A man who was arrested on suspicion of capital murder is alleged to have beheaded the manager of a Dallas motel and left the victim’s head in a trash bin, court records obtained Thursday show.
When authorities took Yordanis Cobos-Martinez into custody Wednesday, he was covered in blood and armed with the machete he is accused of using to kill Chandra Nagamallaiah, 50, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant.
Jail records show Cobos-Martinez, 37, is being held without bond in the Dallas County Jail on an immigration detainer. The records identify him as an undocumented immigrant.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Cobos-Martinez is a Cuban national with a final order of removal from the United States. He was most recently in ICE custody at a detention center west of Dallas, the department said.
Cobos-Martinez was released on an order of supervision in January after Cuba "would not accept him because of his criminal history," according to the statement.
The the statement said the case supports the Trump administration's efforts to deport undocumented people to so-called "third countries," or places where the person may have no connections.
According to the affidavit, Cobos-Martinez admitted to the killing in an interview with authorities.
The horrific scene unfolded Wednesday morning, after Nagamallaiah — whom NBC Dallas-Fort Worth identified as the manager of a motel northeast of downtown Dallas — instructed Cobos-Martinez not to use a broken washing machine, according to the affidavit.
Cobos-Martinez and a woman were cleaning a room at the time, the affidavit says.
Cobos-Martinez became upset because Nagamallaiah didn’t speak to him directly and instead relied on the woman for translation, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit cited video that it said captured Cobos-Martinez leaving the motel room, producing a machete and repeatedly cutting and stabbing Nagamallaiah.
Screaming, Nagamallaiah fled to the motel's front office, but Cobos-Martinez followed and continued to cut him, according to the affidavit. At one point, the victim's wife and son tried to stop Cobos-Martinez, but he pushed them away and continued assaulting Nagamallaiah, the affidavit says.
Cobos-Martinez removed a key card and a cellphone from Nagamallaiah's pockets and continued cutting the victim "until his head was removed from his body," according to the affidavit.
Cobos-Martinez kicked Nagamallaiah’s head into the parking lot, then picked it up and put it in a dumpster, the affidavit says.
First responders saw Cobos-Martinez fleeing the area and followed him. Officers took him into custody roughly a block away.
In addition to having the machete, the affidavit says, Cobos-Martinez was found with Nagamallaiah's key card and cellphone.
