'Hatchet-wielding hitchhiker' arrested in Philly
Wanted in a North Jersey murder, the man known as Kai was nabbed at the Greyhound Bus terminal after being spotted at Starbucks.
MAYBE "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker" likes his caramel lattes with an extra shot.
The homeless 24-year-old - who was launched to YouTube fame in February after a bizarre television interview he gave about using a hatchet to stop a madman from attacking a woman - was arrested on a murder charge in Philadelphia about 6 p.m. last night after being spotted at a Center City Starbucks.
Officials in Union County, N.J., announced earlier yesterday that the hitchhiker was wanted in the bludgeoning death of New Jersey attorney Joseph Galfy Jr., who was found beaten to death Monday morning inside his Clark home.
The self-described "home-free" hitchhiker, whose real name is Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, was arrested at the Greyhound Bus terminal, a few blocks from the Starbucks at 10th and Chestnut, a police source said.
Another law-enforcement source said people had been calling 9-1-1 to report sightings of McGillvary at various places throughout Center City all day. McGillvary was easily recognizable not only because of his YouTube fame - videos of him have been viewed millions of times - but also because of a distinct tattoo on his face and neck that he recently acquired.
McGillvary has been charged with murder, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said last night.
McGillvary reportedly met the attorney in New York City near Times Square. A surveillance camera captured images of their encounter before the men went back to the attorney's house, officials said.
In a post made Tuesday on his Facebook page, McGillvary claimed he was raped.
"What would you do if you woke up with a groggy head . . . in a stranger's house . . . realizing that someone had drugged, raped . . . ? what would you do? [sic]" he wrote.
In early February, McGillvary told KMPH-TV in Fresno, Calif., that he was a passenger riding in an Oldsmobile when the driver who'd picked him up snapped and deliberately drove into an electric-company worker "because he was black."
According to McGillvary, the man said, "I've come to realize I'm Jesus Christ and I can do anything if I want."
When bystanders rushed to the worker's aid, the man, whom McGillvary later described as a "fat, rich white guy" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," began to attack one of them. McGillvary told KPMH he feared he would snap the woman's neck "like a pencil stick."
"So I ran up behind him with a hatchet and Smash! Smash! SUH-MASH!" he said.
"That woman was in danger. He had just finished what looked like at the time, killing somebody, and if I hadn't done that he would have killed more people."
McGillvary was expected to be processed in Philadelphia last night and then taken to a jail in Union County, where New Jersey officials said he would be held on $3 million bail in Galfy's murder.
Blog: PhillyConfidential.com