A California father has confessed to killing his two young children.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, a 40-year-old Santa Barbara surfing school instructor, has been charged with foreign murder of US nationals after reportedly moving his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter into Mexico to kill them.
According to a federal complaint filed Wednesday, August 11, Coleman allegedly told an FBI investigator that he believed his children were "going to grow into monsters" and that he "had to murder them."
Coleman allegedly told investigators he shot his children with a spear fishing gun and then covered their bodies when stopped for interrogation at the US-Mexico border.
Coleman claimed to have been "enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy beliefs," according to police. According to the affidavit, he reportedly had visions that his wife "had serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children."
According to KABC, he told the FBI, "he knew it was bad, but it was the only course of action that would save the world."
Authorities apprehended Coleman at the border and brought him to a local jail.
Coleman's wife first contacted police in Santa Barbara on Saturday, August 7.
She told them that her husband had taken the kids and that he hadn't told her where they were going or that he wouldn't respond to texts. She told authorities that she did not think the children's lives were in danger. She also stated that she and Coleman did not have an argument before he departed, and that the family did not have any issues.
She asked for police to speak with Coleman, who did not respond to police calls.
Coleman's phone was last detected in Rosarito, Mexico, on Sunday, August 8, when his wife and a police officer used the 'Find My Phone' application on her laptop to track it down.
According to the affidavit, federal agencies were alerted to be on the watch for Coleman's return, which occurred approximately 1 p.m. on Monday, August 9.
Coleman was the lone occupant of the vehicle when it was stopped at the border.
The missing children were reported to Mexican authorities, who confirmed that two youngsters matching Coleman's description were found dead that Monday morning.
The bodies were found at a ranch near a Baja California town.
According to KABC, Baja California prosecutor Hiram Sánchez Zamora stated the 2-year-old was stabbed 17 times and the 10-month-old was stabbed 12 times.
During the interrogation with the FBI, Coleman, who own the Lovewater Surf School in Santa Barbara, said he killed his children in Rosarito.
According to the affidavit, he told authorities that he "believed his children were going to grow up to be monsters, so he had to kill them," referring to QAnon conspiracy theories and the belief that his wife passed down "serpent DNA."
