Alyx Herrmann recorded her own murder, prosecution says

A newly discovered recording on Alyx Herrmann's cellphone captured the violent struggle that preceded her murder, prosecutors said this week.

Authorities found the recording Sunday — a month after her murder trial began.

Authorities say Theobald Lengyel, Herrmann's boyfriend of five years, killed her on Dec. 4, 2023, and buried her in a remote area of Tilden Regional Park in the Berkeley Hills.

Lengyel refused for weeks to reveal where he had put her, police said.

Officers ultimately found the body hidden under rocks near the Mineral Springs picnic area off Wildcat Canyon Road.

The newly discovered recording illustrated the "defendant's brutality against the victim during the last 50 minutes of her life," the prosecution said in a motion this week, and "shows that the murder was intentional and involved torture."

"This was always, in the People's view, a brutal domestic violence homicide," prosecutors wrote.

Lengyel has not disputed that he killed Alyx Herrmann, but his attorney has argued to the jury and the court that his actions did not amount to murder.

The new recording will likely require the defense to shift its entire strategy as the trial resumes Monday in the Superior Court of Santa Cruz.

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Authorities had already reviewed Herrmann's cellphone in the lead-up to the trial. But they did not spot the 3-hour recording until they opened the "Just press record" app last weekend.

In the days that followed, the prosecution filed a 12-page motion detailing some of the key moments from the recording — which they argued should lead to a stiffer sentence if Lengyel is convicted.

In the motion, the prosecution painted a stark and disturbing picture of Herrmann's final hours.

Prosecutors wrote that the audio began at about 9 p.m. Dec. 4 when Herrmann and Lengyel were at Herrmann's home in Capitola.

The two started arguing a short time later when Herrmann declined Lengyel's invitations to go out and play pool with him.

Herrmann told Lengyel she had to go to Berkeley the next morning and needed to get to bed.

Lengyel "continues to insist that Ms. Herrmann play pool," prosecutors wrote. "She becomes increasingly frustrated with him."

In the recording, Lengyel "repeatedly badgers" Herrmann for about an hour, asking her to go on a walk and propositioning her for sex, invitations she declined as she washed dishes, according to the motion.

"Do you recognize the idea that … I could run over there right now … I could mash your fucking brain," Lengyel said shortly before 10 p.m., according to the motion.

The argument continued with Herrmann bringing up Lengyel's alcohol problems and flushing a bottle of his liquor down the toilet, prosecutors wrote.

Herrmann repeatedly tried to get Lengyel to leave, which only upset him, according to the motion.

"I could fucking kill you right fucking now… but I'm not going to, because I have restraint," he told her at one point, according to the motion. "How about I just kill Trav [their dog] to demonstrate how I could kill you?"

The verbal argument continued until about 10:40 p.m. when it got physical, prosecutors wrote.

In the recording, Herrmann indicated that Lengyel had used a "control hold" on her and pulled her hair.

"I'm just … lying here," she told him, urging him to leave her alone.

"Are you at my mercy right now?" he asked her.

"From 10:40 p.m. to the time of her death at 11:33 p.m., Defendant has Ms. Herrmann under some form of physical restraint, or threat of violence, where she is unable to leave or get away from him," prosecutors wrote. "At different times during these 53 minutes where Defendant is either sitting on top of Ms. Herrmann or restraining her arms, Ms. Herrmann attempts to struggle out of the restraint and is able to punch Defendant once."

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The recording also captured how Herrmann bit Lengyel once as he strangled her, the prosecution said.

For the last 46 minutes of Herrmann's life, Lengyel "subjects her to physical violence, painful restraint, and multiple episodes of strangulation before she is ultimately killed during the final episode," according to the motion.

Over that period, Lengyel repeatedly threatened to kill Herrmann, the prosecution wrote, "and asks her if she would like to die by 'the phone cord,' 'blunt force trauma,' or 'choking.'"

At various times, Herrmann tried to convince Lengyel to release her and leave, according to the motion.

She also told him she loved him but that their relationship was over.

According to the prosecution, the recording also picked up the sound of Lengyel strangling Herrmann as she gasped and coughed for air.

"Stop it," she managed to tell him. "You want your kids to be the kids of a murderer?"

"It's too fucking late for that," he told her, according to the motion.

"It's not my fault," she managed to say at one point.

In the final minutes of the recording, Herrmann "is screaming for her life" and pleading with Lengyel to stop, according to the motion.

"Why should I stop?" he asked her.

Prosecutors wrote that the recording captured the sounds of an increasingly violent struggle as Herrmann continued to scream.

The audio "appears to end when the defendant realizes the phone is recording and stops the application at 12:11 a.m.," according to the motion.

What happens next in the Alyx Herrmann murder trial?

The prosecution's discovery of the recording Sunday upended the trial's expected schedule this past week.

On Monday morning, when jurors filed into court expecting to hear more evidence in the case, the judge immediately announced that they would be released for the week, until this coming Monday, Sept. 30.

The jurors weren't given any reason for the delay but Judge Nancy de la Peña told them it couldn't be avoided.

The prosecution subsequently asked to amend the charges against Lengyel to make him eligible for a sentence of life without parole due to what the recording revealed about the circumstances of the crime.

In a hearing Wednesday, de la Peña denied that motion. But she did not close the door on future requests along similar lines.

The jury is set to return to court Monday to hear continuing evidence in the case — including the recording from Herrmann's cellphone.

The Scanner was the only news outlet to attend the murder trial this week.