Former rock band founder convicted of killing his missing girlfriend

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (TCN) -- A jury convicted a 56-year-old former rock band member of strangling his girlfriend to death and hiding her body in a wooded area in 2023.

Santa Cruz County court records show Theobald "Theo" Lengyel was found guilty Thursday, Oct. 10, of the first-degree murder of Alice "Alyx" Herrmann.

One of Herrmann’s relatives contacted the Capitola Police Department on Dec. 12 and asked officers to conduct a welfare check at her home. The relative became concerned when Herrmann failed to board her flight to Hawaii that day. Police said she was last seen Dec. 3.

Officers found her car in front of Lengyel’s home and later determined she was likely the victim of a homicide. They identified Lengyel as the primary person of interest and said he was not cooperating with investigators.

During the investigation, detectives went a wooded area of Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley and located human remains, which were later positively identified as Herrmann’s. Lengyel was arrested on Jan. 2 and charged with murder.

According to KRON-TV, Lengyel strangled Herrmann to death during an argument at her home on Dec. 3 because he asked her to go play pool with him, but she wanted to stay inside because she had to work the next morning. Herrmann reportedly recorded her argument with Lengyel, which was played in court during his trial.

At one point, Lengyel reportedly said, "You’re gonna f--king die right now. Are you ready?"

He reportedly continued to beat and torture Herrmann. KRON reports she asked, "What’s happening to my face? I can’t see."

Lengyel said, "OK. How do you want to die? Blunt trauma or something else?"

Herrmann asked him to stop hurting her 53 times during the recording.

KSBW-TV reports Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office inspector Steven Ryan said, "I’ve never heard anything that has affected me as much as that audio. Especially after spending the last nine months of my life really trying to understand this woman. To listen to that audio for the first time, that’s something that won’t leave me soon."

One of Herrmann’s friends described her as a "beautiful person, sweet, caring," adding, "I never heard her say a bad thing about anybody."

Lengyel, who founded the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle, will be sentenced in November.