Police in Texas say the lead suspect in a murder case incriminated himself through a voicemail recorded by accident while he and an accomplice were transporting the victim’s body.
In June, Fort Worth police arrested 66-year-old Dennis Day and his friend Joni Thomas, 62, in connection with the disappearance of Day’s roommate, 47-year-old Rana Nofal Soluri. Her family reported her missing in March, raising concerns after she abruptly vanished.
According to an arrest warrant, Detective T.S. O’Brien concluded that Day was responsible for Soluri’s death and that Thomas assisted him in concealing the crime. After his arrest, Day admitted to strangling his roommate “with his bare hands” after he “snapped” during a heated dispute.
A day later, the man told investigators he placed Soluri’s body “head first, into a large black trash bin and transported it about 70 miles away to Bowie, Texas. Court records state he discarded the remains by pushing the container over a bridge, and told NBC DFW.
While carrying out the crime, authorities say Day made an “inadvertent call” that left a nearly two-minute voicemail on Thomas’s phone. In it, a male voice, described as “consistent” with Day’s, could be heard struggling and breathing heavily as though moving something weighty.
The voice allegedly said: “Hey … help me” and “come push it.” Other phrases captured on the recording included: “Make sure the lid’s on,” “And lock it … turn it sideways,” and “I’m sorry I got you messed up in this.”
Investigators said the recording directly aligned with Day’s later confession, which detailed how he placed Soluri’s body into a trash bin and then moved it into the bed of a truck. The warrant stated, “This report also confirms the fact that not only did (Thomas) travel to (Day’s) house and allow (Day) to use her truck to transport (Soluri’s) body, but that she actually helped load (Soluri’s) body into the truck.”
Further evidence came from surveillance footage at Day’s home, which police said showed him dragging “what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard” on March 21. Day is currently being held at the Tarrant County Corrections Center on $250,000 bail, jail records show.
Thomas also remains in custody, facing charges of tampering with physical evidence. The case continues to unfold as investigators build their prosecution on both Day’s confession and the unusual but damning voicemail that captured the cover-up in real time.