DALLAS – Dallas police continue to investigate a gruesome and highly visible beheading at a motel in Old East Dallas that happened on Wednesday morning.
Yordanis Cobo Martinez (Source: Dallas County Jail)
Dallas Motel Beheading
The backstory:
It happened at the Downtown Suites motel, which is located just off Interstate 30 near the Tenison Golf Course.
Images from SKY 4 showed crime scene tape and a partition set up around a body on the sidewalk of the motel.
Arrest Affidavit
New Information:
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.
