Authorities said DNA testing has identified a body recovered from a Texas creek as Rana Nofal Soluri, a missing flight attendant whose former roommate is accused of killing her and throwing her remains from a bridge.
A fisherman discovered the remains of Soluri, 47, on June 13 along Brushy Creek beneath a bridge in Montague County, roughly 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 DNA analysis recently confirmed they belonged to Soluri, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson told NBC News.
Soluri worked for Envoy Air, a regional airline owned by American Airlines. She had been missing since March 2025, after taking leave for a minor operation and failing to return to work as scheduled on March 31. A co-worker reported her missing on June 11, 2025, when Soluri could not be reached, police said.
Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, was killed in March 2025 and reported missing three months later. Her remains were found by a fisherman more than a year afterward 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 he “snapped” during an argument with Soluri and then “began to strangle her with his bare hands.”
Court documents allege that Day strangled Soluri on the kitchen floor, pulled her body into the backyard, placed it “head first” into a large black trash bin and drove it about 70 miles before dumping it from 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.
SEE ALSO: Daniel Hagari's Departure: Has He Exited the IDF? – NewsFinale
Day had reportedly told fellow inmates that he believed prosecutors could not charge him with Soluri’s murder because her body had not been found. (Tarrant County Jail; GoFundMe)
Joni Thomas, also known as Joanne Walters, 63, was charged with tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. Police allege 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 if authorities never recovered Soluri’s body. The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office made the claim in a notice cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
A GoFundMe campaign established for Soluri’s daughter, Lulu Soluri, said American Airlines helped transport her mother’s remains to Seattle for a Muslim burial held on Sept. 29. The fundraiser said Lulu also plans to return to Texas for a future court hearing, where she is expected to make a statement.
DNA testing confirmed last month that the body found in a Texas creek belonged to Rana Nofal Soluri, 47, more than a year after she was reported missing. (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.”