RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) -- The Raleigh man accused of stabbing his wife more than 120 times pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Friday.
Matthew Phelps was charged with murdering his wife on September first, 2017. Lauren Hugelmaier Phelps was 29 years old. A medical examiner says she had 123 stab wounds.
Friday, Phelps admitted to a Wake County judge that he stabbed his wife to death. The judge asked Phelps if he understood the penalty was a life sentence in prison without parole. He also asked Phelps directly if he murdered his wife. Phelps answered "yes" to both questions.
In the September 2017 911 call made by Matthew Phelps, he said he consumed too much cough syrup and he awoke from a dream to find his wife had been stabbed.
“I think I killed my (redacted),” Phelps said. “I had a dream and then I turned on the lights and she’s dead on the floor. I have blood all over me and there’s a bloody knife on the bed and I think I did it.”
Phelps then said he took Coricidin than he should have. Coricidin is a cough medicine.
On Friday, the Wake County judge sentenced Phelps to life in prison without parole.
