Rana Nofal Soluri’s remains were found along a North Texas creek while a murder case against her former roommate remains pending.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Human remains found by a fisherman along a North Texas creek have been identified through DNA testing as Rana Nofal Soluri, a 47-year-old flight attendant who disappeared in March 2025, authorities and local news reports said.
The identification provides a major development in a case that had moved forward for more than a year without Soluri’s remains. Dennis William Day, a longtime friend and former roommate of Soluri, has been indicted on a murder charge in connection with her death. Day remains in the Tarrant County Jail, and the criminal case against him is pending.
A fisherman discovered human remains June 13, 2026, along Brushy Creek near FM 1749 in Montague County, northwest of Fort Worth. Montague County Sheriff Marshall Thomas said at the time that deputies confirmed the remains were human before investigators secured the area. Personnel from the University of North Texas later assisted with the recovery.
The remains were sent for identification, and DNA testing ultimately confirmed they belonged to Soluri. FOX 4 reported that the testing was completed through the University of North Texas. Soluri’s remains have since been released to her family, according to reports. Her family plans to have her laid to rest in Seattle.
Soluri worked as a flight attendant for Envoy Air, a regional carrier owned by American Airlines Group. A coworker reported her missing June 11, 2025, after being unable to reach her for months. According to an arrest warrant affidavit cited by local news organizations, the coworker said she had last communicated with Soluri on March 19, 2025. Investigators later determined that Soluri had not been seen alive since March 21.
Soluri had been living in Fort Worth with Day, whom authorities described as a longtime friend. Investigators searching the home reviewed surveillance footage from March 21 that appeared to show Day dragging a motionless person from the house into the backyard, according to the arrest affidavit. Authorities said the home surveillance system stopped recording afterward.
Day initially denied knowing what had happened to Soluri, according to investigators. Police later said he told detectives that he strangled Soluri during a confrontation inside the home. Authorities allege he then moved her body from the residence and transported it toward the Bowie area of Montague County. The allegations concerning how Soluri died remain part of the pending criminal case, and Day has not been convicted.
Investigators searched several locations in and around Bowie after Day provided information about where he said Soluri’s body had been left. Those early searches failed to locate her. Heavy rainfall and flooding in North Texas complicated the search, and investigators later said the remains may have been obscured by mud or changing creek conditions.
The location where the fisherman found the remains in June was in the same general region investigators had searched. Thomas said after the discovery that officials from his department, Fort Worth police and the Texas Rangers worked with forensic specialists during the recovery. At that stage, authorities had not yet confirmed the identity of the remains.
Another person, Joanne Walters, also known as Joni Thomas in published reports, has been accused of helping Day dispose of Soluri’s body. She was arrested in 2025 and later indicted on a charge of tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse. That case also remains pending, and the allegation has not been proven in court.
The identification answers a central question in an investigation that began as a missing-person case. Fort Worth police spokesperson Daniel Segura told FOX 4 that investigators were grateful to provide Soluri’s family with additional answers. The latest reports did not include a publicly released final medical determination of the cause and manner of death.
Day remains jailed on a $200,000 bond while the murder prosecution moves forward. Soluri’s remains have been returned to her family, and the related evidence-tampering case against Walters remains unresolved.
Author note: Last updated October 5, 2026.