Melody Felicano Johnson poisoned her husband, an Air Force serviceman, with bleach by secretly sneaking it into his coffee maker, say cops in Tucson, Arizona. (Mugshot: Pima County Sheriff’s Department)
A certain Air Force member has a nightly routine in which he prepares his coffee for the next morning, but his wife took advantage of that to pour bleach in the machine, according to cops in Tucson, Arizona.
Cops accuse Melody Felicano Johnson, 39, of domestic violence attempted first degree homicide, domestic violence attempted aggravated assault, and adding poison to food/drink. Records show she remains at the Pima County Jail without bond.
The couple have a child and live together, but they were going through a divorce, officers wrote in the complaint.
The husband had been stationed in Germany in March 2023. That’s when he started noticing his coffee was tasting bad.
“He continued to drink the coffee for the next 2-3 weeks and then ended up buying some pool chemical testing strips as the coffee continued to taste very bad to him,” authorities wrote.
Results returned normal when he tested the water from the faucet, but water in his coffee pot showed high levels of chlorine, police said.
The husband said he believed someone was tampering with his coffee, so he set up a camera in his home.
It allegedly captured his wife pouring something into his coffee pot.
“He stated she knew that he would prep his coffee pot to be ready at night so that in the morning he just needed to turn it on to make his coffee,” documents show. “At that time he stopped drinking the coffee but continued to pretend to drink it as he did not want to make a report of this while in Germany.”
The couple returned to the United States on June 28 and wound up on July 1 at the Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson on July 1. They stayed in temporary housing on the base.
The husband set up another hidden camera again on July 5. This allegedly showed the defendant pour something into the water reservoir of his coffee maker.
He went to Tucson police the next day and filed a report that she was trying to poison him by pouring bleach into his coffee maker.
“He showed the officers at the front desk the video but since you could not clearly see what she was pouring into the coffee maker the report was taken with no follow up,” authorities wrote.
After that, the husband purchased more secret cameras, which look like fire alarms. These attached to the ceiling, police said.
When the couple wound up in permanent housing, the husband installed one in the laundry room, where he and his wife kept the bleach; another directly over the coffee maker; and a third showing a path between the laundry room and coffee maker, according to cops.
Videos from these vantage points allegedly showed Johnson take the bleach, pour it into a container, and then walk over to pour it into the coffee maker.
The husband said the coffee maker belongs to him, and he is the only person to ever drink from it. He suggested she was trying to kill him for life insurance benefits.
Cops arrested Johnson at the couple’s home. She invoked her right to an attorney, so investigators did not question her, according to documents.
Officers executed a search warrant on the home, officers wrote. They claimed to find a liquid, which smelled like bleach, in the coffee maker.
Police recommended the court treat her as a high bond risk because she has family in the Philippines and recently purchased a house there.
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