The founder of a surfing school in Santa Barbara, California, confessed to killing his two young children with a spearfishing gun in Mexico, alleging that he did it because of beliefs he picked up as a follower of QAnon and other related conspiracy theories. Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, took his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter over the border during the weekend and shot them on Monday, according to the FBI. He has been charged with foreign murder of U.S. nationals.
Coleman told the FBI that he killed his children because he believed they “were going to grow into monsters.” Although he knew that what he did was wrong, he felt he had no choice because it “was the only course of action that would save the world.” While talking to authorities, “Coleman explained that he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories,” wrote FBI special agent Jennifer Bannon.
Coleman claimed he was “receiving visions and signs” that his wife had “serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children,” Bannon wrote. QAnon is a conspiracy theory movement that is in favor of former President Donald Trump and believes all kinds of crazy theories, including that a global elite runs the U.S. government and secretly rapes, murders, and eats children. Followers of QAnon often believed Trump was working to destroy this global cabal while he was in power. Coleman’s reference to “serpent DNA” likely refers to the “lizard people” conspiracy theory that claims aliens run the world and have top positions in governments and other key institutions.
Coleman’s wife contacted police Saturday when her husband stopped responding to messages. Using a phone tracking device, she saw that he was in Rosarito, a Mexican beach town. On Monday, they saw he was near the border and an FBI agent intercepted him when he tried to cross back into the United States. Mexican authorities found the bodies of the children in a ditch with “large puncture wounds” to their chests. Coleman has been jailed without bond and his arraignment has been scheduled for Aug. 31.
