Flight Attendant's Remains Found a Year After Disappearance; Roommate Charged

There is a particular cruelty in a death that goes unacknowledged for a year—a death that leaves a family suspended in the agony of not knowing, while the person responsible walks free, sometimes boasting that the absence of a body is his protection. For the loved ones of Rana Nofal Soluri, that suspension ended in June, when a fisherman found a body on the bank of Brushy Creek in Montague County, Texas. Two weeks ago, DNA testing confirmed what the fisherman's discovery had already suggested. The flight attendant, missing since March 2025, had been found. And her roommate, Dennis William Day, who had allegedly confessed to strangling her and dumping her body from a bridge, will now face a jury with the evidence he had gambled would never exist .

The details laid out in court documents describe a killing that followed a domestic dispute. Soluri, 47, worked for Envoy Air, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines. She had taken leave for minor surgery and was expected back at the end of March 2025. When she did not return and could not be reached, concerned coworkers reported her missing in June. Suspicion quickly fell on Day, her longtime friend and roommate of about a year. During a search of their Fort Worth home, investigators recovered surveillance footage from the night of March 21 showing Day dragging what appeared to be a lifeless body from the house into the backyard .

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Day told police he and Soluri had fought after she filmed him acting irate. When she threatened to call 911, he said he panicked and strangled her with his bare hands on the kitchen floor. He allegedly stuffed her body head-first into a black trash bin, drove about 65 miles to Bowie, and dumped her remains over a bridge. He also allegedly discarded her cellphone in a nearby river and disposed of her gun in a storm drain. Investigators recovered the weapon but were unable to locate Soluri's remains at the time .

The year that followed was one of waiting and uncertainty. Police searched the creeks and bridges near Bowie but found nothing. Rain and flooding may have swept her remains downstream, authorities said. Day was arrested in June 2025 and charged with murder. He was held on a $200,000 bond. Before the body was identified, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office filed a notice stating that Day had bragged to fellow inmates that he could not be convicted if his victim's remains were never found. That gamble, if it was one, failed. When the fisherman found the body, it was taken to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, where DNA analysis confirmed it belonged to Soluri. Police now believe her body may have been covered in mud when they searched the area a year earlier .

A second person has also been charged in connection with the case. Joni Thomas, 63, also known as Joanne Walters, was accused of helping Day dispose of the body. Investigators found an accidental voicemail on her phone in which a panicked Day can be heard asking for help to move Soluri, saying "Make sure the lid's on" and "I'm sorry I got you messed up in this." Thomas was indicted on a charge of tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. Her case is still pending

Soluri's body was released to her daughter, Lulu, who arranged for her mother's remains to be flown to Seattle for a Muslim burial in late September. The daughter is also planning to travel to Texas for an October court date, where she will release a statement. The murder case against Dennis Day continues. The body that was meant to be his defense has become the evidence against him.

AI Image Disclaimer: The images accompanying this article were generated by artificial intelligence and are for illustrative purposes only.

Sources: New York Post, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, NBC News, Daily Mail, Toronto Sun, News.com.au