Kai The Hitchhiker ARRESTED For New Jersey Murder

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• published: 17 May 2013
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FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The drifter who became an Internet sensation just a couple months ago after a bizarre incident in Fresno is under arrest on the other side of the country. New Jersey police say Caleb Lawrence McGillivary -- better known as Kai -- is responsible for a deadly beating and that may be just the tip of the iceberg. "We have located various points along the way where he has been and we have determined there may have been some homicides along the way," said Union County prosecutor Ted Romankow. Police in Philadelphia made the arrest at a Greyhound bus station Thursday night and now investigators are looking into ties to other murders. Also--the New Jersey case could have a significant impact on an attempted murder trial in Fresno. Action News was there when Kai testified in a preliminary hearing in the case against Jett McBride. Police on the East Coast say he's changed his look since then. Action News talked to a family member who said Kai used a hatchet as a weapon when he was as young as eight. She says he's crazy and the family was worried he was on his way to his native Canada after the New Jersey murder. Kai's oddball behavior has been on full display since he launched to fame in February with a vivid description of his hatchet-smashing efforts to save PG&E; worker Rayshawn Neely from a crazed driver who'd just crashed into Neely's crew. Police in New Jersey used Internet video to identify Kai as the suspect in the murder of 73-year-old lawyer Joseph Galfy, but he altered his appearance. "As I've learned on YouTube, he had long flowing hair," Romankow said. "He had cut his hair. This is a picture that was taken of him that morning." Kai's arrest came three days after the murder and 80 miles away. But it doesn't end the investigation. As they traced Kai's steps -- from Fresno across the country -- police say they've uncovered unsolved homicides along the way. Kai's not a suspect in those cases yet, but police will take a closer look. "Any time you get a drifter and then all of the sudden he's being charged with a homicide, it would be a lack of responsibility for us not to look into that possibility," Romankow said. New Jersey police got help tracking Kai from the Fresno County sheriff's office and the district attorney's office. Investigators say the victim's injuries are similar to those inflicted by a weapon like a hatchet. But the hatchet Kai used in the February incident is now stored in evidence for the attempted murder trial against Jett McBride. The 54-year-old celebrated when his attorney showed him an Action News Facebook post breaking the news of murder charges against the key witness in the case against him. "He says that he knew it, that he's innocent and this is just going to help his case, show he's innocent," said McBride's attorney, Deborah Girard. Action News talked to Rayshawn Neely -- the man supposedly saved by Kai -- about the murder charges Thursday. He told us it's surprising to see Kai accused of violence, but he was scared of Kai when he first saw him swinging his hatchet. Police are planning to take Kai back from Philadelphia to New Jersey soon so he can go to court on the murder charge.