Kai The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker Was Arrested Months After His Viral Interview

Caleb McGillvary, later dubbed “Kai the Hitchhiker,” was 24 years old when a February 2013 TV interview made him a viral Internet sensation. As revisited in Netflix’s true-crime documentary, The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, McGillvary identified himself only as Kai, a “home-free” traveler from West Virginia, telling a local Fresno, California-area KPMH Fox 26 reporter a wild, rambling tale of how he used a hatchet to fend off a driver who was allegedly trying to kill pedestrians. The video went viral, spawning several autotune remixes and memes, and McGillvary even landed interviews with Vice and on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live during which the late-night host even described him as “an unlikely hero.”

Just three months later, however, McGillvary made headlines for another reason: He was arrested for murder. On May 13, 2013, police discovered the body of a 74-year-old attorney named Joseph Galfy, Jr., who had been beaten to death in his Clark, New Jersey home. Evidence at the scene, including cell phone records, led investigators to McGillvary, whom they arrested at a Greyhound Bus terminal in Philadelphia three days later.

According to court documents, McGillvary told police that he’d met Galfy near New York City’s Port Authority Bus Terminal by Times Square, and the lawyer offered to give him a ride to New Jersey, as well as a place to stay for the night. While at the victim’s home, McGillvary said that Galfy allegedly attempted to rape him after drugging his beer. He admitted to hitting and kicking the lawyer and leaving but claimed he did not know that he had died and was only acting in self-defense.

Unable to post bail, McGillvary, who was born and raised in Canada, remained in jail for six years until his case went to trial in Union County, New Jersey in April 2019. After three weeks of testimony, including several reported outbursts by the defendant, a jury convicted McGillvary of first-degree murder, and in May, a judge sentenced him to 57 years in prison. Superior Court Judge Robert Kirsch called McGillvary “crafty, cunning, disingenuous and manipulative,” as well as “a powder keg of explosive rage,” according to NJ.com.

In 2021, McGillvary unsuccessfully appealed the court’s decision, claiming the jury’s verdict wasn’t justified by the evidence presented and that prosecutors committed misconduct by mischaracterizing the evidence and McGillvary’s defense, per the Associated Press. He also accused the trial judge of improperly allowing highly prejudicial expert testimony. In rejecting all of McGillvary’s arguments, the appeals court cited, in part, the medical examiner’s testimony, which showed Galfy’s injuries — including three skull fractures and four broken ribs — were so severe that they were the result of “far more than just an effort to thwart a sexual advance.”

According to public records, McGillvary is currently in New Jersey State Prison in Trenton and will be eligible for parole in October 2061. He turned 34 in September 2022.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org.