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

[Nicolesque]

All I can say is from my own experience of the effects of delirium following overdose - though in my case very different: I have never touched any drugs recreationally, but took a massive dose of [a very common antihistamine which you can buy in any pharmacy here] in a serious attempt to end my life.

Now in my incident, I woke up 36 hours later in an Intensive Care Unit. This is my first thought here: Is there knowledge of whether this person was checked out medically after the incident? It would seem odd that someone could take enough of a cough syrup to induce hallucinations/delirium/loss of any control and police or paramedics not want that person checked over, even just from their own point of view to prevent potential harm in custody? From reading the effects of the drug he took, it has potential to be fatal, or at the very least to cause serious harm at very high levels.

I absolutely without a doubt know that you can have absolutely no control or awareness of what you do whilst experiencing delirium. The first thing I was told after I regained consciousness was not to be scared, but that I had a lot of bruises because the police officers who accompanied me to hospital had had to restrain me so hard (apparently because I did not treatment) because I was so combative, agitated and confused as a result of said medication - never in any trouble for this, because police said they absolutely knew that it was a result of being very very medically ill. I am not ever in any way aggressive, violent, it's about as far from 'me' as you could possibly get, but I am told I fought incredibly hard. So absolutely drugs can cause extreme behaviour.

[Oops, apologies for essay!]

Welcome to Websleuths, Livness- or, posting here, at least.
And no- thank you for your essay. Much more organized than mine had been regarding my own DXM experiences and knowledge.
I had the same question of medical care. There is no way in human biology that he took an OD even if his body is as accustomed to it as mine, and did not have an alarming BP or pulse to require medical treatment.
I've only been combative when totally blacked out drunk once, and this was in response to EMTs treating me because after being hospitalized, I was afraid of being "taken". Unfortunately the police were not as understanding in this incident and I have no recollection of it. But I fought hard enough to kick an officer's hand (allegedly) and get myself in trouble simply for that action.
I digress, but I've also unfortunately done what you described once in my life and it was so much worse than any experience I ever had on DXM. The hallucinating, the blacking out.. I was lucky to survive really of the last ten years.
I'm not surprised he is a bit underachieved and unstable. As I've been throughout my phases of functioning and then not functioning as well. But unfortunately, society expects men to be family-supporting individuals with stronger qualifications or at least EQUAL to his wife. If only she'd waited and seen some of his darker side before she decided to wed...
I just wanted to say I appreciate your anecdote and contribution, Livness. It is a helpful one to shed some insight from a personal POV on this case, even if it wasn't exactly the same drug because many people do not respond the same to various medications. While I myself have never been violent or aggressive on DXM, he may have been.
As for everyone finding it peculiar that he directly named the substance and his intention for overdosing, I will say that I have told countless, clueless EMT personnel of my escapades. They have to ask, and I was only too eager to tell. I even had one ask me to spell the name of a sub-active ingredient in Mucinex (very similar to Coricidin but the DXM is extended-release and paired with expectorant guafensin). So while there is a 75% chance IMO this was an alibi-forming move during the 911 call, I do recall instances of being highly specific with emergency staff because I knew they'd have no idea what I took or was even talking about.
I can only hope there is more medical and psychological research done on this drug to maybe mainstream information to physicians on it, but I won't be conducting any or writing a thesis on it myself. It's already consumed enough of my life and while I'm still recovering from it (day 9 now yay), I want nothing to do with it beyond keeping up with this case.
However, writing about true crime cases and profiling is a newfound aspect for my academic and professional career aspirations. I've practically lived in "darkness" for half of my life now, and it's too familiar for me to be emotionally affected by most of it. I've had to in order to analyze my own self-destructive side in an attempt to stifle it so analyzing others' would be of no ailment to me other than maybe physically should I have to evaluate some pretty evil people in my future i.e. Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.
Sorry for MY essay now. I'm happy we have more information on possible motive and marital discourse and it's totally plausible he was much disliked by the wife's family prior to this incident just based on his finances alone. I wonder if Lauren had ever been "warned" about amotivated individuals like MP by her parents or family members but she just didn't see it until it was too late.

 

[Seajay]

I'm getting the Mark and Lori Hacking vibe about this case right now. That may change later.

 

[JLD333]

Looks like Lauren was active on Pinterest until shortly before she died: http://pin.it/QcjjSm4
So sad to see the things she pinned about marriage and future children :-(

 

[Francesca]

He might have been another Scott Peterson - happy to go along with image of happily married until he started freaking out at the prospect of a baby. Lauren was 29, she had been married almost a year and she was quite open and enthusiastic about starting a family. This would have been the time she would have started seriously talking about trying to conceive. The whole reason she launched into Scentsy so she could work from home as a young mother. From her point of view, this was the ideal time to start, even if her husband wasn't much of a provider. Maybe he was spinning a line about why he wasn't working so much, so she wasn't worried about finances.
I would guess that a serious discussion about a baby would have been enough of a catalyst for him to decide to eliminate her from the picture, then just tell the police he had a scary dream and go back to his comics and light sabres like nothing happened.

 

[Ewohgirl]

Looking at his origional and now the second (darker) IG accounts for MP, it appears that he became very dark around the May timeframe which is consistent with statements made earlier about him in the last couple of months. What really saddens me is that he has friends/contacts commenting on his posts with "Nice". Several posts are very straight forward that he has suicidal ideations. one post contains a pic of Jack Skellington And Sally hanging from a tree and the comment "waiting for my death wish to come true". That said, i believe it is plausible that he took the meds to committ suicide after he attacked Lauren. kind of makes sense that the blood on him is dry (meds didnt work) and explains the apparent grogginess in his voice on the 911 call (as many of you with experience stated, these meds are more likely to make you groggy than violent). my only reservation on this hypothesis is that a suicide attempt or OD would have most likely resulted in being admitted to Psych, which at first glance it appears he went straight to jail. Look closely at his mug shot, hes not in a orange or white shirt/jumpsuit as we saw on the court appearance video. he appears to be in a blue "suicide smock". He could technically still be under psych eval/care and they simply hd him change for court since he was escorted. Also indicative of this being the case is the fact that he still has blood on his face. If he were under watch, it is not likely that he would have been given a lot of access to clean up before the pic. Given that we have noted that he has abandonment issues from other women and his erratic behavior over a couple months before, I truly believe this is a case of "If I cant have her no one can". Im guessing Lauren had already made a move to leave him. its her house and shes s the bread-winner, how embarassing for him. Its sad, i think she really loved him, but you really dont see that affection back on social media. im guessing she didnt see the 2nd IG page, shame on whatever friends laughed off his posts if they never reported his suicidal (and possibly homicidal) ideations.

 

[CCTinsley]

He might have been another Scott Peterson - happy to go along with image of happily married until he started freaking out at the prospect of a baby. Lauren was 29, she had been married almost a year and she was quite open and enthusiastic about starting a family. This would have been the time she would have started seriously talking about trying to conceive. The whole reason she launched into Scentsy so she could work from home as a young mother. From her point of view, this was the ideal time to start, even if her husband wasn't much of a provider. Maybe he was spinning a line about why he wasn't working so much, so she wasn't worried about finances.
I would guess that a serious discussion about a baby would have been enough of a catalyst for him to decide to eliminate her from the picture, then just tell the police he had a scary dream and go back to his comics and light sabres like nothing happened.

This came to my mind, too. I also wonder if maybe she saw him looking at disturbing content and confronted him? I found it interesting that he was previously married; I wonder what his ex-wife thinks of him, or if she would have any light to shed on this guy's psyche.
Lauren's uncle definitively believes that Matt Phelps is a monster and twisted, and his secret instagram to me, is a very good piece of evidence. This guy was clearly not right in the head. It saddens me that a beautiful and up and coming business woman like Lauren would be duped into marrying a monster like him.
Did anybody else notice that from mid-May all the way up til the end, she didn't really make many posts about him on social media anymore, and that his alternate instagram account was created at the very end of May? Her last mention of him (from what we can tell, anyway) was the 6 month anniversary post. After that, she seemed to post primarily about her Scentsy business venture, was preparing for traveling out of country on a Mediterranean cruise, etc., -- just fully absorbed in that.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

His second instagram says a lot. I was thinking he was a strict religious man, but after seeing that I'm not sure what to think. I wonder if Lauren knew about that instagram? I feel like someone so bright and (if she were) devoted to God would be set off by that. Perhaps she had seen the red flags she just didn't want to abandon him. I'm so tired of these bright young women being killed by men.

 

[Ewohgirl]

This came to my mind, too. I also wonder if maybe she saw him looking at disturbing content and confronted him? I found it interesting that he was previously married; I wonder what his ex-wife thinks of him, or if she would have any light to shed on this guy's psyche.
Lauren's uncle definitively believes that Matt Phelps is a monster and twisted, and his secret instagram to me, is a very good piece of evidence. This guy was clearly not right in the head. It saddens me that a beautiful and up and coming business woman like Lauren would be duped into marrying a monster like him.
Did anybody else notice that from mid-May all the way up til the end, she didn't really make many posts about him on social media anymore, and that his alternate instagram account was created at the very end of May? Her last mention of him (from what we can tell, anyway) was the 6 month anniversary post. After that, she seemed to post primarily about her Scentsy business venture, was preparing for traveling out of country on a Mediterranean cruise, etc., -- just fully absorbed in that.

EXACTLY (you and I have the same thoughts on that). I kind of wonder if he was even supposed to be in the house. sure, they are still legally married, but the polive were very strong in their statement about this not being an isolated event (in truth i am trying to relocate the articleI read that in- but authorities made a statement). think on that. MP got no bond and he was arrested and charged within a day. if there was reason to believe he had another issue happening, i really think it would have taken longer for a murder charge to come down (tox screens, mental eval, etc). im not so sure Lauren was still alive as people are stating when she went to the hospital. each state has different laws regrding who can pronounce death andunder what circumstances. i am not from NC, but its not likely the EMTs have enough authority to call Time Of Death. My best friend is an EMT in TN and she cant call it.

 

[disgreenigirl]

So, on his twitter page uncannymatty under media, he has a picture of id from nursing from working at a rivendell behavioral health services. I think he knew what he was doing with his extreme dosage of the cold medicine. If he was working in a behavioral health services place sometime in his past, he had to know what he was doing.

He seems from reading his tumbler and the knot site, he seemed to have very isolated existence, mainly an online presence, and was drifting into a darkness and embracing lucid dreaming. I mean, one of his groomsmen he had never met in person just through IG. And he met/reconnected with Lauren on IG. He seems very troubled. Very alone.

With all that said, I still think though he may have been tripping somewhat, but he was in a very dark place and responsible for what he did. His call gives him away. Too specific in his grogginess

I think "aspiring pastor" is not a correct statement from the media, and assumed from his FB page. He did not seem like an aspiring pastor. I am married to a pastor in a Baptist church in the South, and if he was a Baptist pastor in the South, most churches would not hire him due to him being divorced. His posts seem to be that he was not doing much of anything, a basic blue-collar job, married to an outgoing, more successfull girl. I think they jumped to conclusions on that.

 

[Ewohgirl]

So, on his twitter page uncannymatty under media, he has a picture of id from nursing from working at a rivendell behavioral health services. I think he knew what he was doing with his extreme dosage of the cold medicine. If he was working in a behavioral health services place sometime in his past, he had to know what he was doing.

He seems from reading his tumbler and the knot site, he seemed to have very isolated existence, mainly an online presence, and was drifting into a darkness and embracing lucid dreaming. I mean, one of his groomsmen he had never met in person just through IG. And he met/reconnected with Lauren on IG. He seems very troubled. Very alone.

With all that said, I still think though he may have been tripping somewhat, but he was in a very dark place and responsible for what he did. His call gives him away. Too specific in his grogginess

I think "aspiring pastor" is not a correct statement from the media, and assumed from his FB page. He did not seem like an aspiring pastor. I am married to a pastor in a Baptist church in the South, and if he was a Baptist pastor in the South, most churches would not hire him due to him being divorced. His posts seem to be that he was not doing much of anything, a basic blue-collar job, married to an outgoing, more successfull girl. I think they jumped to conclusions on that.

Another excellent point about the call. he is very specific about what he took and why, but then he doesnt know if the door is locked? no way. Im pretty sure the people of Raleigh lock their doors before bed on habit, its a decent sized city with a moderate crime rate. why wouldnt he say yes and play along to unlock it at 911 request. that little tid bit makes me very suspicious of him.

 

[CCTinsley]

What I don't understand at all is "if" he has had strange (and weird) dreams for nearly his entire life (and supposedly so did his grandmother and mother, if I remember right) .... why would he take a medication in excess that he surely knew would increase the chance for hallucinations? I am quite confident that he knew exactly what he was messing around with by taking it ... but why would he want to enhance such dreams?

Just voicing my thoughts .... not really expecting anyone to have any answer. This guy is a curiosity to me.

I don't get the impression that he was particularly ambitious, but Lauren definitely was. she wanted her own business for several years --- that might be why she got into the Scentsy stuff, and felt she was on her way.

I think he became obsessed with his demons, so to speak. He felt special for having a secret dark side, for dealing with crazy sleep paralysis and night terrors, and took the medicine to enhance his experience of hallucinations, probably. But, I also think it's possible he pre-meditated the murder and knew he needed to have that in his system as an excuse for getting away with murder.

 

[DaleTray]

A couple of us kinda tip-toed around suggesting this last night. I definitely think it is a possibility, and I have nothing to base that on. MOO

I sort of doubt he is in the closet. Once I heard about this case I didn't believe his cough medicine story and started thinking of angles to consider. Maybe she was pregnant and he had wanted to wait? They were so young I don't think life insurance plays into the picture. Could he have a new female? Could he have found out she was seeing a new man? Was she being maybe a little overly persuasive in guiding him to a more lucrative career that could support a family? Did wifey go snooping and find that her hubby was in living in the closet wanting to come out? Whatever the reason, to me a knife equates to hate/anger/vengeance. If he wanted his wife dead I think he could have asked her to take a hike and she slipped while taking in the view from the scenic overlook. For me, if he had been in closet wanting to come out (or maybe not wanting to come out), I just don't think a violent stabbing would have been the route taken. But I am often wrong in my guesses

 

[Seajay]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...d-toxicologist/ar-AArrYmM?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280

I think the defense may have found a forensic expert who could testify that Coricidan possibly could have caused Phelps' violent behavior while under the influence. It may help at least in him getting convicted of a lesser charge other than 1st degree murder.

 

[borndem]

Wow that second IG changes things. I definitely see a change in personality. He seems to have lost his faith in god. Talks a lot about keeping up appearances but feeling dead inside, hence the American Psycho quotes. I wonder if he was in therapy.

Agreed, and good points -- but I don't think he was in therapy. First, he would have to agree to it and admit that he needed it -- and I don't think he would because therapy might expose "secrets" about him. Second, who would pay for it? I'm assuming that his family was fairly conservative and might not think that therapy was useful. And if Lauren paid for it, he would be admitting to her some kind of mental problem or weakness. I don't see him admitting any type of shortcoming about himself & he would prolly be afraid to find out what it was. jmho

 

[borndem]

He looked awful as they were moving him through the courtroom. Zombie-like demeanor. I can't think of another word to describe it.

Charged with murder and held without bail. Appropriate.

I hope he is on suicide watch -- it wouldn't surprise me if he tried to kill himself.

 

[borndem]

I feel as though MP has been troubled for many years, going back to his childhood. It will be interesting to learn what is fact & what is fiction in his accounts of his life experiences. I think he was a person desperate to be loved. He seemed to be looking towards marriage & children, in three of the four relationships he noted in the Tumblr account. He was barely out of high school before he became involved with women in a serious manner. I got a sense he was not realistically looking at what marriage entails & how he was going to provide financial support, without clear goals towards a profession. I'm not buying the story about multiple woman bringing up other guys names & next thing you know, they're with the guys of said name. If he hadn't said it occurred three times in a row, I could buy it, maybe for one relationship. I feel he had difficulty socially connecting with others. I said I agree with others that he was having problems with his sexual identity. I also believe he was jealous of Lauren & her success professionally, along with her ability to develop & maintain friendships. This is a brutal murder. Stabbing is up close & personal & denotes rage, & I believe MP was carrying alot of rage.

Agree 100%. Good post.I don't believe the "name" stories, either -- too much of a good thing.

 

[borndem]

Trying to reconcile the first Instagram and the "engagement" story with the second dark and satanic Instagram is chilling. It seems everything was fine when they were living a literal fantasy life of Star Wars and superheroes, but when reality intruded after the marriage, things got dark and seriously twisted. I still wonder if the second Instagram was a set-up for an insanity defense, but either way, poor Lauren. She was an uncommonly bright girl with everything to live for.

Good post -- and another thang"

:welcome6: to Websleuths, Agent Dale Cooper!! We're glad to have you here!!

:drumroll::drumroll:
​

 

[Quiet Time]

He looked awful as they were moving him through the courtroom. Zombie-like demeanor. I can't think of another word to describe it.

Charged with murder and held without bail. Appropriate.

You mention the word 'zombie-like' in your post, and I was coming here to comment on his voice when he made his 911 call.
He sounded so different than what I had expected, not that I know what his voice sounds like....but he sounded drugged, maybe the residual effects from the OTC meds he had taken. Did anyone else notice this?

eta* just saw post #285

 

[carynative]

Yes, he says he was raised by his Grandparents until he was 13. That can be a real sense of abandonment, not being cared for regularly by your own mother and really mess up kids for the rest of their lives.

 

[Boodles]

I love NIN, sad to see his instagram and his fake poor me posture during his arraignment...photos wont load for me on their site and did he write that? Creepy.

I agree with the "fake poor me posture." Although he's quite slight, maybe even scrawny, the way he appeared emotionally seemed contrived to me. Boo hoo poor me.