El Cerrito man’s murder arraignment delayed in Santa Cruz court
SANTA CRUZ — Appearing before a packed courtroom Thursday morning, Theobald “Theo” Brooks Lengyel faced arraignment on a murder charge related to a believed Capitola woman.
Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Syda Cogliati, overseeing the matter, appointed a public defense attorney for Lengyel, a 54-year-old El Cerrito resident, and agreed to delay his arraignment two weeks, to Jan. 16, after his counsel’s new assignment.
Police arrested Lengyel on Tuesday off Highway 1 near Wilder Ranch, the same day human remains were located in the East Bay’s Tilden Regional Park, said Capitola Police Department Capt. Sarah Ryan. Detectives found the human remains after a tip led them to coordinate with East Bay Regional Park District police to search the park. They are linking the remains to Lengyel’s girlfriend, 61-year-old Capitola resident Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann, Ryan said. However, definitive DNA testing results remained pending this week, according to the department.
Despite discovery of what may be Herrmann’s remains in Contra Costa County, the case is being tried in Santa Cruz County because Herrmann’s personal digital items were last accessed in Capitola and she was last seen in Santa Cruz, according to Ryan.
According to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, Lengyel is believed to have killed Herrmann on Dec. 5, two days after she was last seen by fellow members of Outrigger Santa Cruz at a club practice. Her family reported Herrmann missing Dec. 12, after she missed a flight to Hawaii.
Lengyel is a former member of the “cult-followed experimental funk-metal band” Mr. Bungle, formed in 1985 with high school friends in Eureka, according to a 2011 profile on famous people with Humboldt County roots by the Tri-City Weekly. The band broke up in 2004, but not before releasing three studio albums through Warner Brothers Records in the 1990s.
In addition to murder, Lengyel faces felony charges of first-degree residential burglary and auto theft. According to the charging document, prosecutors believe Lengyel entered Herrmann’s home Dec. 30 “with the intent to commit larceny and any felony.” They also charge that he stole a black 2003 Volkswagen Beetle on New Year’s Eve. El Cerrito police earlier had impounded Lengyel’s and Herrmann’s vehicles — both parked outside Lengyel’s El Cerrito home — related to the investigation, the department said last month.
The Times-Standard contributed to this report.