When Levi Axtell, 27, entered the sheriff’s office to confess to murdering Lawrence Scully, who was imprisoned for molesting a six-year-old girl in 1979, he was covered in blood and had his head in his hands.
Cook County, Minnesota native Axtell had long suspected Scully of parking his car in places where minors were present.
Additionally, according to court documents, Scully was placed in a mental health facility in 2020, but was later released and given anti-psychotic medication.
According to a Friday criminal charge, Axtell repeatedly struck Scully in his apartment with a shovel before “finishing him off” with a large moose antler. He is also thought to have broken Scully’s car window at some time.
According to the lawsuit, Axtell claimed to have used a sizable moose antler to get the job done.
‘Defendant said he had known (Scully) for a long time, and believed him to have sexually offended against children in the past,’ it states.
Around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, a Cook County sheriff’s officer entered the building and discovered Scully, who had suffered “major head trauma” and was “surrounded by blood,” adding that he was “obviously dead.”
As he confessed to the murder, the father entered the police station covered in blood and holding his head in his hands.
A neighbor saw a van pull up at Scully’s house, smash a car, and then flee home, so they both called 911 to report the incident.
According to the witness, screaming was heard.
He pleaded guilty and was given a term of between 0 and 5 years in Minnesota’s Bayport State Prison.
He stayed behind bars until he filed a post-conviction relief petition on December 31, 1981.
He submitted a petition to run for mayor of Grand Marais, Minnesota, in 2014.
However, by 2018, he was once more the subject of accusations of sexual misconduct involving minors.
‘They do not know each other,’ he wrote in the petition.
‘The respondent waits for the 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.’
However, Cuzzo later stated that “the allegations are not proven true,” so a permanent order was denied.
Scully was the subject of allegations, according to Sheriff Pat Eliasen, but an investigation ‘didn’t uncover anything.
‘I am overwhelmed by the amount of support I am seeing online right now in light of Wednesday’s tragedy,’ Katrina Axtell wrote on Facebook.
‘I would like to welcome you to share your words in support of Levi and our family.’
According to Minnesota court documents, Scully was committed to a mental hospital in July 2020 but was released the following year.
The court approved the use of antipsychotic drugs in June 2021.
