A founding member of the 1990s experimental rock band Mr. Bungle, Theobald Lengyel, was arrested and charged with murder on Tuesday after police in Capitola, California, found what they believed to be human remains in a wooded area of the region His girlfriend's park belonged to him.
Mr. Lengyel's girlfriend, Alice Kamakaokalani Herrmann, 61, who was known as Alyx, was last seen in Santa Cruz, Calif., on Dec. 3, according to El Cerrito police. After not hearing from her for more than a week, her family reported her missing on Dec. 12, police said.
Ms. Kamakaokalani had lived in Capitola, a small coastal town in Santa Cruz County. Police said in a statement that during their investigation they found her car, a red Toyota Highlander SUV, at Mr. Lengyel's home in El Cerrito, about an hour and 40 minutes by car from Capitola. Investigators found remains that have yet to be identified at Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, police said.
Mr Lengyel's girlfriend, Alice Kamakaokalani Herrmann, has been missing since early December. Photo credit: El Cerrito Police Department
“As the investigation continued, it became clear that a crime was involved,” the Capitola Police Department said in a statement, “leading to the identification of Theobald Lengyel as the suspect.”
Mr. Lengyel, 54, who has also released music under the name Mylo Stone, has not cooperated in the investigation, according to El Cerrito police, who said they believe Mr. Lengyel has left the city for Portland, Oregon , drove. after the disappearance of Ms. Kamakaokalani.
Mr. Lengyel, who played alto saxophone, was one of the founding members of Mr. Bungle, which formed as a metal band in Northern California in the mid-1980s before taking a more experimental, absurdist path. The band released their first album, also called “Mr. Bungle” in 1991.
The album, which contained a mix of progressive rock, punk and funk, included song titles such as “Squeeze Me Macaroni” and “The Girls of Porn”. Allmusic.com described it as “a difficult, not very accessible record” but noted that “the band wouldn't have it any other way.”
Mr. Lengyel left the band in the late 1990s, before the release of the album “California.” The band reunited and performed in Los Angeles in 2020 without Mr. Lengyel.