder which was released to the public but it did not generate any leads. Interestingly, five years after Heidi's death, a tipster informed the police that they identified the person who matched the sketch. However, this suspect was in prison at the time of the crime and hence the tip was ruled out.

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5) Nick Firkus' second wife reveals a pattern

Representative image of a crime scene (Image via Cottonbro studio/Pexels)

Eleven years after Heidi's murder, Nick's second wife, Rachel, reached out to law enforcement and claimed that she found out that her house was facing foreclosure. Rachel claimed that Nick hid all important financial information from her and was not paying the bills. This promoted the prosecution to prove that Nick has a history of hiding financial mismanagement.

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The prosecution built a case against Nick based on these findings and more. On May 19, 2021, Nick was arrested for second-degree murder. He went to trial in February 2023.

This jury convicted him on two counts of murder. He was given a life sentence without parole. Despite being convicted, Nick has continued to maintain his innocence.