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Kai 'The Hatchet Hitchhiker' Is Accused Of Murder

Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, who became an Internet sensation in February with his colorful account of how he bashed a man with a hatchet to stop an attack on a utility worker in California, has been arrested and charged with murdering a lawyer in New Jersey.

McGillvary, The Associated Press writes, is "charged with killing Joseph Galfy, Jr., a Clark, N.J., attorney found dead Monday."

According to New Jersey's Star-Ledger:

"They met, an unlikely pair, in Times Square last Saturday night.

"One, a 73-year-old partner in a Rahway law firm and member of his hometown's Chamber of Commerce, the other a 24-year-old itinerant with long hair and a penchant for upturning convention that had landed him a minor internet presence.

"Their rendezvous, most of it later spent in and around Joseph Galfy Jr.'s ranch-style house on Starlite Drive in Clark, would last about 24 hours, until sometime Sunday evening when, authorities said, their encounter turned violent after a sexual tryst."

The Fresno Bee reminds readers that:

"McGillvary, or Kai, became a household name on Feb. 1 after hitchhiking through Fresno in a car driven by 6-foot-4, 290 pound Jett Simmons McBride. McBride slammed into two PG&E workers and then reportedly got out of the vehicle and assaulted one of the workers, Rayshawn Neely.

" 'I am Jesus and I am here to take you home,' McBride reportedly said. ... Enter Kai, who said he ran to the aid of Neely and a woman who was trying to stop the attack and then struck McBride several times with a hatchet.

" 'Smash, smash, Sa--MASH!" as McGillvary described it in a YouTube video that has nearly 4 million views."

That video, with McGillvary's many profanities, is here. KMPH-TV's on-air report, which includes "bleeped" clips of McGillvary's account, is here and we'll embed it below.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.