(David Delong – image: Wright County Sheriff’s Office)
A grand jury has indicted a Watkins man on 1st and 2nd degree premeditated murder charges in the brutal workplace attack in early November that resulted in the death of a 20-year-old woman from Hutchinson.
(Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes)
Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes convened a grand jury that consisted of citizens of Wright County to investigate the death of Amber Czech on November 11th at Advanced Process Technologies, a metal fabrication company in Cokato. Czech was employed at the facility as a welder.
You’ll remember that Czech was beaten to death with a sledgehammer at her workplace. The suspect is 40-year-old David Delong, a co-worker at the plant. The initial criminal complaint against Delong indicated that after he had been read his rights, he told investigators that he did not like the young woman, and admitted killing her after planning the attack for some time.
Minnesota law stipulates that a grand jury must be convened to put forward any 1st degree premeditated murder charge. Delong was previously ordered to undergo a mental evaluation on earlier 2nd degree murder charges. He was scheduled to appear in Wright County Court on Monday on the new 1st and 2nd degree premeditated murder indictments.
Delong must now undergo the mental evaluation to determine whether or not he is competent to stand trial. The court earlier set January 15th to review Delong’s competency testing. He is currently being held in Wright County on 5 million dollars bail without conditions, or 2 million dollars with conditions.
The court has set January 15th to review Delong’s competency testing.
