Ex-Jazz Musician Killed Scientist Girlfriend, Taunted Her as She Begged for Life: 'How Do You Want to Die?'

Mar. 15, 2025

Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann (left); and Theobald “Mylo” Lengyel.Photo:Caltech; Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office

Caltech; Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office

A California jury convicted a former jazz musician of murdering his scientist girlfriend who had vanished last December before being found the following month.

Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann, 61, disappeared on Dec. 4, 2023, from her Capitola, Calif., home, perEl Cerrito police.

Her boyfriend, musician Theobald (Theo) Brooks Lengyel, wasarrested in January 2024after Herrmann’s remains were found that month, perCapitola police.

Lengyel, 54, was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday, Oct. 11, per theAssociated Press,KSBWandKRON 4.

During the trial, prosecutors played a three-hour long audio clip of Herrmann pleading with Lengyel for her life, per KSBW, KRON 4 andCBS News. It wasn’t clear if the recording, from her phone, was taken intentionally.

At one point, Lengyel threatens Herrmann, per KRON 4 and theSanta Cruz Sentinel, saying, “I could mash your f—ing brain."

Alice Alyxa Kamakaokalani Herrmann Missing Poster.

He makes similar threats over the next two hours, at one point threatening to kill the couple’s dog “to demonstrate how I could kill you,” he says in the recording.

Later, Lengyel pins Herrmann down and says: “Are you at my mercy right now?" Later, he asks, “You wanna live?”

Herrmann says “stop” 53 times in the recording, per prosecutors.

Theobald “Theo” Lengyel was arrested in January.Capitola Police Department Facebook

Capitola Police Department Facebook

After Herrmann bites Lengyel’s arm in an attempt to escape, Lengyel says, “You’re gonna f—-ing die right now. Are you ready?”

Herrmann says she can’t see, gasping for air, as Lengyel taunts her: “Okay. How do you want to die? Blunt trauma or something else … think you should be choked to death?”

Within a few minutes, Herrmann’s voice begins to wane.

An “adventurous athlete,” Herrmann enrolled in college at the age of 16, went on to get a PhD in neuroscience, landing a job with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, per her friends and family, theBerkeleyScannerreported.

Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann.El Cerrito Police Department

El Cerrito Police Department

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Lengyel is one of the founding members of a jazz-rock band Mr. Bungle, where he played the saxophone, clarinet and keyboard, per the Associated Press. He went on to work in tech and met Herrmann, perSF Gate.

He is scheduled to be sentenced next month, per KSBW, CBS and KRON 4.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com