A man allegedly beheaded a motel manager following a row over a broken washing machine.
Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, 37, is accused of using a machete to kill Chandra Nagamallaiah, 50, on Wednesday.
Mr Nagamallaiah, identified as the manager of Downtown Suites in Dallas, had asked Cobos-Martinez not to use a broken washing machine, according to court records seen by Sky News’ US partner network NBC News.
Cobos-Martinez, who was cleaning a room with a woman at the time, became upset because Mr Nagamallaiah didn’t speak to him directly and relied on the woman for translation, the documents said.
It is then alleged video captured Cobos-Martinez leaving the room and producing a machete before cutting and stabbing the victim.
Downtown Suites motel, Dallas
Mr Nagamallaiah fled the scene screaming but Cobos-Martinez is said to have followed him to the motel’s front office.
The victim’s wife and son tried to stop Cobos-Martinez but he pushed them away.
Cobos-Martinez removed a key card and mobile phone from the victim’s pockets and continued the attack “until his head was removed from his body”, the court papers said.
He then dumped the victim’s head in a bin, the documents added.
Cobos-Martinez was arrested by police as he fled the scene.
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The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Cobos-Martinez is a Cuban national with a final order of removal from the United States.
It said he was most recently in an ICE custody detention centre west of Dallas.
He had been released on an order of supervision in January because Cuba “would not accept him because of his criminal history”, the statement added.
Jail records show he is being held without bond in Dallas County Jail on an immigration detainer. The records identify him as an undocumented immigrant.
