The woman's husband said she was trying to kill him to collect death benefits. (Representative pic)
A woman in the United States has pleaded guilty to poisoning her husband by pouring bleach into his coffee. According to Fox News, Melody Felicano Johnson, 40, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of adding poison or harmful substance to food or drink. She was originally charged with attempted first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty in August 2023. But she has now pleaded guilty to the lesser crimes and faces a sentence range of four months to two years in prison for each count.
The 40-year-old admitted to putting trace amounts of bleach in her husband's coffee pot on July 11 and July 18, 2023, as per Fox News. The husband, Roby Johnson, said he believed his wife was trying to kill him to collect death benefits.
Melody Felicano Johnson was first accused of poisoning Roby Johnson's coffee in March 2023, when he noticed a "foul taste" in the beverage. Mr Johnson, who is an Air Force member, was stationed in Germany with his wife when he first suspected his coffee was being poisoned. He used testing strips on his drink and set up video cameras in an attempt to catch Melody in the act.
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Mr Johnson used pool testing strips that revealed his coffee pot "showed high levels of chlorine". At first, he pretended to keep drinking the coffee in order to wait until they returned to the US before filing a police report. Once back, Mr Johnson set up hidden cameras in their home and caught his wife pouring bleach into his coffee.
The couple was living together with their child but they were in the process of getting a divorce, People reported. Melody was eventually detained on July 18 last year. Her bond was previously set at $250,000, as prosecutors argued that she was considered a flight risk because she recently bought a house in the Philippines. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 10.