CA Dad Killed Kids With Spear Gun Believing They Had Serpent DNA: Feds

SANTA BARBARA, CA — A Santa Barbara surf instructor accused of murdering his two children with a spearfishing gun in Mexico last year referenced QAnon, Illuminati and lizard people conspiracy theories before the killings, and said he believed his wife passed "serpent DNA" to their kids.

Matthew Coleman was indicted in September on two counts of foreign first-degree murder of U.S. nationals and could face the death penalty if convicted.

At the time, authorities said Coleman took his 2-year-old son, Kaleo, and 10-month old daughter, Roxy, to Rosarito, Mexico, in August to kill them. His wife filed a missing persons report and tracked his phone to Rosarito. Mexican authorities later found the children's bodies.

Court documents obtained by multiple media outlets shed new light on the case, including references to deranged beliefs and theories Coleman had shared in the weeks and months leading up to the killings.

A childhood friend of Coleman's who spoke to him a week before the killings told People that Coleman started believing "crazy things he saw on the internet."

"But nothing seemed violent. He just seemed to be buying a lot of stuff that didn't make a lot of sense," the friend said.

The friend added: "It started off slowly, but near the end, he deteriorated rapidly. But he never once said anything to make anyone think that he'd kill his own kids. That's another level."

An FBI affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast showed Coleman acknowledged he killed his children, and did so believing they'd otherwise "grow into monsters." He pulled off to the side of a road near Rancho Del Cielo and pierced his daughter's heart with a spearfishing gun, court documents alleged. After killing the other child, he moved the bodies into some brush, then ditched the spear gun and bloody clothes near a creek, according to authorities. He then threw bloody clothes into a blue trash bin on the side of a road in Tijuana, authorities said.

About five or six days before the killings, Coleman said he started noticing "strange coincidences."

"He discussed QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories as well as Strong's numbers (in index of every word in the Bible)," court documents alleged. "He said visions and signs revealed that his wife, A.C., possessed serpent DNA (M. COLEMAN) mentioned that he was not sure if his wife was a shapeshifter and had passed it onto his children and that all things were pointing to the idea that his children have corrupted DNA that will spread if something is not done about it."

Coleman told investigators he was either crazy or the only person left on Earth who is a "true man," authorities said. While in Mexico, he laid in bed and saw "all the pieces being decoded" similar to "The Matrix" films. Coleman also said he was Neo, the main character in the franchise and a computer hacker — known as the One — who is tasked with saving mankind from 21st century computers.

Court documents said Coleman talked about time travel, teleportation and biblical references. On Aug. 10, 2021, as he was being moved to the Santa Ana Jail, Coleman talked about his work as a pastor and religious beliefs, including the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac, and Nephilim.

Additionally, documents said, Coleman talked about "babies being placed in fireworks, food, and walls," authorities said. At one point, he said his son told him that relatives were abusing his two children, and that he eventually saw the "big picture," believing he had to kill them to "prevent them from becoming an alien species that would release carnage over the Earth," authorities said.

Coleman showed agents several hand signals or signs that he believed were evidence that someone was part of the conspiracy, court documents said, and believed he'd seen the symbolism in social media posts.

In an interview with investigators, Coleman's wife said the two researched QAnon, a once-fringe internet conspiracy theory that gained traction with right-wing supporters before and during President Donald Trump's presidency. The core falsehood of the theory is that a group of "Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media” was true. A December 2020 poll found that 17 percent of Americans believed the core tenet.

As the Colemans researched the theory, he became increasingly paranoid that those around him were involved in the conspiracy, including leaders of the church, his wife told investigators. He saw "signs" in people's social media posts and believed he could connect church leaders to people in their community, including some of their closest friends.

On Aug. 11, 2021, as Coleman was being moved from the Ventura County Jail to the U.S. Marshals Service, he said he first learned of “Lizard People” on Twitter from a "British guy with white hair," a reported reference to former BBC broadcaster and prominent conspiracy theorist David Icke.

The court documents confounded those who knew him.

"That sounds crazy," Coleman's childhood friend told People. "He never said anything about serpent DNA to me, and I assume he never said anything about it to Abby. We knew he was in turmoil, figuring things out, but no one — especially not Abby — thought he'd get violent."