Left inset: Domonic Rodolico appearing in court. Right inset: Arianna Jones. Background: The Arizona desert area where authorities say Rodolico left Jones’ body in a “shallow grave” (KSAZ/YouTube).
A 21-year-old Arizona woman was discovered dead in a shallow grave in the desert, alongside movie theater souvenir cups, after prosecutors say she went on a date with a man she had met through social media — a man now accused of killing her.
Domonic Rodolico, 24, has been charged with first-degree murder after authorities found the body of Arianna Jones in a remote desert area near Lake Pleasant in Maricopa County.
An arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime alleges Rodolico arranged what investigators described as a “well-planned” murder date, taking Jones to a movie before driving her to the desert location where she was killed. Police say Rodolico visited the area twice on July 5 — the day he is suspected of killing Jones — and prepared the site in advance.
“Evidence at the scene showed premeditation by Domonic with the amount of equipment to include concrete bags/mix and forethought to the burial of her body,” the affidavit states. “The amount of equipment located appeared as though this incident was well planned.”
Investigators say that after making a third trip to the dump site, Rodolico went to Jones’ apartment and picked her up for their movie outing. The pair “went and watched their movie” at a local Harkins theater, then left together, with surveillance video showing both carrying “white Harkins-style plastic souvenir cups,” according to the affidavit.
“Before the movie, they bought two drinks and snacks at the concession stand,” police said. Investigators reviewing cellphone records said Rodolico and Jones later “traveled north into a remote desert area,” after which Jones’ phone appeared to be “no longer being actively used by her.”
“The devices remained in the deserted area for about 45-50 minutes,” the affidavit says. “The victim’s device disconnected from the network, consistent with being powered off, placed in airplane mode, or otherwise disconnected from the network. About 10 minutes later, Domonic leaves the area where the victim’s cell phone was disconnected from.”
Jones’ family reported her missing on July 7 after they failed to get in touch with her. A review of her phone data showed conversations with Rodolico, which prompted police to conduct “mobile and stationary surveillance” on him, according to the affidavit.
“Domonic was observed on several occasions cleaning his vehicle,” the affidavit says. “Detectives observed Domonic drive his Nissan Sentra to a nearby car wash. He proceeded to vacuum the passenger-side rear area of the vehicle and then used towels to wipe down the same area. Domonic kept the towels inside the vehicle and returned home. Once there, he opened the trunk and was observed manipulating and wiping the interior as though he was cleaning it.”
Police went out to the area where Jones’ phone disconnected and found her “buried in a shallow grave,” according to the affidavit.
At the scene, investigators located “several key pieces of evidence,” including the two Harkins souvenir cups that Rodolico and Jones were seen carrying on video, concrete mix bags, Fry’s plastic water bottles, a bra, latex gloves, a hair accessory consistent with one that Jones wore on video the night they went to the movies, and pieces of a condom wrapper.
“One of the concrete-like bags had a red-like substance and an eyelash strip attached to it,” the affidavit says.
Police have not confirmed how Jones was killed. They interviewed Rodolico and he “provided a fabricated story” about what happened, according to the affidavit.
“He advised he took a girl who randomly added him on Snapchat named ‘Yanna’ to a movie at Harkins located in Norterra,” the affidavit explains. “After the movie, Domonic claimed they drove to an unknown location. … Domonic said they pulled over into a parking lot though was half asphalt and half dirt. The two got into the backseat of his vehicle and began making out. … While the two were kissing in the backseat … two unknown individuals approached the vehicle.”
Rodolico told police that two men “attacked them” and stabbed Jones to death, according to the affidavit. “F—ing die b—,” he recalled the men telling Jones, per the affidavit.
Rodolico allegedly went into great detail about the “extensive amount of blood in the back seat of his vehicle, inside his vehicle, and on the trunk of his car,” according to police. He stated that after getting free, he drove away while the two males were stabbing Jones.
“Domonic said if the victim was missing she probably wasn’t alive,” the affidavit says. Rodolico later admitted to lying to police and that his story “wasn’t true,” according to the affidavit.
“Domonic then said he was instructed to bring the victim to the desert at an unknown male’s order but he didn’t know he was going to kill her,” the affidavit alleges. “Domonic was unable to provide how any communication occurred between him and this unknown male. Domonic also admitted to going to the same desert location prior to picking up the victim.”
Asked if he killed her, Rodolico “hesitated while looking down and said no,” according to police. He allegedly struggled to maintain consistent eye contact, remained silent when trying to think of responses and refused to answer “confronting questions,” the affidavit says.
“Domonic did not appear to show any remorse for his actions and believed this was just a missing person case where he happened to be the last person to see the victim alive,” the document concludes.
Rodolico was being held Monday on a $2 million bond.
