Matthew Taylor Coleman, a 40-year-old surfing instructor from Santa Barbara, California, has been charged with murder, accused of taking his two small children to Mexico and then killing them both with a spearfishing gun.
Details about the deaths emerged in court documents filed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles. Mr. Coleman was arrested earlier in the week at the Mexican border upon returning to the U.S. alone.
Mr. Coleman, who runs the Lovewater Surf School along with his wife, drove off Saturday with their 2-year-old boy and 10-month-old girl. The mother reported the children missing the next day.
Authorities soon determined Mr. Coleman wound up in Mexico and were ready for him when he tried to re-enter the U.S. early Monday afternoon via the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego.
Mr. Coleman was questioned by U.S. officials at the border and confessed to killing both children, an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint charging him with murder.
“Coleman stated that he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them,” the FBI special agent said in the affidavit.
“Coleman explained that he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife, A.C., possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children,” the FBI agent said in the affidavit. “Coleman said that he was saving the world from monsters.”
As described in the charging document, Mr. Coleman “murdered his children by shooting a spear fishing gun into their chests.” Court filings do not list a lawyer for him.
QAnon began online in 2017. Early proponents of the conspiracy theory pushed unfounded claims about purported efforts by a cabal of Satanists, pedophiles and Democrats to oust former President Trump.
Less than four years later, the FBI recently described QAnon as a “complex and constantly evolving conspiracy theory” that has “morphed into a real-world movement” linked to several violent crimes.
In an unclassified report dated June 4, the FBI highlighted numerous recent QAnon-related arrests and said it assesses more adherents may likely feel obligated to engage in “real world” violence.
Conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati have existed for centuries. Their adherents essentially believe in the existence of a secret society of global elites who purportedly control the world.
Lovewater Surf School has received mostly positive reviews online. It offers private, group and corporate surf lessons, as well as an after-school program, surd camps and rentals, according to its website.
Mr. Coleman previously taught high school for four years and has coached surfers for 15, it says on the website. It describes him as being a fan of spearfishing since childhood.
Mexican police discovered the bodies of both children at around 8 a.m. Monday in a ditch in Rosarito, Baja California. The FBI said Mr. Coleman was questioned and confessed around five hours later.
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Mr. Coleman to remain for now in custody, NBC San Diego reported. He is scheduled to be arraigned in L.A. at the end of the month, according to the local news outlet.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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