Published September 11, 2025 12:17pm CDT

DALLAS - Dallas police continue to investigate a gruesome and highly visible beheading at a motel in Old East Dallas that happened on Wednesday morning.

It happened at the Downtown Suites motel, which is located just off Interstate 30 near the Tenison Golf Course.

According to the arrest affidavit, on Sept. 10 at 9:26 a.m., Yordanis Cobos-Martinez was involved in a verbal argument with 50-year-old Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah at the motel.

A witness said she and Cobos-Martinez worked at the motel and were cleaning room 108 together when Nagamallaiah approached and was telling Cobos-Martinez to not use the washing machine that was broken. The witness said Cobos-Martinez was upset that Nagamallaiah was speaking to the witness to translate communication instead of speaking directly to him.

Video shows the suspect then left the room and got a machete "from his person" and started hacking Nagamallaiah multiple times.

Nagamallaiah ran down the parking lot towards the front office screaming as Cobos-Martinez chased him, according to the affidavit.

Killed in front of his wife and son

Once by the front office, Cobos-Martinez continued to hack at Nagamallaiah multiple times. During the attack, the victim's wife and son walked out of the front office and tried to get Cobos-Martinez to stop hurting the victim.

The suspect pushed them away several times and continued his assault.

During the attack, police say Cobos-Martinez stopped and went through the victim's pockets, taking his cell phone and lanyard with a key card. He then started cutting the victim until his head was removed from his body.

According to the affidavit, the suspect then kicked Nagamallaiah's head twice into the parking lot and then picked it up, and carried it to the dumpster, where he left it.

As he was leaving the dumpster area, covered in blood and still carrying the machete, Dallas Fire-Rescue followed him down the road until officers could help. He was then taken into custody.

According to the affidavit, Cobos-Martinez was taken to Dallas Police headquarters and provided statements that were corroborated with video collected from the scene.

He admitted to police he used a machete to kill the victim.

Dallas police say the suspect was taken to the hospital for a blood drawing.

To see if anything was in his system at the time, but that takes a few days to come back.

According to the arrest records from the Dallas County Jail, Cobos-Martinez is facing a charge of capital murder. He is being held without bond, and is also being held on an immigration detainer.

On Thursday, FOX 4 was sent a fundraiser for Nagamallaiah's family, calling the killing sudden and deeply traumatic.

It reads: "His life was taken in a brutal attack that occurred in front of his wife and son, who bravely tried to protect him."

Cobos-Martinez is on an immigration hold, as he is a Cuban national.

He does have a violent criminal history with a conviction in California, and arrests in Florida, and Houston.

Earlier this year, ICE confirmed to Fox News that Cobos-Martinez was released from ICE custody on January 13, despite his removal order, due to quote "no significant likelihood for removal in the foreseeable future".

Public records show at the time of the murder, Cobos-Martinez had an active warrant for a probation violation out of California.

Back in 2017, Cobos-Martinez carjacked a woman in south Lake Tahoe while he was naked. A jury convicted him in 2023 and sentenced him to a year and a half in prison.