Thanks in part to a butt dial, Texas authorities have arrested a second person in the death of a missing flight attendant whose body has yet to be found.
Joni Thomas, 62, is accused of tampering with evidence, according to the Fort Worth Police Department. She is accused of assisting her friend, 66-year-old Dennis William Day, in dumping the body of Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, who was reported missing in June. Day allegedly admitted to killing Soluri and is now facing murder charges.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by local NBC affiliate KXAS, Day contacted Thomas after killing Soluri. She drove over in her pickup truck, which was reportedly used to transport the body from the Fort Worth home to Bowie, where it was discarded. Thomas initially claimed ignorance of the incident, claiming Day had not driven her truck. Then she admitted that he drove the truck, but she fell asleep when he stopped to use the restroom.
However, cops discovered evidence that allegedly proves otherwise. An apparent butt dial resulted in an accidental voicemail on Thomas’ phone, which recorded the two moving something heavy.
A male voice can be heard saying “Hey… help me,” “Make sure the lid’s on” followed by “I’m I got you messed up in this.”
Police arrested Thomas late last month, and he has since bonded out of jail.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Soluri’s coworker reported her missing in June, but she had not been seen since March.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by Dallas-based Fox affiliate KDFW, the victim’s decision to take a leave of absence earlier this year contributed to the wide gap.
The concerned coworker stated that Soluri had left her job as a flight attendant for minor surgery and was expected to return on March 31.
She never did.
The coworker told investigators that a conversation on March 19 appeared to end abruptly, even in the middle.
According to the affidavit, police started working on the case as a missing person investigation and immediately had Day on their radar.
That’s because a coworker told police the couple had been living together for about a year. She also gave investigators a video dated March 19 that appeared to show Soluri and her handgun in sight. In the video, a man shouts off-camera.
Travel receipts for the victim revealed a strange situation. Soluri had not taken an airplane for work or pleasure since October 2024, according to police. When investigators questioned a supervisor, she stated that not showing up and not calling was unusual for her, as she had previously worked as a flight attendant for five years.
The affidavit states that officers towed Soluri’s vehicle from Day’s home on Grantland Circle in eastern Fort Worth in May.
Day, for his part, allegedly stated that the vehicle had been parked for approximately two months, or as long as he had not seen his roommate. The defendant also claimed that he moved some of her belongings into a storage shed and did not “express knowledge or concern” for her.
As it turned out, the “brand new” car had been purchased only two weeks before it was abandoned, raising suspicions.
According to police, during a welfare check on June 10, Day described Soluri as a long-time friend. The defendant allegedly confirmed Soluri was living with him, but claimed he hadn’t seen or heard from her in three months.
On June 18, police executed a search warrant for Soluri’s cellphone. She made her last phone call on March 21 at 3:43 p.m. Finally, at 3:52 p.m., her cellular phone pinged a tower for the final time; she was about five miles east of home.
On June 23, police met with the defendant at his home, where he again denied any knowledge of or involvement in the woman’s disappearance. According to police, he also consented to the search. As a result of the authorized search, investigators obtained video surveillance footage from the night of March 21, which led to Day’s arrest.
According to the arrest affidavit, Day was seen around 10 p.m. that night dragging “what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard.” According to police, the clip ends there and does not record again for several days.
When confronted with the evidence, the man allegedly confesses.
Day claimed he realized Soluri was filming him and threatened to call police when he “snapped,” according to police. The defendant alleges that he then grabbed her by the neck and choked her until she died. Day allegedly told police that the strangulation occurred on the kitchen floor. After that, he dragged the woman’s body outside and turned off the surveillance system when he realized the tell-tale clue had been recorded, police said.
Later, the defendant claimed that he loaded the woman’s body into a black trash bin. Police said the woman’s remains were dumped over a bridge in Bowie, a small town about 70 miles northwest of Fort Worth. Regarding her cellphone, Day allegedly claimed he threw it into a river within city limits. Day also gave investigators the location of Soluri’s gun, which was later recovered.
Though the defendant accompanied police to several bridges near Bowie, Soluri’s remains have yet to be discovered.
Day is currently detained in the Tarrant County Jail on a $200,000 bond.
