Disturbing motives behind murders have been recorded all across the globe, but Matthew Taylor Coleman‘s reasons for killing his little children shocked the world. What exactly happened to the California surf instructor?
A 40-year-old Santa Barbara surfing school instructor, happily married, and dad of two little children, Matthew Taylor Coleman was living quite the perfect family life before the fateful afternoon of Aug. 7, 2021. While the family of four was enthusiastically packing for a camping trip, the world suddenly came crashing down for Matthew’s wife Abby, and their two children — Kaleo, 2, and Roxy, 10 months.
According to Abby, Matthew suddenly and abruptly took their two children into his van that afternoon, and drove away from their Santa Barbara, California, home, without any words to Abby. In the FBI’s report, after Abby called the cops, she ruled out any danger to the kids and believed that Matthew would soon be back. However, he instead drove his children into Mexico and took them to a ranch two days later.
What came next scarred Abby forever and shocked everyone who knew the family. Matthew killed his two helpless and innocent children with a spearfishing gun at the ranch and casually returned to his hotel afterward. However, he was soon arrested when his van reached the borders, attempting to re-enter the United States. According to a family friend, “Abby had no clue whatsoever” that her husband could commit such a crime (via People).
Matthew killed his children because they were going to “grow into monsters”
The QAnon conspiracy theory is an unfounded, far-right theory that originated in 2017. It centers on false claims made by anonymous individuals known as “Q,” that former president Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a group of elite Satan-worshipping cannibalistic child molesters. The 40-year-old California resident told the police upon his arrest that his crime was motivated by the QAnon conspiracy theory.
FBI special agent Jennifer Bannon wrote in the criminal complaint that Matthew claimed to be “enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories.” Explaining the motive behind Matthew’s disturbing crime, he continued,
“[Matthew] was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife, Abby Coleman, possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children… M. Coleman stated that he believed his children were going to grow into monsters, so he had to kill them.“
After 10 months in jail, Matthew realized he should have “just focused on being a husband and a father”
Towards the end of May 2022, after spending roughly 10 months at an undisclosed federal prison in California for two counts of foreign first-degree murder of United States nationals, Matthew had another enlightenment. In a two-page handwritten letter to a friend, the felon addressed his previous beliefs and the theories that drove him to kill his children (via People).
“I was deceived, I was deceiving myself. I know now that the [reptile] DNA thing was a delusion in my own mind. I made myself believe something that wasn’t there.”
Matthew credits his change of mind and heart to his inaccessibility to conspiracy websites in jail. And by the look of his words, the man seems at ease and relieved, finally realizing the truth of his beliefs and no longer being chained by them. He expressed in his letter,
“I’m sorting through it all now. There’s a lot to unpack, but I have to figure out what I really believe, but I don’t have access to information anymore, so I’m having to use my mind to figure things out. It’s a good thing, there was so much noise and so much confusion, and a lot of that is gone now.”
Where is Matthew Taylor Coleman now?
Though he has been expressing remorse in his letters and “realizing how far away [he] was from the truth,” Matthew remains in protective custody as of Aug. 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is currently deemed incompetent to stand trial.
According to Matthew, he is just a misguided soul who forgot to be a husband and father as he got influenced by flimsy theories. But he might never get the chance to live the life he voluntarily and cruelly ruined, as if found guilty of the charges pressed against him, he might have to face the death penalty for his heinous crime.