A man with a history of illegal immigration and criminal activity was apprehended on Wednesday following the brutal murder of a motel manager, as reported by law enforcement and local news outlets. The suspect, 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, is accused of decapitating the manager, Chandra Nagamallaiah, in a shocking incident that unfolded in front of the victim’s family at a Downtown Suites motel in Dallas.
The incident began when Nagamallaiah, 50, instructed Cobos-Martinez and another motel employee not to use a malfunctioning washing machine. Cobos-Martinez, a Cuban national, became enraged when the manager used another employee to translate his instructions rather than speaking to him directly in Spanish, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Surveillance footage from the motel allegedly shows Cobos-Martinez exiting the room, drawing a machete, and attacking Nagamallaiah. The manager attempted to escape to the motel’s office, where his wife and son were present, but the assault continued.
Despite the desperate attempts of Nagamallaiah’s wife and son to intervene, Cobos-Martinez continued his attack until Nagamallaiah was decapitated. The suspect then reportedly kicked the victim’s head into the parking lot, retrieved it, and discarded it in a dumpster.
Emergency services were alerted by witnesses who discovered Cobos-Martinez a few blocks away, covered in blood and still in possession of the machete. He was subsequently taken into custody by the police. During a video interview, Cobos-Martinez allegedly confessed to the murder.
Prior to this incident, Cobos-Martinez had been held by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson. However, he was released on January 13 under the current administration due to the absence of deportation flights to Cuba, according to an ICE spokesperson.
The spokesperson further stated that Cobos-Martinez’s release was necessitated by Cuba’s refusal to accept him due to his criminal record. The spokesperson also detailed the horrific nature of the crime, stating that Cobos-Martinez decapitated a man he had a disagreement with in front of the victim’s family.
Cobos-Martinez has a significant criminal history, including charges of aggravated assault in 2018 in Harris County. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault and served a year in jail. While facing charges in Harris County, it was discovered that he was also wanted in California for carjacking, false imprisonment, and failure to appear. He was subsequently extradited to California to face these charges.
In 2017, Cobos-Martinez was arrested in South Lake Tahoe for attempting to carjack a 22-year-old woman while naked. He is currently charged with capital murder and is being held without bond.