QANON has fueled child kidnappings and murders with brainwashed parents abducting and killing their own kids after becoming consumed by the group's warped conspiracy theories.
Several horrifying incidents in the US over the few years have been linked to the wide-ranging theory, which in part claims that a cabal of left-wing cannibalistic pedophiles is running a global child sex trafficking ring.
Followers of Q also believe there is a "deep state" effort to annihilate former President Donald Trump.
The baseless theory, which has been deemed a domestic terror threat by the FBI, rose to prominence under Trump's term in office.
Trump even embraced QAnon in August last year, praising its followers for supporting him and shrugging off its outlandish and fictitious theories.
"I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate," he said from the White House briefing room.
"I have heard that it's gaining in popularity. I've heard these are people that love our country and they just don't like seeing it."
MATTHEW COLEMAN
QAnon has previously been linked to violence, murders and even has shared blame for the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol as its spread has become intertwined with elements of right-wing politics in the US.
The latest in a series of horrific incidents linked to the far-flung theory came this week following the arrest of 40-year-old Mathew Coleman who was arrested in Mexico after allegedly murdering his two young children with a spear gun.
Coleman, who owns a surfing school in Santa Barbara, reportedly told investigators that he killed his two-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter because he believed they were "serpent monsters."
"He believed his children were going to grow into monsters and he had to kill them," an affidavit states.
He was detained at a border checkpoint in San Ysidro on Monday after his wife tipped authorities off about his location after using the Find My iPhone tool.
She had initially reported him missing on Saturday after he left home with the two children in their van and never came home again.
'ENLIGHTENED BY QANON'
Coleman reportedly told investigators about the "signs" that led to him taking his children's lives. He also said he "was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy" prior to committing the horrific act, investigators said.
According to the affidavit, Coleman explained that he was "receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife, A.C., possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children."
While he allegedly admitted that he knew killing his children was wrong, he saw it as "the only course of action that would save the world."
He then drove from 200 miles from the family's home in Santa Barbara to Rosarito in Mexico where he allegedly carried out the murders on Monday morning.
Coleman reportedly detailed for agents how he first stabbed his son Kaleo in the heart with a spearfishing gun, followed by his daughter Roxy.
'SERPENT DNA'
When they didn't die right away Coleman stabbed his son 17 and his daughter 12 more times, cutting his own hand in the process. He did not fire the gun.
He then dubbed their bodies in a field and disposed of the speargun in a river.
Coleman was detained alone as he attempted to cross back over into the US. He is now facing a federal charge of the foreign murder of U.S. nationals.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Baja, California's Attorney General Hiram Sanchez said that Coleman was well aware of the consequences of his actions.
"We are talking about someone who was educated and had degrees," he said.
"It was clear to him of the consequences he could face for the actions he was taking."
LILIANA CARRILLO
The sickening incident involving Coleman came just months after mother Liliana Carrillo was consumed by a rabbit-hole of QAnon-like conspiracies that led her to drown her three young children.
Police said Carillo became convinced that her hometown of Porterville, California, was the site of a widespread child sex-trafficking ring, court records show.
In March, a month before carrying out the murders, Carillo started making wild allegations of child abuse against the kids' father, Erik Denton.
Social workers and police in two counties were dragged into the dispute. Denton also convinced a judge to award him physical custody of their three children, believing their lives were in danger.
However, three-year-old Joanna, two-year-old Terry, and six-month-old Sierra remained with their mother.
Then, the day before she was due to hand the children over, Carillo's mother discovered her three grandchildren dead in the apartment they shared.
In a television interview from jail, Carillo confessed to reporters that she killed her children to protect them from sex trafficking.
“I drowned them,” she said, adding that she did so "softly."
"I hugged them and I kissed them and I was apologizing the whole time," she added. "Do I wish that I didn’t have to do that? Yes. But I prefer them not being tortured and abused on a regular basis for the rest of their lives."
JOHN PAUL JENNINGS
A third child murder linked to QAnon happened in Oklahoma City in September, when Joshua Paul Jennings was arrested for the killing of 10-month-old Paisley Cearley, the daughter of his girlfriend.
A month prior, 33-year-old Jennings had posted the QAnon-linked slogan #SaveOurChildren to his Facebook page.
The slogan was originally part of the Save the Children charity but has been hijacked by those who believe in the bizarre conspiracy theory.
He wrote: “Y’all know I don’t get on here much and post any more. One, because life has been crazy with work, moving, etc.
"And two, because I don’t feel the need to live my life through social media.
"However…This #SaveOurChildren movement train I will GLADLY hop on. Blow it up on my page if you feel froggy.”
Within weeks, local police were summoned to Mercy Minor Emergency Clinic after being informed a baby had been brought in with critical injuries.
Little Paisley died hours later.
It's unclear what wounds she suffered, but prosecutors say Jennings caused the girl's death by "willfully and/or maliciously injuring or using unreasonable force” and “thereby inflicting certain mortal wounds."
He was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and remains behind bars.
DELUSIONS AND FICTION
Like Carillo and Jennings, parents or guardians of children appear to become increasingly mistrustful of the social services networks put in place to protect their kids once they become sucked into QAnon.
The #SaveTheChildren movement last summer helped the disturbing theories ideas reach a new wave of followers as it went viral on Facebook and Twitter amid the pandemic.
It is a chilling overlap between the struggles of real family life, and the imagined fantasy world of the online conspiracy forums.
Social media platforms continue to try and police QAnon, but the tech giants are playing a game of whack-a-mole as the stream of misinformation and conspiracy theories continues to flow.
QAnon has also become an increasingly broad church of ideas as it swallows up other conspiracies, including anti-vax rhetoric, claims that Covid is a hoax, and the so-called "sovereign citizens".
"Sovereign citizens" believe the government has no power over them as they do not consent to being governed – citing various out-of-date laws, precedents, and general misunderstanding of the legal system.
VIOLENT LINKS
A number of other heinous crimes have been liked back to QAnon in the last year.
Mom-of-two Neely Petrie-Blanchard, 34, allegedly shot dead her own lawyer in Colorado back in November last year because she believed he was part of a government cabal stealing her children.
Meanwhile, dad-of-five Alpalus Slyman, 29, led cops on a 20-mile police chase in Boston in June 2020 with his kids in the backseat screaming for him to stop.
Slyman live-streamed the chase on social media, in which he was heard saying "QAnon, help me. QAnon, help me."
Slyman had reportedly had become convinced that his oldest daughter and her mom were part of a plot against him, and the police were coming to abduct his children.
He ranted at his children about a video of Hillary Clinton eating children's brains – and the chase only ended when he crashed his minivan into a tree.
QAnon mom Emily Jolley also snatched her six-year-old son Terran Butler, taking the boy during a court-supervised visit on September 26 in Greater Salt Lake, Utah.
Her Facebook page was found to be awash with conspiracy theories – including anti-Vax and Covid denial posts – and she had repeatedly claimed her son had been "legally kidnapped".
She baselessly accused her son's dad Timothy of being part of a child sex trafficking ring – in classic QAnon style – and pals said she spent months planning the snatch.
Her mom Laraian was also arrested for obstructing cops as she also claimed to have an arrest warrant for the dad from a made-up court – with Jolley later protesting the real arrest warrants against her were "fake".
And then Cynthia Acbug from Colorado is alleged to have plotted with other QAnon believers to have had her son kidnapped from foster care.
She lost custody of her son when she was suspected to have been lying about his health problems in January 2019, and then lost custody of her 15-year-old daughter when she revealed her mom's plot.
Police say Acbug told her daughter that her brother was being raised by "evil Satan worshippers" and "pedophiles".
Her daughter reportedly told cops her mom had "gotten into some conspiracy theories" and she was "spiraling down it" since her brother had been removed.
TERROR THREAT
QAnon has been previously labeled a “domestic terror threat” by the FBI over its tendency the inspire violence.
QAnon's narratives now seem to be focused on fantasies that either Trump is on the cusp of returning to office, or is secretly still running the government from Mar-a-Lago.
It continues to fixate on unsubstantiated claims that the election of somehow stolen from Trump.
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