Ever since Heidi Firkus was murdered 13 years ago, her family had to live with a “false public narrative” created “for the purpose of concealing the truth,” her mother said Thursday at her husband’s sentencing.
Nicholas Firkus had told police and Heidi’s family that an intruder broke into their St. Paul home and, during a struggle over a shotgun, Heidi was fatally shot. Police and prosecutors said that he concocted the story and he was charged in 2021 with murder. A jury found him guilty in February of first-degree murder.
Ramsey County Chief Judge Leonardo Castro sentenced him Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for premeditated murder.
“The light of truth finally broke through the darkness of lies and deceit to make way for justice and accountability for Heidi’s death,” said Linda Erickson, Heidi’s mother, during the hearing. “… A sentence of life without Heidi was forced upon us by the person she pledged to love, honor and trust.”
Firkus, now 40, maintained his innocence on Thursday. He didn’t testify at his trial and spoke publicly for the first time in the case on Thursday.
“I recognize the pain and loss shared by everyone here today,” he said in court. “It is a pain and loss that I have felt every day for the past 13 years and continue to carry with me today. While I understand the jury’s verdict and the sentence you must give, I do maintain and will maintain until my dying breath my innocence of this crime.”
The case
Nicholas Firkus, then 27, told police he and Heidi were in their upstairs bedroom on April 25, 2010, when he heard someone trying to break in the front door of their Hamline-Midway home.
He said he told Heidi to call 911, armed himself with a shotgun and they went down the stairs in the 1700 block of West Minnehaha Avenue.
Firkus told police that an intruder burst in and he and the unknown man struggled over Firkus’ shotgun. He said the gun went off twice, striking Heidi in the back and wounding him in the thigh. Heidi died at the scene.
RELATED: Evidence from Firkus trial made public
After St. Paul Police Sgt. Niki Sipes took over the case in 2019, she worked with the FBI and prosecutors for a top-to-bottom investigation. Firkus was charged in 2021.
Prosecutors Elizabeth Lamin and Rachel Kraker told jurors that Firkus shot Heidi because he had kept news of their foreclosure from her, including that they were going to be evicted the next day. They said he staged the break-in and shot himself.
Defense attorneys Joe Friedberg and Robert Richman said Nicholas Firkus is innocent. They said Heidi knew about their financial situation and that the information he told police was true.
Jurors, who deliberated for two to three hours, said they listened to the 911 calls — they noted not hearing background noise of any intruder in Heidi’s, but hearing police come in during Nicholas’ call. They also looked at the small space where Nicholas said the struggle happened in the home’s entryway, by a table where nothing was disturbed.
Jurors also said they believed the case that prosecutors presented about Heidi being unaware of the foreclosure or eviction. Prosecutors presented evidence of Heidi not signing any of the foreclosure or eviction documents.
Remembering Heidi
Heidi Marie Firkus was the youngest of John and Linda Erickson’s three children and their only daughter.
Erickson said she doesn’t know if the 25-year-old ever thought about how she’d want to be remembered. She said she imagined it would be as someone “who did her best to live out her faith” and did “it in a way that made others feel loved and affirmed.”
Heidi Firkus taught Sunday school and went on mission trips. She met Nicholas at their church youth group.
On Heidi’s footstone, her family included, “Joyful child of God,” which Erickson said described her so well.
She loved camping, hiking and biking, and some of her favorite outlets for her creativity were drawing, painting, singing, acting and decorating. She looked forward to becoming a mother and hoped to be able to cut back to part-time work to focus on that.
“Heidi was artistic and adventurous,” said Jessie Bain, Heidi’s friend since third grade. “She was goofy, yes, but also deep. She loved to have fun, but was also sensitive and not afraid to be vulnerable and have real conversations.”
Heidi’s friends talked about their faith and trust being challenged by her killing.
“How can you ever really know someone if a husband can kill his wife, the person who’s supposed to be honest and love you and protect you?,” said Ashley Starr, Heidi’s friend of 10 years.
What trial meant to Heidi’s family
When Nicholas’ trial approached, “many well-meaning friends remarked how it must be hard for all of this to be brought back up and to have to relive the events of those days all over again,” said Peter Erickson, Heid’s brother. “But the truth is we’ve relived them every single day since April 25, 2010. Every birthday, every holiday, each and every family gathering we recount our memories of it over and over and over again.”
Any time Erickson said his mind had “some open space,” whether that was mowing the lawn, going for a run or commuting, it “would inevitably be filled with thoughts of Heidi, how she died and the one person who was supposed to be her most fierce protector.”
Nicholas Firkus had told police and Heidi’s family that she knew about the foreclosure and eviction. But her family and friends have said she was open and honest, and would have told them about it.
“As the shock began to lessen after Heidi’s murder, the realization quickly set in that everything Nick was telling us betrayed who I knew my sister to be,” Peter Erickson said. “The fact that he had the audacity to peddle a story that was so obviously inconsistent with Heidi’s character was and still very much is insulting and offensive to me and everyone else who actually knew and loved her.”
The jury’s verdict “did provide a real sense of relief,” Erickson said. A couple of days later, he was cross country skiing and “it quietly dawned on me that the spiraling clouds of frustration and injustice were conspicuously absent from the type of moments that dominated for 13 years.”
Nicholas and his dad’s words in court
Nicholas Firkus said in court Thursday that his “mind is tormented by traumas, both new and old and my body stands condemned to serve another man’s sentence.” But he said his “soul remains free. Free of the guilt this imperfect world has bestowed upon me.”
Steve Firkus, Nicholas’ father, spoke before his son was sentenced and said “he loved his wife dearly.”
“To the depths of my heart, I know that he did not commit this terrible crime,” he said. “… For one moment if we thought otherwise, we would have been the first to turn him into the authorities.”
He said they found the jury’s verdict “impossible to comprehend” because of the evidence, including tool marks on the front door and a neighbor’s testimony about hearing two voices.
Friedberg, Firkus’ attorney, said he doesn’t “always or often believe my clients at first blush, but I believed what Nick told me (in 2010) and I still do,” he said Thursday.
Nicholas Firkus remarried and had three children before divorcing in 2019. Brian Hinkle, who spoke in court about Nicholas’ character, said Nick came to be like an extended member of his family and lived with them for about a year. When Nicholas wasn’t working, he was spending as much time as he could with his children, volunteering to help others or helping a friend.
Because it was a first-degree murder conviction, there will be an automatic appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court, according to the Ramsey County attorney’s office.
FYI
“20/20” is airing a 2-hour episode, “Stranger in the House,” about the Firkus case on Friday, April 14. It’s scheduled for 8:01-10 p.m. CDT on ABC and airs on Hulu the next day.
