Haddonfield Police Helped Collar 'Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker'

Haddonfield police played a prominent role in the apprehension of Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, the alleged celebrity hitchhiking ax killer wanted for homicide in Union County.

Borough police received tips from several callers who said they had seen the suspect and knew of his whereabouts after news reports Thursday that McGillvary has passed through Haddonfield and boarded a PATCO train to Philadelphia on Tuesday, according to a statement from Commissioner Ed Borden, the outgoing director of public safety.

McGillvary may have spent as long as 12 hours in Haddonfield on Tuesday, eating a meal at the Villa Rosa pizza shop on Kings Highway East near the PATCO light-rail station; a caller told police she had seen him there.

This information contradicted day-long reports from Haddonfield police and the Camden County Prosecutor's Office that McGillvary was out of Camden County and likely out of the state.

Around 4 p.m. Thursday, a caller from Cherry Hill led borough police to a home in the Woodcrest section of Cherry Hill, where McGillvary had reportedly stayed overnight.

Haddonfield police arrived at the home with the Camden County emergency tactical unit and at least one Cherry Hill police officer. The residents told police McGillvary had gone to Philadelphia to catch a bus Thursday afternoon, accompanied by a female acquaintance.

That information led to McGillvary's arrest at a bar at 10th and Chestnut streets, near the bus station, Borden said.

McGillvary, better known as Internet sensation "Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker" on YouTube and Facebook, was wanted in the death of Joseph Galfy Jr., 73, in Clark, NJ. He is charged with the May 12 homicide of Galfy, and will be processed in Philadelphia and returned to New Jersey in the coming days, authorities said.

The role local police played in McGillvary's capture near a Greyhound bus station in Philadelphia came to light late Thursday evening in an e-mail distributed by Borden.

Haddonfield Police Chief John Banning told a reporter at 3 p.m. on Thursday that the department believed McGillvary had not been in Haddonfield since Tuesday.

"They're advising us he's out of the area," Banning said. "That's what we're going on."

Banning did not immediately return a call for comment Friday morning. Borden said the information on McGillvary came to police after the conversation with the reporter.

Galfy picked up McGillvary in Times Square on Saturday, May 11, and stayed overnight at Galfy's Clark home before leaving for Asbury Park on Sunday, the Union County prosecutor's office said.

McGillvary returned to Galfy's home later on Sunday and allegedly bludgeoned him to death, the prosecutor's office said. McGillvary then left and traveled to Asbury Park, Philadelphia and Glassboro, where he met up with two of his fans, who are providing information to police.

Authorities said McGillvary had cut his hair in an attempt to alter his appearance, and he was considered to be armed and dangerous.

In a Tuesday post on his Facebook page, McGillvary alleges that he was drugged and sexually assaulted by Galfy and asks followers, "what would you do?"