The Butt-Dial Confession: Rana Solari’s Murder & The Roommate | Signal 51 Chronicles Case 15

This is the Signal 51Chronicles. I'm John Henry. To my left here is my compadre, Jake White, retired sergeant of the fourth police department.

Sup? Sup with it. Just dreading a skull it right now.

We will. I'm not dreading it. This is regarding wager we have.

That if I lose, I have to grow my hair out, which would result in me growing a skull. What we're dealing with here ultimately is a parlay, which is gonna be difficult for me to win. So if Bill Belichick and the North Carolina North Carolina Tar Hills don't win nine games, Jake bet me that they would win nine games.

And if TCU goes Five and seven or better Or better. Jake has to get his. I can't cut my hair for a year.

Can't cut his hair for a year. Now the top will be not an issue. No.

Because it's pretty shiny up there. You're- No. It's not the one.

Very much mister... You got a mister clean look on the very top, but but, yeah, he's gotta grow out... He's gonna have to grow a skullet if if North Carolina does not win nine games and if TCU wins six or better.

I'm gonna estimate in that year, if this happens, there's gonna be roughly 20 times where I'm incredibly embarrassed. The other times I'll have a hat on, so I'll be fine. I'm not overly worried, but this is How many houses are you gonna sell with that skull?

Please win nine effing games. Alright? Well You got this.

I don't think that's gonna happen, but I also don't think TC is gonna win six or more. So Wouldn't it be five or more? If they go five and seven, it's a...

No. You win if they if... You win if they win five or fewer games.

Yeah. Oh. I win if they win if they win six.

Jake's gonna be okay. Yeah. I think he's gonna be okay.

Sadly, our TC Horned Frogs are Horrible. Not very good right now, but who knows? Might they might figure something out and rattle off four or five straight.

I know with that quarterback. Yeah. They'll figure something out.

Quarterback's alright. I think he's, yeah. They got upfront problems.

But Oh, they got bigger problems at Brew there. Oh, yeah. Much bigger problems.

That locker room debacle's a fascinating story. We come to you from an undisclosed location as part of the Sunset Lounge DFW. We do true crime here as the thousands of our followers They are thousands.

Well know. We peel back the onion on the macabre. He's leaning into it.

On the other side is, on the other side of us is our producer, Ashley, the Hood County Hellcat. Just making crimes happen all over the place. Yes.

Yes. The Hill County hell... Hellcat whose whereabouts on several nights in question remain unaccounted for.

I have no alibi. She's troubled, people. She's troubled.

Definitely. As she's sitting there reading a book. Well, reading a book and drawing pictures of Jake in a in a...

The smullet. Skullet. Skullet.

Pardon me. Skullet. I really like Are you confusing it with Smoot?

Smoot schmid. Smoot schmid. My favorite of all three says, I lost a bet.

Look at my skullet. Yeah. This unreal if this happens.

Let's see if they sent to y'all yet. I've got one of them. Where would we where would we be without Ashley?

I mean Hungover at home. Instead of hungover here? Yeah.

I'm good. You have some food in your bellies. We should be good.

And lots of Diet Coke. Coke Zero. Yeah.

Coke Zero people. Let's go to Charlotte, North Carolina first. K.

Fitting. In a in a... It is.

Yeah. It is. In a first, Charlotte Mecklenburg police say they caught two people driving a couch.

K. It happened a few weeks ago, September 25. The responding officers were members of the entertainment district unit, which specializes in the things that only come out at night.

You ever... Were were you ever stationed down in the... In an entertainment district like the West 7th District or anything like that?

Or I wasn't assigned there. I did work, off duty jobs down there. Yes.

Okay. So you know what they're talking about, the stuff that comes out, at night. Yeah.

Total just best show, dude. Anyway, the the officers of this unit stopped two gentlemen traveling down South Tryon Street on a couch. On a Facebook post, they write, Yes, an actual couch.

We had questions too. A photo shared on social media shows the quote unquote vehicle was a loveseat expertly balanced on two Lime electric scooters. That meant that both men needed to steer it.

Quote, while we appreciate the creativity, we do have to remind everyone, no matter what you're quote unquote driving, please think about safety first. And it continues, ask yourself, should this be on the road with actual cars? Will the sheer shock of seeing this on the road cause other drivers to lose focus and drive unsafely?

If the answer feels slightly like yes, maybe rethink the ride. As a rule, probably best to leave the mobile furniture displays to IKEA. Oh, oh, oh.

I love these police departments. Southlake's got this big one. They think they're very funny.

They wear me the hell out. They think they're very, very funny. I wish someone would just stick to goddamn crime fighting.

Crime fighting, yes. I turned it into stand up comedy hour. The Facebook post quickly took off on social media and had 1,700 comments and reactions within three hours.

Most of them jokesters. Truly couch surfing, someone wrote. Do couches require insurance?

Asking for a friend. Cops, pullover, scooters. No.

It's a pullout. Now that's a convertible, someone else wrote. I'm about to shut this little segment down.

The the entertainment district is a team created in 2025 to improve nightlife safety by targeting new crime near bars, nightclubs, and sports and entertainment venues. The EDU, the the police department wrote, are officers highly visible during peak nightlife hours and work with venue employees and management to prevent issues before they start. Boy, we know all about all that stuff, the issues in our entertainment district.

The new house. One in particular. Yep.

That West 7th is a mess. And just like, I don't... I haven't heard as many news stories of late.

I will say that. But how how is that acceptable? I mean, is is the tax revenue or revenue as a whole that important towards just like...

Yeah. It's so bad down here. We have to, you know, dump a ton of resources into this, you know, 30 bars or how many is ever down there for two nights a week.

What's so funny is when I was in college, like, I had no problem walking around there, doing whatever I needed, like, hanging out and going out by myself. You couldn't catch me down there now. No.

No. Couldn't catch me down there. No.

It's ridiculous. When I was in college, there was no West 7th District. The bars and everything else.

Started what? Right around the soup... When the Super Bowl was here is when they Yeah.

Probably so. 2009 or two thousand nine, ten. And Capital bar and the Magnolia Lounge.

That's all it was. And then it it grew down. Yeah.

Yeah. Capital bar. Yeah.

That's gone now too, I think. Yeah. It's changed to something else.

But Magnolia Motor Lamp is still there. No. It's gone.

Magnolia Motor Lamp? They moved they moved to this traffic circle. Oh, we've talked about this.

Probably have. I think They're built... They're building a...

It's... They're building a mixed use Okay. Development down there.

And then there was something else that was... Then Landmark was right there. Yep.

And then varsity came later. I wasn't in college when varsity was there. And then the...

On the other side, and reservoir were there when I was in college, which was around the time of Super Bowl. Well, I'll tell you what's there now. Right.

And a lot of gunplay. Lots of it. So let's take on a case of current events.

A current event one. I guess in 2025, American Airlines flight attendant Rana Nafal or Nafal... Sorry.

Soluri. Soluri. Pardon me.

Soluri was reported missing in Fort Worth. Fort Worth. Yep.

Her body was discovered in Montague County. Yep. And there's a whole lot in between that too.

And her her alleged killer's trial date has been set for February. Yep. In the Tarrant County Courthouse, the 1895 Tarrant County Courthouse.

And we relo... We we located the what? Arrest warrant?

Yes. The arrest warrant for one of the players in this story, a Joni Thomas. Joni Thomas.

Yeah. Her charges, tampering with physical evidence So with intent. So the alleged killer is a guy named Dennis Day.

Right? Right? Who was her roommate and said, very close friend.

I guess it's true that very close friends can kill one another as he is alleged to have done. But anyway, yeah, one of the other players is Joni Thomas, who is charged with tampering with physical evidence with to impair a human corpse. Yes.

What did the detective of the fourth police department say about her? Yeah. So I didn't know a whole lot about this.

I mean, just the news stories. And this came to us via someone at that Sunset Lounge. Brett sent it to us.

Brett? Yeah. So we kinda started looking at it, and there was a a recent news story that we'll get into why this has kind of resurfaced.

But in short... Well, not in short, in detail. 06/11/2025, a lady named Julie Garberino calls Fort Worth Police and says, Hey, I haven't heard from my friend Rhyner since 03/19/2025.

So we're what, three months? Yeah. June, March to June.

Yeah. Yeah. April, May.

Yeah. About three months down the road, Julie says that she last communicated with Rhyner via text message on March 19 and the conversation ended abruptly. I.

E. It ended just mid conversation, phone disconnects. She's not been able to get ahold of her since that time.

Hadn't spoken to her, nothing. Now, Rhyner was a flight attendant for, it was Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American. Fort Worth based American Airlines.

Fort Worth based American Airlines. She had taken a leave of absence for a minor surgery from her job as a flight attendant. She was scheduled to return to work on 03/31/2025.

Never did. Never showed up. Never showed up.

She, again, Julie reported that she lived with a guy named Dennis William Day for about a year and that he was the last person to see Rhyner, Rhyner, about three months prior. Ronna would call her ex husband, Thomas, from time to time to ask for money, but he too had not heard from her. Thomas pays for her cell phone.

And on March 19, again, that phone call ends abruptly. She provided a video from 03/19/2025 that Rhyner had sent her of a recording, and all this comes from the arrest warrant that we're referencing, sends her a recording where you can hear a male's voice in the background yelling, and the video shows Rhyner's handgun sitting on the bed. So this is June 11 when this call gets placed to the police.

There's a few things that happen in between, though. On... Let me back up real quick.

Also, the one thing I did think was kinda crazy was... So she hasn't shown up for work. She was supposed to show up March 31.

She doesn't do that. The... Her employer verified.

Yeah, we haven't heard from her either. Did they just assume she quit, I guess? I guess her supervisor confirmed that that was out of character for her.

She had been an employee there for five years, But yeah, now, yeah, she's just not calling the police to say, hey, we might have could you do a welfare check on one of our employees? I said, just stop showing up and nothing. So let's go to May 8 real quick.

So 05/08/2025, fourth police were dispatched to a house in the 1600 Block Of Grantland Circle. That's over there off of like it's kind of by Meadowbrook, off of Brentwood Stair, 820 area. Yeah.

In that general vicinity. The officer gets there and he speaks to Dennis Day. He's there to tow a vehicle.

So I don't know if the vehicle had been parked on the street and neighbors were calling and complaining. You know, if a car is parked out there for two or three months, it doesn't move. It's not uncommon for the neighbors to call and say, hey, this car is basically abandoned on our So I don't know if that was the case or if Dennis himself had called.

So they get there. The responding officers get there and they speak to Dennis. And he said that, yeah, I mean, the car has been there for almost two months, about the same period of time when he last saw I mean Rana.

Rana. A Fort Worth man is that of a missing flight attendant. Ronna Solari, last seen So that's the last time he sees Ronna, a couple months ago.

He also tells the responding officer that he's thinking about moving her belongings into a storage unit. He didn't seem concerned about her disappearance. He didn't really have any knowledge of it.

So that's that. That's May 8. Police tow the car.

It's just abandoned. The roommate day is like, yeah. She's been gone for a couple of months.

Hadn't seen or heard from her. I'm gonna move her stuff into a storage unit. June 10.

So one day before Garberino calls, officers were dispatched to a welfare check. There, they spoke with day again. So about one month later, Dennis confirms, yes, she's lived here for a year.

He's had no communication with her for three months despite his attempts of calling and texting her. Regarding the car that was left abandoned, she had purchased that only a week or so prior to her disappearance. They...

In short, they... And the other person is just identified as Bruce. I don't know who Bruce is, but they have no explanation for Ronna's disappearance.

The last time anyone had been able to verify Ronna being there or alive was on 03/21/2025. Her family friends have no information, nothing. So at the time it's assigned to...

It's just a missing person's case. Yeah. Maybe she took off.

Things start to look weird and it's probable. She just bought a car a week ago. Most people aren't just going to leave their car abandoned, leave all their belongings behind.

True. I think it's safe to say, you know, they quickly realized she's probably dead. Mhmm.

Some sort of foul play at work. Yep. So the case gets assigned to the homicide unit to investigate.

Again, this is two, three, three months after her disappearance. So one of the first steps, they obtained a search warrant for her cell phone records. They learned that the last call on her cell phone was at 03:43PM on 03/21/2025.

The last data connections from her cell phone utilized cell site tower locations on 03/21/2025, one at 11:48PM and another at 11:57PM. So, on June 23, detectives go meet with the person identified as Bruce and Dennis Day. They provided statements to the homicide detectives.

They denied any involvement or knowledge of her disappearance. They did allow detectives consent to search of their home where a video surveillance system was searched. And this is where things really get interesting and kind of unbelievable.

So that video surveillance system had a clip of it on 03/21/2025 at 10:11PM. On this video clip, Day is seen dragging what appears to be a lifeless body from the home into the backyard. The video stops abruptly, and the system stops for days after that.

So that that Bruce you you speak of, that appears to be his brother. Bruce? Okay.

Dennis Day. Okay. Dennis Day's brother.

Okay. Got it. Got it.

Okay. Yeah. I didn't know who for sure that was.

Yeah. So they're there. June 23, detectives are there.

They interview Bruce. They interview Dennis. They say, yeah, you can search our house.

There's a video surveillance system there. And they find a clip of Dennis Day dragging a lifeless body out of the house at 10:11 p. M.

Stamming. So after they get that, they go back for round two with Dennis Day. Mhmm.

This time his story changes. He said that Ronna was videoing him and threatened to call the police when he, quote, snapped. He strangled her with his bare hands.

So I don't know if if you remember the last time that Garberino spoke to Rana, the phone call ended abruptly. Right. Perhaps that was why.

Does she know what day that was that that that she talked to her? Yes. It was on...

Well, yeah, was on March 19. So two days So two days after. Yeah.

Two days after. So probably not, maybe not. I mean, it sounds like it was just a contentious living environment, I suppose.

So Dennis confesses to strangling her. He said he strangled her on the kitchen floor until she died. He said he dragged her body out to the backyard when he realized that he was being recorded on his own video surveillance system.

So he disconnects that equipment. Yeah. A little too late.

But Little too late. He loads her body up headfirst into a large black trash bin and transported her body near Bowie, Texas, hour and a half north of here. Is that the home of the Bowie knife?

No. They have a big Bowie knife when you drive through there. Oh, maybe it is.

Yeah. Maybe it is. It might be.

I don't know. It was named after Jim Bowie, I'm sure. I guess you're right.

It could be. So he dumps... He says, I go up to Bowie, and I dump her body over a bridge.

He also said that he threw her cell phone into the Trinity River near Riverside Drive and I-thirty 5, which was consistent with the last cell phone tower that it hit off of. He said a few days after he killed Ronna, he got rid of a number of her belongings, including her handgun. He threw that into a storm drain under an overpass at I-thirty 5 And Far Street, right there by downtown.

Know it well. During police searched the storm drain, and during a subsequent search of that storm drain, a black handled revolver with a black holster was located, which appeared to be the same handgun that was in that video that she had sent to Garberino. Day directs detectives to a number of bridges and areas near Bowie, Texas, but her body was never found.

They meet with local law enforcement up in that area. They'd say, you know, the clerk that's, you know, obviously since March, it's been flooded. It could have got washed downstream, whatever the case may be.

Now, I do think the only knowledge I had of this was it was up in that Wise County area. Yeah. Which is near.

Kind of nearly. And this was probably it was probably in the... That time frame where I saw the Texas Rangers game wardens searching a creek.

Oh. And it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. That was probably them.

Very well them. So how did Day get her body to Bowie? Right?

He puts her in the trash bag, puts her in the container, but he uses a friend's truck named Joni Thomas. That's how they transported her body up there. White Chevy pickup.

Pickup. Yep. Yeah.

So he said when they went there, after they dumped her body, he stopped at a Walmart. Detectives go to the Walmart in Bowie and there's a video surveillance showing a black truck, truck, not a white one, pulling into a car wash near the parking lot between 01:43 and 01:47AM. On June 26, detectives didn't wanna talk to Joanie Thomas.

She initially denied ever driving her black Chevy truck or having any information about Rhonda's body being dumped. But she too then changed her story. That did say white Chevy truck.

That's what he initially said. Gotcha. Gotcha.

Hers was black. Gotcha. Some little white lie, maybe, I don't know.

Yeah. Maybe he just didn't have a good recollection. So during the interview with detectives, Joni says Dennis was driving her black truck.

She remembers a Walmart and a car washed and remembered it being closed. She remembers seeing a sign from buoy on the freeway. She remembers Dennis stopping on a bridge and getting out to urinate.

Mhmm. When he got back into the truck though, he was out of breath. I'm trying to think if I've ever found myself in that position.

No. I haven't. Not yet, at least.

She then remembers waking up in the passenger seat in Dennis' driveway. She just falls asleep. Mhmm.

Just went up to Bowie for no reason at 01:00 in the morning and fell asleep. So she had her cell phone with her. June 30, detectives write a search warrant for her cell phone and Dennis' cell phone.

They learned that on 03/21/2025 at 10:45PM, Joanie receives a call from Dennis and her phone was hitting off of a nearby cell phone tower. 03/21/2025 at 11:32PM, she receives another call from Dennis and also hits off of a tower nearby. Joanie lives approximately 21 miles away from Dennis, but for some reason she's near there.

They send those cell phone reports off to a forensic examiner. So, they send the cell phones off to a forensic examiner on 07/02/2025. He receives the reports from the digital forensics unit.

In her cell phone, there is a recorded voicemail that originates from Dennis' cell phone number. Dennis' cell phone phone reports also show this call to be a FaceTime call. This was on March 21 at 11:34PM.

It's about an hour and twenty minutes after Dennis is seen dragging the lifeless body from the house on the videotape. The voicemail is one minute and fifty seven seconds long. And in a proper manner, it's described as an inadvertent call from Dennis to Joanie.

Would turn that Call that a butt call. A butt dial. Butt dial, yes.

Butt dials her. Yeah. And leaves a voicemail.

The worst butt dialing. This guy, I mean In fourth history, probably. He drags a body out, gets captured on his own security camera, then he butt dials an accomplice.

So they get the it takes a while. During the recording, a man's voice, it was consistent with Dennis's voice, is heard breathing heavy as if he's moving something heavy. The recording is also consistent with a trash can being wheeled before the sound of a tailgate of a pickup truck being opened.

Mhmm. So they can hear it. But, you know, those trash cans, that's a unique sound.

Yeah. Absolutely. I can hear mine now.

Yeah. A tailgate. Can hear it.

Fairly unique sound. So on August 19, detectives receive a report from the forensic expert who examines the voicemail. The report confirmed the following conversation, which consisted of a male voice, which they labeled MV, a female voice, which they labeled FV, and an unknown voice that the expert couldn't confirm was the male or female voice.

So a transcript of the call, of the butt dial, Hey, help me. The male voice says, Okay, okay. The male voice then says, Come push it.

The unknown voice, Okay. And there's dogs barking in the background. The unknown voice then says, It's stuck.

The male voice says, Hey, hold this, really stuck. Male voice then says, Make sure the lid's on. The male voice then says, And lock it.

Turn it sideways. Male voice, Okay. The female voice, Hi, puppy.

Hi, puppy. God. The male voice, I'm sorry I got you messed up in this.

Oh, Jiminy Christmas. So clearly consistent with them loading her body up into Joni Thomas' truck. Yeah.

Now, what why this got brought back up? She hadn't been found up until 06/13/2026. A fisherman discovered human remains along Brushy Creek near FM 1749 in Monte County.

That's in... Buies in Monte County. It was an area that investigators had pre...

Previously searched. The remains were taken to, I believe, the University of North Texas for the, forensic testing, DNA... A DNA analysis completed in September, so just several weeks That's UNT Health, I believe, Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That DNA analysis confirmed that it was the body of Rhyner Solori.

They believe flooding and mud may have been why they didn't originally discover her. You know, because I mean, you're talking, what, three months, you know, you're looking for a body that's been there for three months in a creek. I mean, you know, with a ton of rain, etcetera.

So like you mentioned, he is set for trial in February. February 2027. Yeah.

We'll see what what comes of that. I'm thinking it never gets to trial. That's kind of what I'm thinking.

He'll plea out. It sounds like they got a pretty solid case against him. I wonder if he's hit like a trifecta.

Something else dumb has happened since he's been incarcerated or something like, I mean, he's already got the gets caught on his own surveillance system. He butt dials it where he's loading up the body. I mean, he's probably not a competent.

He's probably confessed on a jailhouse call at this point. Oh, yeah. I killed her, man.

I definitely killed her. Who knows what else happened? So...

But that's a big one. You know, it's a big story around here right now. It is.

Yeah. Interesting. I...

You know, I'm sure there's much more to the story that we don't know. Who knows what? What the motive was?

What Yeah. I mean, it is weird dynamic, I think. Right?

I mean, 47 fly... Like, living in She was 47? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know, she was divorced, so I'm assuming maybe she was newly divorced. Her ex husband was still paying her bill, phone phone bill.

So maybe maybe this was like she was living there. Dennis calls... Called him longtime friends.

So maybe he was... She was living there, getting getting your life reestablished and everything else. How often does somebody who's not your sexual partner kill you, though, in, like, a fit of rage?

I don't... Because he said... Didn't didn't he choke her on the bathroom or on the kitchen floor or something?

Yeah. Yeah. That's not something that you just randomly do.

No. Well, that's what I'm saying. There's gotta be more to the story.

They divorced in 2013. Oh, okay. Well, then that's not the case.

In a minute. The hell is he still paying her phone bill? Good god.

Part of the alimony. What? He's a nice guy?

Just trying to make sure she lands on her feet? Well, I mean, we're talking thirteen years. Let's see if they were...

I mean, they had to have been, like, hooking up or something. I guess, may... Maybe not.

Mean They they didn't have a kid together. Right? I'm talk...

Well, Dennis Dennis Dennis and her. Yeah. How do that's not very often that you see somebody kill their part...

Like, somebody kill their roommate that they're not Yeah. There's not some type of Emotions involved. Some Sexual Yeah.

Something. Sexual sexual stuff. Yeah.

Just constantly referred to as a longtime friend. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Anyway, I mean, like I said, big story here. Obviously, you know, the...

Like with this document, I mean, I think it highlights most of the stuff. I'm sure there's... I know there's gotta be some stuff that are not included in here, but definitely a sad tragic.

Yeah. But also a calamity of errors. Yes.

So Not the most competent Not alleged No. Killer. No.

Well He is no con man like Beard, our previous story. No. Right.

Not at all. No. That would never happen with Augustus to White Beard.

I wanna see what this guy looks like. Oh, yeah, man. He's got that.

I mean... He has that I'm dumb and committed murder vibe? Oh, well, no.

He's just... I mean, if I I mean, this is what... I mean, yeah.

I mean, this is quite the mugshot. Look at this look at this feller. While looking up Parker County mugshots yesterday, it was quite entertaining.

Right there? Oh, wow. Holy cow.

Wait. Let me see this guy. He he kinda...

He almost he almost got Jake's skull up there. Yeah. He's...

Man, he... I think How old was was Rona? 47.

Okay. He's in his sixties, I think. 66.

66. Like, wait. Is that her father?

Yeah. No. No.

Yeah. I don't know. It's just...

I don't know. I don't know what else it... And again, the other one that that just blows me away...

And and I don't know. Maybe it's like, yeah, we can't get a hold of her if you're the employer. Yeah.

That's Kind of weird, isn't it? Like, you would think. Yeah.

I mean, it's not like she had just started. Been there five years. And that's that's, you know, you got this big corporation that, you know, people are ultimately numbers and not somebody that clearly you care about because they didn't even didn't even bother to dial a number.

No. And say, hey, somebody's... We're concerned about the welfare of somebody.

Yeah. It's pretty wild. Well, that's the case.

We'll see what... How it transpires as it moves through the old criminal justice system. Yeah.

February will be waiting to see what answers are forthcoming. We'll be surprised if it actually makes it to Yeah, if it even makes it there. The court, but we'll wait and see.

So, all right, let's call it a day. Call it a day. Make sure to catch us on all the platforms.

Tell everybody about it, share it, like it. If you're sitting down with your mother for dinner, say, Mom, have you watched Signal 51, watched or listened to the Signal 51 Chronicles? You gotta tune in.

You gotta tune in. Anyway, all right, till next week.. This is a Stolen Water Media production.