Canadian dad of ‘hatchet hitchhiker’ stands by son in New Jersey homicide case

NEWARK, N.J. – The Canadian father of the man who gained Internet fame as “Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” says he hasn’t had much contact with his son over the years.

But Gil McGillivary of Hawkesbury, Ontario, says he isn’t giving up on his son, Caleb, as the 24-year-old faces a murder charge in New Jersey.

Caleb, also known as Kai, is accused of fatally beating a lawyer found dead May 13 in his northern New Jersey home. Prosecutors say the lawyer had met Caleb in New York.

Gil McGillivary says he lost custody of his son when the boy was 8.

He last saw his son in 2010. He says Caleb rebuffed an email he sent after his hitchhiking son became famous in February after using a hatchet from his backpack to intervene in an attack on a California utility worker.