Mischa Mabeline Kaalohilani Johnson, 19, the pregnant wife of a service member, was last seen in her home at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on the evening of July 31, 2024. (Honolulu Police Department)
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — The family of a 19-year-old wife of a Hawaii-based soldier who went missing three weeks ago said Thursday that Army investigators told them they do not believe she is alive.
Mischa Johnson, who is six months pregnant, was reported missing from her home at Schofield Barracks in central Oahu on Aug. 1 by her husband, Pfc. Dewayne Arthur Johnson II.
The Army announced on Monday that Johnson had been arrested in connection with the disappearance.
Johnson, of Frederick, Md., is a cavalry scout with the 25th Infantry Division, where he was assigned in June 2023.
He is being held on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Marianna Tapiz, Mischa’s older sister, said in a lengthy Instagram video livestreamed Thursday.
Tapiz and Frances Tapiz-Andrian, mother of the sisters, pleaded throughout the broadcast for eyewitnesses to come forward with any information about Dewayne Johnson’s actions during the last weeks of July.
Marianna Tapiz talks about her sister, Mischa Johnson, who went missing more than three weeks ago from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in this screenshot from an Instagram livestream on Aug. 22, 2024. (Instagram)
“What we need to know is anything about DJ,” Tapiz said, using her brother-in-law’s nickname. “That’s kind of the focus right now. The focus is no longer – I mean, of course it’s still ‘bring her home,’ but now it’s switching to justice for Mischa.”
She said Army Criminal Investigation Division agents told the family that based upon evidence found in the home and in the soldier’s car, a red Ford Mustang, they believe Mischa is dead.
Mark Lunardi, a spokesman for Army CID, said in an email Friday that “at this time Army CID is unable to provide any additional information in order to preserve the integrity of this ongoing investigation.”
Tapiz said Johnson has been in custody since Aug. 7.
The CID has a receipt and surveillance recordings from a hardware store in which Dewayne Johnson made “questionable purchases,” Tapiz said.
“They have a receipt; they have footage, but they need a witness to come out and say, ‘I saw this guy buying this,” she said.
U.S. Army Pfc. Dewayne Johnson, a cavalry scout assigned to 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, applies face paint during an exercise at Helemano Military Reservation, Hawaii, Nov. 2, 2023. (Joshua Linfoot/U.S. Army)
“If you saw [his car] on the side of the road doing something suspicious, we ask you, please say something,” she said.
Tapiz-Andrian fell to her knees sobbing during the livestream.
“I failed as a mom,” she said. “I failed as a parent. I failed my child. I failed Mischa.
“I’m pleading with everyone on island and in the United States, come out, please, come out with anything. Call CID. I can’t even bury my daughter. Please don’t fail Mischa.”
Anonymous tips can be submitted to the CID via an online form at www.p3tips.com/tipform.aspx?ID=325 or by calling 808-208-0059.
Tapiz-Andrian said she had a phone conversation with Mischa on July 12, which was the last contact the family had with her other than text messages.
During that conversation, Mischa told her mother that her husband had been unfaithful, Tapiz said.
When he reported his wife missing on Aug. 1, Dewayne Johnson told the Honolulu police and military police that Mischa was “emotionally distraught.”
That claim came as a surprise to her family, who said they saw no signs of such distress.
“She was so excited to be a housewife … she’s always so happy,” Tapiz said. “You guys see it in the pictures. We were just all taken aback by it.”
