Victim beheaded with machete at Dallas motel. Suspect is in custody, police say
A capital murder suspect accused of beheading a man outside a Dallas motel on Wednesday morning is in custody, police said.
Dozens of police cars responded to the Downtown Suites motel in the 3400 block of Samuell Boulevard, which is near Interstate 30 and the Tenison golf course in East Dallas, Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV reported.
Authorities have now identified the homicide victim as 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah. The suspect has been identified as 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez.
Dallas police officers and Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to a call about the stabbing about 9:30 a.m. and found the suspect had “cut the victim with an edged weapon several times,” Dallas police said in a news release.
A witness told WFAA that the weapon was a machete and that the victim tried to run while being stabbed but fell on the ground on the motel property. Audio from 911 calls and police incident reports referred to the attacker “cutting someone’s head off.”
A 911 caller also reported that the killer put the victim’s head in the trash.
Both the victim and the suspect reportedly were employees of the motel.
A witness to the attack told KXAS-TV that Nagamallaiah yelled for help and ran toward the motel’s office, where his wife and son were. The witness told KXAS that the victim’s son hit Cobos-Martinez with a bat but was unable to stop the suspect from killing his father.
Investigators have not described a motive for the killing.
Cobos-Martinez faces a capital murder charge in the case, police said in an update Wednesday afternoon.
Dallas police Executive Assistant Chief Terrence Rhodes said during a news conference that officers who were patrolling the area arrested the suspect.
“Our officers were proactively patrolling the area and responded quickly to take the violent criminal into custody,” Rhodes said. “Even though (the suspect) was armed with a bladed weapon, the officers showed tremendous restraint and used minimal force to apprehend him. This violent crime will not go unpunished, and our department will thoroughly investigate and bring charges against the suspect.”
Police asked anyone with information about the killing to contact Homicide Detective Cody Clark at 214-671-3584 or cody.clark@dallaspolice.gov.
This is a developing story. Check back for more details.
This story was originally published September 10, 2025 at 12:18 PM.