The body of a flight attendant has been found more than a year after she was strangled to death and reported missing, DNA evidence confirmed.
Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, was reported missing in June 2025 but was allegedly killed in March of that year by her friend and roommate, Dennis William Day, 66.
Day was charged with murder last year after allegedly confessing to strangling Soluri to death in the kitchen of their Fort Worth, Texas, home, before driving her body about 65 miles northwest and dumping it off a bridge near Bowie.
Soluri was last seen in March 2025 after taking a brief leave from her job with Envoy Air, a regional carrier under American Airlines. She had been recovering from minor surgery and was due to return by the end of the month but never showed up.
Concerned coworkers, alarmed by her uncharacteristic silence and sudden absence, eventually reported her missing in June.
Following Day’s alleged confession, investigators searched creeks and bridges near Bowie, but no trace of Soluri was found. Rain and flooding may have swept her remains downstream, authorities said at the time.
But in June of this year, a fisherman found a dead woman’s body on the bank of a creek below a bridge in the Bowie area, Fort Worth Police Department Homicide Unit Detective Tom O’Brien told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The body was taken to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, where a DNA analysis confirmed two weeks ago that it was Soluri’s remains, O’Brien said.
The body of flight attendant Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, was found in June, more than a year after she is believed to have been killed. DNA testing recently confirmed the identity of her remains
Dennis William Day, 66, allegedly confessed to strangling Soluri to death in the kitchen of the home they shared before dumping her body over a bridge 65 miles away
The flight attendant’s body may have been covered with mud during the initial search by police, as they had checked the location where she was later discovered by the fisherman, the detective said.
Before Soluri’s body was identified, Day bragged to fellow inmates in jail that it would be impossible to convict him of murder if his victim’s remains could not be found, according to a notice filed by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
The alleged murderer has been awaiting trial behind bars on a $200,000 bond since he was arrested last year.
Investigators said that Day told police he had fought with Soluri after she filmed him acting irate. When she threatened to call 911, he allegedly panicked and snapped.
His affidavit says he admitted to choking her with his bare hands until she died on the kitchen floor.
Surveillance footage recovered by police shows what appeared to be Day dragging a lifeless body into the backyard late on the night of March 21.
After dumping the body, Day allegedly threw her phone into the river and later disposed of her gun in a storm drain beneath I-35 and Pharr Street.
Investigators soon recovered the weapon, but they were unable to locate Soluri’s remains at the time.
Police said Soluri’s body may have been covered with mud during their initial search in 2025, as they had checked the location where she was later found this year
Day allegedly told police that he and Soluri had fought in the Fort Worth, Texas, home (pictured) they shared before he snapped and choked her
According to court documents, Day called his friend Joanne Walters, 62, for help shortly after the murder.
Walters, who is also known as Joni Thomas, arrived at his home in a pickup truck and the two allegedly used the vehicle to transport Soluri’s body.
At first, Walters denied any involvement. She told police she hadn’t lent Day her truck, but then she changed her story, claiming that Day had in fact used the truck but that she was asleep during the trip.
She claimed to have believed he had only stopped to urinate when they paused on a bridge. By the time she woke up, she said, they were back in the driveway.
But authorities were unconvinced by the story and discovered a damning voicemail on Walters’ phone, allegedly created by an accidental butt dial, that discredited her account.
In the message, a male voice believed to be Day’s can be heard saying ‘Hey … help me,’ ‘Make sure the lid’s on’ and ‘I’m sorry I got you messed up in this.’
Police said the audio of the two struggling to move a heavy object, likely Soluri’s body was the smoking gun detectives needed.
According to a warrant, cell phone records showed that both Day and Walters left their devices behind at his house before the trip to Bowie in an attempt to create a false digital alibi.
Joanne Walters, 62, allegedly helped Day dispose of Soluri’s remains by lending him her pickup truck and helping him carry the body over the edge of a bridge
Day has been behind bars since his arrest last year. He allegedly bragged to other inmates that he could not be convicted if authorities could not find Soluri’s body
‘This is a clear effort by both [Day] and [Walters] to deceive law enforcement,’ police wrote. ‘They wanted it to appear as though they never left Fort Worth.’
Walters was arrested in August 2025 for tampering with evidence but was soon released on a $100,000 bond. Court records indicate that she remains out of custody.
She is scheduled to appear in court on October 28, where she will be offered a plea deal by prosecutors, according to court records.
Day’s next court appearance is scheduled for October 7, where he will also have the opportunity to accept or decline a plea deal offered by prosecutors, court records show.