Levi Axtell, a dad from Minnesota, killed his elderly neighbor, Lawrence V. Scully, after he started suspecting that he was surveilling his almost 2-year-old daughter and the other children in the neighborhood. After he confessed to the murder, evidence began emerging suggesting that he might have actually imagined the entire surveillance.
Scully, 77, was convicted in 1979 for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old child. With people convicted of such harrowing crimes, there is always a risk of re-offending. And it’s not just Jeffrey Epstein. There was also another story of an Arkansas dad who woke up in the middle of the night to find his daughter no longer in bed, only to discover she had been kidnapped by a neighborhood sexual-assault ex-con. He also killed the man, and even though he’s facing charges, he has huge public support and is even running for sheriff to interpret the laws in ways he believes best protect children.
Axtell’s story is a bit different, however. The run-ins between Scully and Axtell started all the way back in 2018, when Axtell’s daughter was only 22 months old. Axtell claimed that Scully was stalking his daughter and had even parked his car near the child’s daycare. Eventually, Axtell managed to get a protection order issued against Scully — but later on, the order was dismissed.
Everything reached fever pitch on Mar. 8, 2023. Axtell drove to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office with blood all over his clothes and body, then confessed to the entire station that he had just killed Scully with a shovel. Police quickly rushed to Scully’s home only to find him already dead. He had reportedly been beaten approximately 20 times with the shovel.
With no actual inciting event to pin the killing on, Axtell was charged with second-degree murder. The court decided to mentally evaluate him in hopes of understanding his years-long resentment of Scully — who, according to their findings, never definitively re-offended. Psychologists reportedly found that Axtell had a years-long fixation on sexual-assault offenders and believed they were irredeemable. Once he learned about Scully, he made it his life’s mission to prove he hadn’t been rehabilitated. Axtell repeatedly told psychologists, “I’m a hero!”
In April 2025, the judge finally decided to place Axtell in a two-day competency hearing to determine whether he was even mentally fit to stand trial. Cafe Mom reports Judge Steven Hanke ultimately ruled that Axtell needed another kind of help, writing in part: “The Court finds that Mr. Axtell is currently not competent to proceed because he suffers from ongoing delusions that prevent him from rationally consulting with his legal counsel and participating in his legal defense.”
The decision was reinforced in June 2025.
Axtell has now been committed to a mental facility where professionals will try to figure out how best to help him get better. There are no current reports about how long he will stay in the facility, but it’s probably best if doctors get as much time as they need. When it comes to mental illness, it’s usually about management rather than seeking a cure.
