A mother whose children were slaughtered by their own dad has confessed to feeling pity for her deranged husband who was obsessed with QAnon conpiracy theories.
Matthew Coleman had become convinced that his wife Abby, 42 and 35 respectively, had infected their infant children with serpent DNA.
The bizarre theory is based in the wide-reaching and completely unfounded conspiracy that political and business elites are a cabal of reptillian paedophiles.
As Abby packed their belongings for a trip on August 7 2021 outside their home in Santa Barbara in California, her partner suddenly grabbed the children - Kaleo, 2, and 10-month-old Roxy.
Speeding off in the car, he drove the youngsters to Mexico.
During a later interview, he told investigators he killed his own flesh and blood with a fishing spear while south of the border.
A friend of Abby still in touch with the crushed mother, told People that Coleman "destroyed her that day".
"Her life ended that day — the life that she had, and the plans that she had made for herself and her family,"' they said.
Coleman - who is being held at an undisclosed federal prison in California - is pleading not guilty to murdering US citizens on foreign soil.
With him allegedly committing the murders in Mexico, his charges were upgraded to the federal courts.
Psychiatrists are working to determine his state of mind at the time of the killing.
After the slaying of her two children, Abby moved to Texas to be with family.
The family friend said: "She's trying to heal, and has very conflicting feelings.
"One day, she will express some pity and concern for Matthew, and other days, she never wants to see him again."
Coleman told cops he was motivated to murder his own children after experiencing "visions and signs" confirming a QAnon conspiracy, an FBI criminal complaint found.
"He said visions and signs revealed that his wife, A.C. [Abby Coleman], possessed serpent DNA (M. COLEMAN mentioned that he was not sure if his wife was a shapeshifter)
"And [she] had passed it onto his children and that all things were pointing to the idea that his children have corrupted DNA that will spread if something is not done about it."
As Coleman fled with the kids, Abby called cops with concern. She said she didn't fear for their safety at the time.
She awaited her husband's returned, thinking he would simply bring them home later.
He was finally arrested as he attempted to cross back into the US.
The QAnon conspiracy theory has emerged as one of the most pervasive and dangerous ever concocted.
In the fight against misinformation and dangerous conspiracy theories, QAnon is a major threat.
Film-maker Benajmin Zand braved some of the group's most ardent supporters for his documentary Cult of Conspiracy: QAnon, battling hostility which at one point turned worryingly nasty.
They admitted absolutely no evidence to the contrary could ever convince them their bizarre beliefs were untrue.
QAnon came about in October 2017, when a figure called Q Clearance Patriot started making posts on anonymous forum 4Chan.
They claimed to be a government insider and spread weird conspiracies about satanic paedophiles ruling the world, and Donald Trump being the only saviour.
These bizarre theories spread to millions of people across the globe who eagerly ate them up despite the mounting evidence they were wrong.
Some QAnon supporters eventually stormed the US Capitol in an attempted coup after Joe Biden won the election, believing Trump's win was "stolen", including Shaman Jacob Chansley, who has since been sentenced to 41 months in jail.
But after the failed coup, Q stopped posting and vanished completely.
