Dad who 'killed kids with speargun' pens letter from jail: 'Begged'

A father accused of killing his two young children with a speargun has reportedly penned an emotional letter from jail, asking for forgiveness.

Matthew Taylor Coleman allegedly killed two-year-old Kaleo and 10-month-old Roxy on August 9 after driving them to Mexico from their Santa Barbara home.

Two days earlier, Coleman and his wife Abby had been packing for a family camping trip when he abruptly took the children and drove away.

In letters sent to a friend from his prison cell, Coleman reportedly “begged for forgiveness”.

“He's really despondent and hopeless," the recipient of the letter told PEOPLE.

"He's alone with his thoughts 24/7. He's reflecting on the mistakes he made in life and wondering if there's any chance for redemption.

"He poured out his heart. He begged for forgiveness, but says that he's now where he deserves to be."

QAnon believer thought his children were 'serpents'

Coleman was detained at the US border checkpoint just hours after his children’s deaths, where during an interview with an FBI agent "he explained that he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife, A.C, possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children", according to the affidavit.

"Coleman stated that he believed his children were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them," the criminal complaint said.

Police allege Coleman checked himself and the kids into a hotel near Tijuana on Saturday August 7.

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Mexican authorities claim that during his stay, Coleman left the hotel at 2:54am on Monday with his son and daughter but returned around 6:30am without them, ABC News reported.

Early that morning in the small town of Rosarito, just over half an hour’s drive from Tijuana, a resident was shocked to discover blood splattered outside his home.

Shaken, he told his neighbour who investigated with his dog and soon found the bodies of the children under a shrub.

“Maybe I was nervous, but I couldn’t figure out if I saw two feet or three. So I got a little closer, and I realized it was two little children,” Roberto Salinas Ramirez told Rolling Stone in October.

The children were lying side-by-side, with their backs together and were both only wearing nappies.

Coleman, a former surfing instructor, was indicted on murder charges in September, and if convicted he could face the death penalty.

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