

ELIZABETH — With shackles around his ankles and wrists, a startled look on his face and his long hair now cut short, the man known as "Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker" was returned to New Jersey today to face murder charges in the beating death of a Clark attorney earlier this month.

Caleb McGillivary, 24, who gained a measure of internet noteriety after allegedly fending off an attacker with his hatchet in California earlier this year, was escorted out of a transport van and into the Union County Courthouse Annex in Elizabeth for processing.

A short time later, as he brought to the Union County jail across the street, McGillivary told reporters he is innocent in the killing of 73-year-old Joseph Galfy on May 12.

"Not guilty," McGillivary, apparently startled by the media attention, said as sheriff’s officers escorted him past more than a dozen reporters and cameramen who shouted questions at him.

McGillivary, who is being held on $3 million bail, also had a message for his supporters, some of whom have launched an internet campaign to raise money for his defense.

"I just want to say thank you for the support, the letters," the 24-year-old Canadian said.

McGillivary is suspected of beating Galfy to death in the lawyer’s Starlite Drive home in Clark on May 12, about 24 hours after, authorities say, the two met "by chance" in Times Square.

Police found Galfy in his bed, dressed only in his underwear and socks on May 13. Officers went to his home after Galfy, a partner in a Rahway law firm, failed to show up for work or answer his phone.

Authorities say that after he beat Galfy, McGillivary left for Asbury Park and the next day headed to Philadelphia. Sometime on May 14, he posted a Facebook entry intimating he was drugged and sexually assaulted.

"what would you do if you woke up with a groggy head, metallic taste in your mouth, in a strangers house ... and started wretching, realizing that someone had drugged (and) raped ... you? what would you do?" the post reads.

It did not say where or when the incident took place.

Authorities arrested McGillivary two days later near the Greyhound bus terminal in Philadelphia.

Earlier this week, McGillivary waived his rights to an extradition hearing, thus permitting his return to New Jersey.

On his way into the courthouse today, McGillivary was asked by a reporter whether he acted in self-defense.

"I don’t know. You tell me," he shot back.

Star-Ledger staff writer Seth Augenstein contributed to this report.

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