Arizona woman charged with trying to kill husband by repeatedly pouring bleach into his coffee machine during messy divorce
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- A woman poisoned her estranged husband by pouring bleach into his coffeemaker, prosecutors said.
- The couple is in the midst of a divorce, but still live and raise a child together, per NBC News.
- The husband believes his wife was trying to kill him to gain death benefits, court documents said.
A woman in Arizona used bleach to poison the coffee of her estranged husband, with whom she is going through a messy divorce, according to court documents seen by NBC News.
Melody Johnson was arrested on July 18 by Tucson police and indicted by a grand jury on Friday on charges of attempted first-degree homicide, attempted aggravated assault, and adding poison to food or drink.
She entered a not-guilty plea at her arraignment, per CNN.
Authorities said that the arrest came after her husband submitted video evidence to the police allegedly showing Johnson pouring a toxic substance into his coffee machine over a period of several months, according to NBC News.
The husband, whose name has not been publicly released, is a member of the Air Force, the local news outlet KVOA reported.
While the couple is still legally married and cohabiting with their child, they are in the midst of a divorce.
According to the court documents, the husband started noticing his coffee tasted weird at the end of March, while he was stationed for his work in Germany. Despite the strange taste, he continued drinking the coffee for two to three weeks before further investigating, the court documents said, per NBC News.
He then started using chemical testing strips, designed to be used in swimming pools, to test the water in his faucet, which showed no signs of chlorine, the court documents said.
However, the media outlet reported that the testing strips revealed "high levels of chlorine" in his coffee pot, according to the court documents.
In May, the husband set up a camera which the complaint said caught Johnson "pouring something into his coffee pot," NBC News reported.
He pretended to drink the coffee until returning to the US in late June, waiting to be on American soil before filing a police report, the news outlet reported.
During a temporary stay at a Tucson hotel, the husband set up another camera, with the footage showing Johnson again pouring something into the water reservoir of his coffee maker on July 5, according to the court documents.
The day later, he filed a police report, but police said it wasn't clear what was being poured into the pot, NBC News reported.
Insider reached out to Tucson Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.
The husband continued his attempt to catch his wife by installing additional cameras in their new house, including one near the laundry room where the bleach was stored, the court documents reviewed by NBC News said.
After gathering multiple videos allegedly depicting Johnson taking bleach and pouring it into the coffee maker, the husband shared his suspicions with the police, believing that his wife was attempting to end his life to gain death benefits, court documents said, per NBC News.
Court documents said that a search conducted under a warrant revealed a container containing a liquid with a bleach-like smell, with the liquid in the coffee maker also smelling like bleach, per NBC News.
Johnson is being held at the Pima County Jail.
Court records reviewed by CNN show that the suspect has a bond set at $250,000, which prosecutors said was necessary because Johnson is considered a flight risk owing to the fact that she recently bought a house in the Philippines near her family.