Famed 'hatchet hitchhiker' arrested in NJ homicide
By KATIE ZEZIMA
— May. 16 11:01 PM EDT


ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home.

Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose star turn as "Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" came after he intervened in an attack on a California utility worker, was arrested at a Philadelphia bus station, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said.

"I believe that everyone is a little safer with this person off the streets," the prosecutor said. Philadelphia police could not immediately be reached for comment.

McGillvary was charged with killing Joseph Galfy, Jr., a Clark, N.J., attorney found dead Monday. Romankow said he will be processed and sent to back to New Jersey, where his bail is set at $3 million.

Galfy's body was found two days after authorities said he met McGillvary in New York City. Galfy, 73, was found wearing only his underwear and socks by police who went to his home to check on his well-being.

Statements posted on McGillvary's Facebook page following the homicide indicated the encounter was sexual in nature, Romankow said, though he declined to go into specific detail.

On his Facebook page, McGillvary's last post, dated Tuesday, asks "what would you do?" if you awoke in a stranger's house and found you'd been drugged and sexually assaulted. One commenter suggests hitting him with a hatchet — and McGillvary's final comment on the post says, "I like your idea."

A hatchet helped give McGillvary a brief taste of fame in February when he gave a rambling, profanity-laced 5-minute interview to a Fresno, Calif. television station about thwarting an attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric employee. The interview went viral, with one version viewed more than 3.9 million times on YouTube. He later appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Kimmel asked him what people were saying to him since the Feb. 1 incident. "Hey, you're Kai, that dude with the hatchet," he responded.

McGillvary, who said in his TV appearance he prefers to be called "home-free" instead of homeless, traded on his newfound celebrity to meet fans across the country, according to Romankow.

McGillvary met Galfy on Saturday in Times Square, then spent at least two nights at his home on a cul-de-sac in Clark, a quiet community about 20 miles west of New York, Romankow said. His movements after that included two trips to meet a fan in Asbury Park, a trip to Philadelphia and another to Glassboro in southern New Jersey before he took a train bound for Philadelphia, authorities said.

McGillvary swiftly gained notoriety in February after he intervened in an apparently unprovoked attack that led to charges including attempted murder.

McGillvary said he was riding in a car with a man who veered into the worker, got out of the car, then said "I am Jesus and I am here to take you home" before attacking. McGillvary said he then pulled a hatchet from his backpack and struck the driver in the head several times to subdue him, The Fresno Bee reported.

"That woman was in danger," Kai told KMPH-TV. "He just finished, what looked like at the time, killing somebody, and if he hadn't done that he would have killed more people."

Last month, the driver entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, according to The Fresno Bee.

In his television interview, McGillvary also said he'd once intervened in what he called a domestic violence situation.

A man "starts beating up on this woman who he calls his," McGillvary told the television station. "I started smashing him in the head and the teeth."

McGillvary also goes by the names Kai Lawrence, Caleb Kai Lawrence and Kai Nicodemus, prosecutors said.

Galfy, 73,

The moral necessity for sexual redistribution

roseweird posted:

i like him, i mean whatever, i don't know him, but i liked his moment of internet fame and i admired him based on what i could tell from that, i'm sorry this happened to him

i wonder if the old man he went home with to presumably have sex for money drugged and then raped him or if he acted out of ptsd after regular rape for pay sex from all the rapes he has prob endured in his homeless lifestyle? it's an aileen wuornos dilemma.

SariBari posted:

i wonder if the old man he went home with to presumably have sex for money drugged and then raped him or if he acted out of ptsd after regular rape for pay sex from all the rapes he has prob endured in his homeless lifestyle? it's an aileen wuornos dilemma.

doesnt matter, justifiable homicide either way

Squalid posted:

Great imitation of a goatstein post

what offended your senses, squalid?

SariBari posted:

Squalid posted:

Great imitation of a goatstein post

what offended your senses, squalid?

youre married, transphobic, and constantly post about rape. its an understandable mistake

Squalid posted:

SariBari posted:

Squalid posted:

Great imitation of a goatstein post

what offended your senses, squalid?

First that you jumped immediately to the worst possible conclusion. Second that you might have said the same thing about me after I recently naively put myself in almost the exact same position. I was just lucky my suitor was only pathetic and not a creep.

What in the world are you talking about? I wondered about the circumstances of the rape. Do you know a lot of 73 yr old men who invite young homeless guys to their NJ home for tea?

SariBari posted:

Squalid posted:

SariBari posted:

Squalid posted:

Great imitation of a goatstein post

what offended your senses, squalid?

First that you jumped immediately to the worst possible conclusion. Second that you might have said the same thing about me after I recently naively put myself in almost the exact same position. I was just lucky my suitor was only pathetic and not a creep.

What in the world are you talking about? I wondered about the circumstances of the rape. Do you know a lot of 73 yr old men who invite young homeless guys to their NJ home for tea?

In your wondering you already presumed the circumstances were prostitution. I don't know anyone who has been homeless as long as this guy but my friends who have spent a few months doing the cross country backpacking thing often lived on people's charity, hitchhiking, sleeping at the home of someone they didn't know, etc. You've probably heard of couchsurfing .org, it's surprising how willing strangers can be to help.

Homosexual propositions are also an inescapable feature of this kind of travel for men, and may not be made until after an offer of aid has already been accepted. I can easily imagine scenarios which bring Kai to this guys house without agreeing to any kind of payment, although it's likely he at least suspected his hosts intentions.

SariBari posted:

Hmm okay you were indignant about my speculations due to your own.
1000 apologies.

I was just trying to show that there are other scenarios besides prostitution that could have led to these circumstances, not assert my own narrative. In any case it wasn't the speculation that offended me, it was the contempt, the instinct to blame victims which I found distasteful. I don't really know why I'm bothering to share this with you, I was never very offended to begin with.

When you went ahead and asked how you'd rubbed me wrong though I thought I'd be honest, but I see now you were never really interested in how I felt. Now you sound defensive and are just looking for opportunities to make sarcastic put downs, so I won't bother with anymore explanations. If it makes you feel better I like Goatstein and his misanthropy, so you don't have to take the reference as an insult. Sorry, I won't trouble you with any more descriptions of the emotional impact of your posting.