“From Love to Lethal!” An Arizona Woman Who Poisoned Her Air Force Husband’s Coffee With Bleach Escapes Prison Time

An Arizona woman who admitted to poisoning her Air Force spouse by putting bleach into his coffee has avoided jail time.

Melody Felicano Johnson, 40, pled guilty last month to two charges of food or drink poisoning after putting trace amounts of bleach into her husband Roby Johnson’s coffee maker on July 11 and 18, 2023, according to Arizona 13 News.

Johnson was sentenced to probation, which includes required mental health therapy that begins immediately, and she is not permitted to contact her spouse unless a legal team is present. According to court filings, Roby Johnson claimed that his wife was trying to kill him in order to collect death benefits.

She was initially detained and charged with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and introducing hazardous chemicals into food, drink, or medicine, but she agreed to a plea deal instead.

Roby noticed his coffee tasted strange when drinking a cup in March 2023, while the family was stationed in Germany. He drank the coffee for two or three weeks before buying pool testing strips to find out what was wrong with it.

First, he checked the tap water, which came back OK, but after testing his coffee, he discovered it contained excessive levels of chlorine.

He added that she was aware that he would prepare his coffee pot the night before so that he could just turn it on in the morning to brew his coffee. Roby pretended to drink the coffee while stationed in Germany and alerted authorities only after the family returned to Tucson, Arizona, last summer because he did not want to report his findings in Europe, according to court filings.

When the family returned to the United States in late June, Roby installed a camera inside their temporary housing near Davis Monthan Air Force Base to monitor his wife’s behavior, which allegedly caught Melody putting bleach into his coffee.

On July 6, he filed a report with the Tucson Police Department, but officers did not investigate since the video did not clearly indicate what liquid his wife was pouring into his drink, prompting Roby to set up a second camera disguised as a fire alarm. On July 18, Roby went to the police department to offer fresh video evidence, which purportedly showed his wife pouring bleach into the coffee machine before brewing. Johnson was subsequently detained.