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The family of 20-year-old Amber Czech held her funeral this weekend, after her coworker allegedly beat her to death earlier this month.
David Delong, 40, faces second-degree murder charges in her death for allegedly hitting her with a sledgehammer at their workplace, a manufacturing facility in Cokato.
Delong appeared in Wright County court for a hearing Monday. A judge ordered an evaluation of his mental condition and competency to stand trial, at the request of his attorney.
Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes is also putting the case up for consideration for a first-degree murder charge, which carries a possible sentence of life in prison. A grand jury is scheduled to consider it in December.
Prosecutors say Delong told investigators that he didn’t like Czech and had been planning to kill her.
Czech was buried in Hutchinson, where she was born and raised. In her obituary, her family remembered her as a lover of the outdoors and a hardworking welder.
“Amber was passionate and precise about her craft, and said ‘If you are not going to do it right, don’t do it at all,’” her obituary reads.
Czech’s death prompted a nationwide outcry from tradeswomen’s associations and several trade unions, which denounced violence and harassment against women in trade industries.
The National Association of Women in Construction held a virtual meeting on gendered violence in the workplace, and several groups shared an online fundraiser organized by friends of Czech’s family. It’s received more than $100,000 in donations.
Delong is due in court again in January.
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