The U.S. Attorney’s Office has decided to change the federal court venue for the criminal case against the Santa Barbara man accused of driving his two young children to Mexico and killing them.
“After reviewing the case, the United States determined that the most appropriate venue was in the Southern District of California,” U.S. Attorney’s Office representatives said in a press release Wednesday.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, on two counts of foreign first-degree murder of United States nationals, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Coleman allegedly confessed to federal authorities that he drove his two children, Kaleo, 3, and Roxy, 1, to Mexico and killed them with a spearfishing gun in early August.
Coleman was charged with the same crimes in a federal complaint filed in Los Angeles on Aug. 11, and prosecutors plan to dismiss that complaint, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of California.
“Coleman is expected to make his initial court appearance on the indictment tomorrow in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. He will appear in United States District Court in San Diego, where the case will be prosecuted, at a date to be determined,” according to the office.
The maximum penalty for the alleged charges, if Coleman is found guilty, would be the death penalty or life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“The attorney general will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later date,” office representatives said.
Prosecutors from the Central District and Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office are assigned to the case, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko from the Southern District, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Butler, Joanna Curtis and Billy Joe McLain from the Central District, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In the Los Angeles case, Coleman waived his right to a preliminary hearing. His arraignment on the charges was delayed to Thursday, the day he is scheduled to appear in court on the new indictment.
He is being represented by the federal Public Defender’s Office, according to court documents, and is being held in federal custody in Los Angeles.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Santa Barbara Police Department are investigating the case, and the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office “provided substantial assistance throughout the investigation,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As Noozhawk previously reported, Coleman left Santa Barbara with the children on Aug. 7 in a Mercedes Sprinter camping van and drove to the town of Rosarito south of Tijuana, according to the FBI.
His wife, Abby, reported Coleman and the children missing later that day, saying that he did not tell her where he was going and was not answering her text messages. She initially indicated that she didn’t think the children were in danger.
Two days later, at the urging of Santa Barbara police investigators, Coleman’s wife tracked him to Mexico using his phone. He was intercepted at the border by FBI agents as he returned to the United States, and the children were not in the van at the time.
That same morning, the bodies of two young children were discovered by Mexican authorities at a ranch near Rosarito. Photos of the children revealed that they had suffered large puncture wounds, according to the affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint.
The victims appeared to match photos of the missing children that previously had been provided to investigators.
Coleman was taken into custody after crossing from Tijuana into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
The FBI affidavit states that “he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them.”
Coleman further stated that he “was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children,” according to the affidavit.
Coleman and his wife are founders of the Lovewater Surf School in Santa Barbara.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.