Amber Czech, welder at Cokato, Minnesota manufacturing plant bludgeoned to death with sledgehammer by co-worker, David Bruce Delong.
A former ‘female’ high school basketball star was bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer by a ‘male’ coworker who ‘planned to kill her for some time,’ prosecutors alleged.
Amber Czech, 20, a welder at Advanced Process Technologies was found dead at her work station at the Minnesota manufacturing plant around 6am Tuesday morning.
Surveillance cameras inside the Cokato facility, roughly 50 miles from Minneapolis, captured the moment Czech of Hutchinson was attacked by her colleague, Wright County prosecutors said.
Cokato welder beaten to death with sledgehammer by co-worker
David Bruce Delong, 40, of Watkins, left his work station, walked over to Czech, picked up a sledgehammer and hit her to the ground according to charging documents cited by the Kansas City Star.
Delong allegedly struck Czech five times with the hammer, one time while she was standing and four times as she lay on the ground.
Surveillance footage showed Delong leaving his workstation and going to Czech’s, then taking her sledgehammer and swinging the tool in a horizontal movement toward Czech, according to a probably cause statement. When she fell to the ground, the co-worker is accused of striking her four more times with the sledgehammer ‘in a downward fashion.’
Czech died of blunt force trauma to her head and blood loss.
Paramedics found Czech’s body lying on the plant’s cement floor, near her work station. A bloody hammer was on the ground next to her, according to investigators.
Was co-worker affronted by fellow welder being female in normally male dominated trade?
Despite efforts to revive Czech, the welder was declared dead at the scene.
Delong following his arrest was charged with second-degree murder . The charge could be upgraded to first-degree murder.
Of note. Delong has prior convictions of brawling, theft, disorderly conduct, and driving under the influence of alcohol.
An employee at the plant told investigators that Delong confessed to killing Czech after the attack.
‘I hit her with your hammer, she is by your toolbox, she is gone,’ Delong said, according to the witness.
He also confessed to police that he disliked Czech and had been planning to kill her ‘for some time,’ deputies said in the statement of probable cause.
Not immediately clear is what attributes the co-worker didn’t like about the fellow female welder who had recently joined the plant dominated by male workers in a normally heavily male discipline.
A bit of a tom-boy? Female welder was star basketball player at school before coming to work at manufacturing plant
He appeared in court Wednesday morning, where his bail was set at $2 million with conditions. According to KSNI, Delong must surrender his passport and any firearms, remain law abiding, and have no contact with the Czech family.
He is due to appear in court again on November 24. Delong is currently being held in Wright County Jail.
Prior to starting work as a welder at the Cokato plant, Czech had graduated from Alexandria Technical & Community College this past spring after completing a 10-month welding technology program, KARE reported.
‘She exemplified the qualities we strive to instill in all our students — hard work, determination and professionalism,’ the college said in a statement to the outlet.
Advanced Process Technologies also paid tribute to Czech in a Facebook post Wednesday.
‘As some in our community know, one of our facilities was the site of a tragic event that resulted in the death of one of our coworkers. Our hearts are with their family, friends and all who are grieving this loss,’ the company wrote.
‘We are working closely with law enforcement as they investigate this event and focused on supporting our employees and the victim’s family.’
Czech was a varsity basketball player at Hutchinson High School. She graduated in 2023, MaxPreps records indicated. Not immediately clear is what led to the young female electing to pursue a trade in a normally male dominated arena…?
