Ex-Rock Musician Arrested In Killing Of Missing Girlfriend After Human Remains Found
A former rock musician was arrested Tuesday and charged with murderin connection with the disappearance of his girlfriend after human remains were found in a Northern California park, authorities said.
Ex-musician Theobald “Theo” Lengyel, 54, was arrested in connection to the homicide of Alice “Alix” Kamakaokalani Herrmann, authorities announced Tuesday, after the unidentified remains were discovered in a wooded area in Tinley Regional Park in Berkeley.
Alice “Alix” Herrmann, 61, was reported missing last month.
Herrmann, a 61-year-old resident of Capitola, was last seen in nearby Santa Cruz on Dec. 3. She was reported missing by her relatives after she missed a flight to Hawaii on Dec. 12, the Capitola Police Department said in a Dec. 26 press release. In Wednesday’s court filing, the offense date is listed as Dec. 5.
Hermann, a competitive paddler and member of the Santa Cruz Outrigger Canoe team, had participated in a morning paddling practice on Dec. 3, according to a Facebook post by the Northern California Outrigger Canoe Association. Authorities said Hermann’s SUV had been found parked in front of Lengyel’s house in El Cerrito, and that they had found evidence indicating that she was the victim of a homicide.
Lengyel, also known as Mylo Stone, was a former saxophonist and a founding member of the experimental rock band Mr. Bungle. He had been named a primary person of interest early in the investigation and had not been cooperating with investigators, the El Cerrito Police Department said in a Dec. 18 statement.
At the time, authorities asked residents who frequented “regional parks and open spaces” to “be on the lookout for anything suspicious” that could provide information related to Herrmann’s disappearance.
Herrmann’s parents were folk musicians, and she had composed a “round” for a popular New Year’s song sung every year by the San Francisco Folk Music Club, a member of the club said on its Facebook page.
Friends of Herrmann described her as a “sweet and trusting soul” and a “warm, loving human” with an adventurous spirit, noting that she traveled the world to compete in outrigger races.
Herrmann was last seen on Dec. 3.
In a 2015 interview shared by Loudwire, former Mr. Bungle musician Trevor Dunn said the band had “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.”
The Capitola Police Department said formal identification of the remains is pending DNA confirmation. The Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office told HuffPost the results are still pending.
Lengyel is also charged with felony burglary and felony auto theft for unlawful taking or driving a vehicle.
Lengyel is being held without bail in Santa Cruz County, according to the sheriff and online jail records. An arraignment is scheduled for Thursday morning.
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