An Arizona mom, Melody Felicano Johnson, pleaded guilty to two counts of poisoning her US Air Force husband, Roby Johnson, with bleach in his coffee maker. The incidents occurred in July while the couple was still living together in Germany and Arizona during their divorce proceedings. Roby suspected his coffee tasted strange in March and caught Melody on hidden cameras pouring bleach into the coffee maker on July 16. He shared the videos with the police, who detained Melody on July 18.
Initially facing an attempted murder charge, Melody pleaded guilty to the lesser crimes of poisoning food or drink, resulting in the dismissal of the more severe charge. Roby believed his wife was attempting to kill him to collect his life insurance benefits. He had stopped drinking the coffee once he suspected Melody of poisoning him in Germany and continued to gather evidence against her with hidden cameras in their home in Arizona.
By setting up hidden cameras in their home, Roby was able to catch Melody pouring bleach into his coffee maker on camera, providing crucial evidence for the police. The cameras captured Melody pouring bleach from a large bottle into a smaller container in the laundry room, then pouring the contents of the smaller container into the water basin of the coffee maker in the kitchen. Roby also filmed himself testing the water from the coffee maker to collect more evidence against his wife.
Following the discovery of the poisoning attempts, Melody was detained by the Tucson Police Department on July 18. She remains in custody since her arrest, considered a flight risk due to having family and property in the Philippines. Melody will be sentenced on May 10 and faces up to two years in prison, although she could potentially be released for time served as the minimum sentence is four months. The airman believes his wife was trying to poison him for financial gain, as he suspected she was after his life insurance benefits.
