"I feel like we will eventually identify the perpetrator who came to the residence," Clanton said. "Everything is still under investigation."
The husband faces first-degree rape and other charges. The Associated Press, which generally does not identify victims of sexual assault, is not naming the man to avoid identifying his wife.
Police said they believed the husband found the attacker by responding to at least two personal ads on Craigslist, the online classified service that has come under attack for its "erotic services" section. Craigslist agreed to do away with that section last month after a Boston medical student, dubbed "the Craigslist killer," was charged with killing a woman he met on the site.
Kannapolis police said it wasn't known if the husband paid the other man.
The wife called 911 Sunday and reported a man with a knife raped her in the bedroom of their home. Police said the husband was in the room at the time of the attack.
Authorities said the couple's two young children were at home, but unaware of what was happening.
Police said the husband had responded to at least two personal ads on Craigslist as he sought someone to come to his house and have sex with his wife using "scare tactics." Police said the act was without the wife's consent or knowledge.
The woman was treated and released at a hospital, police said.
Investigators became suspicious of the husband when his statement didn't add up and because there were no signs of forced entry at the house.
"We share the public's horror that such a crime was committed, and our heart goes out to the victim," said Craigslist spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best.
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Associated Press Writer Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this story.
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