A Texas woman has been charged with tampering with evidence after what investigators say was a butt-dial voicemail captured her and a man plotting to dispose of the body of a missing flight attendant.
The Tarrant County warrant affidavit and arrest records identify the accused as 62-year-old Joni Thomas. Authorities say the alleged accomplice, 66-year-old Dennis William Day, admitted to investigators that he strangled 47-year-old Rana Nofal Soluri, an Envoy Air flight attendant who was last seen alive in March and reported missing in June.
According to the affidavit obtained by NBC DFW, investigators found what they believe was a butt-dial voicemail on Thomas’s phone that captured voices struggling to move a heavy object. A male voice on the recording reportedly can be heard saying, “Hey … help me,” “Make sure the lid’s on” and “I’m I got you messed up in this.”
Police allege Day called Thomas after the killing and that she came to his Fort Worth home in her pickup. The pair then transported Soluri’s body to Bowie, about 70 miles away, and dumped it off a bridge, investigators said. Video surveillance obtained during a search of Day’s property reportedly shows Day dragging what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard on the night of March 21.
Day is accused of telling investigators he strangled Soluri after an argument in his Fort Worth kitchen, saying she had filmed him acting angrily and threatened to call 911. He allegedly confessed to stuffing her body into a black trash bin and dumping it off a bridge in Bowie and to discarding her phone in a nearby river. Investigators say Day led them to Soluri’s firearm, which has since been recovered. Despite searches at multiple Bowie bridges, Soluri’s body has not been recovered; officials said flooding may have carried remains downstream.
Thomas initially denied knowledge of the incident when questioned, according to the affidavit, and told investigators Day had not used her truck or driven it. She later changed her account, the warrant states, saying Day had used her truck and that she had been with him, adding that he stopped at the bridge to use the bathroom and that she had slept for part of the drive. Investigators said both Day and Thomas deliberately left their regular phones at Day’s home before driving to Bowie in an apparent attempt to create a false alibi.
Thomas was arrested Aug. 26 and booked into the Tarrant County Jail on the tampering charge; she was released on bond. Day has been charged with murder and is being held in the Tarrant County Jail on a $200,000 bond.
Soluri’s coworkers reported her missing in June after she failed to return to work following time off for minor surgery and could not be reached. Police say a coworker told investigators that Soluri had been living with Day for about a year, prompting detectives to focus on him early in the inquiry. Authorities executed a search of Day’s property on June 23 and obtained the surveillance footage that is central to the case.
Family members said the search for Soluri has been agonizing. Her sister, Nez, told NBC DFW that the family has been “shattered” and called the ordeal “torture,” saying she holds out hope that something has happened to explain her sister’s disappearance, such as an accident or medical event.
Prosecutors filed the tampering charge against Thomas after investigators asserted evidence that she helped transport and dispose of the body and then sought to mislead law enforcement. Day faces the murder charge and remains in custody as the investigation continues.
Authorities did not announce additional public court dates for Thomas or Day at the time of the affidavit’s release. The investigation remains active as detectives continue to search for physical evidence and any remains that could confirm the allegations in the affidavit.