Edhat Staff
Matthew Taylor Coleman, the Santa Barbara surf instructor who killed his two children in 2021 based on QAnon conspiracy theories, has been deemed incompetent to stand trial.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo made the ruling this past Thursday in San Diego. The order is sealed, but a docket entry in the case indicated the judge ordered Coleman to be sent for mental health treatment. His next competency hearing is scheduled for March.
Coleman, 42, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of murdering his 2-year-old son, Kaleo, and 10-month-old daughter, Roxy near Rosarito, Mexico. Although according to statements outlined in court records, Coleman has admitted to the killings during several interviews with law enforcement.
This past February prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty.
A federal statute states a judge must find a “preponderance of the evidence that the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense.”
A 2022 affidavit stated Coleman became obsessed with signs and symbols, focusing on photos of celebrities, friends, and social media posts to interpret common peace signs or thumbs up as evidence of an evil cabal secretly communicating, according to search warrant affidavits.
His wife Abby Coleman told investigators they researched QAnon together, but her husband’s interest grew deeper than hers, and that he became “significantly more paranoid” as the summer of 2021 continued.
A central theme in this conspiracy theory is the belief in an evil secret society of elites that also falsely claims Donald Trump has secretly been battling Satan-worshipping pedophiles and liberals at the highest levels.
The court documents state that Coleman’s research of “signs” began to infiltrate his own circle of friends, church, and primary family. In the Department of Justice’s 2021 indictment, he stated that he believed his wife had passed “lizard people” serpent DNA onto his children the only way to stop it from spreading was to kill them, the indictment said.
It’s unclear when the married couple began researching QAnon, but Coleman told investigators he was hearing from “Q” himself who runs the movement, according to the affidavit.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports many of the conspiracy theories Coleman described in his interviews with law enforcement surpass QAnon. He discussed learning about lizard people from a known conspiracy theorist on Twitter who writes about shape-shifting reptilian beings, the Illuminati, interbreeding with Nordic peoples, and an evil global elite.
Coleman’s wife Abby has also been named by investigators as sharing the interest in hidden meanings behind hand gestures. A week before the killings she allegedly sent her husband Instagram screenshots from a far-right conspiracy theory account that goes by the motto “Symbolism is the language of the satanic elite,” reports The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Colemans alleged a close friend was part of some conspiracy based on an old Facebook photo where he’s posing with a hand gesture. Shortly after Coleman went missing with his children, Abby called the friend and showed him the Facebook photo, reportedly accusing him of “being in on it,” and eventually chased him from her home, according to the affidavit and reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The affidavit states Coleman left Santa Barbara with his two children on August 7, 2021. The next day, Coleman’s wife filed a missing person’s report and used a computer application to track them in Rosarito, Mexico.
Coleman texted his wife around 3:00 a.m. on August 9th saying he was “starting to get some clarity” but was still confused and planned to keep “processing through everything.” “Hope all this craziness ends soon,” he wrote.
“Love you.” Abby responded around 9 a.m. telling him to take care of their children. “We are doing this together babe. Praying for clarity over you and your mind this morning,” she wrote. “Everything you’ve believed and known to be true is happening right now. I’m partnering with you from SB. Let’s take back our city. The gateway of revival for the state of California and the nation and the world. You were created to change the course of world history,” The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Her children were already dead and found earlier that morning by farmworkers in a ditch off a Rosarito highway near a ranch. They were allegedly killed by Coleman using a spearfishing gun. He was arrested later that day as he tried to drive back into the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
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indictment.pdf
Has there been any more info about the local church this family belonged to? Veronica Springs Church/First Baptist Church of Santa Barbara.
There are a lot of local evangelical christians in Santa Barbara that have crazy beliefs. What are the churches doing to prevent this and to get their members who pay them $$$ the help they need? What say you Bob Ryan and Jon Bancroft, “leaders” of Veronica Springs?
Vice did this story last year; https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvmjzq/matthew-taylor-coleman-santa-barbara-qanon‘
“… she believed Coleman was radicalized at least in part within the church communities he belonged to.”
Christian fundamentalism and conspiracy theories have gone together like peanut butter and jelly for centuries.
WTF? So anyone who is a member of a cult is not responsible for murdering kids? This is insane. Also, his wife seems to have fueled his paranoid fantasies. Ugly. This insanity right here may have helped to put him over the edge:
“Everything you’ve believed and known to be true is happening right now. I’m partnering with you from SB. Let’s take back our city. The gateway of revival for the state of California and the nation and the world. You were created to change the course of world history,”
The cult is a symptom, not a cause. Those with severe mentall illness are much more susceptible to falling down the rabbit hole. If it wasnt the cult beliefs that led him to this horrible choice, it likely would have been something else. Some people’s brains are just broken.
He should be kept in a mental hospital for the criminally insane for life. I do not believe that people like this, like David Attias, should ever be released in society again.
So anyone who takes or claims to share the beliefs of a cult is immune from criminal prosecution? That’s a significant grey area that could allow people to get away with a lot of terrible stuff.
No, ALEX, that isn’t what I said at all.
He no doubt will be locked up in California’s home for the criminally insane at Atascadero.
Alexblue – The wife “fueled his fantasies” or conspired with the husband/suspect to kill the kids? Based on her comments quoted in the last paragraph of your post, I believe it could be argued she conspired with the husband to commit the murders. “I’m partnering with you from SB?” What the hell does this mean? There’s a fine needle to thread here but I’ will guess the cops took a look at the wife as a conspiring murderer and a “grieving mother.”
What about his wife? This and other articles mentioned how she, too, was involved and believing in these conspiracy theories. I sincerely hope she’s getting the treatment she needs.
“he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense.”
Let me explain it to him:
You drove to Mexico and killed your children with a speargun.Your left them dead in a field. Go got into your car and drove back to the US where you admitted to the killings during several interviews with law enforcement.
The nature and consequences of the proceedings are to find you guilty of murder for doing what you admitted doing.
Truly heartbreaking once again. Glad I never took lessons from this psycho.
Can anyone who did or who knew him testify to his character? Was he an always an insane, complete weirdo? Did he have schizophrenia or some other condition?
It sure seems that for a small town surf instructor turned murderer that he is fit to stand trial.
His wife has suffered an unspeakable horror, the deaths of her young children. However, if one reads the details of her involvement, it’s difficult to understand how she is allowed freedom, out in the world. She was complicit in the deeds of her husband, and shared his delusions. Shouldn’t she be held responsible, be evaluated to determine if she is a danger to others?
There is a huge difference between murdering your children and not murdering your children.
BS. He was able to own, manage and run a local business, but now he’s not fit to stand trial? Q followers are dangerous. This is not a benign cult. They are armed and willing to kill for their “cause.” If the root cause of this tragic deed was underlying mental illness, then they should ALL be mentally evaluated. I’m sure most who are otherwise mentally stable won’t kill their children, but those who are could do worse. I’m hoping these people are under some level of observation and tracking. They’ve proven multiple times to be willing and capable of violence, and worse.
Calling for large groups of people to be “mentally evaluated” based on who they listen to is a vey dangerous path to go down (see China, North Vietnam, etc.) Very, very, very slippery slope….
People who truly believe in lizard people should probably get checked out. Maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t sounds stable, especially when coupled with an inherently violence cult.
correction, North Korea, but NV still is a good example in the 60’s-70’s.