A Minnesota dad killed a 77-year-old sex offender using a moose antler and shovel after he accused the man of stalking his young daughter. Levi Axtell, 27, who was smeared in blood, entered a police station on March 8 and kneeled down in front of cops before confessing to killing Lawrence V. Scully, 77, with a moose antler and shovel, according to Fox News.
According to reports, Scully served time in prison for abusing a young girl in 1979. Axtell, a Cook County, Minnesota, native had long suspected Scully of parking his car in places where children were present. He believed that Scully was also stalking his daughter.
Killing a Sex Offender
After turning himself in, Axtell reportedly told police that he had "completed" the job with the moose section. He then requested to be handcuffed with his hands on his head and reportedly threatened to harm others if he wasn't restrained.
Scully was found dead inside his Grand Marias, Minnesota, home, about two hours north of Duluth, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Office.
The two reportedly had a lengthy history of disagreement. Axtell requested a protective order against the elderly Scully in 2018, which was initially approved but later withdrawn.
Also, according to court documents, Scully was sent to a mental facility in 2020, but he was later freed and given anti-psychotic medication.
According to a criminal complaint filed on Friday, Axtell repeatedly hit Scully in his home with a shovel before "finishing him off" with a sizable moose antler. He is also believed to have broken Scully's car window at some point.
According to a police complaint, Axtell broke into Scully's house at around 4.45 pm and used a shovel he had found on the victim's deck to strike him 15-20 times.
"Defendant said he had known (Scully) for a long time, and believed him to have sexually offended against children in the past," it states.
"Defendant said he had observed (Scully) parked in his vehicle at locations where children were present and believed he would re-offend."
Confessing His Crime
A witness and dialing 911 and reported seeing someone "smash" a car in Scully's driveway before running into the elderly man's house, according to police. The witness then heard screaming, according to the police.
Around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, a Cook County sheriff's deputy entered the building and found Scully, who had suffered " 'major head trauma and surrounded by blood," adding that he was "obviously dead."
The father entered the police station drenched in blood and holding his head in his hands as he confessed to the murder
Scully had arm wounds from self-defense, according to a medical examiner.
Scully was 33 years old when he was jailed in Minnesota for abusing a six-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty and was given a sentence of between 0 and 5 years at Minnesota's Bayport State Prison.
He remained behind bars until he filed a post-conviction relief petition on December 31, 1981. According to a hearing record, the state had not provided any proof that he would be a danger to the public.
In 2014, he filed a candidature to run for mayor of Grand Marais, Minnesota. However, by 2018, he was once again the subject of accusations of sexual misbehavior involving juveniles.
Axtell requested a restraining order that year, stating that his child was being followed. "They do not know each other," he wrote in the petition.
"The respondent waits for victim to go on walks from daycare and tries to talk to her. ... He has been there many times stalking children in his van.
"I have seen him parked right next to the school. ... He is a convicted pedophile and him stalking and attempting to groom my daughter is completely inappropriate and needs to stop."
Judge Michael Cuzzo temporarily granted the request, prohibiting Scully from going within six blocks of Axtell's house.
However, Cuzzo later stated that "the allegations are not proven true," so a permanent order was rejected.
Axtell only had one arrest on his record, which was for felony property damage.
