Homeless Hero Arrested: ‘Kai the Hitchhiker’ Charged with Murder

In this undated photo downloaded from the Union County Prosecutor’s website, Caleb “Kai’ Lawrence McGillivary is shown. McGillivary, 24, is being sought by New Jersey authorities on a murder warrant in the beating death of a New Jersey lawyer he befriended in New York’s Times Square. The homeless hitchhiker had previously gained Internet and TV celebrity status by using a hatchet to intervene in an attack in California on a utility worker on Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Union County Prosecutor’s Office)

A man described as a hero who achieved Internet celebrity status on YouTube was arrested by police in connection with a murder in New Jersey.

Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, 24, who is known as “Kai the Hitchhiker,” was arrested in Philadelphia on Thursday evening, officials said.

McGillvary is accused of killing a New Jersey attorney earlier this week. The bod y of Joseph Galfy Jr., 73, was found in his Clark home on Sunday.

“I am grateful for the overwhelming response and dedicated effort by the public and law enforcement that led to this arrest,” Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said in a statement obtained by Reuters. “I believe that everyone is a little safer with this person off the streets.”

Earlier this year, a YouTube video of McGillvary shows him describing saving a woman in Fresno, Calif., from an apparently deranged man. The video generated millions of views.

McGillvary described using a hatchet he was carrying to repeatedly hit a man who had struck a worker with his car, fending off a further attack.

McGillvary’s last Facebook post, dated Tuesday, asks “what would you do?” if you awoke in a stranger’s house and found you'd been drugged and sexually assaulted. One commenter suggests hitting him with a hatchet — and McGillvary’s final comment on the post says, “I like your idea.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.