Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Man Kills Co-Worker with Sledgehammer Because He Doesn't Like Her | Crime Alert 6AM 11.25.25

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Man Kills Co-Worker with Sledgehammer Because He Doesn't Like Her | Crime Alert 6AM 11.25.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime al Art hourly update, breaking crime news. Now, I'm
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  Speaker 1: Drew Nelson. Amber Zek is dead at twenty years old.
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  Speaker 1: Police in Minnesota say a co worker who said he
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  Speaker 1: didn't like her walked over to her workstation and bashed
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  Speaker 1: her with a sledgehammer at the manufacturing plant that employed them.
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  Speaker 1: Prosecutors say he planned to kill her for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: The death of the young welders shocks the state and
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  Speaker 1: sends a wave of grief and anger through women in
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  Speaker 1: the trades across the country. A visitation in Hutchinson marks
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  Speaker 1: the latest moment of mourning for Amber, whose life ended
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  Speaker 1: inside advanced process technologies. In Cocado, A steady line of
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  Speaker 1: people moved through Saint Anastasia Catholic Church. Family member Shannon
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  Speaker 1: Visser spoke to our TV news partners at Fox nine Milwaukee.
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  Speaker 2: Great Now, we are just trying to bless Amber and
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  Speaker 2: remember Amber in every part of her life that has
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  Speaker 2: touched people and touched everybody in this community.
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  Speaker 1: Loved ones describe her as joyful and ambitious. Investigators say
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  Speaker 1: Ambe was busy at her station when coworker David Bruce
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  Speaker 1: DeLong walked over with the sledge Deputies found her with
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  Speaker 1: fatal head trauma and significant blood loss. The bloody hammer
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  Speaker 1: lay nearby. Surveillance video showed DeLong leaving his workstation moments earlier.
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  Speaker 1: He allegedly told a witness quote, I hit her with
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  Speaker 1: your hammer. She is by your toolbox, she is gone.
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  Speaker 1: DeLong faces a second degree murder charge. Wright County District
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  Speaker 1: at Turning Brian Lutz is evaluating first degree premeditated murder,
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  Speaker 1: which would require a grand jury. A judge has ordered
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  Speaker 1: a competency evaluation. The company has paused production and says
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  Speaker 1: it is cooperating with investigators. Hundreds of women in the
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  Speaker 1: trades convened an emergency meeting of the National Association of
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  Speaker 1: Women in Construction. Members shared stories of gender harassment, safety fears,
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  Speaker 1: and the sense that Amber's murder represents something bigger.
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  Speaker 3: Our heart breaks for her family, for her friends, for
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  Speaker 3: all those who were touched by what happened to her.
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  Speaker 3: This was not thing that such a young woman deserved ever. Ever.
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  Speaker 1: Ever, That's Association president Rita Brown Workers Nationwide made a
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  Speaker 1: showing by wearing blue in Amber's honor. Trade unions issued
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  Speaker 1: statements calling for safer work sites, more accountability, and a
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  Speaker 1: cultural reset around hostility. Toward women. Amber had completed a
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  Speaker 1: ten month welding program in the spring of twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: She was known for her precision and pride in her work.
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  Speaker 1: Her obituary remembered her standard quote, if you are not
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  Speaker 1: going to do it right, don't do it at all.
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  Speaker 1: Friends and family said she loved the outdoors, took care
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  Speaker 1: of people without being asked, and never hesitated to help
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  Speaker 1: with a hard task. The response has poured into her
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  Speaker 1: family's online fundraiser as well. The GoFundMe stands at one
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  Speaker 1: hundred twelve, nine hundred and seventy six dollars toward a
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  Speaker 1: one hundred twenty thousand dollars goal, with North America's Building
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  Speaker 1: Trades Unions the top donor at five thousand dollars. Donors
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  Speaker 1: left messages about their own experiences in mail dominated trades
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  Speaker 1: and their heartbreak at Amber's death. One contributor writing quote,
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  Speaker 1: as a woman working in a traditionally male job who
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  Speaker 1: gets discriminated against constantly, I stand with Amber. Another donor
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  Speaker 1: posting quote, we may not have known each other, but
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  Speaker 1: we were sisters in the trades. More Crime and Justice news.
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  Speaker 1: After this, you see that.
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  Speaker 2: Red flat runaway.
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  Speaker 1: Those are the words of a Georgia woman who ignored
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  Speaker 1: her own warning and nearly died because of it. Recovering
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  Speaker 1: into Cab County near Atlanta after her ex boyfriend shot
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  Speaker 1: her ten times, kidnapped her, and drove her through multiple
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  Speaker 1: counties while she pleaded for her life, Shamae Pitt, twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: told WSB she met her ex Joshua Woodruff on November
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  Speaker 1: two to talk, then watch the man explode into violence
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  Speaker 1: inside her car, she spoke in an exclusive interview.
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  Speaker 2: He steps back, he steps forward, and he starts shooting
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  Speaker 2: me up. My ears are ringing, but I come into
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  Speaker 2: a realization that he's shooting at me.
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  Speaker 1: Pitt says. She sat bleeding from ten gunshot wounds as
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  Speaker 1: Woodroff drove her from Snapfinger Road in unincorporated to Cab
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  Speaker 1: County to Douglasville. She said she heard him making two calls.
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  Speaker 2: Basically asked them what's to do with my body? I'm scared?
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  Speaker 2: I asked them, Can I just can I Can I
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  Speaker 2: just write a letter to my son?
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  Speaker 1: Pitt says. Woodroff abandoned her at a hospital after hours
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  Speaker 1: on the road. Paramedics moved her to another trauma center
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  Speaker 1: while security detained. Woodruff Police charged him with aggravated assault
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  Speaker 1: and false imprisonment. Pitt's mother, Sherry Tucker, wants the charge
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  Speaker 1: is upgraded, including a charge for a modified assault rifle.
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  Speaker 2: He needs to be chried for bringing over county lights.
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  Speaker 2: He needs to be federally charge for having automatic which
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  Speaker 2: was federal effect.
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  Speaker 1: The attack has left Pitt with an overwhelming stack of
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  Speaker 1: medical bills. A GoFundMe set up in her name has
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  Speaker 1: raised only seven hundred and thirty dollars toward a twenty
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  Speaker 1: two thousand dollars goal. On the campaign page, Tucker wrote, quote,
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  Speaker 1: on Sunday, November second, he ambushed her in an act
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  Speaker 1: of unthinkable violence. He shot my daughter ten times with
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  Speaker 1: an AR rifle that had an internal switch and was
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  Speaker 1: loaded with seven sixty two AAC blackout round ammunition. She
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  Speaker 1: tried jumping out the car on the highway, but couldn't
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  Speaker 1: due to all the broken bones, as he constantly threatened
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  Speaker 1: to shoot her in the head. Through it all, my
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  Speaker 1: baby begged for her life, and by the grace of God,
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  Speaker 1: she survived. Sami is now fighting through surgeries and a
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  Speaker 1: long recovery to take care of her four year old
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  Speaker 1: autistic son, A traffic case in Florida ends with a
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  Speaker 1: drunk driving arrest and an unplanned home visit by police
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  Speaker 1: after officers find a door Dash driver passed out at
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  Speaker 1: a traffic light. Cape Coral police say they found twenty
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  Speaker 1: five year old Luis an hell Alania Astraea slumped over
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  Speaker 1: the wheel of his Toyota Sedan at Skyline Boulevard in
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  Speaker 1: Cape Coral Parkway. Body camera footage shows officers shouting for
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  Speaker 1: him to put the car in park. They found an
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  Speaker 1: open bier inside his vehicle. The breathalyzer recorded a point
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  Speaker 1: one five blood alcohol content, nearly twice the legal limit.
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  Speaker 1: He was charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.
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  Speaker 1: Spoke into the Lee County jail. Officers learn he was
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  Speaker 1: on a door Dash run and concerned themselves with the
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  Speaker 1: late delivery. Bodycam shows an officer confirming the address, shrugging,
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  Speaker 1: and deciding to finish the job. The department reported that
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  Speaker 1: quote the actions of the officer helped ensure the resident
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  Speaker 1: received the meal safely and without unnecessary delay. Astraya appeared
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  Speaker 1: confused on scene and spoke to officers in Spanish. Door
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  Speaker 1: Dash later said the company had permanently removed estraya from
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  Speaker 1: the platform. A spokesperson told ABC News the company has
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  Speaker 1: quote zero tolerance for driving under the influence and thanked
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  Speaker 1: officers quote for keeping the community safe and going above
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  Speaker 1: and beyond to deliver this customer's dinner. For the latest
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on
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  Speaker 1: your favorite podcast. Out with this Crime Alert and Drew
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  Speaker 1: Nelson
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  Speaker 3: H