Hero dad charged with child abuse and torture after tragic hike in Utah mountains

 

Father charged with child abuse, torture after taking kids on winter hike in Utah

By Rachel Goodman  Global News

Posted November 27, 2025 3:48 pm

 3 min read

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Photo shows the Big Cottonwood Creek, in the Big Cottonwood canyon, near Salt Lake City. AP Photo / Rick Bowmer

A 31-year-old Utah father who was hailed as a hero for protecting his three young children on a winter hike last month is now facing child abuse and torture charges.

Micah Smith was commended in October for saving his family’s lives when he and his three children — an eight-year-old daughter, a four-year-old son and a two-year-old son — survived after becoming trapped in a winter storm while hiking in Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah.

The family were rescued a day after going missing. Two of the children were taken to the hospital in critical condition, while Smith and his third child were deemed to be in a fair and stable condition, the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

Smith was later described on a now-defunct GoFundMe page as having  “bravely sacrificed himself” to protect his children, People reported.

Now, he is facing multiple charges of aggravated child abuse and child torture, and is being held without bail, Salt Lake County jail records show.

“What seemed like an innocent hike with his three children quickly turned into a nightmare when the defendant chose to summit a mountain over the safety of the kids,” the indictment says, according to ABC4 Utah.

“During the 24-hour ordeal, the victims expressed that they were cold, tired and wanted to go home,” the documents allege, adding that they described Smith as “ill-prepared and selfish,” and as displaying odd behaviour and a lack of concern for his children when rescue services arrived.

Police say Smith reported leaving home with his children around 9 a.m. to go hiking and that they summitted around 6 p.m.

Shortly after reaching the top, the weather “turned into mist, fog, rain, and hail,” the documents allege. ABC 4 says he told officers that by 8 p.m., the family had descended 600 feet before he decided it was necessary to find shelter and attempted to fashion a protective screen using a rock and large sticks to keep the children warm.

Around this time, the documents allege that the two-year-old stopped breathing and that Smith performed CPR until he began breathing on his own.

According to charging documents, Smith told police that his two-year-old son fell and hit his head and appeared “dazed.”

It added that the eight-year-old told authorities their father had said they were going on a long hike, which ended with her also having to perform life-saving measures on the four-year-old as he also stopped breathing.

Deputies say Smith reported earlier during the hike that he had sent photos to his wife, who suggested they start making their way down the mountain.

He also allegedly told police he was “comfortable hiking in the dark without light,” despite his children saying they were frightened.

After being rescued, the four-year-old child reportedly underwent 25 minutes of CPR and remains in the hospital, where he suffered a stroke and had a portion of his skull removed, according to People.

Police allege that a video found on Smith’s phone, captured from the day of the hike, shows his eight-year-old asking, “Are we going to freeze to death, daddy?” The hike is known for being challenging, and is not recommended for children or beginners.

Smith apparently admitted to being unfamiliar with the trail.

Approaching Sodom > Australia banning kids from social media next month

 

Why is Australia banning children under 16 from social media – and can they enforce it?

EXPLAINER

ASIA / PACIFIC

Australia this week added popular forum Reddit and homegrown streaming platform Kick to its list of social media platforms that will be off-limits to children under 16 starting December 10. So just how will this unprecedented social media ban actually work?

Issued on: 07/11/2025 - 19:08

5 minReading time

By:

Paul MILLAR

A file photo showing a teenage boy using his phone in Sydney on Friday, November 8, 2024. © Rick Rycroft, AP

This summer, the Australian government is going to extraordinary lengths to make sure the country’s incredibly online teens touch grass.

Starting December 10, social media companies will face fines of up to roughly €28 million for failing to prevent people under 16 from having accounts on their platforms. For now, the ban will apply to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.

The Australian government on Wednesday expanded the list of restricted platforms to include Kick, a domestic competitor of streaming giant Twitch, and the online forum Reddit – currently the seventh most-visited site in the world.

Platforms designed solely for messaging, voice or video calling or online gaming are exempt from the restriction – Messenger, WhatsApp and Discord are all untouched by the ban.

Other exemptions include platforms primarily designed for education, professional networking and connecting users with healthcare providers or similar support services.

How will it work?

Teens and children under 16 will still be able to see content on restricted platforms that isn’t blocked off behind a log-in – so there’s nothing stopping a 12-year-old from watching a non-age-restricted video on YouTube or scrolling through a subreddit discussing their favourite fantasy series.

But they won’t be able to comment, or upload content of their own – and by staying logged out, the government says, they will avoid the kind of profit-driven personalised design features that push social media users to spend longer and longer at their screens, bombarding them with notifications and filling their feeds with ever-more extreme or upsetting posts.

A report released by Australia’s eSafety commissioner found that four out of five respondents between the ages of eight and 12 had used one or more social media platforms in 2024. 

"Online platforms use technology to target children with chilling control," Communications Minister Anika Wells said Wednesday. "We are merely asking they use that same technology to keep children safe online.”

Why is this happening?

The Australian government maintains that the restriction is a much-needed measure to fight back against what a growing body of research suggests is a worsening mental health crisis fuelled by excessive social media use.

One study in the US found that adolescents who spent more than three hours a day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health, including symptoms of anxiety or depression. By contrast, limiting social media use to under half an hour a day seemed to have positive mental health outcomes for both teenagers and adults.

Marilyn Bromberg, an associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the author of “Body Image Law: Revolutionising Images of Thin-Ideal Women”, said that a social media landscape saturated with images of figures conforming to unrealistic or unhealthily idealised beauty standards could have dire effects on teenagers’ feelings towards their own changing bodies.

“Essentially on social media we’ve got a lot of images of the thin ideal, of thin-ideal people, and there is a lot of research in psychology that has found that when people see images of the thin ideal, then it could harm their body image,” she said. “And that could potentially lead to developing eating disorders. Not for everyone of course, but for some people.”

She said that the government’s incoming ban was a long-overdue intervention in an industry that had for years been resistant to government regulation.

“I think that this ban is one of several actions that the Australian federal government should take to make social media safer,” she said. “I definitely don't think that having this ban will solve all the problems that exist with young people using social media, but it is one tool in what needs to be a very large toolkit to protect young people.”

What are the alternatives?

As well as simply restricting social media access, some researchers have called for laws that would force social media companies to be more transparent about how their algorithms were targeting young users.

Bromberg pointed to a proposed bill in the US state of Massachusetts that would require major social media platforms to submit to regular independent risk audits that would assess the harm their design posed to children, including mental health issues, eating disorders and addiction-like behaviour.

“These algorithm audits would take place regularly by independent third parties, and they would look for how social media is harming people,” she said. “And then social media [platforms] would have to respond to that, make changes and write transparency reports. And if social media don't make those changes, then they could face significant fines.”

Despite her personal support for Australia’s ban, though, she said that social media had also played a positive role in many young people’s lives.

“There are also a lot of benefits of using social media – we can't forget that,” she said. “So, when we talk about the harms, and they are very real, we can't forget that there are also many positive benefits from using social media – it can help with loneliness, it can help people connect with others.”

Can it even be enforced?

Just how tech titans will enforce the restriction has become the €28-million question – and it’s the companies, not children or parents, who will be punished if under-16s are able to slip through the cracks.

The same legislation launching the ban also prohibits social media companies from requiring users to prove their age using government-issued IDs, forcing them to offer at least one alternative method.

But a €3.6 million trial of age-detection tech commissioned by the Australian government found that facial age estimation software had “above acceptable levels” of false rejection rates for teens aged 16 and 17.

“False negatives will then be inevitable and alternative methods will be required to correct them,” the report said.  

Undeterred by these challenges, other countries have already begun to draw inspiration from the fast-approaching ban.

A French parliamentary committee in September recommended that children under 15 in France should be banned from using social media entirely, and suggested the government impose an overnight “digital curfew” for users between 15 and 18 years old. The curfew would stretch from 10pm to 8am.

Denmark on Friday announced that it would also be banning social media use for children under 15.

“Children should not be left alone in a digital world where harmful content and commercial interests are too much a part of shaping their everyday lives and childhoods,” the country’s digitalisation ministry said in a statement.

“This is a development that no parent, teacher or educator can stop alone."

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Drugs or Demons - Neither Mix with Children > Man murders his children because of QAnon conspiracy

 

Matthew Coleman, QAnon dad charged with slaughtering his kids, is ‘nearly incomprehensible’ behind bars as trial reaches deadline

By 

Steve Helling

Published Feb. 6, 2025, 7:43 a.m.                   

Matthew Taylor Coleman, the California QAnon follower accused of killing his two small children with a speargun, is still incompetent to stand trial, his attorneys say — and they have only days to agree to a treatment plan for him.

According to documents filed in federal court last month, attorneys on both sides have repeatedly asked the court to extend the deadlines for trial, because the 43-year-old is unable to help prepare his own defense.

The next hearing is on Feb. 18, and the judge has said there will be no more extensions in the case.

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Attorneys representing California QAnon follower Matthew Taylor Coleman, 43, who allegedly killed his two small children with a speargun, say he is still incompetent to stand trial.

Instagram

Feds are noting that there has been no discernible progress with Coleman’s mental health in the past several months.

Coleman has repeatedly tried to mutilate himself in federal lockup — cutting himself with a razor, diving headfirst into a toilet, punching himself in the face and repeatedly slamming his head against the floor, according to court records.

These are fairly typical signs of demonic possession. I'm assuming he doesn't get a lot of drugs in lockup, but that might be naive.

Coleman, who allegedly slaughtered Kaleo, 2, and Roxy, 10 months, in 2021 because he believed they had serpent DNA, is under constant observation — and authorities have started medicating him against his will, according to court records.

He has been medicated since May.

The Post has learned that Coleman has limited contact with his family — and when they talk, the former surf instructor is nearly incomprehensible.

“He rambles a lot,” said a Coleman family member. “And it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Something has happened, but he’s not the man we know and love. I don’t know what switched.”

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The Post has learned that Coleman has limited contact with his family — and when they talk, the former surf instructor is nearly incomprehensible.

Instagram

On Aug. 7, 2021, Coleman was packing for a family trip with his wife, Abby, when authorities say he abruptly and wordlessly put the two kids into his van and drove away. Coleman took his kids over the border into Mexico and stayed at a resort hotel for two days.

Then, investigators say, he drove his kids to a nearby farm, where he stabbed them both with a spearfishing gun. A farmer made the grim discovery within an hour of the killings.

Coleman was arrested as he attempted to re-enter the US.

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The next hearing will take place on Feb. 18, and there will be no more extensions in the case.

AFP via Getty Images

He has been charged with two counts of murdering US nationals on foreign soil.

When Coleman was arrested, he allegedly told the feds he killed his kids because he had been convinced by the QAnon conspiracy theory that they possessed serpent DNA and needed to be killed to protect the human race, according to a 30-page search warrant application released at the time.

Sometimes rambling incoherently, Coleman allegedly told FBI agents that he was “seeing all the pieces being decoded like ‘The Matrix,’ and that he was Neo,” the movie’s main character.

“He said visions and signs revealed his wife, A.C. [Abby Coleman], possessed serpent DNA ([He] mentioned that he was not sure if his wife was a shapeshifter) and 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,” reads the affidavit.

After Coleman’s arrest, his wife, Abby, left California and returned to her home state of Texas, where she currently lives, surrounded by her family. She has not yet filed for divorce, but the family source tells The Post that she is trying to pick up the pieces of her life.

“Obviously what she had is now gone forever, and she’s been dealing with that for more than three years,” says the source. “But she’ll never be the same. It’s still very sad.”

A court-appointed attorney for Coleman did not respond to a request for comment.

Please pray for Abby to heal and receive comfort.

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Gun Violence Declared a Public Health Emergency in New Mexico after 2 Children Shot and Killed

..

Gun Violence Declared a Public Health Emergency

BY ALISS HIGHAM ON 9/8/23 AT 8:40 AM EDT

Gun violence has been declared a public health emergency in New Mexico following the death of an 11-year-old boy.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham made the announcement following the death of a young boy in a shooting on a highway. Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina confirmed in a press briefing that a boy was killed and a second woman was taken to hospital in critical condition. They were attacked while traveling westbound on Avenida Cesar Chavez near University Boulevard. Neither of the victims have been named.

Declaring a public health emergency, Lujan Grisham shared a statement lamenting the death of the boy and the earlier unrelated killing of a five-year-old girl in the area. "Today, I join the family of an 11-year-old boy in mourning his violent death yesterday. And I mourn the loss of a 5-year-old girl murdered in her bed last month," the statement read.

"These are disgusting acts of violence that have no place in our communities. As a mother and grandmother, I cannot fathom the depth of these losses, and their effects will be felt by families, friends and communities forever."

She said new measures need to be brought in to end gun violence in the state and called for a meeting to determine what steps can be taken to reduce harm caused by guns. Lujan Grisham continued: "The time for standard measures has passed. Today I am declaring gun violence a public health emergency in New Mexico."

Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during a news conference February 16, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Lujan Grisham has signed an executive order over increasing gun violence in New Mexico.

ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES

The executive order signed by Lujan Grisham stated the "rate of gun deaths in New Mexico" had increased by 43 percent from 2009 to 2018, compared to an 18 percent increase nationwide. 

It also said guns are the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in the state.

Chief Harold Medina briefed the media about a shooting that resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy. Someone fired several shots at a truck the boy was in as it traveled westbound on Avenida Cesar Chavez near University Blvd. An adult female was also shot and hospitalized. 

In her comments, the governor urged New Mexicans to take action against gun violence, saying: "To my fellow citizens: get loud. Step up. Demand change: from your neighbors, from your friends, from your communities, from your elected leaders. Enough is enough."

Lujan Grisham's actions were met with derision from New Mexico House Republican Minority Leader Ryan Lane, who accused her of politicizing the death to "push her anti-gun agenda." Lane said in a statement: "The Democrat's policies have created and exacerbated the crime crisis that is literally killing New Mexicans daily. It is unacceptable that it has taken this long to notice the number of everyday New Mexicans that are being affected by criminal violence."

This is, of course, political suicide for Lujan Grisham. The NRA will dispose of her like last week's bag of trash.

Remember, it is almost always the children who pay for the madness of adults.