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

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Or get a 2nd degree murder out of it -- no LWOP. That can certainly be considered a win in many cases. In this one, the possibility of an intruder committing this act is obviously not feasible.

In NC, 2nd Deg Murder is a Class B1 Felony --
With no prior felony point (Phelps doesn't have any), this is the range of time in months:

Aggravated.......240 - 300
Presumptive.....192 - 240
Mitigated..........144 - 192

So anywhere from 12 years to 25 years.

bbm I'm interested, why do you think so? Couldn't his defense team say, "yes MP thought that he killed his wife because he had been taking the cough meds and had been hallucinating, but a window in the apartment was open and someone could have entered ..." Just to instil reasonable doubt?
 
She looks so happy and sweet. She posts personal pictures and thoughts. He posts movie "stuff". It is like he didn't want to live in reality, but rather live in movie fantasy.

bbm Absolutely. That and his strong interest in dreams and altered states of the mind point to a strong wish or need to escape reality.
 
Unless he cleaned off the murder weapon... his prints should still be on it. That would dispel the intruder theory being brought up.
Doubtful he'll get the dp ; but imo he should be locked up for the remainder of his life.
Imagine if he was let out and married again ?? :(
 
Does anyone know if the twitter account that has the same handle as his IG (uncannyMatty) is his? I tried to verify but couldn't. If it is, he certainly followed some "interesting" people, let's just say, not very conservative Christian-like. But as I said, it might not be his.
 
http://people.com/crime/matthew-phelps-cold-medicine-murder-court-appearance/

"While the investigation of the case is currently underway, preliminary findings have established that the crime was not a random act," police said in a statement.

I assume by "random" they mean "dream-like, unintentional", so the opposite would be a targeted attack on his young wife.

"Not random" said by LE means that there is not a killer running around out there in the neighborhood or town looking for other victims -- it means that the person who killed the deceased meant to kill that person specifically, not randomly. It is meant reassure the neighborhood & townspeople.
 
This is his tumblr: https://hypnopomattic.tumblr.com

Interesting post about his relationship history and the rest are mainly about his dreams. He clearly has a fixation with dreams which is interesting given what he said about waking up from a dream. I wonder if these "dreams" he wrote about were fueled by cough medicine as well. He mentions being able to control his dreams sometimes.

So bizarre.

I had several courses in psychology in college (definitely not my major), and have done some reading, so that is my limited background is this area, but it sounds like homosexual panic to me -- the doors that he wouldn't enter; the scary faces of males coming into his area, etc. But maybe my interpretation is tinged by my prior thoughts about him... Dunno.

Anyone else have any interpretations??

ETA: And thanks for the post, JLD!
 
When he was cited for not wearing a seatbelt in 2012, he was driving a 12 year old Ford Explorer. Not exactly a vehicle consistent with a prosperous family.
 
One of his gf's wouldn't kiss him before marriage? I wonder if their being his gf's was a figment of his imagination.

It's bugging me that Cheshire is his attorney. If this is premeditated murder, I don't want him getting away with it. Cheshire is good.

Q for y'all. Is such obsession with Star Wars, batman, or whatever fantasy characters he posts about on instagram normal for a 28 year old man? It seems immature, IMHO.

Maybe his entire life was happening online and Lauren got fed up with his lack of contribution to the realities of life and that was the cause of their friction.

bbm
In reading Lauren's FB, etc., it does sound like she had plans for a family situation, and her excitement about Scentsy was ethereal and had a positive and feminine quality to it. In her job as an auditor, however, she deals with facts and calculations, hard black & white figures and exactitude. Maybe due to her education and profession, it may have been tuff for her to understand his "dreaminess" and preoccupation with it, and maybe she saw his job (though I don't know what he did for the lawn company, so maybe I'm selling him short) as a lack of dedication to serious work and future plans for being the main provider.

Maybe she thought it was time for him to grow up a bit. This may have dismayed her and she showed disappointment in him -- through absolutely no fault of her own, let me add. This could have been the beginning of the "end of the honeymoon" so to speak. Maybe he sensed it, and dreaming under the influence of the Coricidin was both an escape for him and a coping mechanism. It could be he was sensing another failure and acted out that night. No excuses, no mitigation, just many things working on him that night. JMHO
 
I had several courses in psychology in college (definitely not my major), and have done some reading, so that is my limited background is this area, but it sounds like homosexual panic to me -- the doors that he wouldn't enter; the scary faces of males coming into his area, etc. But maybe my interpretation is tinged by my prior thoughts about him... Dunno.

Anyone else have any interpretations??

ETA: And thanks for the post, JLD!

My mind wandered in that direction as well! He even mentions in the snakes post that they can symbolize something relating to sexuality.

The fact that he and his first wife realized they were "better roommates than soulmates" also adds fuel to that fire.

I also just noticed that his Instagram is now private. I guess maybe his attorney or a family member changed the privacy settings?
 
Am I allowed to post the link to his ex wife's FB?


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It's a possibility, but as a Raleigh native, I'd be very surprised to see a Wake County prosecutor seek the death penalty.
Agree-- NC hasn't executed anyone since 2006, and the method is lethal injection.

DA's do not routinely ask for the DP -- the murder has to be especially heinous, cruel, etc., etc., and NC jurors are reluctant to vote unanimously for the DP. If the jury's verdict in the penalty phase of the trial is not unanimous for death, then the punishment defaults to LWOP -- and in NC, LWOP means just that -- life with no possibility of parole -- barring a new trial if an appeal for such is granted.
We'll see what happens...
 
bbm
In reading Lauren's FB, etc., it does sound like she had plans for a family situation, and her excitement about Scentsy was ethereal and had a positive and feminine quality to it. In her job as an auditor, however, she deals with facts and calculations, hard black & white figures and exactitude. Maybe due to her education and profession, it may have been tuff for her to understand his "dreaminess" and preoccupation with it, and maybe she saw his job (though I don't know what he did for the lawn company, so maybe I'm selling him short) as a lack of dedication to serious work and future plans for being the main provider.

Maybe she thought it was time for him to grow up a bit. This may have dismayed her and she showed disappointment in him -- through absolutely no fault of her own, let me add. This could have been the beginning of the "end of the honeymoon" so to speak. Maybe he sensed it, and dreaming under the influence of the Coricidin was both an escape for him and a coping mechanism. It could be he was sensing another failure and acted out that night. No excuses, no mitigation, just many things working on him that night. JMHO

Bouncing off your post, I think his ego had a lot to do with this. Hypothetically speaking, if the marriage was in trouble, he probably wouldn't have like to admit to two failed marriages by age 27. JMO
 
Am I allowed to post the link to his ex wife's FB?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No, she is not a suspect - is considered a family member. Not sleuthable. ;)
 

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