Minnesota man used Moose Antler to kill sex offender he believed stalked young daughter: Sheriff – NBC Chicago

A Minnesota man was charged Friday with beating to death an elderly man previously convicted of child molestation, who he says stalked his young daughter in the past.

Levi Axtell, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Lawrence V. Scully, 77, who was beaten to death Wednesday at his Grand Marais home.

A criminal complaint filed Friday said Axtell killed Scully with a shovel and moose antler, then went to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and confessed, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

In a video hearing on Friday, Axtell’s bail was set at $1 million.

Defense attorney Dennis Shaw noted during the hearing that Axtell had no serious criminal history so far and that his long-standing ties to Grand Marais made him a risk of minimal leakage.

Axtell remains imprisoned in Cook County. His next court appearance is scheduled for April 10.

In 2018, Axtell alleged that Scully stalked his 22-month-old daughter and other children in his van, which he parked near his Grand Marais daycare.

Axtell applied for a protective order, which was granted but denied within weeks, according to court records.

In 1979, Scully was convicted in Kanabec County, Minnesota of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl, according to Cook County Sheriff Pat Eliasen. He was released from prison in 1982.

On Wednesday, Axtell arrived at the sheriff’s office covered in blood and “put his hands to his head and said he murdered (Scully) with a shovel,” according to Friday’s criminal complaint.

Deputies found Scully at his home “apparently dead from the severity of his head injuries”, the charging document continued.

Axtell told law enforcement he hit Scully 15 to 20 times with a shovel and then “finished him off” with a large moose antler.

He said he had known Scully for a long time “and believed he had sexually abused children in the past,” the complaint read. “(Axtell) said he observed (Scully) parked in the vehicle in areas where children were present and believed he would do it again.”

Eliasen said Friday there had been recent allegations against Scully, but an investigation “turned up nothing. Most of the reports were about harassment.”