一名明尼苏达州男子被指控谋杀他的妻子，11年前她在家中被枪杀。
尼古拉斯·詹姆斯·菲尔库斯，38岁，周三被捕，并被控于2010年4月25日谋杀其妻子海蒂·菲尔库斯，犯有二级故意杀人罪。根据周四公布的逮捕令，当时他告诉警方，一名侵入者闯入他们的家，抓起他的猎枪向他们两人开枪。
自那以后，圣保罗警察局一直在调查这起凶杀案。在周四的新闻发布会上，拉姆齐县检察官约翰·蔡(John Choi)称赞了美国联邦调查局(FBI)的参与，这位新的凶杀案调查员提供了“新的视角”，并加强了谋杀当天早上的911电话，从而导致了逮捕。
“这就像把一个巨大的拼图拼在一起，有时只需要花很多时间把不同的部分拼在一起，然后看一看，就能让新的人尝试找到正确的部分，”联邦调查局明尼阿波利斯外地办事处的助理特别探员迈克尔·克劳斯告诉记者。
克劳斯说，去年，联邦调查局还引进了更多训练有素的专家来帮助调查。
圣保罗警察局/脸书
这还是来自圣保罗警察局脸书网页上的一段视频，圣保罗警方
逮捕令提供了4月25日早上海蒂·菲尔库斯遇害前拨打911电话的细节，并概述了这对夫妇在她死亡时明显的财务困境。
当天早上6点31分，海蒂·菲尔库斯(Heidi Firkus)用手机拨打了911，报告称，根据搜查令，有人试图闯入她在圣保罗的家。
“通话进行到38秒时，海蒂正在发送她的地址，听到类似枪声的声音，海蒂停止说话，电话挂断了，”搜查令说。“枪击发生前，通话中没有明显的背景噪音，海蒂也没有说任何可能表明入侵者实际上进入了住宅的话。”
根据搜查令，911调度员试着回了两次电话，但电话转到了语音信箱，大约一分钟后尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯从他妻子的电话上打了911。
“他非常情绪化，”逮捕令上写道。“他说有人闯入了他们的家，他和海蒂在试图从后门跑进车库时被枪杀了。在将近七分钟的通话结束时，可以听到警察进屋的声音。”
警方发现两人都有枪伤。根据搜查令，海蒂·菲尔库斯在现场被宣布死亡，尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯被送往医院，他的左大腿上部有枪伤。
根据搜查令，尸检显示海蒂·菲尔库斯曾被猎枪射中背部。
据报道，尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯出院后在警察局接受采访时说，他们的房子被取消了赎回权，他们计划当天晚些时候搬出去，根据搜查令，他们还没有告诉任何家人或朋友。
10个月前，即2009年6月4日，他们的房子在一次治安官拍卖会上被出售，尽管在审查了菲尔库斯的手机和电子邮件账户，并采访了处理驱逐事宜的朋友、家人、同事和律师事务所后，检察官表示，他们不相信海蒂·菲尔库斯知道止赎权被取消或即将停工。
拉姆齐县助理县检察官伊丽莎白·拉明(Elizabeth Lamin)在周四的简报会上说:“没有迹象表明已经进行了任何打包工作，也没有证据表明他们将在哪里住宿。”“我们相信我们有足够的证据不仅指控尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯，还指控他在2010年4月25日策划并谋杀了海蒂·菲尔库斯，这是毫无疑问的。”
搜查令还称，根据枪击的轨迹，枪击不可能像尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯描述的那样发生。
“此外，在海蒂的911报警电话中没有听到任何挣扎声，海蒂也没有说任何暗示入侵者成功进入房子的话。然而，人们可以听到警察在尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯的911报警电话的背景下到达。
让·皮耶里/先锋出版社
在这张2019年5月1日的档案照片中，约翰·埃里克森走过他女儿海蒂·菲尔库斯·阿龙的照片
在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯的辩护律师约瑟夫·弗里德伯格拒绝对此案发表评论。
据报道，在尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯周四首次出庭时，弗里德伯格说这“仍然是一个完全间接的案件”据先锋出版社报道。
“这是一个间接案件，11年前国家认为他们没有足够的证据继续审理，”据报道，弗里德伯格告诉法官，并补充说检察官现在“没有任何新的东西”。
周四，尼古拉斯·菲尔库斯的保释金被定为300万美元，即100万美元，条件是他交出护照，不离开明尼苏达州。
接下来，他将于7月1日下午1:30出席一场综合听证会。如果罪名成立，他将面临最高40年的监禁。
在由获得的声明中美国广播公司明尼阿波利斯分公司KSTP海蒂·菲尔库斯的家人说，他们“非常感谢所有努力工作了这么久的人，让这个案子走到了这一步。也是为了所有这些年来一直祈祷和支持我们的人。”
声明称:“我们希望这些指控将最终揭示真相，为海蒂伸张正义。”。“尽管我们知道我们不能让她回来，但我们相信海蒂会希望我们知道真相。”
18个月前接手这起悬案的圣保罗警察局凶杀案调查员蒋曦儿·西普斯中士说，她是被家庭的损失所激励。
她在周四的简报会上说:“我认为，事实上，我们有一个从未得到任何正义的受害者，一个被留下来想知道发生了什么以及为什么他们失去了这一点的家庭，这就是我对这个案件的看法。”
圣保罗警察局凶杀组指挥官布莱恩特·加登认为是西普斯推动了此案的进展。
“她碰巧看了看这个箱子，有些东西对她来说很突出，她翻了一些石头和鹅卵石，决定留下来，”加登周四说。“这就是我们今天在这里的原因，因为她的坚韧、决策和出色的调查智慧。”
Husband charged with wife's murder 11 years after fatal home shooting
A Minnesota man has been charged with the murder of his wife 11 years after she was shot and killed in their home.
Nicholas James Firkus, 38, was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of his wife, Heidi Firkus, on April 25, 2010. At the time, he told police that an intruder broke into their home, grabbed his shotgun and shot them both, according to an arrest warrant that was unsealed Thursday.
The Saint Paul Police Department has been investigating the homicide ever since. During a press briefing Thursday, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi credited the involvement of the FBI, a new homicide investigator on the case offering a "fresh set of eyes" and the enhancement of a 911 call from the morning of the murder in leading to an arrest.
"This is like putting together a giant puzzle, and sometimes it just takes a lot of time to bring in different pieces, and to look at that and to be able to have somebody new try to find the right piece," Michael Krause, assistant special agent at the Minneapolis field office for the FBI, told reporters.
Last year, the FBI also brought in additional trained specialists to help with the investigation, Krause said.
The arrest warrant offers details of the 911 call made the morning of April 25, right before Heidi Firkus was killed, and outlines the couple's apparent financial struggles at the time of her death.
At 6:31 a.m. that day, Heidi Firkus called 911 from her cell phone to report that someone was trying to break into her house in Saint Paul, according to the warrant.
"Thirty-eight seconds into the call, as Heidi was giving dispatch her address, a noise similar to a gunshot was heard, Heidi stopped speaking, and the call went dead," the warrant stated. "Before the gunshot, there is no significant background noise on the call, nor does Heidi say anything that would suggest that an intruder had actually entered the home."
The 911 dispatcher tried calling back twice but the calls went to voicemail, and about a minute later Nicholas Firkus called 911 from his wife's phone, according to the warrant.
"He was highly emotional," the warrant stated. "He said that someone had broken into their home and that he and Heidi had been shot while trying to run out the back to the garage. Near the end of the almost-seven-minute call, police can be heard entering the house."
Responding police found both with gunshot wounds. Heidi Firkus was pronounced dead at the scene, and Nicholas Firkus was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his upper left thigh, according to the warrant.
The autopsy revealed Heidi Firkus was shot once in the back with a shotgun, according to the warrant.
During an interview at the police station after he was released from the hospital, Nicholas Firkus reportedly said their house had been foreclosed upon and they were planning to move out later that day, and that they hadn't told any family or friends yet, according to the warrant.
Their house was sold at a sheriff's auction 10 months earlier, on June 4, 2009, though after reviewing the Firkus' cell phones and email accounts and interviewing friends, family, co-workers and the law firm handling the eviction, prosecutors said they don't believe Heidi Firkus knew about the foreclosure or an imminent lockout.
"This is no sign that there had been any packing done and there was no evidence of any housing arrangements where they were going to stay," Ramsey County Assistant County Attorney Elizabeth Lamin said during Thursday's briefing. "We believe we have sufficient evidence to not only charge Nicholas Firkus, that he planned and murdered Heidi Firkus on April 25, 2010, beyond a reasonable doubt."
The warrant further alleges that the shooting couldn't have happened as described by Nicholas Firkus based on the trajectory of the shot.
"Furthermore, no struggle is heard in Heidi's 911 call, nor does Heidi say anything that suggests that an intruder had successfully gained entry into the house. Yet, one can hear police arrive in the background of Nicholas Firkus' 911 call," the warrant stated.
Nicholas Firkus' defense attorney, Joseph Friedberg, declined to comment on the case when contacted by ABC News.
During Nicholas Firkus' first court appearance Thursday, Friedberg reportedly said it was "still a completely circumstantial case,"according to the Pioneer Press.
"It was a circumstantial case where the state felt they just had insufficient evidence to proceed 11 years ago," Friedberg reportedly told the judge, adding that the prosecutors "don't have anything new" now.
On Thursday, Nicholas Firkus' bail was set at $3 million, or $1 million on the condition that he surrender his passport and not leave Minnesota.
He is next scheduled to appear virtually at an omnibus hearing on July 1 at 1:30 p.m. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted.
In a statement obtained byABC News Minneapolis affiliate KSTP, the family of Heidi Firkus said they're "extremely grateful for all those who have worked so hard and long to get the case to this point. And also for everyone who has prayed and stood beside us all these years."
"We are hopeful that these charges will finally bring out the truth and result in justice for Heidi," the statement said. "Even though we know we can't have her back, we believe Heidi would want us to have the truth."
Saint Paul Police Department homicide investigator Sgt. Nichole Sipes, who took over the cold case 18 months ago, said she was motivated by the family's loss.
"I think the fact that we have a victim that there has never been any justice for, and a family that was left behind to wonder what happened and why they have this lost, and that's what spoke to me about this case," she said during Thursday's briefing.
Saint Paul Police Department Homicide Unit Commander Bryant Gaden credited Sipes with moving the case forward.
"She happened to take a look at this case, and some things stuck out to her, she turned over some stones and some pebbles and decided to stay with it," Gaden said Thursday. "So that's why we're here today, because of her tenacity and decision-making and excellent investigative intelligence."
