from www.myfoxtwincities.com – ST. PAUL, Minn. – A deaf man was charged Monday with second-degree murder for beating a prostitute to death with a baseball bat inside his Dale Street apartment in St. Paul early Friday morning.

Michael Sherman [pictured], 53, used sign language to tell police, “It was me” who killed 44-year-old Leila Kim Scott.

St. Paul police were called to the apartment building at 313 N. Dale Street around 6:39 a.m. Friday after a neighbor found Scott’s body and a bloody baseball bat inside Sherman’s apartment.

Police recovered surveillance video that showed Scott entering the apartment at 5:14 a.m., and no one else leaving until Sherman exited the apartment at 6:31 a.m. Leila Scott died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

According to the criminal complaint, police found a note inside Sherman’s apartment that appeared to be about making a deal for sex and money. The note had information like. “Let me see the money, I will not pick it up, put it on the table.” A bloody baseball bat with dents to the barrel was also inside the apartment.

Police interviewed Sherman with the help of a sign language interpreter. He said he has seen a psychologist for anger and other problems. He said “the person was grabbing through his stuff” and said “It’s not my fault, it’s my home property.”

Sherman said he had mentioned to management that she was a problem and they had agreed for her to stay away from him. Sherman said it was all about money with her and that she would never back off and kept coming at him.

“This was a brutal and shocking murder,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. “It is fortunate that an arrest and charges should be brought in such a timely way.”