ELIZABETH — A man who gained Internet fame from hitchhiking across the country was indicted for the May 12 murder of a 74-year-old Clark lawyer in his home, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace Park said today.

A Superior Court grand jury handed up a murder indictment against Caleb McGillivary, 25, for the killing of Joseph Galfy.

McGillivary, also known as “Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” could face a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in prison if he is convicted of the murder charge, a first-degree crime.

Prosecutors allege that McGillivary beat Galfy in the lawyer’s Starlite Drive home on May 12, about 24 hours after the two met, apparently by chance, on a Saturday night in New York City's Times Square.

Police making a welfare call to Galfy's home found him dead on May 13. Authorities said he had been severely beaten and was wearing only underwear and socks.

In a Facebook entry posted May 14, McGillivary indicated that he was drugged and raped, but does not say where or when the incident took place.

Then-Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow called the comments “self-serving.”

Two days later an employee at a Philadelphia coffee shop called in a tip that led police to arrest McGillivary at a Greyhound Lines Bus terminal in Philadelphia, said Union County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Peterson, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Police continue investigating the killing and ask that anybody with information about the case call Detective Johnny Ho of the Union County Prosecutor’s Office at (908) 527-4509.

In February, McGillivary gained wide attention after word spread of him stopping a deadly attack in California by using his hatchet.

McGillvary had pummeled a man from whom he had accepted a ride and had tried to run down a utility worker. Resulting online coverage elevated the Canadian native from freewheeling itinerant to swashbuckling hippy.

Fans who met McGillivary as he traveled across the country and who followed him on Facebook started an online campaign to raise money for his defense.

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