Who Is Melody Johnson? Woman Accused of Poisoning Airman Husband

A wife has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to poison her husband by lacing his coffee with bleach over a period of several months.

Melody Felicano Johnson was arraigned on Friday after her husband, Roby Johnson, went to police claiming to have caught her red-handed in a sting operation after he set up hidden cameras in their home in Tucson, Arizona. The couple, who share a child together, are in the middle of divorce proceedings but still lived together. The husband "believes she was trying to kill him to collect death benefits," according to court documents.

Melody Johnson, who is 39 according to Arizona Family 13 News, has been charged with attempted first-degree homicide, aggravated assault, and adding poison to food/drink. She has denied all the charges.

The allegations come amid a rise in domestic violence in recent years, with some experts suggesting COVID-19 stresses and lockdowns may have contributed to create a "pandemic within a pandemic." On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), which equates to more than 10 million people each year. While women are much more likely to be attacked, men can be victims of domestic violence too, and in some extreme cases the abuse is only discovered after the man has been murdered by his partner. One in seven women and one in 25 men have been injured by an intimate partner, according to the NCADV.

Melody Johnson's husband has been named by CNN as Roby Johnson, who is in the U.S. Air Force. He instigated the investigation himself after claiming to have become suspicious while the couple were stationed on a base in Germany earlier this year.

Court documents filed on July 18 set out the alleged crimes and state that he noticed his "coffee was tasting bad" back in March. He continued to drink it for up to three weeks, but then tested the beverage with pool chemical testing strips that showed high levels of chlorine in the coffee but not in the tap water. After suspecting his daily coffee was being tampered with, he set up a hidden camera "which showed Melody pouring something into his coffee pot," according to the court document.

Roby Johnson decided not to report the alleged poisoning to authorities in Germany, preferring to wait until the couple returned to the U.S. on June 28. He pretended he was still consuming the coffee, but he never drank it again, records state.

Once back on American soil, the couple were placed in temporary housing at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where Roby Johnson again set up a hidden camera that he alleged showed his wife tampering with his coffee maker. He went to Tucson Police Department on July 6 "and filed a report that Melody was trying to poison him by pouring bleach into his coffee maker."

Officers reportedly felt the video was unclear and inconclusive, the court record states, so the husband purchased better-quality hidden cameras designed to look like a smoke alarms and, when the family moved into their permanent housing on the base, he filmed his wife again in early July.

Newsweek reached out to Tucson Police Department seeking further information and comment by email on Monday, and asking why officers initially decided not to investigate the alleged attempted murder case. A spokesperson replied saying: "Unfortunately we are not able to provide any comment as this is an open and ongoing investigation. Thank you for your understanding."

The husband eventually had cameras in "the laundry room where the bleach was kept, one directly over the coffee maker, and another that showed [her] walking from the laundry to the coffee maker," court records state. He alleged the video footage showed her "take bleach, pour it into a container, and then walk over and pour it into the coffee maker," which was only ever used by him.

A search warrant was executed and investigators allegedly noted the liquid inside the drinks machine "smelled like bleach."

Melody Johnson was arrested with bond set at $250,000 because prosecutors argued that she was a "possible flight risk," as she has family in the Philippines and recently bought a home there.

She is being held at the Pima County Jail until she is next due to appear in court on September 6.

Anyone seeking help should call The National Domestic Violence Hotline, a free and confidential hotline available 24/7 that can be reached on 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224. The Hotline also provides information on local resources. For more information, visit thehotline.org