A 62-year-old Texas woman has been arrested after a butt-dialed voicemail reportedly linked her to the cover-up of a murder involving a flight attendant. Fort Worth police charged Joni Thomas with tampering with evidence in the death of 47-year-old Rana Nofal Soluri, a flight attendant who was reported missing in March.
According to authorities, Soluri’s roommate, Dennis Day, confessed in June to strangling her in his home after she allegedly threatened to call police. Day claimed Soluri was videotaping him, prompting what he described as a loss of control. He later told investigators he disposed of her body with help from Thomas, transporting it roughly 70 miles to Bowie, Texas, where they allegedly threw it off a bridge.
The key break in the case came from a voicemail believed to have been accidentally recorded on Thomas’s phone. Police say the audio captured Thomas and Day struggling to move what sounded like a heavy object. A male voice can be heard saying, “Hey, help me,” followed by, “Make sure the lid’s on,” and “I got you messed up in this.”
Initially, Thomas denied that Day used her truck, but later admitted he had. She claimed she was unaware of his actions and thought he had simply stopped to urinate off the bridge. She also told police she fell asleep in the truck and later woke up in his driveway.
Investigators dismissed Thomas’s explanation as a deliberate attempt to mislead law enforcement. The arrest affidavit stated, “This is a clear effort by both [Day] and [Thomas] to deceive law enforcement and make it appear like they never left [Day’s] house in Fort Worth, Texas, when they were dumping [Nofal’s] body in Bowie, TX.”
Soluri’s sister, Nez, described her as a proud Jordanian-Palestinian with a strong, vibrant personality. She expressed sorrow and frustration over the events, particularly since her sister’s body has yet to be recovered. The news of Thomas’s arrest, however, brought some measure of relief. “She needs that. Her soul needs that. Her daughter needs that. We need that,” Nez told reporters.
Police continue to search for Soluri’s remains as the case unfolds.
