Man Smashed Co-Worker’s Head in with Sledgehammer Over ‘Bad Look’: Report

ambulance for medical at 170 Swindra. Boulevard Northeast for a 22year-old. with major head trauma, blood loss. Not. alert. >> A young woman is dead after police say. her coworker walked over to her. workstation [music] and hit her multiple. times with a sledgehammer. She died on. the floor of [music] the manufacturing. plant and deputies immediately took the. suspect into custody. And the reason he. apparently gave police [music] for. hitting the 20-year-old over and over. and over again with such a terrifying.

weapon [music] is chilling. Plus, in a. stunning twist, a man claiming to be a. family member of the suspect took to. Facebook Live to talk about what. happened. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. [music] I'm Jesse. Weber. Look, as we're covering stories like. this, let me just say staying on top of. the news is so important, but with all. the media bias these days, who knows. what to believe, right? So, I want to. introduce you to our sponsor, Straight. Hour News. Okay, Straight Hour News is a.

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back to trustworthy journalism. The. community of Koko, Minnesota, and the. surrounding areas was rocked last week. when news started to spread that there. had been a workplace attack at a. manufacturing plant. It was early in the. day on November 11th, just after 6:00. a.m. when first responders were. dispatched for Advanced Process. Technologies. And this is in Koko, a. small city east of Minneapolis. 20-year-old Amber Czech had been hit. over the head with a sledgehammer and.

was in dire need of help. >> Major head trauma, blood loss, blow to. the head, possibly unwitnessed, is not. alert, but is breathing. So, as. emergency crews rushed to the scene, dispatchers were queuing up lifelight to. head to the factory, but then they soon. got word that unfortunately. they wouldn't be needed. >> Coco fire, we do have lifelink in route. If they are needed, their ETA is going. to be about 25 minutes at this point. If. you could find a possible landing zone.

for them, STAC one will be the channel. >> Thank you. fire right now. Coco fire. on scene. >> On scene at 615. rescue. >> cocaine to rescue. Go ahead. >> You can cancel there. >> Copy. We are 660.

>> Grass 11. You guys can cancel. >> Fire. Right. Go ahead, Koko. >> You can show us clear of the scene. >> Clear 621. >> Now, according to a news release from. the Wright County Sheriff's Office, it. reads, quote, 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 11th, the Wright County. Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call. from Advanced Process Technologies in. the city of Koko regarding an adult. female being found at a workstation with.

significant head trauma. Deputies. arrived on scene along with Cooko. ambulance and attempted life-saving. measures. However, the adult female was. pronounced deceased at the scene. The. initial investigation indicated that the. adult female's death was due to an. assault by an adult male co-orker with a. blunt force object. The adult male. co-orker, identified as David Bruce. Dong, was taken into custody on scene. without incident by deputies. So, I want. to dig into what a criminal complaint.

claims happened that day and also what. the suspect also allegedly said to. police after his arrest about this. heinous heinous series of purported. actions. So, to do that, I want to. welcome on trial attorney and former. prosecutor uh Bridget Williams. Bridget, thank you so much for taking the time. I. we cover horrendous violent crimes all. the time. There's something about this. the if the allegations are true taking a. sledgehammer as a weapon. Have you seen.

something like that before? This is not. a knife. This is not a gun. This is a. very specific instrument to be used. And. by the way, the weight of that, it's an. object that not everyone could use. So, if we're also talking about, and we'll. get into what the evidence is, if this. was a who done it, it does kind of limit. the field about who would be able to. operate something like that, right? >> That's a great point. Um, in addition to. what you just said, that's not something. that we see all the time. This is, you. know, once every couple of, you know,

blue moon that we hear a case of this of. this matter um like this. And so. something like this going gone. It. already has all the elements of a. intentional murder. We have malice of. forethought. He intentionally did this. He premeditated it. He went to pick up. this huge hammer, sledgehammer, and slam. this woman against the head with it. Um, so it has all of the components of a. premeditated murder.

>> And le let's get into this a little bit. more. And I want to start with the. victim. Okay, we have 20-year-old Amber. Czech. She had gotten into welding while. she was in high school. This is what her. father told K1. She attended Alexandria. Technical and Community College, graduated in the spring of 2024 after. completing the 10-month welding. technology program. And after learning. of her death, ATCC put out a statement. saying in part, quote, she exemplified. the qualities we strive to instill in. all our students, hard work, determination, and professionalism. So,

obviously, you're talking about a. tremendous loss. But now I want to get. into the law. County Attorney Brian. Loots shared the criminal complaint that. was filed with the court in a news. release and it lays out what. surveillance video from inside the plant. reportedly showed and the violence. allegedly committed by Dong. Quote, the. video surveillance shows the defendant. leaving his workstation and walking to. the victim's workstation. The defendant. is wearing gloves when this occurs. The.

defendant is observed grabbing a. sledgehammer from the victim's. workstation. The video shows the. defendant swinging the sledgehammer at. the victim who is out of the view of the. camera. The defendant's first swing of. the sledgehammer is in a horizontal. movement consistent with the victim. standing. And Loot told People magazine, quote, they actually pass by each other, but it doesn't even appear that they. address or engage each other at all. The. first swing is horizontal. And I look at.

that to mean she's standing upright at. that time. And then he makes four more. swings and they're very aggressive, violent, forceful swings. The complaint. then says that Dong walked by another. male coworker and said something along. the lines of quote, "I hit her with your. hammer. She is by your toolbox. She is. gone." Bridget, it's not every day I can. say that we have a purported crime, a a. a violent attack, a potential murder. here caught on surveillance footage. I.

don't know what a defense attorney would. do. How they would try to get that. footage out. Um if the footage comes in. where they say, "Well, you can't really. see uh you can't see the victim. She's. blocked. We don't But I because I I I if. you have that on tape, where do you go. with it? That's the end of the case.". No. There's so much there, Jesse. Um, I. don't see why that video would not come. into evidence. That is something that. would 110% go into evidence. We have so.

many components here. So, you have again. the video, you have his statement to. this other coworker. Um, there's just so. many things that point to this. defendant. I don't even know if this. should be a trial case. Um, and so it. could be something that a defense. council would try to work out with the. state to try to avoid the victim's. family going through a trial and talking. with them about just who she is and. having them just listening and go. through all of the details about it. Um, and also having a jury to determine what.

the sentencing is. They can maybe have. some more control over what the. sentencing would be. Um, if it is a. trial case, that video more than likely, I'm going to say probably 99% is going. to come into evidence. >> unless there's a mischaracterization of. what the video shows, which we don't. have any indication to say that's the. case. But, you know, look, we don't know. what Delong's demeanor was at that. moment. But you couple that surveillance. footage, Bridget, with also that alleged. cold statement that he makes to the. coworker, that's shocking. And I imagine.

that coworker would testify. >> 110%. I I mean that coworker was just. there minding his business. He didn't. ask him any questions. He made a. statement to the coworker outright. So I. couldn't imagine the coworker not. testifying at all either. >> Now I mean would it be hearsay what the. defendant allegedly told him? >> Well, I don't think that that would. necessarily be hearsay. It's a statement. made by um the defendant. He's there. He's in court. Um and so I I don't think.

that that makes it to hearsay. Um, and. so when we talk about what that would be. in a trial setting, I mean, he gives a. statement there. I I don't think that. that would make it make it to hearayo. >> By the way, in his interview with. People, uh, Loot said that it appears. that this employee went to go see what. the Long was talking about. And that's. when this worker saw a check on the. floor with the bloody sledgehammer next. to her body. That's when 911 was called. And the criminal complaint says that.

Dong confessed after his arrest. That's. the new allegation. Quote, "The. defendant admitted to not liking the. victim. The defendant said he has been. planning to kill the victim for some. time." And Loots told People he. mentioned in his statement that she had. kind of given him a bad look and that he. was upset about that. Apparently, the. bad look was some time ago and he just. didn't like her. It's a logical type. behavior. Now, here's the part that's. interesting. I mean, if it was from a. law school example, you could say that.

you can't get more firstdegree. premeditated murder than this. Now, here's the thing. Dong was initially. charged with seconddegree murder with. intent but not premeditated. And Luth. said in a statement, "I will evaluate. this case for a possible charge of. firstdegree premeditated murder, which. requires convening a grand jury.". Bridget, I thought that was surprising. I thought that was surprising. Why not. immediately charge first? It was surprising to me as well that. that wasn't the outright um charge from. the beginning. Um because again, this.

gives, like you said, this is a law. school example of premeditated burn. It. gives all of the factors of what would. be in a a classic criminal case um in a. criminal law school. Um and so I I don't. understand why they didn't have that. from the beginning unless they were just. trying to make sure they had something. first and then they amended it as they. went. Um but that is surprising. V, I. got to say as I'm listening to this and. if these allegations are true, how. callous this attack was, the statements. that were purportedly made afterwards, I.

is the only logical explanation, not. logical, but is the only avenue for a. defense attorney to explore if this. evidence is going to come in is to. suggest some sort of mental health. defense. But then I'm I'm torn because. there seems to be an understanding, taking it all as true, there seems to be. under an understanding on the part of. Dong about what he did or allegedly did. I think even mental health defense is. going to be a stretch here because again. when we talk about premeditating, he was. planning to do this all along. So that.

tells us right there that's not. necessarily a mental health issue. He's. been planning, he intentionally meant to. do this this entire time to this young. lady after he said that he didn't like. her. So now we have a reason why. Not. not necessarily that he has to have a. reason in order for um to fit the. elements, but he's been planning this. all along. So, I don't think that even a. mental health defense would be helpful. here. >> Well, I will tell you this. This is. unexpected what I'm about to get into. In an unexpected twist, a man claiming. to be a family member of the defendants.

of Dongs, Robert Dong, went live on. Facebook after this alleged murder to. talk about what happened. Watch. My. family got rocked with some news. We got rocked with some really, really. harsh news. Although. it actually wasn't surprising. None of us were really surprised.

Who really know. the person? We were not surprised at all. In fact, this person hadn't even been. around the family for the past three. years. And we found out. that he murdered somebody. premeditated. murdered somebody. If that doesn't um if that doesn't shed.

a little light on. on picking and choosing a path very. carefully. because. with with what a lot of people go. through, they can just be one choice away from. from that direction. I thought it would hit me more, but as I. said, like it didn't really surprise us. What this mother did was.

up, but it's also indicative of how. gone he has become. Now, Robert Dong. also posted a statement to his Facebook. page saying, quote, "On November 11th, 2025, Amber Czech was brutally murdered. at work by David Bruce Dong. Our family. had cut contact with him years ago due. to concerns for safety. Concerns that. tragically proved justified. We are. heartbroken for Amber's family and.

focused on supporting them through their. grief. We ask for privacy as we honor. Amber and navigate this pain. No further. comment at this time." Now, Bridget, again, assuming there is a family. connection here, assuming there is this. is real, what do you make of those. statements? >> They are some pretty intense statements. And if I was a prosecutor in this case, I would be trying to bring in that. family member to testify in court. But. if I'm defense council, then I'm going. to try to keep that statement out and.

any statements made by the family. members um as what we call previous bad. acts or previous bad behaviors or. anything of that nature. So, we're going. to try to keep those statements out. Um, but if the prosecution, they're good at. their job. They're more than likely. going to be reaching out to him to try. to testify in a trial setting. If this. case does move forward to trial to talk. about why did they cut ties with him in. the first place, what was it that he's. referring to to say that he was not a. safe person? Why did they just stop. talking to him alto together? um and let.

a jury know exactly what was going on. and that he's always been this maybe. unhinged person. Um and so that would be. something that as a prosecutor I would. be trying to submit into evidence. >> Legally though, this is interesting. because let's be clear, there is nothing. from that statement or series of. statements that indicate they had any. warning that he was going to do. something to Amber Czech. Okay, let's be. clear. >> Of course not. But but if you if there. is a concern from family or friends that. someone's a danger, if there is a.

concern that's that they may do. something like this, and I'm not saying. that they had any idea that he was about. to commit a murder. Let's be clear about. that. But if there was something that. was alerting them, there's only there's. limited in what they can actually do, right? You can't call the police and. say, "Hey, we got a family member uh. who's dangerous. Can he have be. patrolled 24/7?" I mean, that that they. need something real. They need something. uh specific in order to alert police. There's just not resources out there to. monitor somebody like this, right? And. and what also, how can you predict what.

somebody's going to do? >> You can't predict what someone's going. to do. And honestly, it's not their job. to monitor him 24/7. What they did do as. a family is, and what according to this. family member who posted on Facebook, is. that they cut ties with him altogether. And we don't know what conversations. they may have had prior to this. Maybe. they recommended some type of mental. health um just treatment for him or. whatever it is that they may have talked. with him about. We have no idea what.

that is about. All we can go off of is. what the family member has actually said. to um I guess on his Facebook page. And. again, that would be those statements. that he did talk about. That would be. something that the prosecution would try. to just bring in to talk about previous. bad acts. >> Yeah. Um, and this is a really really. aside from a disturbing case, it's. tragic and and you think about the loss. here. You you have a GoFundMe uh that. was set up for Amber's family to help. cover the funeral costs. This is the new. reality that they're dealing with. And.

as of Monday morning, more than $50,000. uh has been raised, which is incredible. The GoFundMe description had this to say. about Amber. We are heartbroken to share. the loss of our beloved Amber Czech. She. was taken from us far too soon at just. 20 years young as a result of workplace. violence. Amber was a hard-working. welder who took great pride in her craft. and dreamed of building a bright future. through her work. Her witty personality, positive attitude, and beautiful smile. touched everyone who knew her. Now, Bridget, how do families navigate.

something like this? >> My next thought immediately goes to a. civil lawsuit against the company. So. the family could have what we call a. wrongful death case against the company. So they have the ci the criminal case. against the individual and then they. also could bring forth a civil case. against the company for different um. various action calls of action and that. could be um negligent hiring. Did they. do a thorough background check on this. individual to determine if he was.

competent enough to handle this. particular position? um did they follow. all the safety protocols that should. have been put in place there in order to. make sure that it is a safe space for. everyone? There's a multitude of calls. of actions that a um a civil litigator. could move forward with for this family. >> Yeah, look, workplace violence is a real. thing. Um and and this is just one that. stands out for all the wrong reasons. uh. Del Long being held in the Wright County. jail on a $5 million bail or $2 million.

with release conditions according to. news outlet KNSI. So that would include. surrendering his passport, any guns, having no contact uh with the Czech. family. So far, he remains behind bars. He's expected back on court November. 24th, but we'll also see his charges. upgraded to first-degree uh murder. We. shall wait and see. Bridget Williams, thank you so much for taking the time. It was good to see you. >> Thank you for having me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple.

Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. [music]. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next. time.