SANTA CRUZ — A jury found El Cerrito man Theobald Lengyel guilty of first-degree murder after a single day of deliberations.
Outside the courtroom Thursday afternoon, friends and family of Alice “Alyx” Herrmann joined in tearful embraces and relieved group laughter. Members of the Santa Cruz Outriggers Club, a group to which Herrmann belonged, took regular turns attending the lengthy trial.
Lengyel, 54, is said to have strangled to death the 61-year-old Herrmann, his partner of five years, on the night of Dec. 4 in her Capitola home. Hermann’s badly decomposed body was found on Jan. 2, folded into a shallow grave, rocks piled on top of her, in Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley. She was last seen by her Outrigger Santa Cruz teammate and friend Dec. 3.
According to attorneys, Herrmann and Lengyel met as co-workers at a tech startup, a relationship that later evolved into a five-year romantic partnership. Lengyel, who struggled with alcohol abuse, received financial support for Herrmann after he was laid off from his job in 2019, defense attorney Annrae Angel said earlier in the trial.
The unanimous verdict came after six weeks of testimony — including the playing of a more than three-hour audio recording captured on Herrmann’s phone that depicted an intimate outline of events leading up to and including her death.
Mill Valley resident Eric Herrmann, one of Alice Herrmann’s brothers, said he was having an array of responses to the verdict, leaving him unsure how he was feeling. He did express his relief that his sister had found her community amid the outrigging paddling community, and he was grateful to police investigators and the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office for their work.
“I’m still a little shaking with emotion, obviously,” said Eric Herrmann, who was barred from most of the trial due to his status as a witness. “I’m here because my sister can’t be for her life and love of all things. This is not justice but it’s the closest thing that I have and that she could have.”
Prosecutors for the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office, appearing visibly depleted after the lengthy and emotional trial, declined to comment immediately after the verdict.
Angel, defense attorney for Lengyel, was succinct in her summary.
“The jury has made their decision and we will abide by it,” Angel told reporters.
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