(Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger, via NJ.com)
Throughout history, many of the most famous visionaries have suffered seizures, from Joan of Arc to Napoleon to Alexander the Great. It’s just a shame that the wisdom of Kai the Homefree Hitchhiker is similarly coupled with a propensity to periodically flip out and bash people in the head with a hatchet. After allegedly killing a 73-year-old lawyer, and kinda-sorta alleging it was because the lawyer drugged and raped him, Kai went on the run in Philadelphia and was eventually picked up at a Greyhound station.
Officials say the 24-year-old Caleb McGillivary met Joseph Galfy, 73, in Times Square on May 11 and later had a sexual encounter inside Galfy’s Clark, N.J. home. Galfy was found in his bedroom two days later. Authorities said he was severely beaten and found wearing only his socks and underwear.
A manhunt was then launched to find McGillivary. Police say he spent May 13 in Philadelphia sightseeing with friends and later stayed at a home in Glassboro, N.J. The next day, he was dropped off at a PATCO train station in Haddonfield, N.J.
McGillivary was caught later that week after a barista at a Starbucks in the Old City section of the city recognized him and called police. He left before officers arrived, but they were able to track him down at the Center City Greyhound station later that night. [NBC Philadelphia]
He was eventually extradited to New Jersey, where he appeared in court today.
Shackles around his ankles and wrists, with a startled look on his face and now with short hair, the man known as “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” returned to New Jersey this afternoon to face murder charges.
Caleb McGillivary, a 24-year-old man who became an Internet celebrity after allegedly fending off an attacker with his hatchet in California in February, was escorted out of the transport van this afternoon, and walked by authorities into the Union County Courthouse Annex for processing.
McGillivary will be taken to the Union County Jail afterward, where he is being held on $3 million bail.
This afternoon, a crush of reporters and cameras appeared to startle the self-professed “home-free” hitchhiker. On the way into the courthouse, McGillivary was asked by a reporter whether he acted in self-defense in the death of Galfy.
“What do you think?” McGillvary shot back. [NJ.com]
Well, good luck trying to convince a jury that the 73-year-old guy in his underpants you killed was in “self-defense.” Kai hasn’t entered a plea yet, but I’m guessing it will be more along the lines of temporary insanity, if not regular insanity-insanity, once a lawyer talks some sense into him. Meanwhile, People reports that Kai cut his hair and got a face tattoo “in an effort to avoid detection.” I’m pretty sure that’s not true, since the tattoo predates the murder by quite some time. Though it would be just like Kai to come up with a diabolical plan like getting a face tattoo in order to blend in.
