The life of Kai
His given name is Caleb McGillvary, but in late 2012 and early 2013 he was simply “Kai” as he hitchhiked on the West Coast.
And after a bizarre television interview of his heroics in saving two women by fighting off their attacker with a hatchet went viral – in which he openly cursed and was wildly animated - he became "Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker."
Days later he appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and in the parking lot of the Los Angeles studio before the show, he urinated on a poster of Kimmel’s face. A security guard ran over to stop him and McGillvary explained he was internet star, Kai.
Jessob Reisbeck, the news reporter who first interviewed Kai and accompanied him there, said it got weirder after the show.
After filming the bit, Kimmel discreetly handed McGillvary an envelope with a “significant amount” of cash, Reisbeck recalled.
Reisbeck knows McGillvary could have used the cash, but in true Kai the Hitchhiker fashion, he handed the envelope back to the security guard for the trouble he'd caused.
“He’s one the most intelligent people I’ve met, one of the most bizarre humans I’ve ever come in contact with and will ever come in contact with, but he can do the most crazy thing and then the most good hearted thing after,” Reisbeck told NJ Advance Media Friday.
“It just breaks my heart to think about how it ended up," he said.
It's ending up with McGillvary possibly spending a long time in prison.
Reisbeck kept in contact with the comically-unconventional man known best as Kai, even as the now 30-year-old sat in the Union County jail the past six years, charged with murder.
A jury convicted McGillvary Wednesday of first-degree murder for the death of Joseph Galfy, Jr. following a three-week trial in Superior Court of Union County, in Elizabeth.
Galfy, a 73-year-old Clark man and lawyer, was found beaten to death in his home on a quiet cul-da-sac on May 13, 2013.
McGillvary has claimed since his arrest that Galfy drugged and sexually assaulted him, and he acted in self defense after kicking and punching the lawyer while attempting to escape.
What started as a heartwarming, off-kilter story about a free-spirited, heroic hitchhiker who hoped for some gnarly waves has turned into one of McGillvary as a defendant, facing life behind bars.
Family photo
Caleb grew up in Canada. 'He fell through the cracks'
His dad always knew his son was a little different; McGillvary struggled with behavioral problems and ADHD as a young boy and bounced between different treatment homes, Gil McGillvary said in a phone interview with NJ Advance Media on Friday.
Gil McGillvary (shown in above photo) lost custody of Caleb when his son was 8, four years after divorcing McGillvary’s mom, Shirley.
“They cut him off of social services when he turned 18. I don’t think they prepared him for life after that,” the 63-year-old father said. “Caleb fell through the cracks here in Canada.”
In a note on his Facebook page written on Mother's Day 2013 — six days before he killed Galfy — McGillvary described how his parents would lock him in a room for 20 hours a day and beat him with broom handles and wooden spoons.
His parents have denied those allegations. HIs mother said in a 2013 interview that the essay was a manifestation of her son's mood disorders.
The contact between McGillvary and his parents was always sporadic, but after he turned 18, McGillvary “fell off the radar,” his father said.
McGillvary, the son, went as far to say he “has no family” in the viral video that introduced him to fame.
“As far as anyone I grew up with is concerned, I’m already dead,” he said.
And Gil McGillvary may have thought that if he'd never seen the video.
The last time he saw his son was December 2012, when he suddenly showed up at his father’s doorstep to celebrate Christmas and hang out with his siblings from Gil’s second marriage.
Soon after, McGillvary disappeared again. He was hard to track down because of his drifter lifestyle and not having a phone. Gil McGillvary had no idea where his son was until the then 24-year-old made headlines for those heroic actions, which occurred in Fresno, California.
“You know, the rest is history, like they say,” Gil McGillvary said.
'Straight outta dogtown'
McGillvary eventually slipped across the border from Canada to the United States, illegally, and ended up in California for some time.
(Gil McGillvary says his son is actually a treaty Indian and crossed the border legally because of the 1794 Jay Treaty which allows American Indians to freely travel between Canada and the United States. While Caleb McGillvary has also said this, his current immigration status is unknown.)
He picked up odd jobs and functioned off the kindness of others, McGillvary testified at his trial.
While backpacking around, he was picked up by Jett McBride, an alleged white supremacist whose actions led to McGillvary's news interview, and viral fame. McBride attempted to attack two women in Fresno, and McGillvary emerged from the vehicle and clubbed McBride with a hatchet he carried.
During an interview with a local Fox news station, KMPH, McGillvary gave the profanity-laced explanation of coming to the two women's aid, and bared his eccentricities. He led it off by saying, "Went straight outta dogtown, skateboarding, surfing it up."
“F------g buddy gets out and these two women are trying to help him. He runs up and he grabs one of them, man. Like a guy that big can snap a women’s neck like a pencil stick,” he exclaimed to Reisbeck.
And then came the line, which McGillvary acted out to the hilt: “So I f------ ran up behind him with a hatchet —— smash, smash, SUH-MASH! Yeah.”
The interview of the 2012 incident took off on Youtube. The raw interview, uploaded on Feb 2, 2013, has racked up more than 7 million views. One of the many song remixes of it has over 10 million views — all are focused on the smashing and his inspirational message.
The video gained so much traction, McGillvary took on a new persona — “Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker,” landing him a late night appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” as well as snatching a segment on Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report.”
“So nation,” Colbert concludes in the segment, “I encourage you to pick up axe-wielding homeless hitchhikers whenever you see them.”
Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker, has a wikipedia page.
Reisbeck, who conducted the original interview with McGillvary, became his make-shift agent, he says.
Reisbeck and McGillvary, photo courtesy of Reisbeck
'He could have had anything'
Reisbeck, now a reporter with ABC7 in Washington D.C., was one of the only people in the world able to consistently contact the drifter. He still calls him Kai.
And McGillvary was always looking for how to better others' lives, he said.
"When we went to Jimmy Kimmel's show, they put him up in The (Hollywood) Roosevelt, a very nice hotel. He had a bag, it had everything he owned, even his sleeping bag," Reisbeck said. "And he takes the backpack off and leaves it outside, and said 'I'm staying in this hotel, someone needs this more than I do.'"
These stories encapsulate how McGillvary is one of the most generous, but out-of-this-world people around, he said.
"This whole situation of how everything took a turn since May of 2013 is really sad," Reiseck said. "He could have had anything he wanted, in any way, shape or form. He had everyone loving him, and unfortunately things didn't end up like that, and it just sucks."
He recalled stories McGillvary shared with him of his dark memories of his childhood, including sexual assault. McGillvary also shared those stories when he testified at his trial.
"Kai has a very deep anger and passion for predators and people who prey on and abuse others," he said.
Talking about Galfy, he said: "If anything happened with that guy overstepping into Kai's comfort zone physically, it doesn't surprise me the man ended up dead, unfortunately," Reiseck said.
Photo by Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media
A chance meeting in Times Square
After his initial 15 minutes of fame, McGillvary made his way to the East Coast, where he often stayed at fans' homes and relied on their generosity to get around. On May 11, 2013, he was outside the Red Lobster in Times Square when he met Galfy by chance, authori.
Galfy invited the vagabond back to his Clark home, and McGillvary took him up on his offer, noting he was meeting a friend in Asbury Park the next day.
Accepting the invitation would be life-changing for both men.
Two days later, Galfy was found facedown, dead in his master bedroom lying in his own blood in just his socks and underwear. Three days after that, McGillvary was arrested for the murder.
Provided photo
McGillvary and Galfy shared common interests, including carpentry, McGillvary said at his trial.
While driving back from New York City, Galfy pulled over his PT Cruiser to show McGillvary a partially-constructed home and discussed how to file permits.
Galfy was a partner at Kochanski, Baron and Galfy in Rahway, and the attorney for the Green Brook land use board. He was a Newark native and attended Seton Hall University for his undergrad and law degree, his obituary says.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1970 as a major with the 24th Infantry Division, and for loved music. He played in a wedding band for over 25 years.
Members of his family attended the trial, but declined to speak to reporters.
The get-togethers
The unlikely pair, Galfy and McGillvary, went to Galfy's ranch-style home, shared dinner and a few beers and watched Jeopardy, McGillvary said. The next thing McGillvary says he remembers is waking up with bodily fluids on his face and a metal taste in his mouth.
Galfy then drove McGillvary to the Rahway train station so he could meet with his friend in Asbury Park, which was captured on surveillance video. After not being able to meet with his friend, he contacted Galfy again to stay in his guest room another night.
Galfy took him up on the offer, driving down to Long Branch to pick him up.
That night, May 12, 2013, McGillvary alleges Galfy poured him a drink spiked with a drug to make him pass out. When he woke up, Galfy was "grinding and humping" him while attempting to perform oral sex on him.
He claimed he kicked and punched Galfy to out from under his weight, and was so dazed he blacked out. However, prosecutors say the brutal injuries were inconsistent with self defense — Galfy suffered broken ribs, fractured skull, brain bleeding, black eyes, several bruises and his ear was partially torn from his head.
Galfy, who was getting ready to go to Las Vegas the next week, died of blunt force trauma.
Police photo
Kai in the news again
When authorities found Galfy, McGillvary had already cut his long hair, changed his clothes, thrown away his phone and fled the state.
He was arrested at the Greyhound bus station in Philadelphia on May 16, 2013 and charged with first-degree murder. He was extradited to New Jersey and stayed in the Union County jail for six years awaiting trial.
The long process was partially due to McGillvary switching public defenders in 2016.
Edison-based attorney John Cito filed several motions for dismissals and more time for discovery and eventually represented him at trial. He declined to comment on the trial or its outcome, citing attorney-client privilege, as well as this story.
Photo by Sophie Nieto-Munoz | NJ Advance Media
Outbursts and shouting
His contentious trial began April 9, and the courtroom was packed nearly every day, attended by his supporters and Galfy's family.
His lawyer argued that McGillvary acted in self defense, also pointing to the lack of evidence police collected to corroborate his sexual assault claim.
Assistant Union County Prosecutor Scott Peterson noted the inconsistencies between McGillvary's statement in 2013 and his testimony, and the severe injuries Galfy suffered.
He took the stand at on the final day of his trial, giving an emotional testimony filled with outbursts. He accused the prosecution of a cover-up: they were lying and refused to collect certain evidence because they knew Galfy, he said.
Peterson and McGillvary often shouted over each other, resulting in the court reporter throwing her hands up.
McGillvary's fans support this theory as well, with posts on his "Kai the Hitchhiker Legal Support Page" on Facebook page detailing how the state failed to test carpet fibers, collect DNA from glasses in the sink, test medicine in the fridge or perform a rape kit on McGillvary.
His shouting over the prosecution and constant rambling while inserting irrelevant facts didn't sit well with Judge Robert Kirsch, who on the last day of the trial, nearly removed him for disrupting the courtroom.
His eccentric mannerisms were reminiscent of the ones in his viral video, raising his eyebrows, widening his eyes and providing his own demonstrations.
McGillvary shouted in one of his outbursts no one would let him properly defend his case, the reason why he was found guilty. He's latched onto the claim as he attempts to file an appeal and find a new, "real lawyer."
Photo by Sophie Nieto-Munoz | NJ Advance Media
Gil McGillvary, who wasn't able to support his son at the trial because of limited finances, said the guilty verdict, "knocked me on my butt."
“I do think the court system failed him. I don’t think they gave him a fair chance,” he said.
Reisbeck said he's "heartbroken over the recent developments. The whole thing is very unfortunate and sad."
A day after the trial, McGillvary accused his lawyer of "instances of misconduct, abuse of discretion and ineffectiveness," according to a statement on his Legal Support Page on Facebook.
"This false conviction WILL be overturned. I just watched four weeks of railroading and with the most pathetic closing argument I have ever heard: a closing argument that flew in the face of facts and was designed only to harm my case," he said.
His father believes his son’s claim that Cito was ineffective counsel and did not present his case correctly.
The elder McGillvary has contacted The Innocence Project and Kathleen Zellner, the lawyer representing Steven Avery of Netflix's Making A Murderer series, but hasn't heard back.
Meanwhile, the man many know as Kai the Hitchhiker will be kept behind bars in Elizabeth until his sentencing, scheduled for June 13, when he faces 30 years to life in prison.
“I just want to tell him, 'Keep on living. Life is worth living. Don’t give up',“ Gil McGillvary said. “I do love him, and I always will. He will forever be my son.”
Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at
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