QAnon Follower Charged With Killing Kids Over 'Serpent DNA'

Matthew Taylor Coleman charged with Mexico murders of children aged 2 and 10 months
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2021 6:28 AM CDT
Updated Sep 9, 2021 1:38 AM CDT
Feds: QAnon Believer Killed Kids Over Suspected 'Serpent DNA'
A man identified by prosecutors as Matthew Taylor Coleman is seen in a surveillance image from the City Express hotel in Rosarito, Mexico.   (Baja California Attorney General's Office)

Update: The alleged QAnon follower accused of killing his two young children because he believed they had "serpent DNA" was indicted Wednesday. Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, of Santa Barbara, Calif., was charged with two counts of foreign first-degree murder of US nationals, making him eligible for the death penalty, though it's not clear whether the attorney general will pursue that. His first court appearance is set for Thursday in Los Angeles, CBS 2 reports. The surf school founder will ultimately be prosecuted in San Diego; the children were murdered in Mexico, KSBY reports. Coleman had previously been charged with the same crimes in a federal complaint filed in LA; those charges will be dismissed. A federal grand jury indicted him on the new charges. Our original story follows:

A believer in the QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories killed his two young children, believing they had "serpent DNA," according to federal authorities. Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, owner of the Lovewater Surf School in Santa Barbara, Calif., was detained by border agents—who allegedly found blood in his vehicle—while trying to return to the US from Mexico on Monday, hours after he allegedly killed his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter, per NBC News. A farmworker at a ranch near Rosarito in Baja California had found the children's bodies Monday morning, according to Baja California's attorney general Hiram Sanchez. He said the boy had been stabbed 17 times, and the girl stabbed 12 times, per the Ventura County Star. Authorities said video footage showed Coleman leaving a Rosarito hotel with the children before dawn, then returning alone.

The three had checked in on Saturday. That same day, Coleman's wife contacted police, saying her husband had left without a car seat and without telling her where he was going. But she said she didn't fear for the children, per the AP. A criminal complaint from the Justice Department claims Coleman confessed to killing them by "shooting a spear fishing gun into their chests." The 2-year-old didn't die right away so he had to "move the spear around," Coleman allegedly said, per KABC. A bloody wooden stake was also found. Coleman allegedly claimed "he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions" revealing his wife "possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children." He allegedly said he had to kill the children to save the world from the "monsters." He was charged with foreign murder of US nationals on Wednesday. (More child murder stories.)

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