Surf school owner-turned-QAnon conspiracy theorist writes letter begging for forgiveness from prison where he's awaiting trial for 'murdering his two children, 2, and 10, with a spearfishing gun because he thought they had serpent DNA'
A California surf school owner - who became a QAnon conspiracy theorist and allegedly murdered his two children with a spearfishing gun because he was convinced they had 'serpent DNA' - has written a letter to friends begging for forgiveness from jail before his trial.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, penned the jailhouse letter to an unidentified friend four months after being charged with killing his two kids — Kaleo, 2, and Roxy, ten months — at a Christian ranch in Rosarito, Mexico on August 9 after leaving the family's Santa Barbara home two day earlier in a van.
He crossed the Southern border without his wife Abby's knowledge and was arrested upon his attempted return to the US. The family had initially planned a vacation trip together prior to the alleged murders.
'He's really despondent and hopeless,' a close family friend who received the missive told PEOPLE. 'He's alone with his thoughts 24/7. He's reflecting on the mistakes he made in life and wondering if there's any chance for redemption.'
'He poured out his heart,' the source added. 'He begged for forgiveness, but says that he's now where he deserves to be.'
Matthew Taylor Coleman was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing his two-year-old son Kaleo and 10-month-old daughter Roxy with a spear gun. The charges makes him eligible for the death penalty
Coleman (seen with a spearfishing gun) shot his daughter 12 times, and his son 17 times with the weapon and their bodies were dumped in brush, prosecutors said
Coleman admitted to FBI that he murdered his son Kaleo (left), two, and daughter Roxy (right), 10 months, in August.
Coleman lived in Santa Barbara, California with his wife and two kids. He left on August 7 and checked into the City Express Hotel in Rosarito, Mexico. Two days later he was arrested after trying to get back in the US at the San Ysidro Point of Entry for the murder of his two children
Border agents arrested Coleman (right) after he tried to cross from Tijuana into the U.S. at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Pictured: Coleman with his wife, Abby (left), and their son Kaleo
After his arrest in August, Coleman reportedly told federal authorities that 'he received visions and signs that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it onto his children'.
He also said he was 'saving the world' because his children were 'going to grow into monsters' since he believed they inherited the serpent DNA from their mother.
According to an FBI criminal complaint, which was obtained by Dailymail.com, Coleman was motivated by the 'big tent QAnon conspiracy theory' that claims former President Donald Trump is secretly battling a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping Democratic pedophiles.
Coleman also allegedly confessed to federal authorities that he used a spear-fishing gun to shoot Kaleo and Roxy in the heart before dumping them in a field outside Rosarito and returning to his hotel room, where he was staying with the two children.
According to court documents, when they did not die right away, Coleman stabbed his son 17 more time and his daughter 12 more times, cutting his own hand in the process.
After the murder Coleman put his children's slain bodies in some nearby brush, discarded their bloody clothes in a blue trash bin and threw the spear fishing gun near a creek, the affidavit said.
He was taken to Santa Ana jail the day after the murder after seeking re-entry to the US. Mexican authorities found the murder weapon, bloody clothes and a baby's blanket.
Coleman appeared in court on September 9. The date for his murder trial has yet to be set
Last month, the FBI seized all of Coleman's electronic devices and is currently going through his browser history and messages. In a joint motion filed by the U.S. Attorney and the Federal Public Defenders, both sides asked for the investigation to be continued until next May so that they could carry on with gathering evidence in the case.
'A computer, two phones, and an iPad are being searched pursuant to warrants,' the motion reads. 'Instead of waiting until agents have completed the searches and providing only data seized as responsive to the warrants, a mirror image of the computer's entire drive and the full Cellebrite downloads for the phones and iPad will be provided to the defense by Nov. 5, 2021.'
'By that date, the United States also will provide additional discovery consisting generally of cell site data, Mexican law enforcement reports, photographs and recordings of or from the area of the murders, jail recordings, and videos from the Port of Entry,' the motion adds.
FBI agents are particularly interested in digging into Coleman's online engagement on groups and message boards that talk about QAnon conspiracy theories.
'Agents are seeing what he read,' a law enforcement source close to People said, 'but we're more interested in what he wrote about his beliefs and whether they had any influence over his actions in August.'
A longtime friend of Coleman's previously mentioned that he would spend several hours a day looking up and reading conspiracy theories across the internet. Coleman's wife had no clue her husband was a QAnon follower at the time.
'It was obvious that he was spending a lot of brain power on it,' the anonymous source, a childhood friend of Coleman's, told PEOPLE last month. 'He was constantly checking those sites on his phone. He spent hours each day just glued to his phone looking at that stuff.'
U.S. border officers arrested Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, after he drove to Mexico without telling his wife, Abby, 35, and allegedly killed their two children, aged three and 10 months
Coleman took his toddlers to a Christian ranch in Rosarito, Mexico (pictured)
The family lived in a modest three-bedroom, twi-bath, 1300-square-foot home with a two-car garage built in 1956 and located just blocks from Arroyo Burro Beach in Santa Barbara
Coleman was indicted on first-degree murder charges in September. He pleaded not guilty in a US District Court in San Diego in October. If convicted, Coleman is eligible for the death penalty.
If the Attorney General decides against the death penalty, Coleman's maximum sentence would be life in prison with a fine of up to $250,000.
Until his next trial appearance, which remains unknown at this time, Coleman is being held in protective custody at a non-disclosed federal prison.
His childhood friend told People that he doesn't know whether Coleman sent letters to anyone else, but that the deranged dad was dreading the holidays in jail.
'He said he's sorry, that he never wanted to cause pain, and that he's working through why he made the choices he made,' the friend said. 'It was a very sad note.
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