A woman is accused of attempting to poison her husband, a U.S. Army airman, by pouring chlorine into his coffee.
Melody
Felicano Johnson, 39, from Arizona was arrested and charged with
attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and adding harmful
substances to food, drink, or medicine.
Melody Johnson and her
husband Roby have a child together and are going through a divorce,
court documents showed, according to FOX 10.
The documents
stated that Roby began to notice his coffee tasted odd while he was
drinking a cup in March when the family was stationed in Germany. He
drank the coffee for two or three weeks before purchasing pool testing
strips to determine what was wrong with it.
First, he tested
the tap water, which reportedly came back normal, but after conducting
the test on his coffee, he discovered the drink contained high levels of
chlorine.
Roby pretended to drink the coffee while stationed
in Germany and waited until the family moved back to Tucson, Arizona,
this summer to alert authorities because he did not want to report his
findings in Europe, according to court documents.
When the
family returned to U.S. soil in late June, Roby set up a camera inside
their temporary housing in a hotel room near Davis Monthan Air Force
Base to observe his wife's behavior – and the camera allegedly captured
her pouring bleach into his coffee.
On July 6, he filed a
report with the Tucson Police Department, but police did not follow up
because the video allegedly did not clearly show what liquid his wife
was pouring into his drink, prompting Roby to set up a second camera
disguised as a fire alarm.
After the family moved into their permanent home on July 7, Roby reinstalled the cameras in that residence.
Roby
returned to the police department on July 18 to provide additional
video evidence, and the new footage allegedly showed his wife pouring
bleach into the coffee machine before brewing. She was then arrested.
When
police searched the home, they found that the coffee machine smelled
like bleach. Officers also discovered a small container inside her
personal bathroom that they said could have contained bleach.
The couple had separate bedrooms and bathrooms, according to court documents.
Johnson
is in jail on a $250,000 bond. A high bail amount was requested because
she recently purchased a home in the Philippines, which is where her
family lives, according to local news outlet AZ Family.
Court documents said Roby believes she tried to kill him to collect benefits.
