Warning: This article may be disturbing to some due to graphic content — Ed.
Late last month, prosecutors filed a motion to begin a process that would require the Federal Bureau of Prisons to involuntary medicate a Santa Barbara man accused of taking his two toddler children to Rosarito, Mexico, where he shot a fishing spear into their chests and left them to die.
The office of US Attorney Tara McGrath filed the motion in an effort to restore Matthew Taylor Coleman's competence to stand trial in the killings. In the motion filed May 28, prosecutors said Coleman was committed to custody because of evidence of mental illness and an inability to understand the proceedings or aid in his own defense. It goes on to say that a BOP physician determined that Coleman met the criteria for unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders as set out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and was not competent to stand trial.
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The motion to medicate goes on to state:
"The BOP considered involuntarily medicating Coleman under Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210 (1990). But an administrative hearing officer thought he did not seem gravely disabled or a danger to himself or others in custody and did not satisfy Harper’s criteria, 494 U.S. at 227, notwithstanding that in 2022, while in custody, he cut himself with a razor, dove headfirst into a toilet, punched himself in the face and slammed his head into the floor."
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Furthermore, prosecutors said, unless Coleman was malingering, they were left to follow a precedent set in the case Sell v. United States, which established the requirements necessary involuntarily medicate Coleman so he would be competent to stand trial.
Two days after the motion was filed, U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo ruled that the Coleman case satisfied the Sell requirements and ordered the Bureau of Prisons to "provide a proposed treatment plan to restore Me. Coleman's competence within 60 days ..."
Coleman, who operated a surf school in Santa Barbara and is now in his early 40s, faces charges of foreign murder of U.S. citizens. The victims, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal authorities, were his 10-month-old daughter and 2-year-old son, whose lifeless bodies were discovered in August 2021 with dozens of stab wounds on the Rancho Del Descanso agricultural ranch in Baja California about 35 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal authorities.
Coleman and his two children were first reported missing from Santa Barbara on Aug. 8, 2021, by his wife, who was concerned because the family had planned to go on a camping trip together, according to the complaint. Their Sprinter van was missing, but the mother did not believe her children were in any danger.
The next day, Santa Barbara authorities discovered Coleman and the children were in Mexico through the use of an iPhone locator app. The FBI took over the case and alerted U.S. Border Patrol agents to be on the lookout for Coleman and the children, the complaint stated.
Surveillance video showed Coleman and his two children checking into the hotel City Express Rosarito that day, which is 20 miles south of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office. Video shot later showed Coleman leave the hotel with the kids at 3 a.m. that night. Hours later, he returned alone. Then, he checked out of the hotel.
Mexican authorities received a report an hour after Coleman returned to the hotel that two lifeless children were located at the Rancho El Descanso ranch about 20 miles south of the hotel. The ranch owner called police after a farm worker discovered the bodies. He told Mexican officials his dog led them to the crime scene.
When Coleman tried to return to the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry at 1 p.m. that same day, Aug. 9, 2021,, he was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, who were already on the lookout for him, the complaint said.
Federal authorities were concerned that he did not have his children but had not yet learned that two children of similar age had been discovered on a ranch nearby earlier that morning.
During an interview at the border, Coleman confessed to the murders, the complaint said.
"Coleman stated that he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them," the complaint read.
In the confession, according to the complaint, Coleman admitted to using a fishing spear to kill his children. He told authorities where their bodies were located, which was consistent with where the two children were found, the complaint said.
Coleman referenced conspiracy theories in his confession, like QAnon and Illuminati, the complaint said, adding that he told them he was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children: "Coleman was asked whether he knew what he did was wrong. Coleman stated that he knew it was wrong, but it was the only course of action that would save the world."
