Who is Theobald Lengyel? Former rock musician arrested over girlfriend’s murder after body found in California Park

Theobald Lengyel, a former member of the experimental metal group Mr. Bungle, was arrested and charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend after human remains were reportedly found in a wooded area of Tilden Regional Park in California.

Theobald Lengyel’s girlfriend Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann, a Capitola resident and a member of Outrigger Santa Cruz, a competitive canoe paddling group, was reported missing on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, by concerned family members after not hearing from her for over a week.

According to KTVU, Herrmann, a neuroscientist who had a degree from Caltech, was last seen with the canoe paddling group on Sunday, December 3, in Santa Cruz, California. Capitola and El Cerrito police departments, which opened an investigation into her disappearance, named Theobald Lengyel, a person of interest in the case, after they found the 61-year-old missing woman’s car in front of his home.

Authorities said as the investigation progressed, they gathered information that led them to suspect foul play in the case. However, the police did not disclose the pertinent information. Shortly after finding human remains in Tilden Regional Park, police arrested the victim’s boyfriend, Theobald Lengyel.

While the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office has yet to identify the remains, Lengyel was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday, January 2, in the death of Herrmann.

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What we know about Theobald Lengyel in wake of his arrest for murder

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Theobald Lengyel, 54, a founding member of the rock band Mr. Bungle from 1985 through 1996, played saxophone and clarinet on the band’s first two major label albums, 1991’s Mr Bungle and 1995’s Disco Volante before parting ways with the group.

In 2005, during a fan Q&A cited by the magazine, bass guitarist Trevor Dunn wrote that the band unanimously decided to part ways with Lengyel in 1995 and had not spoken to him for a decade.

“We unanimously decided to go on without [Lengyel] because he wasn’t growing with the rest of the band and we were running out of things for him to do. He got pissed off and I haven’t heard from him since.”

According to his LinkedIn, Lengyel, a graduate of Cornell University with a BA in Physics, worked as a programmer for the last two decades and was listed as Vice President Data Engineer at Instinet since 2011.

According to a press release, the Capitola Police Department said after the discovery of his girlfriend’s remains in Berkeley's Tilden Park, Lengyel was arrested without incident and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail Tuesday morning.

“Theobald "Theo" Lengyel was arrested this morning in connection with the homicide of Alice Herrmann. Lengyel was located in the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's jurisdiction after an arrest warrant was issued.”

According to court records, cited by KRCR, Lengyel was involved in a domestic violence case after his then-wife filed a restraining order against him in 2017. The couple reportedly filed for divorce that same year.