On February 1, 2013, an 'internet sensation' was born under complex circumstances.
A car accident had taken place in Fresno California, where a man experiencing delusions, Jeff Simmons McBride, had seemingly deliberately rammed his car into a utility worker. When a female bystander approached to help McBride, he attacked her in a bear hug, threatening to "squeeze the life" out of her.
It was at this point that another bystander, Kai Lawrence, stepped in to help the distressed woman. He took a hatchet tool from his backpack and began beating McBride in the head.
Soon after the ordeal, Lawrence was asked by a local news channel, KMPH News, for a roadside interview. Lawrence didn't hesitate.
"I was in the passenger side of this car and he comes over... he smashed into this car, he's then pinned in between a truck, I hop out. He gets up, these two women are trying to help him, and he grabs one of them. A guy that big could snap a woman's neck like a pencil stick. So I f**king ran up behind him with a hatchet, and Smash, Smash, SUH-MASH," Lawrence said animatedly.
"I was hitchhiking. People say 'don't hitchhike' well at least I was here. Dude that guy was f**king cooked out man. I cleaned his mother f**king head wide open with a hatchet."
Watch the trailer for The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker. Post continues below.
McBride ended up being found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to nine years in a mental health facility.
The interview continued for another three minutes or so, but it was the 'smash' sentence part of the interview that went viral online, with millions and millions of views on YouTube.
Later in that interview, Lawrence admitted that he had allegedly rescued another woman in a separate encounter, boasting about how he had attacked the man next to the woman.
"I walked on over and I started smashing him in the head and busted out all his teeth."
Although homeless, Lawrence was experiencing a strong five-minutes of fame moment, with reality TV brand manager Lisa Samsky even in talks with him for his own reality TV show. Brad Mulcahy, a researcher for Jimmy Kimmel Live! was also in touch with Lawrence. Both said they were "instantly charmed" and fascinated with Lawrence – but also alarmed by his "sometimes-weird energy and erratic behaviour" as told to the Chicago Sun Times.
As detailed in The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, a new documentary on Netflix, Lawrence was born Caleb McGillvary, and was prone to rage growing up, allegedly dealing with mental health issues. His mother was allegedly neglectful towards Lawrence, and after he tried to start a fire in the family home age 13, he was sent into foster care.
Then in May, a mere three months after the video interview went viral, Lawrence was arrested on murder charges.
The arrest was over the murder of 73-year-old New Jersey attorney Joseph Galfy, who had been beaten to death and found in his home. The prosecution said the lawyer had been found dead wearing only his underwear and socks in bed after a 'sexual encounter gone wrong' in May 2013.
For his defence, Lawrence said he had 'no need to have sex with men like Galfy', who Lawrence described as unattractive, stating "Do you know how many hot chicks – never mind. Even if I was gay, do you know how many hot guys wanted to fuck me after that s**t in California? I'm not even being vain. It's just a fact, like – no offense, but he [Galfy] was not a looker."
Lawrence was imprisoned for over five years awaiting trial which began in April 2019.
A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to 57 years in prison. He will serve 85 per cent of that term before the possibility of parole.
The news presenter who had originally interviewed Lawrence after that fateful hatchet encounter said it was hard to watch someone who had once been revered do such a terrible thing.
"There's so much sadness having to report that this guy who was once a hero and grew to be a friend is now convicted of murder and this other guy is dead. The autopsy report was brutal. And it made the self-defence testimony from Kai look a lot more questionable."
At Lawrence's sentencing, the judge called him "a powder keg of explosive rage".
"You created this public image of a free spirit, but underneath that free spirit the jury saw another side of you: a cold-blooded, calculated, callous killer," the judge said.
Lawrence appealed the conviction alleging 15 instances of "misconduct, abuse of discretion, and ineffectiveness of defence counsel", but the murder conviction was upheld by the New Jersey Appellate Court in 2021.
Galfy's family also spoke in the Netflix documentary, sharing their sadness over what occurred. They also pointed out that in hindsight it was wrong to glorify someone, so overly unstable, so quickly.
"I think the media had something to blame for 'the creation' of Kai. I've yet to see any analysis from them saying 'boy did we make a mistake? Did we create this celebrity and monster without doing our homework? If you're going to glorify someone, you better know who you're going to glorify."
Feature Image: Netflix.
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