Authorities said DNA testing confirmed that human remains found in a Texas creek belonged to a missing flight attendant whose former roommate is accused of killing her and throwing her body from a bridge.
Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, was discovered June 13 by a fisherman along Brushy Creek beneath a bridge in Montague County, about 70 miles northwest of Fort Worth, police and local media reported. The remains were sent to the University of North Texas Health’s Center for Human Identification, where testing recently established that they were Soluri’s, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson told NBC News.
Soluri worked for Envoy Air, a regional airline owned by American Airlines, and had been missing since March 2025. She had taken leave for a minor operation and was due back at work on March 31. After she failed to return and could not be reached, a co-worker reported her missing on June 11, 2025, police said.
Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, was killed in March 2025 and reported missing in June. Her remains were discovered by a fisherman more than a year later and identified through DNA testing last month. (GoFundMe)
Dennis Day, 67, Soluri’s former roommate and longtime friend, was arrested in June 2025 and charged with murder. According to an arrest warrant cited in reports, Day told investigators that he “snapped” during an argument with Soluri and “began to strangle her with his bare hands.”
Court documents say Day allegedly strangled Soluri on the kitchen floor, dragged her into the backyard, placed her “head first” inside a large black trash bin and drove about 70 miles before dumping her body over a bridge.
Investigators said surveillance footage from Day’s Fort Worth home showed him dragging “what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard” on March 21, 2025. Police also said an “inadvertent call” and message recorded on another woman’s phone captured Day in a panic while asking for help moving Soluri’s body.
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Authorities said Dennis Day told fellow inmates he believed he could avoid being charged with killing his former Fort Worth, Texas, roommate because Rana Nofal Soluri’s body had not been found. (Tarrant County Jail; GoFundMe)
The woman, identified as 63-year-old Joni Thomas, also known as Joanne Walters, was charged with tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. Police allege that she assisted Day in disposing of Soluri’s remains. Both cases are still pending.
Before the DNA identification, prosecutors said Day had boasted to people in jail that he could not be convicted as long as Soluri’s body remained missing. The claim was included in a notice filed by the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office and cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
A GoFundMe campaign created for Soluri’s daughter, Lulu Soluri, said American Airlines helped transport her mother’s remains to Seattle for a Muslim burial held Sept. 29. According to the fundraiser, Lulu also plans to return to Texas for a future court hearing, where she is expected to make a statement.
Rana Nofal Soluri’s body was found in a Texas creek more than a year after she was reported missing, and DNA testing confirmed the remains belonged to her last month. (GoFundMe)
“Lulu is a very private person, so this is a huge feat for her to face the person accused of killing her mother,” the GoFundMe page said. “Lulu thanks everyone for their support. She is always overwhelmed knowing how many people have helped her during this process.”
