{"id":25003,"date":"2026-04-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=25003"},"modified":"2026-04-09T06:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:01:44","slug":"watkins-murder-case-halted-over-competency-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/watkins-murder-case-halted-over-competency-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"Watkins Murder Case Halted Over Competency Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wright County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me)<\/a> A Wright County murder case is on hold after a judge found the defendant incompetent to stand trial.<\/p>\n

David Bruce Delong, 41, of Watkins, is charged with the death of Amber Czech, 20. Prosecutors say Delong killed Czech during an early morning shift on Nov. 11, 2025. The attack happened at Advanced Process Technologies.<\/p>\n

Case Put on Hold<\/h2>\n

A judge ruled on Feb. 23, 2026, that Delong is not competent to stand trial. Court action is now suspended until he is restored to competency.<\/p>\n

A forensic psychologist evaluated Delong. The report said he could not work with his attorney in a rational way. The report also said he did not understand the case because of ongoing mental illness symptoms.<\/p>\n

Neither the prosecution nor the defense challenged that finding. Delong still faces first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree intentional murder charges.<\/p>\n

\"David
David Bruce Delong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Investigators Say Happened<\/h2>\n

According to court records, deputies were called to the plant around 6 a.m. They found Amber Czech at her workstation. She had severe head injuries. A sledgehammer was found near her body. She died at the scene.<\/p>\n

Investigators say the plant video showed Delong leave his workstation and walk to Czech\u2019s area. The video allegedly showed him pick up a sledgehammer and strike her once while she was standing. It then showed four more blows after she fell.<\/p>\n

Authorities say Delong later told a co-worker that he used the hammer and that Czech was dead. Investigators also allege Delong confessed. They say he told officers he meant to kill Czech and had planned the attack.<\/p>\n

The case was first filed as second-degree intentional murder. Wright County Attorney Brian Lutes later upgraded the case to first-degree premeditated murder.<\/p>\n

What Happens Next<\/h2>\n

Under the court order, Wright County Health and Human Services must review whether Delong should be civilly committed under Minnesota law. If he is committed, the treatment facility must file written updates on his competency every six months.<\/p>\n

A status hearing to review Delong\u2019s condition is scheduled for April 10, 2026.<\/p>\n

After the killing, Advanced Process Technologies said its thoughts were with Amber Czech\u2019s family, friends, and co-workers. The company also said it was helping employees and working with investigators.<\/p>\n

Helpful resources:
\nWright County District Court<\/a>,
\nWright County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>,
\nMinnesota Commitment and Treatment Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright County (trfnews.i234.me) A Wright County murder case is on hold after a judge found the defendant incompetent to stand trial. David Bruce Delong, 41, of Watkins, is charged with the death of Amber Czech, 20. Prosecutors say Delong killed Czech during an early morning shift on Nov. 11, 2025. The attack happened at Advanced… Continue reading Watkins Murder Case Halted Over Competency Ruling<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2440,2436,871,10530,772,2437,2438,16287,16178,1286,1505,279,10942,2435,16177,3543],"class_list":["post-25003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-advanced-process-technologies","tag-amber-czech","tag-case","tag-competency","tag-crime","tag-david-bruce-delong","tag-first-degree-murder","tag-halted","tag-incompetency-ruling","tag-minnesota-court","tag-murder","tag-over","tag-ruling","tag-watkins","tag-watkins-mn","tag-wright-county","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25003"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25113,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25003\/revisions\/25113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}