NC - Lauren Hugelmaier, 29, stabbed to death, Raleigh, 1 Sept 2017 *Arrest*

Spellbound

falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus
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I did not find a thread already started; if there is, please merge

Married less than one year. Lauren Phelps (29) found stabbed, died at hospital; Husband, Matthew Phelps (29)arrested for murder, no bond, at Wake County Jail:

http://www.kansascity.com/latest-news/article171099527.html
RALEIGH The conversation between Matthew James Phelps and the 911 dispatcher he phoned just after 1:10 a.m. Friday sounded almost clinical.
Phelps gives the dispatcher his northeast Raleigh address, name and phone number.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” the dispatcher said to him.
Phelps sighed and replied, “I think I killed my ..,” according to a 911 recording made public Friday afternoon.

911 call: "I think I killed my ..."

Murder suspect says he took too much cold medicine, then woke to find his wife dead


With 911 call:
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/i-h...-says-cold-medicine-made-him-murder-his-wife/
The couple were married for less than a year. Both were devoted to their Christian faith. Matthew Phelps was studying to become a pastor and his wife a Sunday school teacher.



http://www.wral.com/husband-charged-in-raleigh-woman-s-stabbing-death/16920577/
"I had a dream, and then I turn on the lights and she's dead on the floor," Matthew Phelps told a 911 dispatcher. "I have blood all over me, and there's a bloody knife on the bed, and I think I did it."
 
Have just been reading about this. Will be interesting to see what crops up about this man!
 
Yeah, no. Corididan does not cause violent behavior. I am guessing the authorities will find a motive. I was just thinking how often Raleigh is mentioned in murders lately. There was the couple who killed the guy's ex-wife and brought her body to Texas, the Google guy who may have been innocent in the murder of his wife, and the guy whose best friend since junior high killed his wife. Weird, because Raleigh isn't a gigantic city.
 
Sounds like he was planning his defense right away.
 
Well as far as that goes, he could have known all of this and used it as a cover up. I'm not defending him in the least, just saying those side effects are scary.
 
While I'm sure it can, did ya listen to the 911 call? Freaking out on cold meds my *advertiser censored*!
well according to the 911 call, he awoke to find himself covered in dried blood. so his claim at least would be that he took too much medicine, woke up and stabbed his wife, got back into bed, slept, woke up later and found what he had done. Anyway my point is, he could have been "freaking out on cold meds" hours earlier but by the time of the call was in a different state.
 
That 911 operator is so patient with him.
 
Yes, that 911 call is completely bizarre. Thanks for starting the thread, Spellbound! I searched awhile ago and was surprised that there wasn't one yet. This is going to be interesting.
 
Sounds like he was planning his defense right away.

Sounds like he planned his defense in advance! Notice he doesn't know what happened, but had already figured out cause and effect. That's quick thinking for just having discovered your stabbed-to-death dead wife. I wonder if his computer and phone searches will find "coricidin" searches. Or was he sly enough to dispose of hard drives and history?
 
RIP Lauren

Lots of things will throw light on this story in the coming days- Autopsy coupled with blood analysis of accused, witness statements etc

According to his Facebook page, Phelps worked at Dunlap Lawn Service. He graduated from Kentucky's Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in 2011 where he studied evangelism and mission.

: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-911-awoke-dream-wife-dead.html#ixzz4rkUUYN7G



 
Unfortunately, I have extensive knowledge of the active ingredient in Coricidin and its effects truly depend on the amount ingested, lining of stomach, and whether it had been mixed (intentionally or not) with anything else that may exacerbate its side effects and a blackout that his defense is implying occurred.
Dextromethorphan hydrobromide is a dissociative hallucinogenic and opioid receptor agonist. It is particularly numbing due to being similar in effect to PCP, one may feel detached from themselves and the world, may even have visual/auditory/tactile hallucinations. Hearing voices, seeing faces or colors, or having sense of touch altered is not uncommon with a major overdose of this drug. Hence the "Dream" he had and sounding like a zombie with flat affect in his voice and being in an altered state. To my knowledge, it does NOT cause violent behavior even with chronic use however PCP is notorious for infamous killings while the person is high and not "all there", see the Big Lurch rapper cannibalism case for reference. It's not unlikely DXM could incur the same circumstances due to its similarities to PCP. In fact, DXM often reads as a false positive for PCP in many standard drug screens.

Problem is, they will be unlikely to find it in his system. Another problem is going to be proving he had zero unconscious or even conscious intent to harm and murder his wife. It's going to be difficult for the defense to disprove this was an intentional and conscious killing and equally as difficult for the prosecution to prove he had motive unless they uncover one: financial, emotional, even maybe religious. Family will likely be questioned and testify either for or against the stability of the marriage. Any damning testimony of husband being malicious or abusive in any way will kill the defense.
I will say as a Psych major and someone with extensive experience/knowledge of this chemical, this is both fascinating and horrific to me. Could happen to anybody. I'm REALLY curious to know exactly how much he took, how many 30mg tablets he took to get that high and somehow that violent. I've overdone it myself many times to the point of blacking out and hallucinating as well but never ever getting violent or even aggressive.
Something is off here to me regarding him going from asleep/high to killing her to asleep/high to alert/high enough to call 911 that blood is everywhere, wife is dead, AND HE DID IT. Did he mix it with alcohol or any other RX?
I will add as a side note that DXM is a serotonergic agent that when combined with an SSRI or MAOI, the results can be deadly. If he was on an anti-depressant, this can easily be a possible cause for such an allegedly random and intoxicated attack. Religious background suggests a subconscious black and white reasoning of good vs. evil as well that can actually exacerbate hidden mental illness or psyche instability.
Do we know if he even knows how much he took? Has he taken it before? When the drug abuse peaked in mid-2000's, kids were dying from 8 tablets to 16. I'm very curious how much it took for this to suddenly happen and yet he just sobers up and is arrested in an OK state health wise.
Side effects of OD include tachycardia, increased BP, dilated pupils (see mug shot), flushed skin, drug rash, bruxism, excitability, altered state, impaired memory, ataxia, impaired coordination, slurred speech, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Like how does one NOT know they took too much? It would be very obvious to anybody, especially the wife. Was this a suicide attempt gone wrong? Does he even have a cold to have ingested this medication to treat in the first place.
Many questions. I'm eager for answers in this one. And the verdict should be very interesting once reached.
 
Unfortunately, I have extensive knowledge of the active ingredient in Coricidin and its effects truly depend on the amount ingested, lining of stomach, and whether it had been mixed (intentionally or not) with anything else that may exacerbate its side effects and a blackout that his defense is implying occurred.
Dextromethorphan hydrobromide is a dissociative hallucinogenic and opioid receptor agonist. It is particularly numbing due to being similar in effect to PCP, one may feel detached from themselves and the world, may even have visual/auditory/tactile hallucinations. Hearing voices, seeing faces or colors, or having sense of touch altered is not uncommon with a major overdose of this drug. Hence the "Dream" he had and sounding like a zombie with flat affect in his voice and being in an altered state. To my knowledge, it does NOT cause violent behavior even with chronic use however PCP is notorious for infamous killings while the person is high and not "all there", see the Big Lurch rapper cannibalism case for reference. It's not unlikely DXM could incur the same circumstances due to its similarities to PCP. In fact, DXM often reads as a false positive for PCP in many standard drug screens.

Problem is, they will be unlikely to find it in his system. Another problem is going to be proving he had zero unconscious or even conscious intent to harm and murder his wife. It's going to be difficult for the defense to disprove this was an intentional and conscious killing and equally as difficult for the prosecution to prove he had motive unless they uncover one: financial, emotional, even maybe religious. Family will likely be questioned and testify either for or against the stability of the marriage. Any damning testimony of husband being malicious or abusive in any way will kill the defense.
I will say as a Psych major and someone with extensive experience/knowledge of this chemical, this is both fascinating and horrific to me. Could happen to anybody. I'm REALLY curious to know exactly how much he took, how many 30mg tablets he took to get that high and somehow that violent. I've overdone it myself many times to the point of blacking out and hallucinating as well but never ever getting violent or even aggressive.
Something is off here to me regarding him going from asleep/high to killing her to asleep/high to alert/high enough to call 911 that blood is everywhere, wife is dead, AND HE DID IT. Did he mix it with alcohol or any other RX?
I will add as a side note that DXM is a serotonergic agent that when combined with an SSRI or MAOI, the results can be deadly. If he was on an anti-depressant, this can easily be a possible cause for such an allegedly random and intoxicated attack. Religious background suggests a subconscious black and white reasoning of good vs. evil as well that can actually exacerbate hidden mental illness or psyche instability.
Do we know if he even knows how much he took? Has he taken it before? When the drug abuse peaked in mid-2000's, kids were dying from 8 tablets to 16. I'm very curious how much it took for this to suddenly happen and yet he just sobers up and is arrested in an OK state health wise.
Side effects of OD include tachycardia, increased BP, dilated pupils (see mug shot), flushed skin, drug rash, bruxism, excitability, altered state, impaired memory, ataxia, impaired coordination, slurred speech, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Like how does one NOT know they took too much? It would be very obvious to anybody, especially the wife. Was this a suicide attempt gone wrong? Does he even have a cold to have ingested this medication to treat in the first place.
Many questions. I'm eager for answers in this one. And the verdict should be very interesting once reached.

Welcome to Websleuths Nicolesque. :seeya: Thank you for a very informative post based on your personal experience and research. You ask excellent questions. I hope there are answers. I also hope Lauren's murder was due to an overdose and not intentional. How terrifying for her, either way.
 
While I'm sure it can, did ya listen to the 911 call? Freaking out on cold meds my *advertiser censored*!

But he made it a point to stress to the 911 operator that the blood on him was already dried. Thus, he's made an excuse that his stabbing fit happened awhile ago before the call to 911.

It sounds very pre-meditated to me. What a big fat crock. I'm not even giving him the benefit of the doubt. I wonder if there's life insurance (I bet yes) and how many women on the side he had. He reminds me of Raven Abaroa for some reason I can't explain.

In the obituary for Lauren, her family didn't even mention his name. Those poor people!
http://www.bgdailynews.com/obituari...cle_55c63f9e-1213-5f58-b4a8-d5f78ad6b311.html
 
Just saw on local news WTVD, he'll be in court tomorrow.
 

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