USA: Father ‘beats pedophile to death for allegedly stalking his daughter’

A father has beaten a pedophile to death with a shovel and moose antlers after suspecting he was stalking his daughter, it has been claimed.

Levi Axtell, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder after Lawrence V. Scully, 77, was found dead at his home in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Axtell is believed to have been concerned that Scully, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl in 1979, was around his 22-month-old daughter.

He accused Scully of parking his van in front of his child’s daycare in 2018, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. He applied for a protection order, which was granted but was dismissed within a few weeks.

A hearing heard that Axtell arrived at the sheriff’s office covered in blood and “put his hands on his head and said he murdered Scully with a shovel”.

Axtell told officers he hit Scully 15 to 20 times with the big spade and then “killed” him with a big elk antler.

The police found the pedophile, who was released from prison in 1982, in his apartment “obviously dead from severe head injuries”.

Before his death, there had been recent allegations against him, mainly relating to harassment, but an inquiry “turned up nothing”.

Axtell remains in custody in Cook County and his next court appearance is scheduled for April 10.

Defense attorney Dennis Shaw noted that Axtell had no prior criminal record and described him as having minimal risk of escaping.

His bail was set at $1 million (£830,640).

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