Theobald “Theo” Lengyel, a former member of Mr Bungle, has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of his girlfriend in December 2023.
A jury in Santa Cruz deliberated for only one day before handing down the guilty verdict on Friday (October 11). Lengyel now faces life in prison when he’s sentenced in November.
54-year-old Alice “Alyx” Kamakaokalani was reported missing last year, having last been seen on December 3, 2023. An investigation into her disappearance was then launched by the Capitola Police Department and El Cerrito Police Department.
The police asserted that foul play was involved, and Lengyel was later identified by authorities as a suspect.
He was then arrested in January on suspicion of murder after the human remains of a person suspected to be Kamakaokalani were found in a wooded area of a Berkeley park in Capitola, California, while her car was last seen in front of Lengyel’s home.
During the trial, prosecutors produced an audio file retrieved from Kamakaokalani’s phone that recorded the couple verbally fighting on the night of her murder, followed by audio of what prosecutors argued was Lengyel strangling Kamakaokalani to death.
Prosecutors didn’t discover the recording until September 22 – one month into the trial. Per Associated Press, in the audio clip, the couple can be heard arguing after Kamakaokalani told Lengyel she didn’t want to go out that night. Lengyel then reportedly shouted at Kamakaokalani, “I could mash your fucking brain.”
The argument then turned physical, with the audio file recording Kamakaokalani both pleading for her life and gasping for air.
Lengyel and Kamakaokalani were previously married, and outlets such as Stereogum have reported that Lengyel had previously been investigated for domestic violence. The couple divorced in 2017, and in that same year, Kamakaokalani filed a restraining order against Lengyel.
The musician is most famous as one of the founding members of the California-based art-metal band Mr Bungle, which formed in 1985. He played keyboard and saxophone on their first two Warner Bros. releases – their self-titled 1991 album and 1995’s ‘Disco Volante’ – and remained in the band for about a decade before leaving the line-up.
Mr Bungle disbanded in 2000. However, they reunited in 2020 when they released a re-recorded version of their 1986 demo, ‘The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny’. Lengyel did not participate in the reunion.