Army Pfc. Dewayne Johnson, 28, was charged with murder Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, for the death of his wife and unborn baby. (Joshua Linfoot/U.S. Army)
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The 28-year-old soldier whose pregnant wife went missing in early August from a Hawaii Army base was charged with murder Wednesday for the death of his wife and unborn baby, the Army said Thursday.
Pfc. Dewayne Arthur Johnson II was also charged with obstruction of justice and the possession of child pornography “based on evidence obtained through the ongoing investigation,” according to a statement by the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel at Fort Belvoir, Va.
Mischa Johnson, 19, was six months pregnant when her husband reported her missing on Aug. 1 from their home on Schofield Barracks in central Oahu.
Johnson’s body has not been found, and the case remains under investigation.
Agents with the Army Criminal Investigation Division told the family of Mischa Johnson that based on evidence found in the home and the soldier’s car, they believe she is dead, Marianna Tapiz, the missing woman’s older sister, said in an Instagram livestream in August.
The charges made Wednesday were in addition to similar ones made earlier by the same office, said Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman with the special trial counsel.
He was charged on Aug. 27 with making false statements, obstructing justice and distributing child pornography.
Johnson is from Frederick, Md., and has served as a cavalry scout with the 25th Infantry Division since June 2023.
He was taken into custody Aug. 7 and is confined on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.
Johnson awaits a preliminary hearing, which is required before charges can be referred for trial by general court-martial under Uniform Code of Military Justice regulations.
If the charges are referred, he would be arraigned. A military judge would schedule pre-trial hearings and the trial.
Johnson’s report of his missing wife set of a flurry of searches on and around Schofield Barracks, which is the largest Army base in the state.
Johnson told officers with the Honolulu Police Department and military police that his wife was “emotionally distraught.”
He led his platoon on a 6-mile search for his wife near the base days after he reported her missing, Tapiz said in the August livestream.
The missing woman’s family has pleaded for eyewitnesses to come forward so that her body can be found.
The Army CID asks anyone with information regarding Mischa Johnson to call its field office at 808-208-0559 or at cid.army.mil/tips.
