Santa Barbara man allegedly told investigators he killed his children because they were “growing into monsters”

LOS ANGELES, California – A Santa Barbara man arrested Tuesday was tried in federal court on the deaths of his two young children.

Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, is accused of killing his two-year-old son and ten-month-old daughter early Monday morning in Rosarito, south of Tijuana, Mexico.

The bodies of Coleman’s two young children were found by an employee on a Mexican ranch. The two children were killed after being stabbed more than a dozen times each. A federal criminal complaint states that a spearfishing gun was the murder weapon.

In Santa Barbara, Coleman’s wife first reported her husband and two children missing on Saturday. She told Santa Barbara police that he left the couple’s home in a Mercedes Sprinter van and that his wife did not know where they were going. She told police she didn’t think her children were in danger or that Coleman would harm them.

An officer tried to call Coleman on Saturday but did not answer.

The next day, Coleman’s wife filed a missing person report. She also used the Find my iPhone app to track her husband’s cell phone to Rosarito, Mexico near Mexico’s Baja California coast.

Coleman later pursued the same application to the San Ysidro Port of Entry on the US-Mexico border, where he attempted to re-enter the country. Police intercepted Coleman and found that his children were not with him. FBI agents contacted the police in Mexico and learned that the bodies of two young children that matched their descriptions had been found.

Coleman was arrested and taken into FBI custody.

On Wednesday, Coleman was formally charged with the “foreign murder of US citizens”.

According to a document filed in the US District Court, Coleman admitted killing both children by shooting a “spearfishing gun” in their chests. He dumped the gun and his bloody clothes on the side of the road in Tijuana and then began his return to the United States, according to the court record.

Coleman allegedly told federal investigators that he believed his children would “grow up to be monsters” and that he would have to kill them. He told investigators that he was “enlightened” by the conspiracy theories of QAnon and Illuminati and had received visions and signs. He told investigators that he believed his wife was obsessed with “snake DNA” that she passed on to her children.

He said he knew what he was doing was wrong, but told investigators that according to court documents, he was saving the world.

The FBI, United States Customs and Border Protection, Santa Barbara Police Department and the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública Municipal de Rosarito are investigating the case.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney both said he had no previous records.

Coleman has been identified by Mexican officials as the owner of a surf school in Santa Barbara. A man of the same name is listed as a co-owner of the Lovewater Surf business in Santa Barbara along with his wife. The school teaches surfing to children and other beginners. Pictures on the company’s website show two children who conform to law enforcement descriptions.

Coleman appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon. He is due to return to court on Tuesday, August 21st.

Santa Barbara District Attorney Joyce Dudley said there is a chance the trial will move to Mexico, but it will stay in Los Angeles for the time being.

The full court record can be found below.

Warning: The content of the document contains graphic depictions of violence. It should be viewed with caution.

To read the full complaint, click here.

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