A man has been charged with capital murder after allegedly stabbing his victim multiple times and decapitating him at a Dallas motel.
The incident occurred on Wednesday (September 10) around 9:30AM at the Downtown Suites Motel, located just off Interstate 30 near the Tenison Golf Course.
Police said the victim, identified as 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah, was found dead outside the motel after being repeatedly stabbed with a machete, Fox4News reported.
Footage shared online shows a crime scene cordoned off with tape, and a partition set up around a body found on the sidewalk. Officers from Dallas Fire-Rescue arrived at the scene and pronounced Nagamallaiah dead.
The suspect, Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, was arrested after fleeing the scene. He was spotted walking along a nearby sidewalk and was apprehended by police in front of a Beer Mart Express.
According to Assistant Chief Terrance Rhodes, the suspect was armed with a bladed weapon, Nagamallaiah’s key card, and his cell phone at the time of his arrest, but officers showed restraint and used minimal force.
Cobos-Martinez was later charged with capital murder. Police have not yet confirmed whether the victim was beheaded, though disturbing images from the scene showed Nagamallaiah’s body without a head, which was allegedly later found discarded in a trash bin.
The chilling details of the murder were revealed in a police affidavit, which claimed that Cobos-Martinez became enraged when Nagamallaiah spoke to a co-worker in order to translate for him regarding a broken washing machine.
According to NBCDFW, the affidavit detailed how Cobos-Martinez brought out the machete and attacked Nagamallaiah in the motel hallway, despite efforts from the victim’s wife and son to intervene.
Witnesses said the victim ran toward the motel office for help, but the suspect continued the attack, stabbing him repeatedly before decapitating him. Cobos-Martinez then allegedly kicked the victim’s head into the parking lot before throwing it into a dumpster.
Public records show the suspect has a criminal history in Houston, California, and Florida. He is a Cuban national and has been placed on an ICE hold at the Dallas County Jail.
Authorities have not confirmed whether Cobos-Martinez and the victim knew each other, but motel property owners described Nagamallaiah as a hardworking and good-natured man who had managed the motel for two or three years.
Detectives spent hours combing the scene for additional evidence and later executed a search warrant at the motel.
Anyone with further information is urged to contact Detective Cody Clark at 214-671-3584 or [email protected].