Cold Medicine Murder: Autopsy Shows Pastor Stabbed His Wife 123 Times
USA Today (screenshot)
Matthew Phelps and Lauren Ashley-Nicole Phelps
RALEIGH, NC — A North Carolina woman whose husband claims he unknowingly killed her after taking too much cold medicine had 123 stab wounds and cuts on her body, according to an autopsy.
Lauren Ashley-Nicole Phelps, 29, had 44 cuts and stabs just around her face and neck — some of which were more than four inches deep, according to the News & Observer.
Her husband, aspiring pastor Matthew Phelps, called 911 early on September 1 and told a dispatcher that he was shocked to wake up and find his wife bloody and stabbed on the bedroom floor.
“I have blood all over me, and there is a bloody knife on the bed, and I think I did it,” Phelps, 29, said in a 911 call released by police.
“I took more medicine than I should have,” he said. “I took Coricidin Cough and Cold because I know it can make you feel good. A lot of times I can’t sleep at night. So, I took some.”
Investigators have said that they do not believe that the murder was a random act, and stated that the victim had several defensive wounds on her body.
The couple had been married for less than a year.
Phelps has been charged with first-degree murder, and is being held without bail at the Wake County jail.
Bayer, which makes Coricidin, told ABC in a statement that there is no evidence that the medication is responsible for violent behavior.
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