LOS ANGELES — A California surf instructor is accused of murdering his two young children with a spearfishing gun in Mexico Monday, claiming they had inherited “serpent DNA” and “were going to grow into monsters,” according to federal prosecutors, New York Post reported.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was reported missing by his wife after he left the family’s Santa Barbara home with their two kids, a 2-year-old boy and 10-month-old girl, and brought them to Rosarito, in Baja California. According to an FBI affidavit, Coleman reportedly shot the kids through their chests with the speargun, before Border Patrol agents took him into custody upon reentry to the U.S.
According to court document, Coleman’s wife, Abby Coleman, called police Aug. 7 to report that her husband had taken their children and mysteriously left without without providing details. He also did not take a car seat for the youngest child.
At the time, investigators said the wife didn’t believe her children were in danger or that her husband planned to harm them, Fox News reported. But it was concerning that Coleman did not answer phone calls from family members or police, according to the affidavit.
Matthew Taylor Coleman reportedly believed “his children were going to grow into monsters,” according to court documents. (Instagram)
The surf instructor was tracked using cellphone data to a shopping center in Rasarito. When he returned to the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Aug. 9, authorities said he was alone without the children. Moreover, CBP officers “observed what appeared to be blood” on paperwork within the vehicle, according to the affidavit.
U.S. authorities called police in Mexico to seek assistance since the young children remained missing. Not long after local police in Mexico found two deceased children matching the descriptions of Coleman’s kids in a ditch.
During an interview with the FBI, Coleman said that “he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them,” according to the affidavit.
Moreover, he reportedly claimed to be receiving visions that his wife “possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children” while also mentioning “QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories,” Fox reported.
The murder weapon and bloody clothes were recovered by investigators where they were discarded in Mexico.
Coleman has been charged by federal prosecutors with the foreign murder of U.S. nationals. He made his first court appearance Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the Coleman’s website, they own a surf shop that lists spearfishing and sailing as other hobbies, in addition to catching waves.
