An Arizona mom has pleaded guilty to poisoning her US Air Force husband after he caught her pouring bleach into his coffee maker on cameras he hid throughout their home.
Melody Felicano Johnson pleaded guilty to two counts of poisoning food or drink for dumping the deadly chemical into the coffee machine before Roby Johnson had his morning cup of joe on July 11 and July 18, 13 News reported.
Melody pleaded guilty to the lesser crimes and the attempted murder charge she initially faced was dismissed in return, according to the local news station.
The poisonings occurred while the couple was undergoing divorce proceedings but were still living together at the airman’s duty station in Germany and in Arizona.
Roby noticed his coffee began tasting strange while they were stationed in Germany in March and suspected his wife, the mother of his children, had been trying to poison him.
“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,” court documents show. “At that time he stopped drinking the coffee but continued to pretend to drink.”
Once back in Arizona, Roby set up hidden cameras in their home to try to catch his estranged wife in the act.
On July 16, Melody was filmed pouring liquid from a large bottle of bleach into a smaller container in the family’s laundry room.
Moments later, she was caught on another hidden camera walking into the kitchen and pouring the contents of the smaller container into the water basin of the coffee maker.
Roby also filmed himself testing the water from the coffee maker in an effort to collect more evidence to provide to police.
“You can smell it from here. You can smell it,” he announced in one clip.
“Look at that,” he said, pulling the positive, color-changing test out from the coffee maker. “Totally changed.”
In complete disbelief, Roby repeatedly said, “Wow,” and showed the bubbles inside the water holder of the coffee maker before ending the video.
He shared the videos with the Tucson Police Department, which detained Melody on July 18.
The airman believes his wife was trying to kill him to collect his life insurance benefits, according to court documents.
Melody was deemed a flight risk since she has family and property in the Philippines and has remained in custody since her arrest.
She will be sentenced on May 10. She faces up to two years in prison but could be released for time served as the minimum sentence is four months, according to 13 News.
