Stranger in the House

Summary

20/20 Podcast – "Stranger in the House"

Airdate: March 28, 2026
Podcast: 20/20 (ABC News)
Summary by: Podcast Summarizer

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

"Stranger in the House" delves into the 2010 murder of Heidi Firkus in St. Paul, Minnesota—a case that at first appeared to be a random home invasion, only to unravel into a far more complex story involving secrets, financial distress, and a years-long investigation that ultimately led to Heidi’s husband, Nick Firkus, standing trial for her murder. Through police interviews, family perspectives, new forensics, and first-hand recounting from Nick’s second wife Rachel, the episode explores the search for truth amid betrayal, suspicion, and loss.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. The Crime and Initial 911 Calls

• On April 25, 2010, Heidi and Nick Firkus—a young, devout couple active in their church—experienced a violent encounter at their home.
• Heidi calls 911, frightened, reporting someone trying to break in ([03:28]). The call ends abruptly with a loud noise.
• Moments later, Nick places a desperate 911 call, screaming for help and stating both he and Heidi have been shot ([04:14], [04:44]).
• Police rush to the scene to find Heidi fatally shot and Nick with a gunshot wound in his upper thigh ([06:46], [07:11]).

“Nick tells the police that the intruder broke in and the two of them wrestled over Nick’s shotgun… and then the shotgun went off and Heidi got shot in the back.” – Narrator/Host ([06:46])

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2. Initial Investigation

• Police observe forced entry evidence: tool marks on the door, gunshots in the frame, Nick’s hunting shotgun at the scene.
• K-9 units and neighborhood canvassing produce no leads—no one sees a suspect fleeing, nor is a scent trail found ([08:24], [16:07]).
• Nick recounts an intruder breaking in; he and Heidi attempt to escape, but a struggle ensues during which the gun goes off, hitting Heidi ([09:03], [14:11]).
• Nick describes the assailant as a large Black male in a dark hooded sweatshirt, matching his own brother’s size as a reference ([14:55], [15:07]).

"He was really big. My twin brother is 6'1", so he's that big." – Nick Firkus ([15:07])

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3. Uncovering Financial Troubles

• Under police questioning, Nick reveals they were being foreclosed upon and were to be forcibly evicted the day after the shooting ([20:58], [21:11]).
• The couple had kept their mounting financial distress—a $15,000+ credit card debt and overdrafts—secret from everyone ([22:13], [22:35], [23:29]).
• Strikingly, no signs of the couple packing or preparing to move are found at the scene ([23:00]).

"No one knows about this except you and I." – Nick Firkus ([22:55]) "There were no signs the couple was packing up and preparing for a move." – Narrator/Host ([23:00])

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4. Nick’s Changing Status: From Victim to Suspect

• Police begin to doubt Nick’s story due to inconsistencies and lack of evidence of an intruder ([24:31], [25:48]).
• Nick hires a defense lawyer, who advises against further cooperation with police ([29:00], [29:34]).
• Nick’s own sketch of the “intruder” leads police to Michael Pye—a real burglar in the neighborhood, but Pye was incarcerated at the time of the murder ([32:00], [33:33]).

"Problem is, is that that individual was incarcerated when Heidi was killed." – Sergeant Gray ([33:29])

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5. Life After the Crime: Nick Moves On

• Nick remarries Rachel, the sister of a friend, and starts a new family ([34:05], [39:03]).
• Rachel is eventually unsettled by new evidence of secret financial issues during their marriage, echoing Nick’s previous behavior ([39:58], [41:01]).
• Rachel expresses her growing suspicions, prompting her to leave Nick with their children ([49:42], [50:27]) and begin covertly recording him ([59:13]).

"I didn't know that this was happening… Last time he had problems with finances, a lot of things went wrong. His wife was killed." – Rachel Firkus ([49:43])

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6. A Decade-Long Investigation Reignites

• Sgt. Nikki Sipes reopens the case in 2019, focusing on Nick’s initial interview and his unemotional responses ([51:31], [52:11]).
• The FBI finds no evidence of a third party on the 911 call—no other voices, sounds of a struggle missing ([53:47], [54:23]).
• Ballistics and scene recreation with FBI digital modeling suggest the shot was likely deliberate, not the result of a struggle ([55:48], [56:22], [56:35]).

"They believe that shows that the gun wasn't at Nick's chest, as he describes. Instead, it was higher at his shoulder level, as a shotgun would normally be if you're going to aim and fire." – Narrator/Host ([56:22])

---

7. Motive: The Secret Financial Crisis

• Investigators conclude Heidi was unaware of the foreclosure, with all documentation and mailings addressed to Nick; none were signed or acknowledged by Heidi ([66:50], [67:38]).
• Prosecutors theorize Nick killed Heidi to conceal the impending eviction and financial ruin—a secret he could not bear to see exposed ([69:32], [70:02]).

"He thought she might leave him. So rather than reveal his financial problems, he killed his wife." – Sergeant Nikki Sipes ([69:38])

---

8. The Trial and Aftermath

• Nick is arrested for Heidi's murder after 11 years ([70:56], [71:31]).
• At trial, the prosecution challenges the plausibility of the intruder story through physical reenactments, lack of intruder DNA, and the undisturbed nature of the crime scene ([72:51], [74:33]).
• The defense counters with the possibilities of a break-in and hardship coping, but key evidence undermines their argument.
• After a brief jury deliberation, Nick is convicted of first and second-degree murder ([81:45], [81:50]).
• Heidi’s family expresses relief at a sense of justice, while Rachel and Nick’s supporters struggle with disbelief and heartbreak ([82:26], [83:31]).

"There’s justice, but that doesn’t make things better." – Friend or Family Member ([82:31]) "I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime. Heidi was a bright light in this world." – Nick Firkus at sentencing ([83:05], [83:21])

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MEMORABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS

• On the Public Face vs. Private Struggle
  "He was one man at church for his wife and his family and community, and then there was the secret Nick. The Nick that couldn't pay his bills, the Nick who was losing his house." – Narrator/Host ([70:02])

• On the Toll of the Crime
  “Just knowing what the world was robbed of, that someone as bright and just special was lost. It's tragic to think about and remember” – Narrator/Host ([83:46])

• On Rachel’s Revelation
  "I have children with this person, and the last time he had problems with finances, a lot of things went wrong. His wife was killed." – Rachel ([49:43])

• Michael Pye on Being Falsely Identified
  "If I wouldn't have been locked up, I would have got found guilty for it because wouldn't nobody believe it if I told them that it wasn't me. I most definitely forgive him for what he tried to do." – Michael Pye ([84:10])

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TIMESTAMPS FOR IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

• The Crime and 911 Calls — [03:28–05:20]
• Nick’s Police Interview and Financial Secret — [12:13–24:31]
• Composite Sketch and Michael Pye — [30:02–33:33], [84:10]
• Rachel’s Discoveries and Recording Nick — [41:01–50:27], [59:13–61:30]
• Reopening the Case/FBI Forensics — [51:31–57:38]
• Trial and Key Arguments — [72:13–78:59]
• Guilty Verdict and Sentencing — [81:45–83:21]
• Michael Pye’s Reflection — [84:10]
• Rachel’s Reflection and Connection to Heidi — [84:31–85:22]

---

CONCLUSION

"Stranger in the House" masterfully reconstructs a tragedy marked by trust, secrets, and the search for justice. The case of Heidi Firkus stands as a haunting testament to the real-life consequences of financial distress, deception, and the persistence of law enforcement—and the aftermath carried by loved ones searching for the truth.

---

For listeners interested in true crime, investigations, and the complexities of human relationships under pressure, this episode provides a gripping, multi-layered narrative and a powerful reminder of the lives changed behind the headlines.

Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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This could be a 2020 someday because there were just so many unanswered questions.

[911 Operator]

Nick. Nick. Nick, stay on the phone with me. Who shot you? I am a third.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Heidi's not responsive. Nick's been injured.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

You're like, what?

[Narrator/Host]

What do you. Were they able to see anything? Hear anything?

They were like a picture perfect couple.

Who would do this to this young couple?

[Friend or Family Member]

His story of an intruder coming into the house was the only story that made sense.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

You and her never mentioned this to either either set of parents.

[Nick Furkus]

None of our parents or none of our friends.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

No one knows about this except you and I.

[Narrator/Host]

Just

what did he tell you about this intruder?

[Nick Furkus]

He was really big. My twin brother's six' one, so he was that big.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

That's when we were given the sketch of this alleged intruder.

[Officer/Investigator]

She said, I know who's in that sketch. We had maybe found our guy.

[Narrator/Host]

Were you ever concerned that you're sleeping with a killer? This is a story about a young married couple just starting out. They'd recently bought their first home and they had a lot of promise ahead of them.

Nick and Heidi Firkus were in their 20s, very active in their church, very family oriented. The kind of couple that you hope all couples would be in their early 20s.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Heidi and Nick lived in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul. It was a very quiet, very family friendly part of our city.

[Officer/Investigator]

This is just a fantastic, tight knit community. Heidi and Nick were a part of that. In Minnesota, it takes a number of

[Narrator/Host]

summers to get to know your neighbor. Because we are holed up for most of the winter.

[Officer/Investigator]

Good, quiet neighbors would occasionally speak to

[Narrator/Host]

Nick, you know, when they're running in

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

and out of their homes.

[Narrator/Host]

It was a Sunday morning that should have been like any other, with Heidi and Nick getting ready to join their friends and family at church. But this Sunday would change the couple's lives forever.

April 25, 2010 starts off as a quiet Sunday morning in the Hamlin Midway neighborhood. Sun is shining.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I was patrol supervisor for the St. Paul Police Department. It was like 6:30 in the morning, but it had been a fairly quiet night. We were all just getting ready to go home for the day.

[911 Operator]

State Patrol 911. Someone tell you to break into my home?

[Officer/Investigator]

The 911 call is from Heidi Furkus. She's calm, but you can tell that she's scared.

[911 Operator]

What city are you in? St. Paul. I'm in St. Paul. What address are you at? Minnehaha Avenue. Minnehaha. Someone's trying.

[Officer/Investigator]

The call ends very abruptly with a loud noise. And what that noise is exactly, we didn't know. On the front end, several of us officers took the call and began our response. I activated my emergency lights. Certainly gets your blood going. Shortly after the first 911 call has abruptly ended, another 911 call comes in.

[911 Operator]

State Patrol 911.

[Officer/Investigator]

This time it's from Nick Furkas. And Nick is screaming into the phone.

[911 Operator]

Okay, hold on. Hold on a sec. Are you in a house or an apartment? What's the problem? Wait. You've been shot? Yes, please. Okay, stay on the phone with me. Okay? Okay.

[Narrator/Host]

You can hear the panic in his voice. He's hysterical. He's crying. He's screaming.

[911 Operator]

Nick. Nick. Nick, stay on the phone with me. Who shot you? I am a Thornbrok in my house. I need something help out there right now. Go ahead. You said your wife is shot off Her. Yeah. She's not moving. She's not breathing. Oh, please. Take a slow, deep breath. I've got a lot of help coming.

[Officer/Investigator]

Myself and three other officers arrived on

[Narrator/Host]

scene within 5, 10 seconds of each other.

[Officer/Investigator]

We know that we have potential gunshot victims.

[Narrator/Host]

They find the outside screen door open and the front door propped open just a little bit.

[Officer/Investigator]

We don't know if the suspect or suspects are still at the address. So we do have our firearms out.

[Narrator/Host]

There's an officer just to my left that kicks the door.

They enter the house tactically because they don't know if there's still an intruder in the house.

Nick is on the 911 call and you can hear the police arriving to render aid.

[Officer/Investigator]

There was that very distinct smell of recently fired gunshot.

[Narrator/Host]

We observe a female

[Officer/Investigator]

down in the kitchen area. And then we see a.

[Narrator/Host]

A male.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

The officers at that point quickly walk through the house to make sure that there isn't another potential suspect inside. They see Nick and Heidi in the kitchen and Heidi's not responsive. Nick's been injured.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick tells the police that the intruder broke in and the two of them wrestled over Nick's shotgun. It was absolutely terrifying. And then the shotgun went off and Heidi got shot in the back.

[Officer/Investigator]

During the struggle with the intruder, Nick had been shot one time from a double barrel shotgun. He was screaming and he was upset and he needed an ambulance immediately.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Heidi had been shot in her upper back. She had lost a significant amount of blood. She had no signs of life.

[Officer/Investigator]

They pronounce Heidi Fergus deceased at the scene.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Nick was transported by St. Paul Fire paramedics fairly quickly down the Regent's Hospital, which is one of the Level 1 trauma centers in St. Paul.

[Narrator/Host]

What was the crime scene like? What did you discover in the house?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

There was a pair of jeans laying in the foyer area. And then the shotgun was laying there on the ground as well, right inside the doorway.

[Narrator/Host]

The shotgun belongs to Nick. It's his hunting gun. It's a double barrel. And he kept it in the closet of his bedroom for safety.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

We also saw the pellets that were in the door frame as well as the door itself from when Nick was shot by the intruder.

[Narrator/Host]

Officers also photographed what look like tool marks on the front door along the frame, as if someone were trying to jimmy it open.

[Officer/Investigator]

When a call comes in of somebody that's been shot. At six in the morning in an April spring morning, we have a massive police response.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

A K9 officer had responded to see if they could track the suspect from the front door.

[Officer/Investigator]

Officers and investigators begin canvassing the whole area to talk to anybody we can. We begin looking for cameras on houses or people out walking their dogs. We're looking for any sign of anything of someone running away.

[Narrator/Host]

Who would do this to this young couple?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Maybe they had an interaction with the intruder, maybe met them the day before.

[Narrator/Host]

The one person that police need to talk to is the lone survivor, the one witness, Nick Furkas.

[Nick Furkus]

But then I started hearing feeling with our doorknob.

[Narrator/Host]

There was an intruder trying to burglarize the home.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

That's when the struggle took place between Nick and the intruder.

[Nick Furkus]

I try to shove the door shut, but it gets forced open.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nick told us that he began having a fight for his life.

[Nick Furkus]

The gun went off.

[Officer/Investigator]

We were all looking for that intruder.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick and Heidi Firkas were a young devout couple, members of the Calvary Church. Everybody who knew them knew that their faith was at the center of their lives.

Everyone looked up to Nick and Heidi. They both loved Jesus and had their priorities in the right place.

[Officer/Investigator]

The Ferkuses lived in the Hamlin Midway neighborhood. It's a safe community with a lot of single family homes, small businesses, and some local colleges.

[Friend or Family Member]

I remember when Nick and Heidi bought the house. They were very excited. I wouldn't necessarily call it a fixer upper, but it also wasn't a beautiful, pristine, no work needed house.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nick and Heidi had everything going for him.

[Narrator/Host]

They were like a picture perfect couple. They had a very sweet relationship. They were very loving.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

The way that he loved Heidi was how I hoped to be loved, very outwardly. And that nothing else really mattered because he had Heidi.

[Narrator/Host]

She was always smiling, always joyful, cheerful, and kind of had this mischievous edge to her.

[Friend or Family Member]

But that's what made her fun.

[Narrator/Host]

She was always joking around with people, and yet she had this depth to her.

Nicholas Firkus worked at his family business, a kind of subcontracting business that does carpet and various installations. And his quite successful.

[Friend or Family Member]

Nick was very much a mentor to me. I wanted to be like him, to try to learn what it meant to be a Christian man.

[Narrator/Host]

On Sunday mornings, Nick and Heidi were found here with friends and family ready to worship. Every Sunday morning. That is, until April 25, 2010, I went to church.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

It was a normal Sunday morning. And I don't even remember who came up in a panic and said, heidi got shot. There was an intruder. And that was about all the information we had. And it was overwhelming.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Right?

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

Like, you're like, what?

[Narrator/Host]

And the news would only get worse. Heidi doesn't make it. And they find out that Nick has been rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound.

The injury that he suffered was from a shotgun blast to the upper thigh.

Nick's injuries did not appear to be life threatening.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Nick was treated at Regent's Hospital. The officers escorted him over to our police station. I was waiting there at our homicide office. This up here is our interview room where we talk to some of the victims and witnesses.

[Narrator/Host]

Okay, tell me about Nick. When he got here, what kind of shape was he in? What was his mind like?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

He was in some pain, he was on his crutches, so he was moving fairly slowly. The low one or the high one

[Nick Furkus]

or the high one. Sorry. There you go.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I told him I wanted to back up at least 24 hours. This is a very traumatic situation. Okay. And I'm just gonna try and ease into it.

[Nick Furkus]

Okay.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

So what I'd like to do is just try to kind of backtrack a little bit. You know, maybe they had an interaction with somebody and that the intruder might have maybe met them.

[Nick Furkus]

The day before, my wife was meeting a friend at Our house because they were gonna go to the mall America for some spring shopping. I stayed at home.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Nick sent her a message telling her that he wanted to spend time with her alone on Saturday night and that they ended up watching the movie Avatar. They ordered dinner, and they each had a glass of wine while watching the movie. Before you went to bed, did you. Did you lock up the house or anything?

[Nick Furkus]

If I'm honest, I don't know if I remembered. It's over the bowl.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick tells the police the next day that he Woke up around 6. Six in the morning, was thirsty, went to the bathroom, got a drink of water, climbed back into bed, and was starting to fall asleep again. And then he heard something at the front door, which woke him up.

[Nick Furkus]

I heard the screen door open, and so kind of let it go for a little while, but then I started hearing fiddling with our doorknob.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

He then goes to the closet to retrieve his shotgun.

[Nick Furkus]

And then I wake up. Heidi. Okay. And I said, heidi, somebody's fiddling with their nut and trying to get into our house. Let's get your shoes on and let's go out to the garage. Let's get out of here.

[Officer/Investigator]

They proceeded to go downstairs.

[Narrator/Host]

Heidi's in front of him. He's got a shotgun in the left hand, and he's pushing Heidi along down the stairs.

[Officer/Investigator]

And as they made the turn to go by the front door towards their kitchen, somebody burst through that front door. And that's when he began having a fight for his life with an intruder.

[Nick Furkus]

I don't remember exactly how much the gun went off, so my fingers slipped onto the trigger. Yeah, I mean, I know it hit Heidi. I just. I know it hit.

[Narrator/Host]

Do you use the crutches to talk about how this played out?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Yeah, actually, I tried to reenact part of the scene out there at the. At the house. And I picked up the crutch to use as a shotgun as a point of reference for Nick to tell me how he and this intruder struggled over the weapon.

[Nick Furkus]

I get it up and up and over.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

So you pointed it at him?

[Nick Furkus]

No, it was like straight up and over like that. So you're like, barrel down.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Oh, so the barrel's down.

[Narrator/Host]

What did he tell you about this intruder? Did he have a good description?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

He thought he was a black male, but was not entirely sure what this guy look like.

[Nick Furkus]

I think he was a black guy with a dark hooded sweatshirt, but I did not get a good look.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

He was giving me a little more detailed information than he gave the officers who initially arrived at the scene.

[Nick Furkus]

But he was really big. My twin brother is 616 2.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

So he's that big.

[Nick Furkus]

He was probably that big. Yeah.

[Officer/Investigator]

He now has a little bit more of a description, which was good for us to go on. In the Hamlin Midway area specifically, there's not a lot of violent crime that goes on in those single family home areas. Oh, there's minor crime, certainly.

[Narrator/Host]

Our garage was broken into a couple of times.

Once was I left the door open

and the guy just came in and stole stuff.

There was one time Heidi had all the girls over and then had a sleepover afterwards. Overnight, one of the girls had her car had gotten broken in.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

2.

[Narrator/Host]

What do you hear from neighbors? Were they able to see anything, hear anything?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

They weren't able to give us any information about seeing anybody running away from the house or anything like that.

[Narrator/Host]

The only thing that was discovered discussed by neighbors was sounds that they heard. The neighbor directly to the west of the property. He heard what he thought was two gunshots.

[Officer/Investigator]

And that neighbor remembered looking outside and not seeing anybody running away from the scene. We had our K9 officers immediately begin try to scent track the area. And generally when somebody's running, they're going to emit a lot of sweat and odor. And our dogs were not able to pick up any scents that day.

[Narrator/Host]

Police at the scene and in the neighborhood are coming up short. Meanwhile, downtown at the police station, the interview with Nick Furkas is about to take a surprising turn.

[Nick Furkus]

We have to be out by Monday. Tomorrow.

[Narrator/Host]

Was this couple keeping a secret?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

No one knows about this except you and I. I was quite shocked hearing that information.

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Ordinarily on a Sunday morning, Nick Furkus would be in church. Instead, he's at police headquarters explaining what happened at his house just hours earlier.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Every question that I asked, he answered. There wasn't a time in our conversation where he said, sergeant Gray, I don't want to answer that question. How long have you had you been married for?

[Nick Furkus]

4 and a half years.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

You guys have any problems or anything like that?

[Nick Furkus]

Just the normal stuff. But I would say we're still best friends.

[Narrator/Host]

While this break in and murder is a little strange for the neighborhood, police don't find any red flags in Nick or Heidi's past.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Nick had no criminal history at all whatsoever. Oftentimes, you know, there will be domestic disturbances. There was nothing like that guy to guy here. You know, every guy's got needs and urges, concerns, however you want to put it. Are you stepping out at all by

[Nick Furkus]

chance to other women?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Yeah.

[Nick Furkus]

No. Absolutely not. All right.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I'm not here to judge you. Okay, Nick?

[Nick Furkus]

Absolutely not. We had a lot of trust in that part of our relationship, for sure.

[Narrator/Host]

But as Detective Gray goes on with the interview, Nick does eventually reveal a secret.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

You guys aren't behind the bills or anything?

[Nick Furkus]

We are behind in the bills, which is a little stressful.

[Narrator/Host]

In questioning, Nick divulges that they were in some financial trouble.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

They are actually getting foreclosed on and have to be moving out the very next day.

[Narrator/Host]

The next day, April 26, at noon, the sheriffs were to show up and forcibly remove them.

[Nick Furkus]

And this is a hard. It's a hard place for us. We're foreclosing on our. We foreclosed on our house.

[Narrator/Host]

Okay.

[Nick Furkus]

We have to be out by Monday.

[Narrator/Host]

Tomorrow, when you step back and you look at the time we're talking about. We begin tonight with the housing crisis.

The nation's foreclosure crisis shows no end in sight.

Nick and Heidi were like a lot of families who were upside down on their mortgage and on the verge of lo.

[Nick Furkus]

Their home.

[Narrator/Host]

President Obama is expected to unveil his plan for dealing with a surge in foreclosures.

Even though Nick and Heidi's financial troubles weren't exactly unusual at the time, he says they were ashamed.

[Nick Furkus]

This has been kind of a private struggle for us.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Well, that's kind of. I mean, kind of close notice.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

It is.

[Nick Furkus]

We're both kind of dealing with the shame of the whole thing because we're embarrassed that we haven't been able to be honest with our friends about our struggle.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick then explains that they also have a lot of credit card debt as well.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Just out of curiosity, what's told for the credit card set?

[Nick Furkus]

We're at just about. It's a little over 15,000.

[Narrator/Host]

The ferkuses were in dire financial distress. They had a substantial credit card debt overdrafts in their checking account. They just were living paycheck to paycheck.

Did he give you any indication of whether people knew about it?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

No, it was their secret. It was Heidi and Nick's secret that they were getting evicted the very next day, that they didn't disclose any information to either family or friends.

[Nick Furkus]

We're gonna talk to everybody about it tomorrow and crash at their Place.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

So you. You and her never mentioned this to

[Nick Furkus]

either either set of parents? None of our parents or none of our friends.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

No one knows about this except you and I.

[Nick Furkus]

So

[Narrator/Host]

there were no signs the couple was packing up and preparing for a move. The refrigerator was still stocked with food. There were few, if any, boxes packed with belongings.

[Officer/Investigator]

It did not look like anybody was planning to go on a long vacation, let alone moving out of the house.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Just seems like you're kind of putting yourself against the clock. I mean, if you're. Yeah. If you. If you knew this train was coming,

[Nick Furkus]

you know, you kind of get ready for it. Yeah. A significant part of it is the shame of the whole thing. We're pretty crippled by it.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nick told us that Heidi was very aware of that situation and that she and him kept it a secret. But when we talked to the family, they just. They could not believe that their house was being foreclosed on and Heidi hadn't told a soul. The issue becomes, why didn't Heidi tell her family?

[Narrator/Host]

Beyond the embarrassment, is it possible that there was another reason that Nick and Heidi kept this secret?

[Friend or Family Member]

Nick and Heidi had a very traditional marriage from the standpoint of the church.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick, being the male, took care of the finances. Heidi took care of some of the plans and vacations and those types of things.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

She deferred to Nick for all the financial issues.

[Narrator/Host]

At some point, you asked Nick a pretty critical question.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Host]

What'd you ask him?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I asked him if he killed her. I came out and asked him straight out. Nick, you know, part of me wants to ask you this question. Did you have anything to do with this?

[Nick Furkus]

No. Absolutely not. Okay. Absolutely not. All right. Why is there a party that wants to ask that?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Well, Nick, I'm a police officer.

[Nick Furkus]

Okay?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I gotta ask, gotta ask the tough questions.

[Nick Furkus]

All right.

[Narrator/Host]

After this three plus hour interview with police, Nick finally gets to see his family.

What happened when he finally was reunited with his family?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

He gave his mother a hug. Nick finally broke down and started crying, weeping openly.

[Narrator/Host]

Police camped out in front and back

[Prosecutor]

of the Ferkus home throughout the day,

[Narrator/Host]

collecting fingerprints and doing ballistic work.

[Officer/Investigator]

We are investigating this as some type

[Narrator/Host]

of burglary and intrusion. Police have increased patrol in the neighborhood,

[Prosecutor]

but say there's no evidence that anyone's trying to target this neighborhood.

[Officer/Investigator]

After Nick's interview, I think that there

[Narrator/Host]

was some red flags based on some of the questions that police asked Nick. Nick realizes that police are looking at him and he's going to need to protect himself.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

I said, nick, you can't go back and talk to him again. They wanted to do a sketch with a police sketch artist.

[Officer/Investigator]

They had produced a very detailed sketch. We received a call. She said, sergeant Peterson, I know who's in that sketch. I stopped everything. I couldn't believe it.

[Prosecutor]

The resemblance between that individual and the sketch. It's undeniable.

[Officer/Investigator]

We had maybe found our guy.

[Friend or Family Member]

Heidi's funeral took place at our church about a week after her death. The entire sanctuary, all the seats were filled with people that were there because they loved Heidi.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

I remember hugging Nick and just, like, saying, I'm just so sorry. I can't imagine what it's like to be you right now.

[Narrator/Host]

It was overwhelming. There's a lot of very vivid memories about it. When Nick spoke, he talked about her being an artist and thanking her parents for entrusting her to him.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nick was seen as a victim and a hero. He had done everything he could to protect Heidi.

[Narrator/Host]

In the aftermath of Heidi's death, Nick does finally share with his family and with hers the financial secret he says they'd been hiding.

The day after Heidi's death, Nick Furkas and his parents met with Heidi Firkus parents and laid out the financial struggles, the credit card debt, the foreclosure.

[Prosecutor]

John Erickson, Heidi's dad, was trying to project strength and say, they'll find this person, Nick. Don't worry. And Nick's response was just, they'll never find him.

[Narrator/Host]

And that really caught Heidi's parents off guard, as did the details about the home foreclosure, which were now making headline news and had people questioning how much did Heidi really know about their financial problems.

[Friend or Family Member]

The newspaper ran the story about financial disaster that Nick and Heidi were in. And that was the first that I was hearing about it. I was like, this doesn't make any sense.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

Nick was very quick to say, don't read the media. Don't listen to the news. They're lying.

[Friend or Family Member]

I didn't view him as somebody who would lie to me.

[Prosecutor]

The friends were worried about Nick. Perhaps he was being unfairly targeted.

[Narrator/Host]

But those close to Nick aren't just concerned about the media. The police were also zeroing in on him.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Nick, this is, like I said, there's a lot of things we're going to try.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

My name's Joe Friedberg. I got a call from Nick's dad, who said that we have a problem. Can we come see you? I was retained very early on as his defense lawyer.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick Furkas seemed to be the victim of a horrible crime. His wife is dead. Why would he need a defense lawyer?

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Well, the interview that day with the police, which he gave voluntarily, the questions took a turn.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Did you have anything to do with this?

[Nick Furkus]

No, absolutely not.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Okay.

[Nick Furkus]

Absolutely not.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

He was bright enough to know that he had gone from victim to a suspect.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nick and his attorney decided that they weren't going to give any more statements to St. Paul police.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

I told him that if he was going to have me represent him, he wasn't going to talk to me. To the police. You'd be a fool to.

[Officer/Investigator]

It kind of seemed like Nick was being a little bit of an obstacle.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

They claimed they wanted to bring him in and have him do a sketch with a police sketch artist. That's a good idea, but I knew they'd use that as a lever to try interrogating more. So I said, no, we won't do that, but we'll hire an artist and do it.

[Narrator/Host]

I received a phone call from Nick Furkas defense team. I agreed to have Nick come to my house. He had jotted down some notes. The skull and the ears were covered by black hoodie.

The eyes were bulging. And he said it should be a

little bit more age to them. So I made them deeper looking and asked him, does that represent what you saw?

And he said it was.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

They were going to come down to our head headquarters because we still needed to get a sample of Nick's DNA. And then when Nick showed up, that's when we were given the sketch of this alleged intruder.

[Officer/Investigator]

It was a picture of a African American male, perhaps late 30s, 40s, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a very, very round face and a larger nose.

[Narrator/Host]

They'd never had that experience where a defendant hired his own sketch artist. And they were stuck without any context of how this sketch was made.

[Officer/Investigator]

An intruder was our best possible theory. We all wanted to find that hooded sweatshirt wearing individual who did this to Heidi.

[Prosecutor]

The police released that sketch through the media to see if any tips would come in.

[Narrator/Host]

The composite sketch got a couple of leads, but nothing concrete. And then as the years passed, on the anniversary of Heidi's murder, the police and the news media would re release that sketch.

If you know anything about this incident,

[Officer/Investigator]

I did a lot of media pushes with some of our local reporters and others. At least one person knows exactly what happened, and we are hoping that that person or someone else will come forward. It revived the case, it revived the sketch, it revived the information, and it brought some more hope to Heidi's family.

[Narrator/Host]

Just the loss of our daughter alone is something that's going to be with us forever.

[Officer/Investigator]

We received a call. The woman had left a voicemail, and she said, I know who's in that sketch. His name is Michael Pye. I stopped everything. I went into our database computer and I typed in Michael Pye. And I couldn't believe it.

[Prosecutor]

The resemblance between that individual and the sketch, it's undeniable.

[Officer/Investigator]

We started researching him immediately, and we started to learn that he was engaged in a pattern of breaking into Homes in St. Paul around 6 in the morning. We had maybe found our guy.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

My name is Michael Pye. I lived here for about 35 years. In 2010, I was a different person. My mind was gone, and I basically was homeless. So I basically was doing what I knew to survive. It was a home invasion, and that's what I was doing, was home invasions.

[Officer/Investigator]

I went to talk to Michael Pye, to the Bureau of Corrections where he was being housed, and we met with him. I showed him the sketch. He said, that's me.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

And they said that it was a guy who said that I shot his wife in the back. And I said, I ain't doing. I ain't do anything like that.

[Officer/Investigator]

I hit a giant snag.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Problem is, is that that individual was incarcerated when Heidi was killed.

[Officer/Investigator]

Michael Pye was in jail on the day that Heidi was killed.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

I got locked up on January 1st. The murder happened in April, so it was, like, three months apart.

[Prosecutor]

There was no way that he could have possibly been involved in this case whatsoever.

[Narrator/Host]

Investigators thought they were finally making progress, but now they're back to square one. For his part, Nick Furkus is moving on with life, even meeting somebody new, somebody who's about to become his second wife.

I am Rachel Ferkus.

And what she has to say will breathe new life into this investigation.

I want people to hear the full story and to know the truth of what really happened.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

In 2010 when Heidi was murdered. I was a patrol officer, and I worked in the district that she was killed in. And so I was aware of the crime from day one. I heard about it from other responding officers who talked about how the scene

[Narrator/Host]

did not make sense.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

The case always bothered me because the circumstances didn't seem to fit. What happened? A burglar broke into an occupied house, and there was a struggle, and the wife dies. Oh, wait, they're being evicted the next day. Heidi was killed in the place she should have been safest and with the person who should have kept her safe. As the details piled on, I wanted to know what I didn't know. What am I missing here? I think there was always a frustration within the department that this case couldn't be solved. I came into the homicide unit in 2008. The case was then assigned to me.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Our investigators held this case so closely to their hearts. It was never considered a closed case.

[Narrator/Host]

It was very clear to the investigators that his family and all the friends rallied and supported him.

[Officer/Investigator]

There was kind of two sides to this through the years. You have a group in the community and Heidi's family that were just extremely suspicious of him. And you had a group of his friends and his that were very much supportive of him as a hero in

[Prosecutor]

this, Nick goes on with his life, and he's able to move on.

[Narrator/Host]

A few months after Heidi's murder, Nick meets the sister of a really good friend of his and Heidi's, Rachel Watson,

for the very first time. Nick Fergus, second wife Rachel, is sitting down to tell her story. What'd you think of Nick Fergus?

I felt bad. I knew about his story. He had lost his wife. I had a ton of empathy.

What did you know about his story?

There was a burglar that entered their home. He fought with them. He was trying to fend them off. And Heidi was shot, and he also got shot.

Rachel shares that she left a very difficult marriage and she moves back to Minnesota to be with her sister, and that's where she connects with Nick.

I definitely felt sorry for him that he had gone through such a trauma. I related to trauma. My first husband and I met when we were young. It was a rough marriage. I was very quiet. I was scared, abused, and vulnerable.

Was the idea that you two could kind of help heal each other.

That's what it felt like. He listened and he empathized with me.

Within a year, Rachel and Nick are now talking about getting married.

You invest in somebody emotionally. When you process something so hard, people

question how fast you two move.

Yeah, how fast we moved. And friends were still grieving Heidi, and Nick's moving on.

[Friend or Family Member]

All of a sudden, it was like he's got this girlfriend.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

It seems like he hasn't fully grieved his wife. And at the same time, we want him to be happy. So we made ourselves okay with the situation.

[Narrator/Host]

As Nick and Rachel are getting closer, Nick's family, who have always been very protective of him, especially after Heidi's murder, is now concerned. Will people be critical that it's just too soon?

They were so private and would mention that we have to be careful of how we talk about it and what we say, what we don't say.

When you say talk about it. The family was careful to talk about

any of it to tell the story about the shooting? Yep, about the shooting, about what happened that day. I knew that if I was going to be in their family, that I wasn't allowed to share with anybody anything that I knew.

Rachel says she and Nick decide to focus on making new memories as a couple, starting with their wedding. So as time went on and you two were planning this wedding, your sister Sarah wrote on a family blog, I got to watch him be married once to one of my best friends who passed away. He was incredible with Heidi. I don't have to wonder what he's going to be like with Rachel. I trust him with all my heart. That was pretty strong endorsement of this man you're about to marry. Is that how you felt?

Everyone that I was around at the time felt that way.

Before the wedding, you had a special request. You wanted to visit Heidi's.

[911 Operator]

Great. Mm.

[Narrator/Host]

Why?

Out of respect. I didn't want it to seem like I was replacing her, because I wasn't. I knew I would never replace her. I wanted to be able to go there and say that.

Tell me about that visit. What was that like?

It was strange. Nick didn't have much to say or have emotions about it. I envisioned it to be that he was protecting himself. I imagined it was tough having to relive a trauma that you had in your life, and I didn't want to cause more hurt.

In August of 2012, Rachel and Nick get married. They start planning a family, and Rachel begins to grow closer with some of Nick and Heidi's friends.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

My friendship took off with Rachel, like, right away. She just became someone that I loved talking with. They had kids pretty quick, so we fell in love with their kids and would watch their kids for them when they were doing things.

[Narrator/Host]

What kind of a dad was Nick?

He was a good dad. It didn't necessarily come natural, but he tried.

Nick continues to be the main provider for his family, still working for his family's business. And Rachel says he tells her that he's no longer in debt.

He went through a program that helped him with finances, and he was able to pay off all of the debt that he had. So I respected that.

They move into a house that Nick's parents paid for.

Neither of us were able credit wise to buy a house. We had an agreement. We were paying our mortgage to them. When it was time to pay the property taxes, he was just supposed to pay it with the money that we had. And it seemed to be fine. I was happy.

But then one day, Rachel finds something in Nick's sock. Drawer that literally took her breath away.

What did you think?

Terrified. I didn't know that this was was happening and I'm living with this person. It was a very shocking realization.

Could history be repeating itself?

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[Prosecutor]

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[Narrator/Host]

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What could possibly be more terrifying and traumatic than having someone break into your house early in the morning and shoot your wife dead and shoot you.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Oh wait, they're being evicted the next day. What am I missing here? He's talking about the gun being chest high and he says that, that they're fighting over the gun up here.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick Furkas is under suspicion for his wife's murder.

It's just like really traumatic to watch that all play out and to see people say Things about your friend that aren't true. The last time he had problems with finances, a lot of things went wrong.

His wife was killed.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Right.

[Nick Furkus]

This has been kind of a private struggle for us because we're embarrassed.

[Narrator/Host]

How do you go from. From having financial troubles to killing your wife?

I didn't know what was going to happen in that conversation. The fact that you're lying over and over and over makes me think that

[Nick Furkus]

actually murdered my wife.

[Narrator/Host]

Maybe somebody really did break in. Maybe it happened as he said.

Little did I know that it was not even close to being over.

[911 Operator]

Police search 1 claw your hands up.

[Friend or Family Member]

Rachel, you need to get. Get out of the house.

[Officer/Investigator]

Time is not your friend in homicide cases. And as time went on, people start to move on and people don't want to talk about it anymore, and people don't want to come forward anymore.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

This is one of those cases that would wake you up at night to think about, how are we going to bring justice to Heidi's family?

[Officer/Investigator]

They would call in April around the anniversary of her murder. They would call around Heidi's birthday. And I know that it was absolutely traumatic for them.

[Narrator/Host]

Initially, it was only Nicholas Ferkus, his narrative, that was out. Friends rallied around him. They supported him. They all stuck with him. The family, the church community.

Every single piece of the story that he told us then has been consistent

[Prosecutor]

and remains consistent with the evidence.

[Narrator/Host]

Any hard thing that he's gone through, we've walked alongside each other.

[Friend or Family Member]

There was absolutely no way that he had been involved.

[Narrator/Host]

No, not a thought at all.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

How could that even cross people's minds? We were like, nobody thinks that they know Nick.

[Narrator/Host]

Still, there were details that stuck with investigators. One of them was the sketch released that was based on Nick's description of the intruder.

It's clear that Michael Pye didn't kill Heidi because he was in prison at the time of the murder. What has police thinking is where did Nick come up with that thought for the composite?

[Prosecutor]

In the winter months of 2009 into 2010, that man's face was all over the news. As a known burglar in the area,

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

I used to always turn on the news in the morning time, and I would be the first picture on the news on all stations.

[Officer/Investigator]

It appears like that sketch could have been made deliberately to throw people off. It kind of seemed like Nick was trying to set someone else up to

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

try to frame another human being. That was disgusting. And that isn't the sign of an innocent man's actions.

[Officer/Investigator]

I was the lead investigator on over 85, some homicide cases. And I still have moms and family members that call me, and they still say, what's going on with this case? And Nick never called one time. He never reached out one time.

[Narrator/Host]

Why wasn't he working harder over the years to try to find his wife's killer, maybe pressing the police, coming back to the police to find out what they know?

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Blame that on me. I didn't want any more contact with the police for Nick because all they're going to try to do is get inconsistent statements on details from him. No criminal lawyer worth his fault would ever have let Nick cooperate with the police because the police were treating him as a suspect, not a victim.

[Narrator/Host]

But your wife has been killed by some unknown assailant. And over the years, I would think that that would just at the very least, trouble him.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

He was always concerned about it, always afraid that walking down the street someday he'd run into him.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick has moved on with his life. He's married, has three kids, is working. And, you know, it's as if he's been able to get past that really traumatic part of his life.

So you've been married now a few years. Was there any talk about the fact that there was never a resolution to this tragedy that had happened? And nobody arrested for killing his wife?

Nope. I asked him about it, and I said, why don't you ever talk about it? And he didn't really have anything to say.

Rachel shares that she and Nick start to grow apart.

We were living in the same house, under the same roof, using, you know, the same money. But there was no relationship anymore. There was, you know, times where I felt like he was lying, but I could never prove it.

What did you suspect that he was lying about?

At first it was little things. I would see wrappers and, you know, things in his car. And I'm like, hey, can you bring stuff from home so that we're not spending money every day on, you know, going out to eat? But there was always an extra or. Oh, somebody was. Somebody was in my car with me today, and they left it in there. You're lying to me, and it's dumb. Like, it's not even things that are a big deal.

Were you worried at all about how the finances were being handled?

Yeah. When you get collections, calls, you know something's wrong.

One day, Rachel finds something in Nick's sock drawer that literally took her breath away. It was a notice that they were delaying on the property taxes.

He failed to pay those property taxes. If these taxes aren't paid, you know, the county Will look at foreclosure on the house.

What did you think?

Terrified. I didn't know that this was happening. And I'm living with this person. I have children with this person. And the last time he had problems with finances, a lot of things went wrong.

His wife was killed.

Right. And so, you know, naturally, that's where I went. Is that what this is?

So you're beginning to think that you could be married to a killer?

At this point, it was very possible.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

This piece of paper Rachel finding hidden from her, proved to us enough that Heidi did not know about the financial struggle. Because Rachel did not know. That is when we were like, did he kill his wife?

[Narrator/Host]

She gets so scared that she grabs the kids in the middle of the night and she leaves the house.

At around the same time, there's a new detective determined to crack this case.

[Officer/Investigator]

I think she hit the ground running.

[Narrator/Host]

And she finds more suspicious evidence that seems. Seems to point back to Nick Furkas, including something found in his car on the day of the murder.

[Nick Furkus]

It's actually in my. In my car.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Why would it be there?

[Narrator/Host]

This case had sat quiet for almost a decade. And then in 2019, there is a sergeant at the St. Paul Police Department who wants to take another look at this case.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

I was transferred to the homicide unit, and I had an opportunity to take this case over from the previous investigator.

[Narrator/Host]

There have been no arrests, no progress, and almost 10 years have passed, and most people have forgotten about it. Where do you begin?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

At the beginning. I reviewed all of the reports. I reviewed all of the evidence.

[Narrator/Host]

One of the first things that Sergeant Sipes does is to sit down and re watch that interview that Nick Furkus did with police.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

That was the single most important piece of evidence that I thought we had in this case.

[Narrator/Host]

Sipes now brings fresh perspective to a number of red flags that original investigators had noticed.

Heidi's only dead a few hours. And for the most part of this interview, Nick isn't crying, isn't emotional.

[Nick Furkus]

I know she was hit in the back. I just. It was high in the back, probably

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

like up towards the shoulder blades, I think.

[Narrator/Host]

So how worried was he about his wife during that interview?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

He wasn't. It took him about an hour and 20 some minutes to say, can I get an update on Heidi?

[Nick Furkus]

Nobody gave me any answers on what was going on with her.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

And then Sergeant Gray was able to deflect the question for quite a while. And then Sergeant Gray asked him, do you have any questions?

[Nick Furkus]

Well, I just want to know

[Narrator/Host]

the

[Nick Furkus]

final answer on Heidi.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Well, this is you know, there's a couple parts of my joke that I really hate, and this is one of them. She didn't make it.

[Nick Furkus]

I figured that.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

I figured that that was his response to the news that his wife was dead.

[Narrator/Host]

At that point, Nick does appear upset. Still, Nicki Sipes says there's something important she never sees.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

You would think that if your wife had just been killed in front of you by a real person who was on the loose, you would have some questions of that investigator. What are you doing to find this person? Where did you look? Nothing.

[Narrator/Host]

Sergeant Sipes then turns to the FBI to help her with Heidi's unsolved murder.

We were initially contacted by Detective Sipes from the St. Paul Police Department to help with some audio from the 911 call that they had.

We really wanted to hear if you could hear this fictitious intruder.

The FBI took the audio recording to our laboratory in Quantico.

[911 Operator]

State Patrol, 911. Someone's trying to break into my house.

[Narrator/Host]

There was no noise that we could detect in the background.

[911 Operator]

What city are you in? St. Paul. I'm in St. Paul. What address are you at?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

You can hear the shotgun. And then the line goes dead.

[911 Operator]

Minnehaha. Everything. Minnehaha. Someone's trying west.

[Narrator/Host]

And in that last terrible moment of Heidi's life, investigators analyzing the call say they hear nobody else there but Heidi and Nick. Next, the FBI is using new technology to reconstruct Heidi's final moments. But even before they begin, there are plenty of red flags in Nick's version of the story.

He has a loaded shotgun and he is ushering Heidi down the stairs in front of him.

[Nick Furkus]

She's in front because I'm kind of trying to move her along quickly.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Yeah.

[Nick Furkus]

And then I'm right behind her.

[Narrator/Host]

Did that strike you as odd?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Yes. He's the one that has the gun.

[Narrator/Host]

Why does he let his wife go ahead of him?

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

She's maybe a foot ahead of. They're together and he's trying to hurry her along. They wanted to get out of there still.

[Narrator/Host]

It's just not making sense to investigators. So the FBI now brings in its forensic firepower to help.

One of the things we came up with was to recreate the scene. So we decided that we were going to get access to the house.

The FBI came out and did a full kind of digital scan that didn't really exist in 2010, so they could make an accurate to scale digital model.

Nick tells in the interview about how the gun is sort of pressed up against his chest when it goes off. And Heidi gets hit by it.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

He's talking about the gun being chest high, and he says that. That they're fighting over the gun up here.

[Narrator/Host]

So how likely was that? The FBI combines their ballistics testing with the virtual model of the space to find out.

We put her in a natural position, which is her standing straight up. We were able to take somebody that's of the height of Nick Furkas and put that shotgun in space where it would be when it went off.

They believe that shows that the gun wasn't at Nick's chest, as he describes. Instead, it was higher at his shoulder level, as a shotgun would normally be if you're going to aim and fire.

Which makes them think this was a deliberate shot and not a shot that was taken in the middle of a struggle. Though Nick's attorneys insist that doesn't necessarily disprove his version of events. Another thing that catches the attention of Sergeant Sipes is that Nick, in this interview, talks about this vacuum for cleaning carpet that specializes in removing blood. And she found it really interesting that Nick just happened to have that in his personal car on the day of Heidi's murder.

[Nick Furkus]

It's actually in my. In my car back at the office. Yeah. In your car.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Okay. Why would it be there?

[Nick Furkus]

Because I. It's. That piece of equipment is not just for cleaning up blood. I needed to go take care of a customer, so I just threw it in the back of my.

[Narrator/Host]

And what did that say to you potentially?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Well, you know, it was always an idea to us that Hetty planned to kill her and clean up the scene,

[Narrator/Host]

even as Sergeant Sipes is closing in on Nick Furkus. What she doesn't know is that his current wife, Rachel, is having her own suspicions that will lead her to begin secretly recording him.

And the fact that you're lying was so easy for you to do makes

[Nick Furkus]

me think that I should murder my wife.

[Narrator/Host]

Yes.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

When Rachel found the papers that said that their house was in danger of foreclosure was shocking. That was the first moment that we were like, oh, my gosh, did he kill Heidi?

[Narrator/Host]

That paper changed the course of the rest of the story.

What did you think?

Terrified. I didn't know this. I didn't know that this was happening. And here I am sitting in a position that happened before to him.

[Friend or Family Member]

The last time his wife ended up dead by his shotgun. And so, Rachel, you need to get out of the house to keep yourself safe.

[Narrator/Host]

Did you fear for your life?

There were times that I did, for sure, with knowing that he could do it once. What Makes you think he can't do it again.

Once Rachel knows that her children are safe and away from Nick, she decides she's going to confront him.

Rachel's feeling nervous about her safety, so she brings her friend Emily along. You decided you wanted to record the conversation?

Yeah.

Why?

Because I didn't know what was going to happen in that conversation. And possibly maybe there'd be a confession of some sort.

But how did you secretly record the conversation?

I just had my phone next to me on my lap, and the conversation started. I could get through this if it was just the line. I really could. The problem is the Heidi stuff, that's my problem. The problem is I don't 100% believe you. I said I found out about a possible foreclosure. I found out that you haven't been paying bills, that you've been lying about paying these bills. And then, you know, I said, how am I supposed to know this information and not think that you may have had something to do with Heidi's death? I know it's shocking for you to hear that from me, and it's shocking. Trust me. It's shocking for me to think it.

[Nick Furkus]

I don't know what I said. Right.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick sits there silently without saying a word. This goes on for minutes.

[Nick Furkus]

So I intellectually understand what you are saying. The fact that you're saying it is so indescribably jarring to my soul that I can hardly breathe. I don't have words, Rach. It is too traumatic. And I don't know what else to tell you.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

We're like, why are you not getting help? Clearly, there's a problem. There's a history of a problem.

[Narrator/Host]

The fact that you're lying was so easy for you to do in front of me over and over and over. Makes me think that I could murder my wife. That you could lie about something.

[Nick Furkus]

That I could murder my wife?

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, bruh.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

And then when you ask him, like, to talk about Heidi's death, he just puts his head down and, like, kind of cries. But he will not touch it.

[Nick Furkus]

There are a hundred things going through my mind right now.

[Narrator/Host]

Are you wanting to say more?

[Nick Furkus]

I probably need to know. I think I'll be open to this conversation. I just can't do it tonight.

[Narrator/Host]

Now, Rachel insists that Nick tell his parents what's going on. So they get together again and he brings them along. You were putting him sort of on the hot seat at the time with the parents. You wanted him to come clean.

[Prosecutor]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Host]

And did he?

No. He sat there and let his dad talk for him that I don't believe him. That's what's scary to me.

[Nick Furkus]

What don't you believe?

[Narrator/Host]

I feel like I don't know the full truth.

[Nick Furkus]

You're talking about the full truth of when Heidi died.

[Narrator/Host]

These are the questions that I have. If Heidi did know all this was happening, why was there nothing packed in their house? Like, that's just illogical.

[Nick Furkus]

There was the beginnings of packings. I mean, there was stuff in the basement that was packed up. There was things that were crated up and easily ready to go.

[911 Operator]

Yeah.

[Nick Furkus]

But granted, at first blush, it didn't look like a house packed and ready to move.

[Narrator/Host]

If you look at the videotape taken by police on the day of the murder, that does not look like a house that was prepared for a big move out.

You hear Rachel challenging Nick's parents, asking, how is it possible that you had no idea that Nick was losing the house?

That, like, nobody knew? That's just so bizarre to me.

[Nick Furkus]

So we weren't super entwined in their life. There weren't grandchildren involved. That naturally gives them more of a connection.

[Narrator/Host]

But that was different for their family, Right. That they said that they were shocked that they didn't know because Heidi told them everything.

[Nick Furkus]

They never put into our personal business. Heidi and I decided together that we would figure this out together.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick's dad tells Rachel that their lawyer had advised the family not to speak publicly about Heidi's death.

[Nick Furkus]

The rule we needed to play was to not say anything, duck, and let people that know how to play the game play the game.

[Narrator/Host]

When Rachel challenges Nick about his memory, he says that a lot of stuff

[Nick Furkus]

is fuzzy, vivid memories from back then.

[Narrator/Host]

You did, when you talked about it, it was, like, detailed of what happened. And so you keep saying that, but that's not true.

She didn't trust him anymore. So she decided to divorce. And they did divorce in 2018.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

I knew immediately as soon as I saw they were divorced. I wanted to talk to her.

[Narrator/Host]

One day I get a knock on my door. I think it's somebody that's selling me something. And she was like, I'm Nikki Sipes. I'm from St. Paul Police Department. I want to talk about Heidi Ferkus. And I never, never in a million years thought that that would happen.

The idea that Rachel, who was to Nick Furkas, he's the father of her children, that she cooperated with you, that's pretty amazing.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

She's a very brave woman.

[Narrator/Host]

How much danger was she potentially in?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

That's a great question. But If I were her, I would have been very afraid when I found this out.

[Narrator/Host]

You're potentially helping them arrest your children's father for murder. Were you at all reluctant?

No matter how hard this is going to be, this is someone's daughter. And if I can fight for her, even if it causes pain for me, I will.

If Nick really did kill Heidi, then what's the motive?

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Let me know when you're in position.

[Narrator/Host]

Police finally believe that they have enough evidence to make their move.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

Police.

[Nick Furkus]

We gotta. Search warrant.

[Narrator/Host]

Sergeant Nikki Sipes is still investigating the murder of Heidi Firkus. And more than ever before, she is focused like a laser beam on her former husband, Nick.

She's beginning to believe that the motive for Heidi's murder all stems from the couple's financial trouble.

At the time of Heidi's death. They haven't made a mortgage payment in 22 months. They're $18,000 in debt with credit card bills.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

What struck me the most was the amount of money that they had in overdraft fees through their bank. In one year, it was over $8,000. In overdrafts.

[Narrator/Host]

In overdraft alone.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

In overdrafts. I mean, their water was going to be disconnected.

[Narrator/Host]

At times, it appears that they were living way above their means.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Rather than cook at home, they were out at restaurants. Not lavish places, but they were spending more than they were making.

[Narrator/Host]

But it was their $200,000 home that was really causing Nick and Heidi to fall behind.

They bought a home they could not afford. And so things kind of spiraled a little bit because of that.

And the day after Heidi's murder is the day they were supposed to be evicted by the sheriff.

Sergeant Sipes and the FBI pored through the financial documents and come up with a theory. What's your gut telling you after sifting through all of this?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

That Heidi had no idea their house had been foreclosed on. She had no idea they were being evicted 30 hours.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick says that it was their secret. But the police wonder if maybe it was a secret that only Nick was keeping.

How is it possible that they could be living together and she has no idea that they're in financial trouble?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

He handled the finances. They were young. That just seemed to be the role that he took on.

[Narrator/Host]

But Nick's defense lawyers see it differently.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

They were being hounded by the bank by mail, by ups, by Federal Express. There were postings on the door. And all of those mailings were found in the house. Heidi could not have been oblivious to

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

what was going on in the mortgage and Eviction paperwork. There was never anything signed by Heidi Firkus.

[Narrator/Host]

You didn't see her signature on any of these documents.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Nowhere.

[Prosecutor]

No one ever served Heidi Firkus with a piece of mail. She never appeared at the hearing for the eviction. She didn't communicate with anyone, not even her closest friends, not even her parents about this situation.

[Narrator/Host]

Whenever we spoke to any one of her friends or family, would Heidi have told you? Every single person said, absolutely she would have.

And not only was Heidi not talking about the, this looming move with her friends and family, according to the police, when they dug through her text messages and her emails, it didn't appear that she had discussed it with Nick either.

[Prosecutor]

What we couldn't find anywhere in any of the emails was any mention whatsoever of foreclosure or eviction.

[Narrator/Host]

I mean, that's a life changing event when you have to move out of your house and for them not to have one. Correspondence about the court coordination of this move is very suspicious.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

You know, the closer it got to the day of her death, you could tell she knew something was going on with a few of the bills.

[Narrator/Host]

She started getting calls and emails from creditors asking about bills that need to be paid.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Every time she would get a call, she would immediately call, text, or email Nick and ask him to take care. She was definitely asking more and more about bills. Like, I got a call about this. She would ask him, is there any update? And he would give her these kind of elongated responses like, oh, I called so and so and so. It became very clear that she believed what her husband told her.

[Narrator/Host]

Police thinking is Nick is not telling Heidi the truth. So why, why is he lying to Heidi?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

I think he knew that as soon as Heidi knew what happened, she would tell everyone around them he thought she might leave him.

[Narrator/Host]

So rather than reveal his financial problems, he killed his wife.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

He has destroyed their lives essentially without her knowing.

[Narrator/Host]

Prosecutors say Nick was two different men. He was one man at church for his wife and his family and community. And then there was the secret Nick. The Nick that couldn't pay his bills, the Nick who was losing his house.

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, he had lied to his friends, he had lied to the community for many years. Through the murder of Heidi, he came away as a victim and a martyr.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

It just made no sense that he would kill his wife in order to spare him some momentary embarrassment.

[Narrator/Host]

But then he becomes the victim of a crime. Nobody's thinking about his financial Troubles at that time. He's lost his wife.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

If you were trying to keep this secret, the last thing that you would do is bring in the police because your wife has just been murdered.

[Narrator/Host]

After 11 years, police finally believe that they have enough evidence to make their move against Nick Furkus.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

We went to his house very early in the morning. Our SWAT team went, knocked on the door.

[Narrator/Host]

Police department. Search warrant.

[911 Operator]

Here he comes.

[Nick Furkus]

Here he comes. Coming. Nothing on his hands.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

Hello, police.

[Nick Furkus]

We gotta search one.

[Narrator/Host]

Okay, Nick, come on out.

[Nick Furkus]

Yes, go put your hands behind your back for me. Okay.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Very cooperative.

[Nick Furkus]

Somebody has shared with me what this is all about.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

You have a warrant for your arrest, sir. Homicide.

[Officer/Investigator]

Nicholas Ferkus is in custody on suspicion

[Narrator/Host]

of murdering his wife, Heidi.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Today we're one step closer to getting justice for Heidi and the truth.

[Narrator/Host]

Do you think that he thought that he would ever be arrested?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

No, I believe he thought he got away with it.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick is charged with both first degree and second degree murder.

I thought that was it. I thought, okay, he's going to go to jail. Little did I know that it was not even close to being over.

[Nick Furkus]

All right.

[Narrator/Host]

The Trial for a St. Paul man accused of killing his wife back in 2010 is now underway.

[Friend or Family Member]

His attorneys are arguing that Nicholas's wife

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Heidi was killed during a break in.

[Officer/Investigator]

But Ramsey county prosecutors say there's no

[Narrator/Host]

sign of anyone else in the home other than the couple. It's been nearly 13 years since Heidi Firkus murder, and the trial for her husband Nick is finally underway in this courthouse. And both sides are arguing completely different versions of what happened that morning.

[Prosecutor]

The courtroom was packed every single day. There were people who were sitting on the floor.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Even.

[Narrator/Host]

Even

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

the tension between the two parties was very noticeable.

[Narrator/Host]

One family against another family, essentially Correct.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

And families that used to be somewhat united.

[Narrator/Host]

It was just like, really traumatic. And to see people say things about your friend that aren't true.

At the heart of this case is, was there an intruder or not?

[Prosecutor]

It wasn't a fictitious stranger who was breaking into her home who she needed to be afraid of. It was the stranger she married.

[Narrator/Host]

To prove their argument, prosecutors put Nick's intruder story to the test. They showed the jury video of police trying to reenact the break in and the jiggling of the door Nick says he heard from the upstairs bedroom room.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

I'm at the front door, so let me know when you guys are ready.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Sergeant Gray stood at the front door and jiggled the doorknob.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Here we go.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

Well, they took a video upstairs in the bedroom.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Yeah.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Ready

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

and you could not hear that door knob being jiggled, which was Nick's story on how he first was alerted to the burglar.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick's attorneys introduced evidence to contradict that by showing the tool marks on the door frame that suggest someone was trying to break in.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

There were marks on the door that were consistent with someone using a screwdriver to pry open the door.

[Narrator/Host]

Maybe somebody really did break in. Maybe it. It happened as he said,

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

and the police recognized that, which is why they seized three screwdrivers from the house and from Heidi and Nick's cars and compared them to the tool marks. And none of the three screwdrivers could be matched to those tool marks.

[Narrator/Host]

You brought in a locksmith.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

We did.

[Narrator/Host]

What did you discover?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

He's been too to thousands of burglary scenes. He said his experience has been that with a burglar, they're going to attack the deadbolt. Because once you defeat the deadbolt, you've got the door.

[Prosecutor]

But there was no evidence that anybody had tried to pry open the deadbolt.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

And he also said they don't care about damage. All they care about is getting in and getting in fast.

[Narrator/Host]

The locksmith had never seen a burglary with so little damage. Damage to a door.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

At 6:30 in the morning on a Sunday when you expect people to be sleeping in the house, you do not break in by kicking in the door. You break in covertly.

[Narrator/Host]

Another inconsistency in Nick's story. Prosecutors say that undisturbed table in the

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

foyer, it's just inches from the door. And so when Nick describes this dynamic encounter with this man, larger than him, you would look and think that that scene would just be destroyed, and yet nothing was out of place.

[Narrator/Host]

Why isn't the table knocked over? Why are the contents still neatly on that table?

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

Because that isn't where the struggle was. The struggle was as you come into the door to the right of there, as is shown by the spread of the bullets into the door. Look, four cops came bursting through that door into the house because of the emergency, and the stuff was still there,

[Narrator/Host]

but they weren't fighting with him over a gun.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

The scene was not trashed, but there were things that were askew. The front door was open an inch when the police arrived. The front mat was pushed up against the wall. Heidi's shoes were sort of knocked askew.

[Narrator/Host]

Another reason prosecutors believe that there was never an intruder is because they never found anyone else's DNA.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

No foreign DNA in the house or on the gun.

[Narrator/Host]

So what did that tell you?

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

That There was one person that touched the gun. Nick Furkas.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

The guy came in fully dressed with a hood over his head and wearing gloves. He was in the house for seconds. Seconds probably wouldn't be any DNA.

[Narrator/Host]

The defense argues that Nick wouldn't have had enough time after Heidi's 911 call to stage the crime scene and shoot himself before making his own 911 call only 65 seconds later. Prosecutors know they've got to convince the jury that there was plenty of time. And in their closing argument, they put on a dramatic demonstration. Show me how you did the reenactment.

[Prosecutor]

I demonstrated with my hands being in a shooting stance to represent Nick Furkas holding the shotgun.

[Narrator/Host]

So that would have been Nick shooting his wife.

[Prosecutor]

That's correct. I put down my imaginary gun. I walked over to where Heidi's body would have been. Nick Furkus would have turned her over.

[Narrator/Host]

With the timer running in front of the jury, prosecutor Rachel Crocker walks through every step she says Nick had to

[Prosecutor]

take, picked up the gun that he had left by the door, braced himself against the door, and then pulled the trigger to get that tangential wound that he got in his left leg.

[Narrator/Host]

Shooting himself, shooting himself. Drop the gun.

[Prosecutor]

Drop the gun and then use the phone to call 911.

[Narrator/Host]

And you still had time on the clock.

[Prosecutor]

That's right.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

There's no evidence that he was able to walk. He had just been shot in the thigh.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

You take a look at the pictures of that wound. He would have had to crawl.

[Narrator/Host]

Jurors have heard the case for just over two weeks. And now Nick Furkus future is in their hands.

[Officer/Investigator]

There was a likelihood that the jury would believe Nick's story.

[Narrator/Host]

So was it possible that Nick would walk away a free man?

Sunday nights on abc.

[Prosecutor]

What happens when the person you love

[Narrator/Host]

the most turns out not to be

who you think they are?

Everything he told me was a lie.

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

I was betrayed.

[Narrator/Host]

From the number one true crime podcast, Betrayal.

He's been living a secret double life.

My marriage ended with a 911 call.

The tape is blood curdling.

Betrayal, secrets and lies.

So many people are living with their own betrayal.

Sunday nights at 10, 9 Central on ABC and stream on Disney and Hulu. From unsolved mysteries to unexplained phenomena. From comedy gold to relationship fails. Amazon Music's got the most ad free

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[Narrator/Host]

Because the only thing that should interrupt your listening is, well, nothing. Download the Amazon music app today. Sheriff's office.

[911 Operator]

Come outside with your hands up.

[Narrator/Host]

You're inside. Make it Known now it was the perfect storm.

[911 Operator]

Somebody got shot. His mom got shot. Right here. Right here.

[Narrator/Host]

There is terror. Children have seen their mother get shot. Take a step back because they're gonna

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

try to pick her up.

[Narrator/Host]

My daughter was killed. Four children who don't have their mom.

I screamed,

she wants to have a conversation. Correct. And instead she gets a bullet. I think there was so much shock what had just happened.

Body cams, they show what happened.

There is still someone with a gun.

You see for certain exactly how it happened.

[911 Operator]

She's inside.

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I have one down. I have one elderly female barricaded in the house.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

Show me your hands.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Why would a woman kill an unarmed neighbor?

[Narrator/Host]

Who knocked on her door?

[911 Operator]

Did you know her? She's come after me several times because of her children.

[Narrator/Host]

They're bothering me and bothering me.

They won't stop. Could have been any of us that would have went and knocked on the that door that night.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

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[Narrator/Host]

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[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

The case of a St. Paul man

[Narrator/Host]

accused of killing his wife back in

[Sergeant Nikki Sipes (Detective)]

2010 could go to the jury as soon as today.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick Furkas is under suspicion for his wife's murder. His trial has just ended, but the jury comes back in four hours with their verdict.

A St. Paul man has been found

guilty of killing his wife.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

A jury convicted Nicholas Firkus of 1st and 2nd degree murder.

[Narrator/Host]

When you heard guilty, what'd you think?

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

Devastated.

[Nick Furkus' Defense Lawyer]

I had to hold Nick.

[Rachel Furkus (Nick's Second Wife)]

He started to sob.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick Furkus family declined our request for an interview but sent us a statement saying they support their son and believe in his innocence.

Nicholas Firkas was finally held accountable. We wanted to do justice to Heidi and we thought we had done that.

On April 13, the emotion in the courthouse is palpable.

[Friend or Family Member]

Yeah, there's justice, but that doesn't make things better.

[Friend of Nick and Heidi]

There are people still affected by this mass.

[Narrator/Host]

Nick Furkas is back in the courtroom for sentencing.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

You may be seated. The way I'd like to proceed is allow the victim statements.

[Narrator/Host]

I really miss my sister. The load is lighter knowing the fight

[Nick Furkus]

for the truth of her story has been won.

[Narrator/Host]

I know that Heidi was put in my life to bring me closer to God. It isn't fair that she's gone. Nick Fergus has had 13 years to live the life that Heidi deserved.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

And finally, this is an opportunity for you, Mr. Ferkus, to make a statement.

[Nick Furkus]

I do maintain and will maintain to my dying breath my innocence of this crime. Heidi was a bright light in this world. These past 13 years have not diminished My love for her, nor the love that I felt from her.

[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

This was a tragic event and there are no winners here. But the jury has. But it is the sense of law and judgment of this court that you be committed to the commission of corrections for the remainder of your life without the possibility of release.

[Narrator/Host]

Just knowing what the world was robbed of, that someone is bright and just special, was lost. It's tragic to think about and remember

the man who looked just like the guy in the composite sketch, Michael Pye. Well, he has turned his life around after serving time. And he wonders how differently things could have gone for him.

[Michael Pye (Suspect)]

If I wouldn't have been locked up, I would have got found guilty for it because wouldn't nobody bleed it if I told him that it wasn't me. I most definitely forgive him for what he tried to do. I also know in forgiveness, it's a price you gonna have to pay too. And so he gonna have to go to prison and pay that price now.

[Narrator/Host]

You know, I often get shocked by my own story. Not many people can say, yeah, I married a murderer, didn't know, had kids with him. There are moments when I'm like, why did I choose to be with somebody like this when there were red flags to everyone but me. But I also know that I wouldn't have those three kids without it. And I know that I wouldn't be the person that I am today without the story that I have.

Heidi and Rachel are linked in a way that goes beyond their marriages to Nick Furkas.

On the anniversary of Heidi's death, it also happened to be your birthday.

Mm. It's a crazy coincidence.

Will you always think about Heidi on your birthday?

Always. She's important to remember.

And that's our program for tonight. Thanks for watching. I'm David Muir. And I'm Deborah Roberts. From all of us here at 2020 and ABC News, good night.

You.

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.

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[Sergeant Gray (Police Officer)]

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[Narrator/Host]

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[Prosecutor]

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[911 Operator]

Com.