Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, your host on Pushing Up Lilies. In this episode, I’m diving into the chilling case of Matthew Phelps, who was charged with murder on September 1st after allegedly stabbing his wife, Lauren Ashley-Nicole Phelps, to death. The shocking twist? He claimed that cold medicine caused him to commit this unspeakable act. Join me as I explore the details of this tragic crime, the bizarre defense put forward, and the investigation that followed. We’ll uncover how a seemingly ordinary medication became the focal point of one of the most unsettling cases in recent true crime history. Buckle up, because this deep dive into the “Cold Medicine Murder” is guaranteed to leave you with more questions than answers. * Listener discretion is advised.
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0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies.
0:08 I'm your host, Julie Mattson.
0:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual, and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
0:24 Do I have some stories for you?
0:26 Are you ready?
0:31 2024 is finally over, y'all.
0:33 I don't know if you're as happy as I am, but I think it was a rough year.
0:37 But I'm excited about 2025 and what it has in store for all of us.
0:43 Last night we went to the North Dakota State football game in Frisco.
0:47 They call Frisco Little North Dakota, and that's because the people in Frisco, Texas love the people from North Dakota when they come down to the FCS championship game.
0:59 And luckily, they made it to the championship again this year, and they played Montana State last night, and congrats to NDSU for pulling out a win.
1:12 I think the final score was 35, 32.
1:16 It was not a blowout.
1:17 It was a really, really, really good game.
1:19 Now let me tell you, I know I say I'm not going to complain about the cold anymore because I know it's way colder up north, but I froze my tail off.
1:29 I bought a little hand warmer that's battery operated, so I was able to keep my hands warm.
1:37 And let me tell you, that made a huge difference.
1:39 But I had on 3 layers of pants, 3 layers of shirts, and a jacket, and I wore thick socks and fur insulated boots.
1:50 I was still freezing.
1:52 I had a cap on, so my ears stayed relatively warm.
1:56 I think my feet and my legs were the things that I was like about to go crazy over.
2:02 So I don't know how y'all do it when you live in that kind of weather all the time.
2:06 I guess you get used to it.
2:08 My husbands from North Dakota and he said, I never got cold, and I was over there like, are you kidding me?
2:14 Because I was absolutely freezing.
2:17 But it was such a good game.
2:19 I wouldn't have missed it for anything.
2:21 We met a lot of fans, and I don't know, my husband just said it always warms his heart when people from North Dakota come to Texas because it just, I don't know, changes the dynamics a little bit.
2:34 Headed back to work this morning after some time off.
2:38 We did go to Cancun the day after Christmas and spent a few days there.
2:41 And again, it rained like crazy the first couple of days, and we were kind of questioning our decision to go, and then the sun finally came out.
2:50 Thank goodness we did get some sun there, and I hope that everybody had an amazing Christmas break.
2:56 I know the kids really enjoyed being out.
2:58 I think my granddaughter goes back.
3:01 No, she's probably already gone back.
3:02 I know that break was always good for the kids.
3:04 I remember loving it when I was in school, just having a couple weeks off for the Christmas holidays.
3:10 So hopefully everybody got to see their family and enjoy some time together.
3:16 I walked into a store the other day to pick some stuff up, and there was a guy behind the counter that called me out by name.
3:22 He's like, hey, Julie, I've been listening to your podcast.
3:25 It puts me to sleep at night and I was like, that's so cool.
3:30 I'm glad that my voice is relaxing, but that he knew me by name when I walked in was, I was a little bit like, surprised.
3:38 I guess it caught me by surprise.
3:39 I love, love, love that people are listening.
3:43 I think we're close to about 40,000 downloads.
3:48 Which is crazy to me.
3:50 And I applied for Crime Con for next year, so we'll see how that goes.
3:53 I know that sometimes it's hard to get in when you're a newbie, but they also do like to accept podcasters that are starting and then those that have been in the biz for a while.
4:05 I don't know if y'all have seen on my Facebook page that our cereal box is now designed for our subscription.
4:14 I'm about to order the prototype of that and just kind of start working on shipping related issues and try to figure out the best way to handle that.
4:23 And then I've already got some items that are going to be in the first box.
4:27 We'll get that up on the website soon where people could start ordering and like I said, those subscriptions will be able to be monthly, probably monthly, quarterly, biannually.
4:39 And then you can also just order one for someone for like a gift, like a birthday present or something, but still working on the details for that.
4:49 My class just started, and I am in advanced physical assessment class now for my NP school.
4:57 And so that started yesterday.
5:01 I've already turned in my first assignment.
5:03 I'm trying to stay ahead, trying to stay ahead.
5:05 We're going to do this, y'all.
5:07 I think I'm on task to graduate, maybe at the beginning of 2026.
5:12 Med Spa’s going good.
5:14 Again, I think y'all know that I've had a lot of listeners reach out to me to start on our weight loss program, and we do have that available, even if you're out of state, we can email you a link so that you can Do your good faith exam virtually from the comfort of your home, and then we can actually mail you your monthly medications.
5:36 I'm again, down 50 pounds and feel great.
5:39 So if you're thinking about weight loss here at the beginning of the new year, now is the time to start it.
5:45 Reach out to me and you can send me an email, Julia pushing up lilies, or you can private message me on Facebook.
5:53 I do try to individually answer each message for now.
5:57 I am getting more and more as we go, and I'm having a lot of people request me to research cases.
6:04 For those of you who have done that, know that I hear you and I haven't forgotten about you, just trying to like, get my feet on the ground and get ready to run at the beginning of the year here.
6:16 It's just been kind of hectic.
6:18 But I want to talk to y'all today about a story that happened back in September of 2017.
6:25 I don't know if you've heard about it or not, but Matthew Phelps phoned 911 that morning, and he sounded a little detached.
6:35 It was the early hours of the morning, and he called to report that his wife, 29-year-old Sunday school teacher Lauren Phelps, was dead.
6:45 Apparently, he told the 911 operator that he had a dream, and then when he turned the light on, he found her dead on the floor.
6:54 He told the dispatcher that he had blood all over him and that there was a bloody knife on the bed, and his words were, I think I did it.
7:03 I can't believe this.
7:05 I think we need to shout out here to our 911 dispatchers.
7:09 We have amazing dispatchers in Denton County that call me all the time.
7:14 And give me cases and give me hospices.
7:18 Bless their hearts, they work so hard.
7:21 I can imagine how stressful their job is, and I know at the end of the day they go home probably wondering about the outcome of some of the 911 calls that they take.
7:30 And I'm sure the callers many times are horrified.
7:34 I just can't imagine the stress that they go through.
7:37 I don't know that I could handle that.
7:39 It's just like working on an ambulance.
7:41 I don't want to see somebody right after they've been hit by a car, especially if they're still struggling to breathe.
7:47 I don't want to see that stuff.
7:49 I mean, I kind of don't miss those days in the.
7:52 I do miss the adrenaline, but now, like I said, it's just easier for me to come on a scene when somebody's already deceased because I don't feel responsible for saving them.
8:04 And I know that sounds strange, but when you've done that for so many years, it really starts to take a toll on pulls on your heartstrings because you don't want to see people suffer.
8:14 I know many times the 911 dispatchers have to hear suffering in people's voice, and I know that has to be hard, and I have friends who've done it for years and years and hats off to y'all.
8:25 Y'all are just an amazing group of people.
8:28 Anyway, Phelps stated when he was interviewed by investigators that he went to sleep after taking too much cold medicine.
8:38 And then he woke up just after midnight to find his wife fatally stabbed on the bedroom floor in their two-bedroom townhouse in Raleigh, North Carolina.
8:50 Matthew was 28, he was an aspiring pastor.
8:55 He explained why he believed he couldn't recall what happened, so he admitted to taking more cold medicine than he should have.
9:04 The medication that he claimed he took was Coricidin cough and cold.
9:08 He said that he knew that it could make you feel good and that he had trouble sleeping at night, and so he overtook that medication so that he could sleep.
9:20 Now he was arrested the same day that this happened and charged with first degree murder.
9:27 Investigators from the very beginning expressed doubt about his account of the stabbing.
9:34 And they really didn't believe it to be a random act.
9:38 Now, we have to remember these guys are really good at picking up on your body language, and they know when you're telling the truth.
9:47 Forget the polygraph, I mean, these guys are experienced.
9:50 They have questioned people time and time again, and they can see right through it.
9:57 Now one of the strange details of the story is that Phelps studied evangelism at Kentucky's Clear Creek Baptist College.
10:06 Keep in mind, Lauren was a Sunday school teacher, and here he is studying evangelism, an aspiring pastor, not something that you would expect to go down in this household.
10:20 So he pled not guilty, originally, and he was held without bond at the Wake County Detention Center.
10:28 Now, it was kind of unclear how much Coricidin was in his system at the time he allegedly murdered his wife.
10:37 We all know that toxicology tests only test for certain things.
10:43 In cases like this, where we know what someone took, we can better narrow down what drugs we're looking for in somebody's system.
10:53 I don't know why it was unclear.
10:55 I'm sure they did other tests on him with a subpoena that would help determine what was in his system at the time it happened, just because he actually made the statement that he thinks he did it.
11:08 The truth is, in North Carolina, if a jury finds that a person did these things while unconscious, the defendant would have to be found not guilty.
11:18 When this went to trial, if he says, you know, I was out of my mind, I don't know what happened because I took this medication, then they would have to find him not guilty if the jury determines that he did this because of the medication.
11:34 Some experts say that abusing Coricidin can induce unpredictable and dangerous side effects similar to those when someone takes PCP, and we all know that drugs have different side effects, and they affect everyone differently.
11:50 I personally have taken hose and cough and cold.
11:54 I like taking that when I'm sick because it does not have Sudafed or any kind of ephedrine or stimulant in it.
12:03 And so you can actually get Coricidin for people with high blood pressure, which does not have any kind of stimulant in it.
12:10 I prefer to take that when I'm sick because it doesn't cause heart palpitations or any kind of heart racing or anything like that.
12:19 Anyway, he knew though that this medication would make him a little bit groggy, and it sounds like he initially said, hey, I have trouble sleeping.
12:28 I'm taking this to help me go to sleep.
12:31 Now makers of Coricidin stated that there was no evidence to suggest that this drug is associated with violent behavior.
12:40 Prior to this point, there hadn't been anybody come forward and say, hey, I'm taking Coricidin for a cold, and I woke up in the middle of the night and unknowingly murdered someone.
12:52 This has never happened before.
12:55 Now he eventually pled guilty to first degree murder.
12:59 You know, we said initially he pled not guilty.
13:02 He eventually did plead guilty after an autopsy determined that he had stabbed her 123 times.
13:11 This was not a one time, I realized what I did, woke up, called the police.
13:17 Oh my gosh, one fatal wound.
13:19 No, this was 123 times.
13:23 Of course, search warrants were issued and search warrant documents stated that Matthew Phelps was possibly fascinated with and mimicked a portrayed serial killer from the movie American Psycho, which they learned from his social media accounts.
13:44 Apparently, he had an Instagram account under the username Marty radical.
13:50 The account showed numerous scenes from the 2000 movie American Psycho, which starred Christian Bale as the executive turned murderer Patrick Bateman.
14:03 Now his Instagram account also included images of him dressed as Christian Bale's character in the movie Patrick Bateman.
14:13 Phelps had also, and again y'all like these police officers, they're detectives for a reason that's their job is to look further into things, and I love dumb criminals because they're not good at hiding things.
14:28 Phelps had expressed interest to a friend, and you know the police are going to talk to your friends about your character regarding what it would be like to kill someone.
14:39 OK, weird.
14:41 And I'm sure the friend kind of thought it was a little bit odd too.
14:44 Also, you know, during the investigation, relatives stated that the couple was having problems, and that Lauren was preparing to end the relationship.
14:54 Part of Phelps' plea agreement when he did eventually decide to plead guilty, is that he will not be eligible for parole.
15:05 And that he would get life in prison and not the death penalty.
15:11 Now while he was on the stand, Phelps apologized for his actions and pointed to drinking, drugs, and carelessness as reasons why he carried out this murder.
15:24 He stated that it was a senseless, mindless act, and he regretted every step that led him in that direction.
15:30 Again, the autopsy showed that Lauren suffered 123 cuts and stab wounds in the attack.
15:38 Now, I have gone on scenes where people are stabbed multiple times.
15:43 They are bloody, to say the least, and we aren't, and I thought I would add this cause y'all might find it interesting, but we aren't as investigators allowed to wipe the body or clean the body at the scene.
15:59 Sometimes when we document how many stab wounds are on a body, we have to mention that we are unable to get an accurate number due to the large amount of dried blood that's on the body.
16:12 We aren't expected to wipe the body down and count the stab wounds at the scene.
16:16 That is something that once they are cleaned on autopsy, that the doctor does.
16:22 Again, we don't wipe people off or wipe anything off of anybody at a scene, just like we don't, you know, stick our fingers in bullet holes and stick our fingers in exit wounds and we try to send the body down as we see it.
16:38 The 123 cuts and stab wounds are something that would have been noticed on autopsy.
16:46 The investigator at the scene probably knew there were a lot, but we are not responsible for documenting all of those at the scene.
16:54 There is always so much dried blood and fresh blood on bodies that we just can't determine how many there are there, since we're unable to clean the body at the scene.
17:06 Tension had apparently erupted between the couple over finances.
17:12 Apparently, Matthew was spending more than the couple made.
17:19 There was also evidence suggesting that Phelps had cleaned himself before placing the 911 call.
17:26 When he was interviewed, he apparently showed very little emotion, never shed a tear, and there is such a thing as someone being in shock.
17:35 Sometimes, you know, we'll call a family member to notify them of the death, and they don't cry, and I think a lot of that is, it's not because they don't care.
17:43 It's because they're in shock.
17:45 I mean, you just told them something that they literally can't believe, but it is odd when they're interviewing somebody a couple of hours after something like this happens, and they don't cry, and they don't act like, you know, it really affects their life in any way.
18:02 That's alarming.
18:04 Now the couple's checking account was drained, and $1200 worth of iTunes and Xbox subscriptions were found.
18:15 $1200 y'all worth of just subscriptions just to fund his video play, and you know that can be a source of contingency with a lot of couples.
18:25 You know, there's a lot of people that are addicted to video games and people who sit in front of the TV all the time playing video games, and you know, that alone, not including the amount of money that it takes to take out all these subscriptions can cause a lot of problems in a marriage, but their taking account was completely drained.
18:46 So that kind of backs up the fact that, you know, maybe Lauren was considering ending the marriage because he was overspending, obviously, $1200 worth of subscriptions.
18:57 I don't know how long that lasts cause I'm not a gamer, nor is my husband, but I would not be happy if I found that when I went to balance our checkbook.
19:06 Let me just say that.
19:08 During the trial, Phelps' hair was long and stringy, and he had a really shaggy beard.
19:14 That is really far from his clean-cut appearance when all this first started.
19:19 When he was first arrested, he is a very clean cut, again, aspiring pastor going to school with a major in evangelism.
19:29 The pictures of him during the trial, he looks like a completely different person.
19:34 Which kind of to me makes me think that maybe he had multiple personalities, and I'm really surprised that his attorney didn't like, make him cleanup for the trial because looking like he did does not really help his case any.
19:51 I mean, you see a lot of people who have committed murder and even other crimes, they go to trial and they're clean cut, right?
19:57 I mean, they're shaved, they have on a suit.
20:00 They're at least made to look somewhat like a distinguished normal person who wouldn't commit this crime.
20:06 But no, this guy was shaggy, long hair, stringy.
20:11 He just looked; I don't know.
20:13 I mean, he just did not look like the same person.
20:17 He apparently suffered from depression, and he was shown, and this was horrifying to me, and I don't know where this information came from.
20:26 I can just say that I read it online during my investigation.
20:30 That he was shown slasher movies at the age of 4, so he was apparently exposed to violence at a very early age.
20:38 He also was known to abuse drugs and cold medications in high school.
20:45 When that came out, it's like, oh yeah, this guy wasn't the person that he appeared to be, and wasn't the person that Lauren thought he was.
20:58 Now, he was sentenced to life in prison.
21:02 Part again of the plea deal is that he is not eligible for parole.
21:07 And that was because they were trying to avoid him getting the death sentence.
21:12 He did say in the trial that he was sorry that he took away her life.
21:17 Again, he said it was a senseless and mindless act.
21:19 He regrets every step that led him in that direction.
21:23 He did mention that he considered his own life worth nothing in the shadow of the tragedy weighing over his mind and on the hearts of many people in the courtroom, and that he felt like a monster.
21:36 Now her stab wounds were to the face, neck, torso, arms, and the jugular vein.
21:44 She did later die at a hospital.
21:48 But he did try to clean up the blood.
21:51 His theory about the cold medication was completely discredited by the police based on all the things that he did, and then the discoveries that were made about the serial killer obsession after the murder.
22:07 Now Lauren was a Christian and she grew up in a loving church family, church was her second home.
22:14 And she spent a lot of her time teaching Sunday school and volunteering for youth groups and running vacation Bible school.
22:23 She was from a very close-knit family, and so there was a lot of support for her in the courtroom.
22:31 Many people wore buttons with her photo attached to purple ribbons to signify awareness about domestic violence.
22:38 Matthew, it was later found, he did suffer from untreated depression.
22:45 He had anxiety and low self-esteem his entire life.
22:48 He was born to a 17-year-old unwed mother and was raised by deeply conservative Christian grandparents who were farmers and really couldn't give him the attention that he needed.
22:59 He was introduced to goth music and Satanism in high school, and he was eventually kicked out when he got caught for abusing cold medicine.
23:09 And then he transferred to a Christian school where he turned around to become one of the best students and then apparently a wonderful preacher.
23:17 He continued to preach and do well in college, and, you know, a lot of people didn't know that this was going on behind closed doors.
23:26 You know, happens in a lot of cases.
23:28 We get caught by surprise many times.
23:30 Families are surprised when their loved one is murdered by their spouse, who seemed to be someone other than who they were.
23:38 You know, it just kind of goes to show you never, I guess you never really know somebody, and everyone is capable of snapping and it's kind of scary.
23:50 Because, you know, this guy was well loved by her family and her apparently at one time.
23:57 But I think the threat of divorce many times causes people to go over the edge, which we see in a lot of the cases that I've talked about on the podcast and even at our medical examiner's office when we interview family, you know, many times we find that there were problems.
24:12 A lot of them are financial, and many, many times there's a history of domestic violence.
24:18 But I'm glad he's behind bars.
24:20 I'm glad he maybe, whether he was honest or not, maybe he did finally realize that he was a monster and did not need to be in society and thank God he was, he didn't later become a preacher because who knows what he was capable of.
24:38 He does not need to be the head of a church.
24:41 I think we will all agree to that.
24:43 Anyway, this week, y'all, let's just hope for the best.
24:47 Headed to the medical examiner's office this morning.
24:49 Like I said, I've had some time off.
24:51 I'm going to have to look at the protocol guide to remember what my job is.
24:55 I've been out for - since, well, since the day after Christmas.
25:00 The last day I worked, was Christmas Day.
25:02 Yeah.
25:03 And so today is going to be a day of work and homework and I think I mentioned and I can't remember, but I am going to be filming a reality TV show in Tulsa, Oklahoma in February, and it's called The Blocks, and it is for entrepreneurs, and basically it is an entrepreneurial boot camp and also a competition.
25:29 There are many people competing, and I think you will win a prize if you win the competition.
25:36 It's funny because I know very little about it.
25:38 I've watched the videos.
25:40 I'm excited and nervous at the same time, but it's kind of a competition for my business and will help me make the business grow.
25:48 And I feel that owning the med spa has really helped me to grow the podcast.
25:54 It's weird once you learn more about business and the ins and outs, you kind of get the secrets, but anyway, it's going to be exciting and it films in February, so I'm getting ready for that.
26:06 And then that and rolling out the subscription box in school, y'all, I'm a little overwhelmed, but we got this.
26:14 School will be over in 2026, so there's a lot at the end of the tunnel.
26:18 But I hope everyone has an amazing day.
26:21 I am looking forward to what 2025 has to give all of us.
26:27 We've got this, y'all.
26:28 It's got to be better than last year.
26:30 Anyway, y'all have a great day and stay warm and I look forward to talking to you next week.
26:34 Bye y'all.
26:36Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies.
26:40 If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple Podcast.
26:48 This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public.
26:51 Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at pushinguplilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.