On July 12, 2024, Marianna Tapiz went to meet her younger sister, Mischa Johnson, at a restaurant to celebrate.
“I had announced my pregnancy. We were going to celebrate both of us being pregnant,” Marianna told Dateline. Mischa was about six months pregnant at the time. “We were so excited to spend time together,” Marianna said. “It should have been a happy time.”
But Mischa never showed up to dinner that night.
“So I’m like, ‘OK, where are you?’ And she [texts back] ‘Home wasn’t feeling good Sorry,’” Marianna remembered. “That doesn’t sound like my sister.” Mischa lives on Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, with her husband, Army Private First-Class Dewayne Arthur Johnson, who is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division. According to Marianna, Mischa and their mother went to Costco together on July 11, That was the last time anyone in the family physically saw Mischa. Their mother did speak to Mischa on the phone on July 12, before Marianna and Mischa were supposed to meet for dinner. That was the last time anyone in the family heard Mischa’s voice.
According to Marianna, the family received texts from Mischa’s phone from July 12-August 1, but her sister says they didn’t seem to be in Mischa’s usual texting style, either in tone or punctuation.
Last week, Special Agent Mark H. Lunardi from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the Department of the Army shared a statement with Dateline. On August 1, 2024, “Mischa Johnson, an Active-Duty dependent, was reported missing from her home on Schofield Barracks, HI, by her husband.” According to a missing poster on the CID’s website, Mischa was reportedly last seen on the evening of July 31 in her home.
Dateline asked Special Agent Lunardi to respond to specific questions about Mischa’s disappearance. “As this is an ongoing investigation, additional details cannot be provided at this time,” he responded. The statement shared last week noted that, “In cooperation with US Army Hawai’i and the Honolulu Police Department, Army CID initiated search efforts on- and off-post to locate Mischa; these efforts continue.” It went on to state that an “individual has been placed in military confinement in relation to this incident.” On August 19, a 25th Infantry Division Facebook post stated that the person in confinement is Mischa’s husband, Pfc. Dewayne Arthur Johnson. Special Agent Lunardi confirmed the information to be accurate in an email.
At the suggestion of the CID, Dateline reached out to the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel to inquire whether Johnson had been charged in the case and if he had representation who could provide comment on his behalf. On August 27, the OSTC shared a media release outlining the nature of the charges against Pfc. Johnson as “providing false official statements, obstruction of justice, and the production and distribution of child pornography.” The release went on to say “Pfc. Johnson is in pretrial confinement pending a preliminary hearing, which is required before charges can be referred for trial by general court-martial” and stressed the “charges are allegations and Pfc. Johnson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.” In the release, OSTC spokesperson Michelle McCaskill is quoted as saying the case is still an active investigation. “We are confident that law enforcement will exhaust all efforts to find Mischa,” she added. “And the likelihood of additional charges is certainly a possibility as the case develops.” In an email, McCaskill told Dateline she forwarded our request for comment to Johnson’s military defense counsel. “I’ve been advised that Johnson does not have civilian counsel at this time,” she added.
Dewayne Johnson being taken into custody was a shocking development for their family. “It definitely caught my family and I off guard,” Marianna Tapiz said. “They’re newlyweds, they were so in love.” Dewayne was a big part of the early search efforts after Mischa vanished. “He was doing a lot. He organized searches with his platoon,” Marianna said. “He and his mom came over to our grandmother’s house.”
Marianna says she has not been in contact with Dewayne or his mother since he was taken into confinement.
All she can think about is Mischa. When Dateline asked Marianna to describe her missing sister, she lit up.
“Mischa’s personality was so playful,” Marianna she said. And then she caught herself. “It’s so weird talking about her in the past tense,” she realized. “She enjoyed life.”
Army CID is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for credible information leading to Mischa’s recovery.
She is 5’2”, approximately 170 lbs., and of Filipino descent. She has a large dragon tattoo on her back and was six months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Army CID Pacific Field Office at (808) 208-0559, or via cid.army.mil/tips.
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