Matthew Taylor Coleman, alleged QAnon killer father, tries to mutilate himself in prison

Matthew Taylor Coleman, the California QAnon supporter accused of killing his two young children with a speargun, has repeatedly attempted self-mutilation in his federal prison sentence — cutting himself with a razor blade, jumping headfirst into a toilet, punching himself in the face and repeatedly slamming his head on the floor, court records show.

Coleman, who allegedly slaughtered two-year-old Kaleo and 10-month-old Roxy in 2021 because he believed they had snake DNA, is now under constant surveillance – and has begun drugging him against his will, according to court documents.

A prison doctor determined that the 40-year-old met the criteria for unspecified schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, according to a court document from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.

The public prosecutor's office states that he does not understand the allegations made against him and cannot defend himself.

He has been taking medication since last May.

On August 7, 2021, Coleman was packing for a family trip with his wife, Abby. According to authorities, he then abruptly and without a word put the two children in his van and drove away from their Santa Barbara home.

Coleman took his children across the border into Mexico and stayed at a resort hotel for two days. Then, investigators say, he drove his children to a farm where he stabbed them both with a harpoon gun and left them for dead.

He was arrested while trying to re-enter the United States.

Coleman has been charged with two counts of murder of U.S. citizens on foreign soil. He is being held at an undisclosed federal medical facility in Southern California and has pleaded not guilty.

He is represented by a public defender who did not respond to a request for comment.

When Coleman was arrested in 2021, he reportedly told authorities he killed his children because he believed in the QAnon conspiracy theory that they possessed snake DNA and needed to be killed to protect humanity, according to a 30-page search warrant application released at the time.

Coleman sometimes spoke incoherently and reportedly told FBI agents that he saw “all the pieces being decoded like in 'The Matrix' and that he was Neo,” the film's main character.

“He said visions and signs had shown him that his wife, AC [Abby Coleman]had snake DNA ([He] mentioned that he was not sure if his wife was a shapeshifter) and passed it on to his children and that all indications were that his children had tainted DNA that would spread if nothing was done about it,” the affidavit states.

After Coleman's arrest, his wife Abby left California and returned to her home state of Texas, where she currently lives with her family.

But those who knew Coleman are stunned by the unbelievable allegations against him.

“I really had no idea,” said Deb Fletcher, whose son had taken surfing lessons from Coleman before the murders. “He could be intense, but there was nothing to suggest he was that mentally unsettled. I wonder if he just snapped.”

“This came out of nowhere,” adds a family friend who grew up with Coleman. “He always seemed normal. I wish we had known this was going to happen. It's really sad.”