Authorities arrested a 54-year-old man Tuesday in the killing of his girlfriend after the discovery of human remains in a wooded area of Tilden Regional Park.
Investigators booked Theobald “Theo” Lengyel into the Santa Cruz County jail on suspicion of murder in the death of Capitola resident Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani Herrmann, according to the Capitola Police Department.
Herrmann, 61, was last seen Dec. 3, prompting the Capitola and El Cerrito police departments to open an investigation nine days later into her disappearance. Authorities later found human remains in Tilden Regional Park, located within Berkeley and Contra Costa County.
The Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office is still analyzing DNA from the body to positively identify it. However, investigators said information gathered over the past month led to them to suspect foul play in Herrmann’s death.
Capitola police released little information on where the body was found, how it ended up in Tilden, or the circumstances of Herrmann’s apparent death.
Lengyel was a founding member of the funk-metal group Mr. Bungle, which formed in Humboldt County in 1985, according to SFGATE. He played saxophone with the band for about a decade, before parting ways with the group, the news outlet reported.