Murder charges for Amarillo men, woman accused of beating victim for food stamp card

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Two men originally charged with aggravated robbery now have murder charges.

Dashaun Timothy Jackson, 18, and Thomas Seldon Rendon, 33, appeared before magistrate judge Robert Taylor this morning to be informed of their charges and bond.

As we previously reported on September 25, Amarillo Police were called out to a residence near Bluebell and 11th Ave around 2 p.m.

They discovered male victim inside the residence, who died from apparent head and facial injuries.

The victim was later identified as 57-year-old Paluku Valantin.

According to a criminal complaint, witnesses told officers that the day before, Paluku was beat up by a black female and two males who took his food stamp card and cell phone.

One witness to the assault took the victim to his apartment where he was taken to the bathroom, presumably to recover from the attack.

The witness said that he thought Paluku had fallen asleep in the bathroom. The next morning, he woke up and discovered the victim had died; he then called police.

The black female was identified as Alline Ndayishimiye by witnesses.

The witnesses told officers that Ndayishimiye regularly demanded items of value from Paluku.

On the day of the fatal attack, she demanded his food stamp card and the victim refused to give it to her.

The complaint states that police obtained surveillance footage of the assault and it corroborates witness statements.

In the documents, the footage is said to show Ndayishimiye talking with the victim and then signaling to two Hispanic males in a black BMW.

The males exit the vehicle and begin to argue with the victim. The argument turns physical and the men use their hands and fists, along with a glass bottle, to attack the victim.

After the victim is subdued, the men are shown going through his clothes and handing Ndayishimiye something before getting into the BMW and driving off.

After the deadly assault, the three suspects stopped at a Toot n Totum on Washington and Wolflin Ave.

Ndayishimiye is seen on the store’s footage using the victim’s food stamp card to purchase items and the two men are seen wearing the same clothes as they were in the footage of the Bluebell assault.

Jackson and Rendon were initially arrested and booked into Potter County Detention Center on a charge of aggravated robbery and their bonds were set at $500,000 each.

Today, they were informed of the new murder charge and bond was set at $700,000 each.

Ndayishimiye was initially charged with murder but the charge was changed to aggravated robbery pending autopsy results.

As of this writing, jail records show that her murder charge is reinstated and bond set at $1 million. Her aggravated robbery charge remains in place with a bond of $500,000.