DNA Identifies Flight Attendant’s Body Found in Texas Creek
DNA confirms body found in Texas creek is missing flight attendant. Case advances after year-long investigation.
POLICY WIRE — Fort Worth, United States — A critical development has emerged in the case of Rana Nofal Soluri, a flight attendant whose body was recently identified through DNA testing after being discovered in a Texas creek.
The remains were located by a fisherman near a bridge on a creek in Montague County, approximately 70 miles northwest of downtown Fort Worth, as reported by local authorities to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The body was sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for confirmation and later returned to Soluri’s daughter, Lulu Soluri, through a GoFundMe campaign.
American Airlines arranged for the body to be flown to Seattle for a Muslim burial on September 29, according to updates from the fundraising page. Soluri, who worked for a regional airline under American Airlines, went missing in March 2025, sparking an extensive search that led to the arrest of her former roommate, Dennis Day, in June 2025.
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Day, 67, was charged with murder following Soluri’s disappearance, while Joni Thomas, 63, also known as Joanne Walters, faced charges of evidence tampering. According to court documents, Day admitted to strangling Soluri during an argument and transporting her body in a trash bin to a location in Montague County where it was dumped over a bridge.
Investigators uncovered evidence suggesting Day and Thomas may have accidentally recorded themselves during the transport of Soluri’s remains. A call and message found on Thomas’ phone showed Day seeking her assistance, aligning with his account of moving the body. Security footage from Day’s home also captured him dragging what appeared to be a lifeless body into the backyard on March 21, police said.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
