Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Newly released court documents state that Santa Barbara man, Matthew Coleman, became significantly more paranoid while researching QAnon before murdering his two children in Mexico last year.
In an affidavit filed last week in San Diego federal court, new details were alleged about Coleman’s activities before the killings and his research into conspiracy theories with his wife, Abby.
Coleman, a 40-year-old Santa Barbara surf camp instructor, 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.
Abby Coleman, 35, 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 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 10-month-old daughter Roxy and two-year-old son Kaleo. He believed the only way to stop it from spreading was to kill them, the indictment said.
Matthew Taylor Coleman posted this family photo on his Instagram page four months ago to call his wife, Abby, and their children, Kaleo and Roxy, “My treasures!” (Photo: Instagram)
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 scrrenshots 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.
Matthew Taylor Coleman is believed to be in this surveillance video checking into a City Express hotel in Rosarito with one of his children. (Photo: Baja California attorney general’s office)
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.
Coleman has admitted to the murders during interviews with law enforcement but has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of murdering U.S. nationals on foreign soil, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Prosecutors could pursue the death penalty and public defenders would have a chance to present before the decision is made. The date has not yet been established but it’s reported that it can take place as early as June.
A memorial in Santa Barbara for the murdered children Kaleo and Roxy (Photo by an edhat reader)
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Jesus Christ. This was hard to read and the new court docs seem to suggest the wife might have been culpable or also brain washed?
Makes me wonder how many devout Christians are also into Qanon. Scary stuff.
That’s part of the danger of religions – they require you to believe without a shred of objective evidence.
I second that. Wow! She’s almost as crazy. Unbelievable stuff.
We were happy to meet expats from the midwest and to converse in English, and the flat Earth stuff was mildly amusing. Jan 6 made us realize that the Q anon stuff was not amusing in any way. Q is likely a creation of Steve Bannon, to elevate tRump from the depths of the swamp that he supposedly wanted to drain.
“Gisell Maxwell is a good friend and a fine person”, from the Orange maniac. For him to say that, I imagine that she has pics of him on Epsteins Island……
Sick is, as Sick Does…
Nobody has a corner on the “Sick as Hell” market. Nope! Not Democrat’s, Not Republican’s, Not Atheists, Not Believer’s, No Race, No Ethnicity, and not even the LBGTQ community… Nope! They can show up EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE…
Round ’em up. Get them into treatment or off the planet.
Both the parents had/have mental illness. Certainly people in their circle/families could see this coming. So sad for everyone. With Trump, so much ugliness came out from under the rocks. Qnon, Bannon, white supremacy, racism. If the media would stop covering Trump and his followers, things might get back to normal sooner. Anyone supporting Trump/Jan 6th/conspiracy theories at this point is not stable and their circles need to get them into therapy or some kind of mental health program.
Pathetic. Why am I not surprised multiple posters here brought Trump into this tragedy. Totally pathetic.
The topic is mental illness. Trump and his followers are just a prime example.
Channel, your conspiracy theories about Trump, Bannon, and Epstein sound about as far fetched as that Q anon stuff.
Mental illness or low IQ, either way both were unfit to be parents. I can only feel bad for the children, grandparents and immediate family who did believe this crazy nonsense at this point. Sounds like the father and mother both need to be locked up. Meanwhile, I hate to say it, but I feared the mother was a nut case too. Any sane person would have taken the kids and run when their partner started talking about Q or lizard people.
VOR you are aware the article names Donald Trump right at the beginning. not sure how anyone else is bringing him into this. the article says it
True, 1613, but if she encouraged and shared the craziness, isn’t there a shared responsibility?
And I miss spelled Ghislaine to boot!
Crazy pre-dates entry into cult in case you are wondering about what came first in chicken vs. egg scenario.
The Bernie Sanders supporter who shot up a bunch of House of Representatives Republicans at a baseball field was crazy before he became a Bernie fanatic. It isn’t Bernie’s fault he shot a bunch of people
But when the shoe is on the other foot, it is Trumps fault, religions fault….
Voice of Reason: the above story brought Trump into this tragedy
VOICE – you wouldn’t have commented here had you not seen someone say your trigger word. Read the article before trolling in and making your incorrect proclamations.
If Michelle Carter went to jail for the crime of texting her boyfriend to kill himself when she was 17 and he was 18, I sort of fail to see how this mother should not be locked up for encouraging her insane husband rather than protecting her own children. I do not agree with the Michelle Carter verdict but I seemed to be in the minority at the time. Wonder what popular sentiment will be now. Abby Coleman is a nutcase like her husband and maybe worse. He seems to suffer from true paranoid schizophrenia whereas she is probably clinically sane yet participating in this cultish delusion.
Agree. Gross negligence or mental illness on her behalf.
Abby: “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.”
Fitz blamed this and other occurrences like it on Trump, which is very different than the mention in the article. And you here are all supporting it. Very bad form.
The community raised $115,953 for this woman. A GoFundMe campaign was set up to bury her children. Unfortunately, we now know that the community ended up supporting a Q Anon nut case too. I think it would have been nice to have alerted people who were donating money that she subscribed to these conspiracy theories. The money not used to bury the children may not then have been used to support her which I can’t condone. In my mind she is culpable for their deaths too.
Labeling awful behavior “mental illness” and suggesting “therapy” is seldom the solution. A society that admires, promotes and follows Malignant Narcissists (aka Psychopaths) helps conscience free parents like the Coleman’s feel empowered.
Objective as in entertaining the entire history of Earths climate rather than a just a 100 year snippet?
When viewed in the macro, we do not live in a climate of extremes now., and it isn’t even close.
You are sorely ignorant of both climate science, and what makes a planet habitable for humans.
Most of the opinions expressed in these comments just tell me you’re all in cult like he was. They take all shapes and sizes.
VOR – without a doubt the Republicans have allowed those poison to fester
and enter local, state and federal positions of government – all in the interest of getting votes and getting Republicans elected. Republicans know the nativist populists are easily coerced by this nonsense, allow ot in their party, and don’t do a thing about it.
Difference with Trump is that he encourages the crazies, Edney.
Elinda, you are right and I saw this part of the quote in another article after googling the story last night. And I agree we do not have the full context. That said – it still shows evidence of grand delusions unless she can prove she was telling him these things as some kind of “lure” to bring him and the kids back, which I doubt. The very names of their children were chosen because they believed the kids would do in their lives what the meaning of their names were. The dad literally had this cuckoo Instagram post about the “giant slayer” and how he was going to change the world. I know every parent believes their child is special but this wasn’t that. It was borderline unintelligible crazy person speak and this was years before the tragedy. Mom would have known for some time that dad was a nutter, but I believe she was delusional herself. Anyone researching QAnon and not discounting the theory within the first few minutes has a few screws loose. I wasn’t implying mom was in on dad killing the kids. I believe she did not want her kids killed and loved them very much but dad might have loved them, too, honestly believing he was doing what was best for them and the world. But unless mom’s texts were some kind of lure for dad, she joined him for the fantastical escapades and delusional thought patterns that led them to this hideous end and is culpable, too. Whether legally or not remains to be seen but I feel so sorry for these two children born to two incapable of discerning reality from fiction.
I agree. You don’t even have to be “mentally ill.” If you’re groomed to believe fantastical ideas early enough in life, you can end up lacking the ability to discern reality from fiction. If anything fantastical is possible, why not QAnon? People are blaming Trump or mental illness or whatever but it sounds like dad might have actually been a paranoid schizo but mom was just a believer who lacked critical analysis skills which allowed her to get sucked down the QAnon drain.
The Republicans have been actively filling seats of government with cult members and are totally ok with it.
Yeah I agree with Edney but MTN is also right and has a very important point. Trump will fan the flames of just about whatever bogus conspiracy theory exists if he thinks it can help him.
You just described most evangelicals… The overlap between QAnon, evangelical christians and Trumper’s (especially the election was stolen believers), is undeniable. The correlation and causation is clear. There are many studies that affirm this. But in the end it is rather simple: Stupid people are easier to manipulate. Especially those who suffer from a lack of critical thinking skills and native intelligence. Basically: The entire evangelical christian community.
3:17, if you’re wondering you have only to look at the popularity of restrictive social movements and QAnon ideas. Just check the headlines regularly.
Yet it took you until Jan. 6 to realize “that the Q anon stuff was not amusing in any way.” Okay fine.
7:33, the problem I see is the Q craziness being intertwined with white nationalism, as evangelicism is now. I wish those believers would pay more attention to the 10 commandments, especially about killing.
Townie, stupidity and ignorance of the law don’t count for much, in terms of responsibility under the law. They were malleable, they were groomed by social media, they fell under the spell of it. So what’s next? A court of law.
Jesus… she’s just as loony as he is.
No kidding…couldn’t agree mor
@9:09- We were being polite in company and holding our tongues regarding Qanon. That some tRump associated force was somehow going to “Drain the swamp” was so preposterous that yes, it WAS,(privately) amusing! Epstein and Maxwell, trumps friends, embodied the swamp!
Jan 6 showed me that Qanon was not just a bunch of nuts, rather, a bunch of dangerous thugs.