Man accused of killing Arizona woman after date

Glendale police arrested Domonic Rodolico on July 11 after investigators uncovered evidence that he was the last person seen with Arianna Jones, and cell phone data showed him repeatedly returning to a remote area where her body was discovered, according to Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago during a July 13 news conference.

Police were alerted to Jones’ disappearance on July 7 when her mother visited her daughter’s apartment near 59th and Northern avenues after she suddenly and uncharacteristically stopped responding to her texts and calls, according to court documents.

Responding officers noticed the front door of Jones’ apartment had a broken frame and found a dog in its kennel with no food or water, surrounded by its own waste, documents said.

The mother said Jones’ young toddler had been staying with the former for the past few weeks and that routine video and voice calls between the two had ceased, and a July 5 text message was the last one she had received, court documents stated.

Jones had also stopped posting on her multiple social media accounts, which were part of her income, documents noted.

Documents: Jones last seen with Rodolico before disappearance

Detectives contacted a man who was friends with Jones for several years on July 9, who said Jones’ behavior was “completely out of character,” and noted she planned to see a movie with an acquaintance shortly before her disappearance.

Jones and Rodolico had sent each other a handful of messages prior to the date, but didn't appear to have met in person before, documents said. Investigators were still working to identify a motive, Santiago added.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage at a Harkins location that showed a man who appeared “extremely consistent” with Rodolico’s MVD picture, documents said.

Detectives obtained search warrants for information from both Rodolico’s and Jones’ cell phones, with the former’s going to an “extremely remote, secluded, and undeveloped location” near Lake Pleasant Parkway and Old Carefree Highway where he stayed for between 20 to 25 minutes before traveling to Jones’ apartment on the evening of July 5, according to documents.

Rodolico and Jones arrived at the movie theater at around 9:06 p.m. and left at around 11:30 p.m., with Rodolico holding a white souvenir cup, according to surveillance footage.

Both of their phones then traveled from the theater to Rodolico’s home in northwest Phoenix, where they remained for about 30 minutes before traveling to the remote area Rodolico had been at earlier that day, where they remained for roughly 50 minutes, documents said.

Traffic cameras captured Rodolico’s 2018 Nissan Sentra traveling between locations as well, according to documents.

Both devices then traveled to a commercial area near Lake Pleasant Parkway and Happy Valley Road at one point, where surveillance footage captured Rodolico appearing to be the vehicle’s sole occupant and wearing the same clothing he wore at the movie theater, documents said.

Video captured Rodolico walking around his vehicle while keeping his right hand close to his chest before taking a “bag or pillowcase-like item” from the trunk and walking toward the passenger side of the vehicle, which was out of frame, according to documents.

Footage then showed the vehicle “quickly jolting in a downward motion,” documents stated. Cell data showed Rodolico’s phone began traveling back to his home after about 25 minutes, arriving at around 2:57 a.m., where he stayed for another 25 minutes before returning to the remote area where he remained for approximately three hours, records said.

Body believed to be Jones buried in concrete and lye

On July 11, investigators searching for Jones responded to the remote area where cell data showed the two being, where cadaver dogs led police to an area of dirt that looked inconsistent with the rest, according to documents.

Police detected a foul stench and eventually located a decomposing body buried in a shallow grave along with two Harkin’s souvenir cups, concrete mix bags, latex gloves and other pieces of evidence, documents said.

“The amount of equipment located appeared as though this incident was well planned,” documents stated.

A cause of death has yet to be determined as of July 13, according to Santiago.

Investigators surveilling Rodolico on July 10 saw him frequently cleaning the Nissan Sentra at his home while his family was away, which included taking it to a car wash where he vacuumed and wiped down the vehicle’s rear passenger side.

Inconsistencies when describing alleged attack

After executing a search warrant on Rodolico’s home on July 10, detectives interviewed members of Rodolico’s family, who said they found him in the bathroom at around 3 a.m. on July 6 with three large lacerations on his right hand.

At least one family member took Rodolico to an urgent care center before he was transferred to a hospital where he underwent surgery for his right hand, which nearly lost a pinky finger, documents stated.

The family members told police that Rodolico told them he had been on a date when a varying number of men attacked the couple, but that he had been able to escape, documents said. The family said they considered contacting authorities about the incident but opted not to as Rodolico was still on probation for a prior burglary conviction.

Rodolico told family members he was assaulted by two men before changing his answer to between five or six, documents stated.

Police arrested him on July 11 and questioned him over the alleged assault and how the evidence contradicted him. Rodolico readily told investigators about the nature of the cuts themselves but was hesitant when asked about how they were inflicted, documents said.

He then told detectives that he took a woman who randomly added him on Snapchat to a movie on the evening of July 5 and afterward drove somewhere he couldn’t remember to make out, according to police records.

Rodolico said two masked and tattooed men — one armed with a gun and the other a knife — then attacked him and his date while giving inconsistent details about where the woman was, other than that the men had repeatedly stabbed her with knives and adding that the man with the gun holstered it before pulling out his own knife, documents said.

He told police he was able to free himself and drove away, and that the woman was probably dead.

When detectives accused Rodolico of lying and presented evidence contradicting him, he sat in silence before admitting he lied because he had a cigar and wasn’t allowed to smoke or drink while on probation, documents said.

He then told detectives that an unknown man had ordered him to bring Jones to a remote area outside Lake Pleasant but didn’t know the man planned to kill her, according to documents.

Rodolico was unable to explain how he communicated with the unknown man and admitted to visiting the remote location prior to picking Jones up, documents stated.

At one point, Rodolico asked the detectives if they thought he had killed Jones. When they asked if he had, Rodolico looked down and said that he hadn’t, documents said.

A detective asked Rodolico what he thought was going on regarding the nature of their questioning, to which Rodolico said he thought they were investigating a missing persons case, documents said. Rodolico was booked into jail on first-degree murder and a probation violation and is being held on a $500,050 bond, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.