Tragedy has befallen a Southern California family over QAnon conspiracy theories.
Surfing school owner and instructor Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, of Santa Barbara, California has been charged with murdering his two young children with a spearfishing gun.
Watch news coverage here:
Coleman, his wife, and their two children—a 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter—had been preparing to go on a camping trip Saturday when Coleman suddenly disappeared with their two children, his wife said.
Coleman's wife, whose identity has not been released at this time, said while she was concerned over Coleman's taking of the children, she did not file a missing person's report as she couldn't fathom any harm would come to them.
However, when she realized Coleman didn't take a car seat for the children, she began to worry. When he didn't respond to her text messages or come home that night, she called the police the following day and formally filed a missing person's report.
In an effort to track Coleman down, authorities utilized Apple's Find My iPhone app in order to figure out where Coleman went. His iPhone was traced to Rosarito, Mexico and authorities believed he would soon be crossing the border back into the United States.
San Diego authorities headed to the San Ysidro border checkpoint on Monday to detain Coleman and perform a welfare check on the children, but found Coleman was alone in the car and the children were nowhere to be found.
It was then U.S. Customs agents noticed Coleman's vehicle registration had blood on it.
According to authorities, surveillance footage from a Rosarito hotel showed Coleman and the children checking in on Saturday, then leaving before dawn on Monday. Footage also showed Coleman returning to the hotel later in the morning, alone, and then checking out for good.
Mexican authorities later reported finding the bodies of the two children in a ditch by the country's border. The bodies matched the description of the Coleman children and both had large stab wounds in their chests.
Both children had been stabbed over 10 times.
Coleman was brought in and questioned by California authorities. In the recorded interrogation, he confirmed the bodies found were indeed his children and confessed to murdering them.
He told police his motive for killing his children was "saving the world from monsters."
According to the criminal complaint, Coleman claimed he was "enlightened by QAnon and illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing his wife...possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children."
QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory cult, claims the world is run by a cabal of Satanic, pedophilic, cannibals running a global sex-trafficking operation.
QAnoners also believe this cabal conspired against former President Donald Trump and used a Jewish space laser to cause wildfires that cost Trump his re-election in 2020.
Coleman believed this "serpent DNA" would cause his children to become monsters bent on destroying the world.
The "serpent DNA" claim may be in reference to the popular conspiracy theory reptilian "lizard people" have infiltrated our society and control our government in an attempt to enslave the human race.
This theory is not solely a QAnon theory. It is also a widely held belief in Illuminati conspiracy lore.
Coleman told police he believed his children were descended from monsters and while he knew killing them was wrong, it was "the only course of action that would save the world."
Coleman was seen as being a good person and a family man by his neighbors, who are shocked by the news of the murders.
Needless to say, people are horrified.
Coleman is currently being held without bail and made his first court appearance on Wednesday.
He is being charged with foreign murder of United Stated nationals. His arraignment will be held on August 31.
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