A Dallas motel manager was killed and beheaded Wednesday in broad daylight, and authorities arrested a man they identified as the attacker and charged him with capital murder.
Police said 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, a Cuban national who is in the United States without authorization, attacked 50-year-old motel manager Chandra Nagamallaiah with a machete in the parking lot of the Downtown Suites in East Dallas. Officials said the assault occurred in front of the victim’s wife and son, and that surveillance footage captured parts of the episode.
Authorities said the suspect chased, slashed and stabbed Nagamallaiah as the manager tried to flee toward the motel office. After the fatal attack, officials said, the suspect kicked the severed head across the parking lot and tossed it into a dumpster. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in a statement provided to WFAA, said Cobos-Martinez "did the unthinkable and proceeded to kick the head around like a soccer ball." Witnesses immediately called 911.
Dallas police said officers found Cobos-Martinez a few blocks from the motel, still soaked in blood and carrying a machete, the victim’s cellphone and a motel keycard. Dallas Fire-Rescue personnel arrived first on the scene and reported the suspect walking calmly away from the area, authorities said. In a video-recorded interview with police, Cobos-Martinez admitted to the killing, the affidavit says.
Cobos-Martinez was booked into the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on a capital murder charge and is being held without bond, authorities said. ICE placed a detainer on him, the agency confirmed.
The motel manager, Nagamallaiah, had managed the Downtown Suites for about two to three years, the motel’s ownership said, describing him as a "good, hardworking person." Neighbors and nearby workers reported hearing screams and seeing the manager’s son run for help. One witness told NBC News the son tried to strike the attacker with a bat but was unable to stop the assault.
Police cordoned off the motel and processed the scene for hours, collecting surveillance footage and witness statements as part of an ongoing homicide investigation. Investigators have not released a motive beyond an account in which police say the dispute began over a language barrier when Nagamallaiah, through a translator, asked Cobos-Martinez not to use a broken washing machine.
Law enforcement records show Cobos-Martinez has a criminal history in Texas and other states. According to local reporting and a federal source cited by Fox News, ICE released him in January after concluding there was "no significant likelihood of removal in the foreseeable future." That federal source told Fox News that Cuban authorities had declined to accept deportation flights and that the previous administration had used third-country removals to address similar cases; the source said such removals were not pursued by the Biden administration. ICE said it has placed a detainer hold on Cobos-Martinez following the homicide.
The slaying has drawn renewed attention from local residents and elected officials to immigration enforcement, detainer policies and interagency coordination in cases involving foreign nationals with criminal records. Dallas police said their investigation remains active and that detectives will continue to review video evidence and witness testimony as they prepare the case for prosecution.
Prosecutors will determine whether to seek the death penalty in the capital murder case. Cobos-Martinez remains in custody pending further legal proceedings.
(Reporting compiled from Dallas police statements, an ICE statement to WFAA, local interviews and media accounts.)