An American Airlines flight attendant went missing, and her body has yet to be found. However, authorities say a Texas woman may have implicated herself and her friend after an accidental butt-dial phone call left behind a damning voicemail.
Rana Nofal Soluri — a 47-year-old flight attendant from Fort Worth — was reported missing on June 11.
‘It’s been torture.’
Soluri had been out of work since late March while recovering from minor surgery, the New York Post reported. Her co-workers at Envoy Air — an American Airlines subsidiary — reported Soluri missing after they purportedly were unable to contact her.
During a June 10 welfare check, police questioned 66-year-old Dennis William Day — Soluri’s roommate. According to the Post, Day told investigators that Soluri had been a longtime friend and had been living with him in Fort Worth but added he had not seen her for three months.
On June 23, police conducted a search of Day’s property and interviewed him again.
Citing an affidavit, NBC News reported that investigators also looked at surveillance video from the property.
Police said the surveillance video shows Day dragging “what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard” on March 21.
Coincidentally, detectives secured a search warrant for Soluri’s cell phone records, which reportedly show that the last call she made was on March 21, according to People magazine.
Day was arrested and booked into the Tarrant County Jail on June 26, according to jail records. Day was charged with murder and is being detained on a $200,000 bond.
On Aug. 26, police arrested a second suspect — 62-year-old Joni Thomas. She was charged with tampering with evidence. She has since been released on bond.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by KXAS-TV, Day convinced Thomas to let him use her pickup truck to transport Soluri’s body, and Thomas assisted Day in throwing the corpse off a bridge.
Thomas initially told investigators that she didn’t allow Day to use her truck, according to police. However, Thomas allegedly changed her story later.
Citing the arrest warrant, KXAS reported that investigators said Thomas later said Day did use her truck and that she was with him but didn’t know what was going on. In addition, it’s alleged that Thomas said she thought Day had stopped on the bridge to urinate, and then she fell asleep in the passenger seat, waking up in Day’s driveway.
However, Day allegedly admitted to authorities that he borrowed Thomas’ truck to dispose of a body.
According to the arrest warrant, police say cell phone records show Thomas drove to Day’s house after he allegedly killed Soluri, and both Thomas and Day left their phones at his house before driving to Bowie.
“This is a clear effort by both [Day] and [Thomas] to deceive law enforcement and make it appear like they never left [Day’s] house in Fort Worth, Texas, when they were dumping [Nofal’s] body in Bowie, TX,” police said in the warrant, according to KXAS.
Then, investigators discovered an accidental voicemail that could incriminate Day and spell trouble for Thomas.
According to the arrest warrant, a male and female can be heard speaking in the voicemail left on Thomas’ cell phone. The pair reportedly were talking about lifting something heavy.
A male can be heard saying, “Hey … help me,” “Make sure the lid’s on,” and “I’m sorry I got you messed up in this.”
Citing the arrest warrant, the New York Post reported that Day confessed to getting into an argument with Soluri after she allegedly recorded video of him acting irate and threatened to call 911. Day claimed he “snapped” and reacted by strangling his roommate with his bare hands, according to police.
The New York Post reported that police said he confessed to stuffing Soluri’s body into a black trash bin and dumping it off a bridge in the town of Bowie — roughly 70 miles north of Fort Worth.
The Post added that despite searches at multiple bridges in Bowie, Soluri’s body has not been recovered — and officials fear flooding may have pushed the body downstream.
Soluri’s sister, Nez, told KXAS that her family has been heartbroken: “It’s been torture. Every other day, I keep dreaming or wishing … maybe she bumped her head, had amnesia — something.”
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Murder, True crime, Rana nofak soluri, Homicide, Crime, Missing body, Cover-up, Accidental voice mail
