LOS ANGELES
A Santa Barbara man was charged today with taking his two young children to Rosarito, Mexico and killing them, according to federal prosecutors.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, allegedly killed the 2-year-old boy and 10-month-old girl on Monday. A federal criminal complaint filed today charges Coleman with foreign murder of United States nationals.
Coleman is expected to make his initial court appearance this afternoon in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, officials stated.
Coleman told FBI agents he killed his children by shooting a spear into their chests, explaining that he had been “enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories” and “believed he was saving the world from monsters,” according to an affidavit in support of the complaint.
The affidavit outlines the investigation that started on Saturday when Coleman’s wife contacted the Santa Barbara Police to report that her husband had left the couple’s residence in a Sprinter van and she did not know where they had gone.
The next day, Coleman’s wife filed a missing-persons report. Using a computer application, Coleman’s wife was able to determine that Coleman’s phone had been in Rosarito on Sunday afternoon, the affidavit states.
The same phone-locating service was used on Monday and showed that Coleman’s phone was near the San Ysidro Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the affidavit.
The FBI dispatched colleagues in San Diego to contact Coleman, who entered the United States in the Sprinter van without the children.
When the children were not found, FBI agents contacted law enforcement officials in Rosarito and learned that Mexican authorities that morning had recovered the bodies of two children matching the description of Coleman’s children.
After further investigation, FBI agents took Coleman into custody.
Coleman is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.