The gruesome beheading of Indian-origin Texas motel owner Chandra Nagamallaiah in September which prompted President Donald Trump to vow strong action against the murderer, a 37-year-old Cuban alien, has suddenly gone off the radar as the alien, a history-sheeter, is not being pursued for the death penalty. Yordanis Cobos-Martinez was indicted on a capital murder charge within a month of the beheading incident. But in a latest development, prosecutor Julie Johnson told the court that the District Attorney Creuzot’s office does not intend to try this as a death penalty case, leaving life imprisonment without parole as the maximum available punishment.The primary reason why the prosecution suddenly became soft on the case is that Martinez is not a US citizen and death penalty would entail a lot of to and fro between US and Cuba.
Chilling beheading of Indian-origin motel owner
On the morning of September 10, Martinez was cleaning rooms in the motel with a female staff where he was employed. His manager Chandramouli Nagamallaiah told them not to use a broken washing machine and also asked the female worker to translate it for Martinez. Martinez was enraged that he did not speak to him directly. Surveillance footage showed Cobos-Martinez following Nagamallaiah out of the room, pulling out a machete, and attacking him. Nagamallaiah was killed and beheaded in front of his wife and son. Then Martinex kicked Nagamallaiah’s head down the driveway, picked up the head by hair and tossed it into the dumpster.Cobos-Martinez was swiftly arrested and taken into custody, where he reportedly admitted the murder to a detective.Martinez is in the US illegally and his name is not new to criminal records. In 2017, Cobos-Martinez was arrested in Florida for grand theft auto, though the charges were ultimately dropped. Later that year, he was convicted for attempting to carjack a woman in California while completely naked. He was arrested, released on bail and fled the state. In 2018, Cobos-Martinez was reportedly arrested in Harris County for indecency with a child. The charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence, Officials extradited him back to California in 2023 to face charges for the 2017 carjacking. A jury reportedly acquitted him of carjacking but convicted him of false imprisonment. He again fled the state while on probation.