A man known as “Kai the Hitchhiker,” who went viral after a television interview in 2013, was convicted on April 24 of beating a 73-year-old New Jersey lawyer to death that same year.
A jury found Caleb “Kai” McGillvary, 30, guilty of first-degree murder, acting Union County Prosecutor Michael Monahan said in a press release. He now faces up to life in prison with sentencing scheduled for June 13.
McGillvary killed Joseph Galfy on May 13, 2013. McGillvary said that he killed the man in self-defense after he woke up to Galfy sexually assaulting him.
“This was a brutal, vicious, senseless crime, and we are pleased that the interests of justice have been served,” Monahan said in a statement. “We sincerely thank the jury for their service and hope that today’s verdict brings some measure of solace to Mr. Galfy’s family, friends, and loved ones.”
BREAKING: Caleb ‘Kai the Hitchhiker’ McGillvary has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal beating of Joseph Galfy, a 73-year-old Clark lawyer in May 2013. He faces up to life in prison. https://t.co/XPJzF2hZGX
— Sophie Nieto-Munoz (@snietomunoz) April 24, 2019
McGillvary said that he hit Galfy after waking up to the lawyer sexually assaulting him but assistant prosecutors Jillian Reyes and Scott Peterson said that the man’s injuries, including three skull fractures, showed the murder was “so far from self-defense, it’s not even funny,” reported the NJ Advance Media.
Junaid Shaikh of the Division of the County Medical Examiner testified that Galfy sustained serious blunt-force injuries that were not consistent with self-defense.
According to testimony at the trial, the hitchhiker met Galfy in Times Square and the lawyer invited him to sleep at his house. McGillvary did so and after visiting a friend, went back to the house to stay again. The murder took place on May 12.
Galfy was found dead in his bedroom during a wellness check the next day and McGillvary was arrested at a Greyhound bus stop in Philadelphia on May 16. He had fled Galfy’s house and cut his long hair.”
Caleb “Kai” McGillvary gained some online fame after intervening in an assault on a California utility worker in which he described using a hatchet to fend off a further attack https://t.co/B3nkGSNu5P
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) April 25, 2019
McGillvary became an Internet sensation in February 2013 when he told a local television station that he saved two people while hitchhiking in Fresno, California, by smashing their attacker in the back of the head with a hatchet.
After telling the story, McGillivary told Vice News that he grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family and left to live on a Native American reservation. He said he’d spent the two years prior to 2013 driving around with a man and “living in sailboats, houseboats, going out surfing on islands, hopping in cars with people I didn’t know, and traveling the country. Jumping off cliffs into lakes, going to music festivals, and playing music in parks. Just random, spontaneous awesome all the time.”
He said the viral interview had a positive impact on his life.
“Yeah, it’s been really excellent, I’ve met a lot of cool people who have been reaching out through the internet, mostly contacting me through Facebook, there is about 10,000 messages in my inbox from people all across the country. There’s people from eco-communities, there’s people from surfing communities, there’s people from Rainbow Gatherings, who just got classified as a gang by the Obama administration, who have invited me to come and meet with them,” he said.
“I’ve largely succeeded in any effort to hide myself. I disappeared inside the Emerald Triangle for a couple weeks even,” he added.
McGillvary’s family told the Advance Media after his arrest in 2013 that the man was born and raised in Canada and has long struggled with behavioral problems.
“Caleb had a real tough life,” said Gil McGillvary, 57, a former probation officer, and Kai’s divorced father.
“He was in treatment homes until he turned 18 and then they cut him loose and washed their hands of him,” he added. “Caleb made accusations that he was physically and mentally abused at one of the homes. The system let my son down.”
