Dallas motel beheading trial delayed as capital murder case moves forward

DALLAS - The man accused of brutally beheading his co-worker at a Dallas motel is still months away from standing trial.

Capital Murder Trial

What's new:

Attorneys for Yordanis Cabos-Martinez were in court on Thursday for a status hearing related to the case. 

Prosector Jessia Lynch told Judge Lela Lawrence Mays that the office has been providing discovery to the defense as required. That includes information extracted from the cell phones of the victim and the defendant.

However, defense attorney Lalon "Clipper" Peale, who is the court-appointed counsel representing Cobos-Martinez, told the court, "We still have a huge hole in our investigation." He did not elaborate on that "huge hole" because members of the media were present.

The defense attorney also said he hasn’t been able to travel to Cuba to do any research on his client.

"People look at flight records and say, ‘Well, there's flights leaving today.’ It's not just the flights, though, it's the visas to get there. And as the state now knows, it's a six-month wait to do that. So, just to let the court know that, and obviously we got other issues that we've been dealing with the court on that we can talk in chambers about, but that kind of dove tails into the issues that I’m dealing with and talking to the court about," Peale said.

What's next:

Thursday’s hearing ended with no trial date set. At the earliest, it will be late spring or early summer, if then.

While Cobos-Martinez is charged with capital murder, the state is not seeking the death penalty.

Dallas Beheading

The backstory:

Cabos-Martinez accused of killing his co-worker, Chandra "Bob" Nagamalliah, at the Downtown Suites motel on Sept. 10, 2025.

According to an arrest affidavit, Cobos-Martinez was cleaning a room in the motel with a co-worker when their boss approached. Nagamallaiah told his employees not to use a washing machine that was broken. 

Cobos-Martinez got mad that Nagamallaiah was speaking to his co-worker to translate communication rather than speaking directly to him. He allegedly left the room to get a machete and then started hacking at Nagamallaiah.

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

During the attack, the victim's wife and son walked out of the front office and tried to help him. They were pushed away.

During the attack, police said Cobos-Martinez went through the victim's pockets, taking his cell phone and lanyard with a key card. He then cut 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.

Immigration Status

Dig deeper:

Cobos-Martinez 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.