Focus changed in case of Raleigh woman's stabbing death

Matthew James Phelps, 27, is charged with one count of first-degree murder in the Sept. 1 death of his wife, Lauren Hugelmaier Phelps, 29, in their Patuxent Drive home.

Matthew Phelps told a 911 dispatcher he took too much Coricidin cough medicine the previous night to help him sleep and awoke to find his wife dead.

According to an autopsy report, she had been stabbed or slashed 123 times.

Wake County Deputy Assistant District Attorney Howard Cummings said during a status hearing on the case Thursday that a state lab is testing a white, powdery substance found in the home that night. That has delayed discovery in the case, he said.

The defense has hired mental health experts to examine Matthew Phelps, Cummings said, adding that he also wants to review the results of the mental health evaluation.

Investigators obtained a sample of Matthew Phelps' blood the night of the stabbing to test it for any narcotics, according to a search warrant that was recently unsealed.

In other search warrants, investigators found that Matthew Phelps had a fascination with serial killers and "expressed interest to a friend regarding what it would be like to kill someone." He had an Instagram account in which he posted scenes from "American Psycho," a film about an investment banker who kills people indiscriminately, and he also posed as the main character in some of the posted photos.

Lauren Phelps' family also told police that Matthew Phelps "was spending more money than the couple made" and that she had taken "drastic steps" to curtail his spending, according to the search warrants.

The Phelpses had been married for less than a year when she was killed. She was an auditor at Quintiles, which runs drug trials for pharmaceutical companies, and he worked for Dunlap Lawn Service.

Police seized documents, phones, computers, videogame systems, and books from the home and a diary, handwritten notes and medication from the vehicles, according to search warrants.