Man Indicted for First-Degree Murder in Cokato Workplace Killing

(KNSI) — A Wright County grand jury indicted a Cokato man on first-degree murder charges for killing a coworker last month.

The grand jury indicted 40-year-old Bruce Delong on first- and second-degree murder charges for beating 20-year-old Amber Czech to death with a sledgehammer last month.

According to the criminal complaint, on November 11th, police were called around 6:00 a.m. to Advance Process Technologies in Cokato after a woman was found dead at her workstation. First responders and police arrived and attempted life-saving measures, but Czech was pronounced dead at the scene. Delong confessed to another employee that he assaulted her. Police reviewed surveillance footage, which shows Delong leaving his workstation and walking over to Czech, picking up a sledgehammer, and hitting her with it, knocking her to the ground. She is off camera, but investigators say the video shows he continued to hit her, even after she was down.
Court papers say he confessed to investigators he didn’t like the woman and had been planning to kill her “for some time.”

Delong was initially charged with one count of second-degree murder with intent, not premeditated. Those charges were upgraded to first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree murder with intent.

The Honorable Judge Kari Willis set bail at $2 million with conditions, which include surrendering his passport and any firearms, remaining law-abiding, and having no contact with the Czech family. Bail is $5 million without.

Delong’s next court date is set for January 15th.

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