Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker Attempted Suicide

Okay, so we knew all along that this Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker story would probably turn dark eventually, but going from Kimmel appearance to murder charge in just three months exceeded even our worst speculation. It gets even worse this week as Kai, aka Caleb McGillivary, currently awaiting trial in the murder of Joseph Galfy (possibly over a sexual assault), apparently attempted suicide. That’s what it sounds like, anyway.

Murder suspect Caleb McGillivary, also known as “Kai the Hitchhiker,” was rushed from the Union County jail to a hospital early today for treatment of self-inflicted wounds, officials said.

McGillivary, who is accused of the May 12 beating death of 73-year-old lawyer Joseph Galfy in his Clark home, remained in a hospital, but officials said the injuries are not life threatening.

The 24-year-old McGillivary is being held on $3 million bail. [New Jersey Star Ledger]

Man, who would’ve thought a guy who became famous for bashing a guy in the head with a hatchet would turn out to be so unstable? Yeah… so this seems like one of those “we should’ve known better” stories, but really, what could we do? Kai’s first interview still ranks as probably the best local news interview I’ve seen, and while he was obviously a nutty drifter, he kept dropping so many pearls of wisdom that you couldn’t help but want more of him. He burst onto the scene like the perfect superhero origin story. It’d be nice if this was the rock bottom before his inevitable third-act triumph, but I’m not sure how that works if you’ve already killed a guy. Non-fiction really sucks sometimes. I mean really, who writes this sh*t?

I choose to remember the good times:

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