Santa Barbara man to be prosecuted in San Diego for the murder of his two children in Mexico

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Matthew Taylor Coleman from Santa Barbara was charged by a federal grand jury in San Diego on Wednesday for the murder of his two children in Mexico.

40-year-old Coleman allegedly took his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter to Rosarito, Mexico, on Aug. 9 where he killed them with a spearfishing gun. 

The indictments charge Coleman with two counts of foreign first-degree murder of United States nationals. By law, these charges are eligible for the death penalty.

The U.S. Attorney General will decide weather Coleman will face the death penalty at a later date.

“There are no words to describe the profound grief that envelops an entire community when a child is murdered,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “The Department of Justice is determined to achieve justice for these victims and their loved ones.”

Coleman was previously charged with the same crimes in a federal complaint filed in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors said they intend to dismiss that complaint.

Coleman is expected to make his first court appearance for the indictment on Thursday in the United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

He will later appear in the US District Court in San Diego where his case will be prosecuted.

“The murder of a child is difficult to understand under any circumstances,” said Kristi K. Johnson, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “I’m proud of the quick investigative efforts by FBI Agents, the Santa Barbara Police Department, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and our Mexican counterparts which led to the arrest of Mr. Coleman as he entered the United States, and I look forward to delivering justice for the young victims and their family.” 

According to the criminal complaint, Coleman's wife contacted the Santa Barbara Police Department to report her husband had left the couple's home with their children in a Sprinter van and she did not know where they had gone.

The next day, Coleman's wife filed a missing persons report. Using a computer application, she was able to determine that Coleman's phone had been in Rosarito on Sunday afternoon.

The complaint continued saying the same phone-locating service was used on Monday and showed that Coleman’s phone was near the San Ysidro Port of Entry at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The FBI dispatched colleagues in San Diego to contact Coleman, who entered the United States in the Sprinter van without the children. When the children were not found, FBI agents contacted law enforcement officials in Rosarito and learned that Mexican authorities that morning had recovered the bodies of two children matching the description of Coleman’s children.

After further investigation, FBI agents took Coleman into custody at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.