Not-guilty plea in N.J. murder case for Internet sensation ‘Kai’

A man who gained Internet fame as “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” was ordered held on $3-million bail after a plea of not guilty to murder was entered on his behalf in a New Jersey court.

Caleb McGillivary, 24, is accused of killing 73-year-old lawyer Joseph Galfy, whose body was found May 13 in his home in Clark, N.J. The case now goes to a grand jury.

McGillivary wore an oatmeal-colored T-shirt as he questioned Judge Brenda Coppola Cuba about what was going on during the proceeding in a courtroom in Union County, N.J.

Told at the end of the appearance that he was being held in lieu of $3-million bail, McGillivary replied: “OK, fine. Cool,” according to the Associated Press.

McGillivary gained Internet notoriety after a video interview in which he claimed to have used a hatchet to save a utility worker in Fresno in February.

McGillivary is accused of killing Galfy on May 13. Prosecutors say Galfy and McGillivary had met earlier that week in New York City and that Galfy had invited the hitchhiker to stay in his suburban home.

Galfy’s body was discovered three days later after relatives asked police to check on the lawyer. McGillivary was nowhere to be found, but a posting on his Facebook page on May 14 alleged he had woken up in a “strangers [sic] house” and realized he had been raped. “What would you do?” he wrote.

Police say McGillivary spent time in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before being spotted in a Philadelphia Starbucks the evening of May 17, after prosecutors identified him as a suspect in Galfy’s murder.

The allegations are in sharp contrast to the image that McGillivary and his fans have presented of the young man who claims to have used his hatchet to save a PG&E; worker in danger of being killed by a trucker in Fresno in February. In an interview with KMPH-TV after that incident, McGillivary described hitting the truck driver, Jett McBride, to save the utility worker.

“Smash, smash, suh-mash!” McGillivary said in the interview, which became a YouTube hit and gained him legions of fans. In a later interview with KMPH, McGillivary said he was from West Virginia, had fled an abusive childhood and spent his time hitchhiking around the country and befriending people. “I am the dad I always wanted,” he told KMPH. “I’m good to people.”

But his parents, who divorced when McGillivary was a child, denied allegations of abuse in interviews with the Star-Ledger and with Canadian media. Both have said that McGillivary suffers from mood disorders and spent years in treatment homes and hospitals.

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