In 2013, the story of Kai Lawrence, real name Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, who used a hatchet to protect a woman from an attack went viral. Lawrence had been detained for murder only a few months later, and the free-spirited hitchhiker no longer seemed so innocent.
The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, Netflix’s newest true crime documentary, follows a happy-go-lucky nomad’s rise to internet fame and the steep decline that led to his imprisonment.
Caleb Mcgillvary Parents: Meet Gil And Shirley
Kai Lawrence grew up in Canada with his parents, Gil and Shirley. Caleb McGillivray’s parents divorced when he was four years old.
Despite acknowledging her son’s behavioral issues, the suspect’s mother, Shirley, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used, denied his father’s claim that he suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
She claimed that she hadn’t spoken to her son since last fall. He was still residing in Canada at the time. She admitted that she had no idea when or how her son crossed the border into the United States without authorization.
Shirley sobbed as she watched the infamous television interview with McGillivary, which was uploaded to YouTube in February and quickly received hundreds of thousands of hits.
Who Is Kai Lawrence?
Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, aka Kai Lawrence, was born in Canada in 1988. He is a convicted murderer who gained notoriety in 2013 when a news story about him went viral.
When Kai was hitchhiking in February 2013, Jett Simmons McBride picked him up. Lawrence claimed that McBride made some disturbing claims while the two were in the car, including that he was the second coming of Jesus Christ and had “raped a 14-year-old.”
The pedestrian was then pinned against another truck at an intersection after being struck by McBride. After the incident, Kai Lawrence was interviewed by California’s KMPH News, which produced the viral video.
Is Kai Lawrence In Prison?
Kai Lawrence is presently imprisoned at Trenton’s New Jersey State Prison. Lawrence has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2013 and was given a 57-year sentence in 2019 after a trial.
Kai Lawrence was detained for the murder of 73-year-old New Jersey attorney Joseph Galfy only three months after his video went viral online. A piece of paper with Kai’s name and phone number was discovered underneath a laptop during the Police investigation after Galfy was discovered dead in his home.
Galfy invited Lawrence back to his House and offered him a room to stay in before drugging and sexually assaulting him, according to Lawrence, who insisted that he killed Galfy in self-defense during his trial.
Kai Lawrence Lawrence filed an appeal in 2021 to have his conviction overturned because he claimed he acted in self-defense; however, the request was denied.
ALSO READ: How Is Donna Presley Related To Elvis? Complete Info!
