An American man obsessed with QAnon who was accused of killing his children last August with a spear gun allegedly told investigators he was influenced by British conspiracy theorist David Icke, according to an affidavit.
The 40-year-old former surfing instructor, Matthew Taylor Coleman, was arrested upon his return to the United States from Mexico on 9 August 2021 after the discovery of the bodies of his two and 10-year-old children.
He admitted to FBI investigators that he believed his children would turn into “monsters” because they had “lizard DNA” passed down from his wife, prosecutors said last year. The theory about “lizard people” is heavily associated with QAnon and the far right.
Mr Coleman first became obsessed with QAnon and its associated conspiracy theories, including those about “Lizard people” who will take control of the world, after listening to Mr Icke, according to an affidavit filed by the FBI on 28 March.
Mr Icke, the British conspiracy theorist and former television presenter and footballer, has been banned from social media platforms including Twitter and YouTube after spreading Covid misinformation. He has also been accused of sharing other baseless fringe theories.
An FBI agent wrote of Mr Coleman, who became more and more involved with QAnon over time: “He explained that he first learned of ‘Lizard People’ on Twitter and from ‘that British guy with white hair’”.
“I believe, based on my investigation of this case, ‘that British guy with white hair’ refers to David Icke, a British conspiracy theorist with white hair, who has published several books”, said the FBI agent in the affidavit.
Those books included Children of the Matrix and work discussing “interbreeding [] between the reptilians and the blond-haired, blue-eyed, Nordic peoples”. Other titles mentioned by investigators were about “reptilian DNA” and “royal’ bloodlines[ of] the reptilian Nordic hybrids” and the Illuminati.
Mr Coleman previously told investigators he dreamt about the movie The Matrix the night before his children were killed and that he saw “all the pieces being decoded like The Matrix, and he was Neo.” He has also begged for forgiveness in a letter, which he shared via friend last year.
Despite admitting to the deaths in a number of interviews with investigators, Mr Coleman has so far pleaded not guilty in court and prosecutors are still building up evidence about his mental state at the time of the killings, according to The Tribune.
It remains unclear if either side will use his mental state, which was said to have declined, in court.
The Independent has approached the justice department and Mr Icke for comment.
