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Netflix’s new documentary, The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker—which began streaming today—tells the story of a Milkshake Duck to end all Milkshake Ducks.
If you’re not familiar with that term, a Milkshake Duck is someone who quickly gains popularity on social media, only for everyone to later discover that said person sucks, for whatever reason. In the case of Caleb “Kai” McGillvary, a viral sensation known as “the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker,” his image as a good samaritan unhoused hitchhiker was shattered when he was arrested for murdering a man in his home, mere weeks after he rocketed to fame.
In The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker documentary, directed by Colette Camden, media personalities—including the reporter who made Kai famous with his initial interview, Jessob Reisbeck—reflect on the ways they attempted to use Kai to further their own careers following his viral video. Having lived his life on the road, without a permanent home, Kai didn’t follow the rules of polite society, much to the frustration of producers of reality and late-night talk shows. But Kai’s story quickly became much darker than a man who gave away his possessions and urinated on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read on to learn about The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker true story.
Who is Caleb Lawrence McGillvary from Netflix’s The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker?
Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, who calls himself Kai, is a 34-year-old Canadian man who first became famous for a viral interview he gave in 2013 for a local California news station. Labeled “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” by the internet, Kai was considered a hero after rescuing a woman who was being attacked by the man that Kai was hitching a ride with. The driver crashed into a pedestrian at an intersection, and then attacked a bystander who ran to help. Kai stopped the attack by hitting the driver with the handle side of his hatchet. Kai enthusiastically described his actions in an interview with a local Fresno Fox affiliate KMPH, recalling hitting the man and famously saying, “Smash, smash, suh-mash!”
The video got the autotune treatment, and Kai became a meme, beloved by internet users worldwide. Though he was hard to track down, due to being an unhoused nomad without a permanent address, he eventually made an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and was even recruited for a possible reality show by a producer who worked on Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker true story:
Two months after that viral video, Kai was arrested for and accused of killing a 73-year-old New Jersey attorney named Joseph Galfy. Galfy’s body was found in his home on May 13, 2013, fatally beaten to death. Kai met the lawyer in Times Square, and went back to his house on May 11. Surveillance footage showed Galfy buying Kai a train ticket, and giving him a hug. Using this footage, and cell phone text messages on Galfy’s phone, prosecutors identified Kai as the prime suspect and arrested him at a Philadelphia bus station a few days later.
Kai claimed Galfy drugged and raped him, and that he attacked Galfy in self-defense. A few days after Galfy’s body was found, he posted on Facebook about sexual assault, asking “what would you do” if you woke in a strange house, and realized you’d been drugged and raped. Kai’s lawyer, John Cito, said police found evidence that Galfy had viewed websites with adult content and had contact information for young men on his cellphone, and that evidence of sexual activity was found in the household. Prosecutors told the jury that a list of sex offenders was found in Kai’s bag, and suggested that he was seeking vigilante justice. (The prosecutors repeated this theory in the Netflix documentary.)
Kai pled not guilty. After being held in jail without bail for five years, in 2019 a jury found Kai guilty of murder, and a judge sentenced him to 57 years in prison.
Where is Kai the hitchhiker now?
Caleb “Kai” McGillvary is currently in prison at New Jersey State Prison. He is three years into a 57-year sentence, and will not be eligible for parole until October 27, 2061.
He maintains his innocence and right to self-defense, as the use of deadly force in self-defense against assault is legal in New Jersey on a case-by-case basis. McGillvary filed an appeal against his conviction in 2021, but the New Jersey appeals rejected the appeal, citing inconsistencies in his story.
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