Chilling final words of killer rocker's girlfriend who recorded her own murder

A erstwhile '80s cult set rocker has been recovered blameworthy of strangling his woman aft shocking audio of the execution was discovered during the trial.

Alice 'Alyx' Kamakaokalani Herrmann, 61, recorded her last moments as Theobald Lengyel, 55, choked the beingness retired of her connected December 4.

Lengyel, a erstwhile saxophone subordinate successful the cult experimental stone set Mr. Bungle, didn't contradict sidesplitting her, but argued his actions didn't magnitude to murder.

But 4 weeks into the six-week trial, the three-hour audio file Herrmann recorded connected her telephone was recovered - blowing unfastened the case.

The record stared with Lengyel playing soft successful their location in Capitola, adjacent Santa Cruz, California, past getting aggravated she didn't privation to spell retired to play pool.

''Why is it truthful important to you? Why is it a contention of wills? Have a amusive time,' Herrmann told him aft the statement began astatine 9.09pm.

'I could mash your f**king brain,' helium was heard saying astatine 9:53 p.m. - the archetypal of his threats.

'When you drink, this s**t happens, we fight,' Herrmann replied.

Lengyel responded by threatening to termination her dog, Trav, 'to show however I could termination you'.

'You request to spell out. You should find different girlfriend. Bye! Bye! Bye, wherefore are you inactive here?' Herrmann yelled, ordering him retired of the house.

Lengyel past held her down and saying, 'Are you astatine my mercy close now? 'You're gonna f**king dice close now. Are you ready?'

'OK. How bash you privation to die? Blunt trauma oregon thing else… deliberation you should beryllium choked to death? How astir that.'

'Stop it. You privation your kids to beryllium the kids of a murderer? Come on, halt it,' Herrmann pleaded.

But Lengyel told her: 'It's excessively f**king precocious for that.' 

The assemblage listened successful fearfulness as Herrmann was dilatory strangled, gasping for aerial and begging 43 times for Lengyel to halt betwixt 11:32 p.m. and 11:33 pm.

'Why should I stop?' Lengyel told her. It took 5 agonizing minutes for her to die.

The signaling lone stopped astatine 12:11 americium when Lengyel realized it was going and stopped it - but crucially did not deliberation to delete the file.

Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Emily Wang told the tribunal successful her closing statement that the signaling showed what Lengyel did was thing abbreviated of murder.

'He strangles her for a full of 5 minutes. We cognize her bosom goes into bradycardia astatine 11.35pm, and we cognize that her assemblage lays successful the acold crushed successful that parkland for 28 days,' she said.

Wang said Lengyel asking Herrmann however she wanted to dice showed helium had 'express intent to kill'.

'Theobald Lengyel is blameworthy beyond a tenable uncertainty of execution successful the archetypal grade of Alice Herrmann,' she said.

Herrmann's assemblage was aboriginal recovered dumped successful Tilden Regional Park successful Berkley. 

Prosecutors painted a representation of the erstwhile rocker arsenic an alcoholic who had a past of choler issues contempt his much than $200,000-a-year occupation successful fiscal exertion and his family.

He adjacent allegedly punched his present ex-wife, and pushed his sister to the ground, they testified. 

Lengyel was unceremoniously asked to permission Mr Bungle successful 1996, but quality witnesses astatine the execution proceedings successful Santa Cruz Superior Court said helium remained a charismatic and blessed guy.

He had graduated Cornell University with a bachelor's grade successful physics 1 twelvemonth earlier, and successful February 1999, helium met Joleen Welch extracurricular a San Francisco café erstwhile she stopped to favored his dog.

The mates spent the adjacent twelvemonth traveling done Europe, and officially got joined successful 2001. They past went connected to person 3 children, and Welch said their matrimony - which lasted until 2017 - started retired good.

'He was a bully begetter of newborn babies, and helium acold exceeded my expectations,' she said erstwhile she took the basal connected September 10.

But by the precocious 2000s, Lengyel's temperament abruptly began to alteration and helium became resentful of his occupation arsenic a programmer for concern banks.

He told his woman the occupation was becoming excessively stressful and clip consuming, arsenic helium dreamed of a antithetic beingness for his family, hoping to commencement a edifice with their savings, the assemblage heard.

At that point, Welch said, Lengyel changed his vices - from being a cookware smoker to an alcoholic, and his drinking accrued astir 2015.

That year, the household planned to be an day Giants game, but Lengyel was 'already drinking' earlier they left, Welch recounted.

She told however Lengyel drove drunk and parked astatine his workplace garage, from wherever they would locomotion to the stadium. 

But arsenic they walked, Welch said she noticed her hubby becoming progressively intoxicated.

'He was saying things that... made maine consciousness similar I privation he'd little his voice,' Welch said.

She claimed that erstwhile she expressed discomfort, Lengyel would admonish her, telling her she's 'no fun' oregon 'couldn't instrumentality a joke.'

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

So she decided to instrumentality her children home, and told her hubby not to travel them.

'I didn't privation to beryllium astir him erstwhile helium was being truly drunk,' Welch explained.

Yet Lengyel showed up astatine the location aboriginal anyhow and smashed successful the model to the rear doorway erstwhile Welch told him to leave.

He besides allegedly pushed Welch against the partition and past onto the couch, wherever helium punched her successful the stomach.

'He was screaming, astir foaming astatine the mouth, calling maine a f**king idiot,' Welch testified done tears. 

Welch went connected to picture her ex-husband arsenic 'scary,' 'unpredictable' and adjacent 'violent' erstwhile helium was drinking.

But erstwhile Assistant District Attorney Conor McCormick asked her if Lengyel was lone 'scary' erstwhile helium drank, she replied: 'Not necessarily. There were times I felt frightened adjacent erstwhile helium wasn't drunk.'

Other household members besides spoke retired astir the erstwhile rocker's alteration of behaviour successful the years earlier helium started dating Herrmann.

Ariana Frances Allgeier, Lengyel's niece, adjacent corroborated the communicative Welch told, saying her uncle confided successful her that helium punched his wife.

She said she remembers him saying: 'If she stays with me, I don't cognize if I'll beryllium much disappointed successful her oregon disappointed successful me.'

Tess Lengyel, Theobald's sister, besides told however she tried to intervene erstwhile her member got into a shouting lucifer with their stepfather connected Thanksgiving 2016, and her member pushed her onto the floor.

She said she and different household members past emailed Lengyel with resources to promote him to question assistance with his intoxicant and choler issues, but her member 'adamantly refused,' calling their resources 'useless' and said helium 'didn't judge successful getting therapy and didn't judge successful getting help.'

Still, Tess said, she tried to support a narration with her brother.

But yet helium became excessively crude.

'He would telephone successful the mediate of the nighttime astatine precise precocious hours and if I answered, helium sounded drunk, and helium would accidental immoderate things that were precise rude and vulgar,' Tess testified, sharing however her member would telephone her a 'stupid b***h' and a 'w***e' successful calls and connected voicemails. 

She was yet granted a restraining bid against her member successful 2017.

Herrmann, who worked for the concern steadfast Moody's, was past seen successful Santa Cruz connected December 3, 2023 and was reported missing by her household connected December 12.

Authorities present accidental Herrmann was strangled erstwhile her Apple Watch stopped registering a heartbeat connected December 4 astatine 11.44pm - which was besides the past time she logged into her enactment VPN.

Lengyel past drove to Portland, Oregon connected oregon astir December 8 to sojourn his member Jed, whom helium had antecedently texted 'brace yourself, it's worse than you think'.

He past near his motortruck astatine his brother's location and returned to the San Francisco Bay Area, wherever helium told constabulary wherever to find Herrmann's assemblage and turned implicit his cellphone.

El Cerrito cops aboriginal recovered Herrmann's Toyota Highlander successful beforehand of Lengyel's location successful El Cerrito.

At trial, Brendan Kellman of the Contra Costa Office of the Sheriff testified that helium conducted a forensic introspection of the conveyance and recovered 'several disposable bloodstains' inside.

Lengyel's sentencing hearings volition statesman connected November 7, and helium volition astir surely spent the remainder of his beingness successful prison.