Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, is accused of killing a man at a Dallas motel. He also has a criminal history in the Houston area.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The man accused of beheading another man at a Dallas motel earlier this week has a criminal history in the Houston area.
Court records show that Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, was charged with aggravated assault, a felony, in Harris County in 2018. He ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge and was sentenced to 1 year in county jail.
In January 2023, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office arrested Cobos-Martinez on an out-of-state fugitive warrant. According to court records, he was in custody when authorities realized he was wanted out of California for a series of charges — carjacking, false imprisonment and failure to appear. He was extradited to California to face the charges.
Dallas attack
On Wednesday, Dallas authorities said Cobos-Martinez killed 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah at the Downtown Suites motel along Samuell Boulevard near I-30 and the Tenison golf course in East Dallas.
According to Dallas police, they showed up at the motel around 9:30 a.m. after getting reports of a stabbing. When they got there, they found Nagamallaiah dead.
Court documents shed more light on what investigators believe happened that morning.
According to official records, a witness told authorities that she was cleaning a room with Cobos-Martinez when Nagamallaiah came up to them and told them not to use a broken washing machine. She said Cobos-Martinez got mad that Nagamallaiah was speaking to her to translate, and not directly to him.
Surveillance video showed Cobos-Martinez leave the room, get a machete and attack Nagamallaiah. During the attack, Cobos-Martinez paused to go through Nagamallaiah’s pockets and took several items. He also fought off the victim’s wife and son when they tried to stop the attack.
A witness told our sister station WFAA that Cobos-Martinez continued striking Nagamallaiah with the machete until it decapitated him.
Police said Cobos-Martinez was taken into custody about a block away from the crime scene.
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