Police from Santa Cruz County have arrested an El Cerrito man on suspicion of murder after recovering a body in Tilden Regional Park in or near Berkeley.
The Capitola Police Department arrested 54-year-old Theobald “Theo” Brooks Lengyel, 54, in Santa Cruz County on Tuesday, along with deputies from that county, the police department wrote in a prepared statement.
Lengyel is suspected of killing his girlfriend, 61-year-old Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann of Capitola, who was last seen Dec. 3 in Santa Cruz County and whose family reported her missing nine days later, police said.
According to court records, authorities believe Herrmann was killed on Dec. 5.
Police in El Cerrito found Herrmann’s car, a red 2007 Toyota Highlander, parked outside Lengyel’s home in that city after her family made the report, according to a Dec. 16 statement from the El Cerrito Police Department.
“Based on his actions, Theo Lengyel is a person of interest in Alice Herrmann’s disappearance and has not cooperated with the police investigation,” El Cerrito police said at the time.
As the investigation progressed, Lengyel graduated from person of interest to suspect, according to Capitola police’s Jan. 2 statement. Eventually, investigators found human remains in a wooded section of Tilden near Berkeley, they said.
The Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office’s Coroner’s Division took custody of the remains at first, but the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office’s Coroner later took over the death investigation. Capitola police said coroner’s investigators are still working to positively identify the remains.
Capitola police said they could not provide more details on when and precisely where the discovery was made.
Lengyel remained in custody without bail in Santa Cruz County Thursday, according to jail records. He is scheduled to appear in court in that county on Jan. 16. In addition to murder, Santa Cruz County prosecutors have also charged him with felony burglary and auto theft, according to court records.
The Santa Cruz County Office of the Public Defender is representing Lengyel and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SFGATE previously reported that Lengyel, who also goes by “Mylo Stone,” was a founding member of the rock band Mr. Bungle, which got its start in Humboldt County before operating out of the Bay Area.
