Wild details emerge at murder trial of 80s cult band rocker who strangled his girlfriend - as his ex wife takes the stand

Disturbing new details have emerged about a former 80s cult band rocker who fatally strangled his girlfriend, as the now 54 year old faces trial for her murder.

Attorneys for Theobald Lengyel, a former saxophone player in the cult experimental rock band Mr. Bungle, do not deny that he killed Alice 'Alyx' Kamakaokalani Herrmann, 61, in December 2023.

Instead, they argue that his actions do not amount to murder, and Lengyel has pleaded not guilty, the San Francisco Gate reports.

But prosecutors have painted a picture of the former rocker as an alcoholic who had a history of anger issues despite his more than $200,000-a-year job in financial technology and his family.

He even allegedly punched his now ex-wife, and pushed his sister to the ground, they have testified. 

Lengyel was unceremoniously asked to leave Mr. Bungle in 1996, but character witnesses at the murder trial in Santa Cruz Superior Court said he remained a charismatic and happy guy.

He had graduated Cornell University with a bachelor's degree in physics one year earlier, and in February 1999, he met Joleen Welch outside a San Francisco cafe when she stopped to pet his dog.

The couple spent the next year traveling through Europe, and officially got married in 2001. They then went on to have three children, and Welch said their marriage - which lasted until 2017 - started out good.

'He was a good father of newborn babies, and he far exceeded my expectations,' she said when she took the stand on September 10, according to the Gate.

But by the late 2000s, Lengyel's temperament suddenly began to change and he became resentful of his job as a programmer for investment banks.

He had told his wife the job was becoming too stressful and time consuming, as he dreamed of a different life for his family, hoping to start a restaurant with their savings, the jury heard.

At that point, Welch said, Lengyel changed his vices - from being a pot smoker to an alcoholic, and his drinking increased around 2015.

That year, the family planned to attend an afternoon Giants game, but Lengyel was 'already drinking' before they left, Welch recounted.

She told how Lengyel drove drunk and parked at his workplace garage, from where they would walk to the stadium. 

But as they walked, Welch said she noticed her husband becoming increasingly intoxicated.

'He was saying things that... made me feel like I wish he'd lower his voice,' Welch said.

She claimed that when she expressed discomfort, Lengyel would admonish her, telling her she's 'no fun' or 'couldn't take a joke.'

'I just wanted him to leave,' Welch said. 'I was embarrassed.'

So she decided to take her children home, and told her husband not to follow them.

'I didn't want to be around him when he was being really drunk,' Welch explained.

Yet Lengyel showed up at the house later anyway and smashed in the window to the rear door when Welch told him to leave.

He also allegedly pushed Welch against the wall and then onto the couch, where he punched her in the stomach.

'He was screaming, almost foaming at the mouth, calling me a f***ing idiot,' Welch testified through tears. 

Welch went on to describe her ex-husband as 'scary,' 'unpredictable' and even 'violent' when he was drinking.

But when Assistant District Attorney Conor McCormick asked her if Lengyel was only 'scary' when he drank, she replied: 'Not necessarily. There were times I felt scared even when he wasn't drunk.'

Other family members also spoke out about the former rocker's change of behavior in the years before he started dating Herrmann.

Ariana Frances Allgeier, Lengyel's niece, even corroborated the story Welch told, saying her uncle confided in her that he punched his wife.

She said she remembers him saying: 'If she stays with me, I don't know if I'll be more disappointed in her or disappointed in me.'

Tess Lengyel, Theobald's sister, also told how she tried to intervene when her brother got into a shouting match with their stepfather on Thanksgiving 2016, and her brother pushed her onto the floor.

She said she and other family members then emailed Lengyel with resources to encourage him to seek help with his alcohol and anger issues, but her brother 'adamantly refused,' calling their resources 'useless' and said he 'didn't believe in getting therapy and didn't believe in getting help.'

Still, Tess said, she tried to maintain a relationship with her brother.

But eventually he became too crude.

'He would call in the middle of the night at very late hours and if I answered, he sounded drunk, and he would say some things that were very rude and vulgar,' Tess testified, sharing how her brother would call her a 'stupid b***h' and a 'w***e' in calls and on voicemails. 

She was eventually granted a restraining order against her brother in 2017.

Lengyel is now facing murder and auto theft charges for the death of Herrmann, whose remains were found in a wooded area within Tilden Regional Park in Berkley.

Herrmann, who worked for the finance firm Moody's, was last seen in Santa Cruz on December 3, 2023 and was reported missing by her family on December 12.

Authorities now say Herrmann was strangled when her Apple Watch stopped registering a heartbeat on December 4 at 11.44pm - which was also the last day she logged into her work VPN.

Lengyel then drove to Portland, Oregon on or around December 8 to visit his brother Jed, whom he had previously texted 'brace yourself, it's worse than you think,' Lookout Santa Cruz reports.  

He then left his truck at his brother's house and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he told police where to find Herrmann's body and turned over his cellphone.

El Cerrito cops later found Herrmann's Toyota Highlander in front of Lengyel's home in El Cerrito, and at trial, Brendan Kellman of the Contra Costa Office of the Sheriff testified that he conducted a forensic examination of the vehicle and found 'several visible bloodstains' inside.

Detective Michael Oliveri also testified that the agency had video recordings of Lengyel driving the Highlander near where Herrmann's body was found.

Lengyel's defense team has not disputed much of these facts, but deny that Lengyel using Herrmann's car amounts to auto theft.

They also say Lengyel may have killed his then-girlfriend, but did not murder her.

'They played pool together, they drank together, they hiked together, they played games together,' defense attorney Annrae Angel argued in her opening statement.

'What I'm going to tell you is that the evidence is going to show that he killed her, but it's also going to show that he loved her and that this relationship was very, very important to him.'