A 51-year-old man who once lived in Stockton is suspected in the murder of a fellow inmate at High Desert State Prison, marking at least the third time he has surfaced in connection with an inmate killing behind California prison walls. Bryan Cook and 31-year-old Rodney Chweya, an inmate from San Diego County, allegedly attacked 26-year-old David Long with an improvised weapon on a recreation yard at the Lassen County facility, and Long was declared deceased at 11:40 a.m.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Cook is suspected in the murder of a fellow inmate at High Desert State Prison, according to a department statement cited by SFGATE. A CDCR release on the case states that staff observed Cook and Chweya attacking Long with an improvised weapon on a Facility C recreational yard at approximately 11:03 a.m., according to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation posting. Long was serving life without parole for a murder in Los Angeles County at the time of his death. Neither Cook nor Chweya was reported injured in the altercation, and both have been placed in restricted housing pending an investigation.
A Long History Tied to Inmate Deaths
Cook was received into state custody from San Joaquin County. Per CDCR records, he was involved in two previous investigations into homicides involving inmates before the Long case, according to the same SFGATE report. His presence in California prisons traces back to a killing he committed while living in Stockton, years before any of the incidents at High Desert.
Cook killed his roommate while living in Stockton, dismembering the body and trying to dispose of it in a campfire, SFGATE reports. He was sentenced in 2016 to two terms of 15 years to life for second-degree murder, plus 11 years for voluntary manslaughter. The Sacramento Bee separately reported that Cook, then 49, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2014 for killing his roommate, identified as Michael Jones, in Stockton, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Two Earlier Prison Cases
The Bee's report also noted that Cook was alleged to have attacked fellow inmate Joseph W. Reagan, who died in 2025, and that Cook had been convicted in the 2018 killing of an inmate at Calipatria State Prison — though those separate cases do not establish responsibility for the 2026 death of Long. In the 2025 incident, Cook allegedly attacked Reagan in a dayroom at High Desert State Prison at approximately 6:41 p.m., and medical staff pronounced Reagan deceased at 7:17 p.m., according to a report from KRCR.
That same account states an inmate-manufactured weapon was recovered at the scene of the Reagan attack, and Cook was moved to restricted housing while that investigation continued. Years earlier, a 2018 report said Cook and Charles Gilbert “Boots” Demar III were suspected of killing inmate Aaron Glynn at Calipatria State Prison and were placed into the prison's administrative segregated housing unit under suspicion of killing Glynn, per the Bee's earlier reporting.
Chweya's Background
Chweya was received into custody from San Diego County in May 2020. According to CDCR, he was sentenced to seven years for attempted second-degree murder. The investigation into Long's death remains ongoing, with both Cook and Chweya held in restricted housing as authorities work the case.
