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Heidi Firkus’s 2010 shooting will be revisited when Oxygen True Crime airs Season 6, Episode 3 of Dateline: Unforgettable, 65 Seconds, on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET. The two-hour broadcast focuses on the 25-year-old St. Paul resident whose death confounded investigators for years.
As per a CBS News report dated August 11, 2024, Heidi Firkus told 911 someone was breaking in before a shotgun blast cut the line. Sixty-five seconds later, husband Nicholas “Nick” Firkus used her phone to report that both had been shot.
First responders found Heidi Firkus dead and Nick wounded in the leg. No forced entry and a foreclosure due the next day raised doubts about his account, as per the ABC News report dated April 14, 2023.
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Detective Nichole Sipes reopened the file in 2019. Evidence gathered led to Nick’s arrest in May 2021, a guilty verdict in February 2023, and a life-without-parole sentence two months later. Nick is currently appealing his conviction. 65 Seconds will outline how renewed forensic work and financial records dismantled the intruder narrative.
Heidi Firkus's 2010 home-invasion shooting, hidden foreclosure, and the evidence that ultimately put her husband Nick behind bars for life
Heidi Firkus was killed by a shotgun inside her Saint Paul home at 6:33 a.m. on April 25, 2010, seconds after she told a 911 dispatcher that someone was forcing entry. Exactly 65 seconds later, husband Nicholas “Nick” Firkus placed a second call, reporting that both he and Heidi had been shot.
Responding officers found no sign of forced entry; Heidi Firkus lay fatally wounded while Nick, bleeding from the thigh, was transported for treatment. The couple’s financial records later showed their house was in foreclosure. An eviction was scheduled for the next day- a circumstance Nick had not shared with Heidi or their relatives.
Investigator Nichole Sipes reopened the dormant case in 2019. She re-examined the original 911 audio, re-interviewed witnesses, and enlisted FBI analysts to model the entryway where the struggle supposedly occurred. As per a CBS News report dated August 11, 2024, Sipes remarked,
“It never felt right. The story never made sense to me”
The fresh review concluded that Nick’s claim of a masked intruder was inconsistent with physical evidence: only his fingerprints and DNA appeared on the shotgun, and neighbors reported no stranger fleeing the scene.
Key forensic and financial clues that unravelled the intruder narrative
Digital enhancement of the 911 recording detected no third-party voices or movement, contradicting Nick’s description of a chaotic break-in. Doorframe tool marks cited by the defense were assessed but did not align with a forced breach timeline.
Meanwhile, bank and court documents confirmed that Heidi Firkus was likely unaware of the impending foreclosure. The couple’s belongings were unpacked, and no moving preparations were visible. As per the ABC News report dated April 14, 2023, Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lamin stated,
"It wasn't just going to be the loss of this house, it was going to be the realization that he had lied to his wife, and he had lied to his friends, he had lied to the community for many years,"
Investigators also interviewed Nick’s second wife, Rachel Firkus, who divorced him in 2019 after discovering similar hidden debts. As per a CBS News report dated August 11, 2024, Rachel told the 48 Hours producers,
“He was definitely repeating the same things he did with Heidi with me”
Her recorded conversations with Nick supported prosecutors’ theory that financial deception was his recurring pattern and motive.
Nick Firkus’s conviction, appeal
Nick Firkus was formally charged with first- and second-degree murder in 2021 following an indictment issued by a grand jury in Ramsey County. After an 11-day trial, jurors convicted him on February 10, 2023. Two months later, he received a life-without-parole sentence. As per the CBS News report dated August 11, 2024, at sentencing, Nick maintained,
“I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime,”
His appeal remains pending. Dateline: Unforgettable returns to the case on Thursday, June 19 at 8 p.m. ET with Season 6, Episode 3, 65 Seconds. The two-hour broadcast will detail how Heidi Firkus’ final call, concealed foreclosure records, and renewed forensic scrutiny dismantled the intruder narrative and secured a conviction.
Stay tuned for more updates.
