'Kai the Hitchhiker' Caught on Bistro 1051 Surveillance Video

As news broke last Thursday that Bistro 1051 owner Michael Savvis saw the 24-year-old's picture and suddenly made a connection.

Savvis says Kai, (whose real name is Caleb Lawrence McGillvary) stopped into Bistro 1051 around 10 p.m. on Sunday, Mother's Day—the same day police say he murdered Galfy.

Savvis called police with the information and handed over video surveillance (seen here) of McGillvary entering and exiting Bistro 1051. McGillvary was arrested in Philadelphia later that day.

"He asked for water," Savvis said. "He looked disheveled and caught me totally off guard. We were closed, and he definitely made me a little nervous."

Savvis said he told McGillvary they were closed and didn't have any water, and suggested he try Phillippo's Pizza a few doors down.

In the video, McGillvary can be seen walking down the sidewalk from Raritan Road into the Clarkton Shopping Center. He appears to search for something outside the restaurant's doorway (cigarette butts, thinks Savvis) before entering the restaurant, being denied water, exiting and again searching for something outside the restaurant, and finally walking toward Phillippo's Pizza and out of the frame.

Savvis said McGillvary had already cut his long hair short (as police indicated he had, perhaps to alter his appearance) and was wearing a bandana, flannel shirt, jeans and a duffel bag.

As luck would have it, Savvis installed the video surveillance system just last year after his morning bread delivery had gone missing several times from the front of his restaurant. His cameras were used to apprehend the man stealing his bread, who we dubbed the "Bread Bandit."

Read that story here: 
Can You Help Catch the Bistro 1051 Bread Bandit?
VIDEO: The Bistro 1051 Bread Bandit Strikes Again!
Bread Bandit Busted! Iselin Man Helps Himself to Two Servings of Theft

At a May 16 press conference, Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow explained that Galfy picked up McGillvary in Times Square on Saturday, May 11, and that McGillvary stayed overnight at Galfy's home on Starlite Drive before leaving from the Rahway train station for Asbury Park on Sunday. McGillvary returned by train to Clark later on Sunday, was picked up at the Rahway train station by Galfy. Police say McGillvary murdered Galfy on Sunday night before leaving again from the Rahway train station and traveling to Asbury Park, Glassboro and Philadelphia. 

In a Tuesday post on his Facebook page, McGillvary alleges that he was drugged and raped and asks readers, "what would you do?"

McGillvary became an Internet sensation in February: After saving a woman in Fresno by smashing her attacker in the head with his hatchet, McGillvary’s offbeat personality in an interview made for a YouTube video that garnered nearly 4 million views. He also recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

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READ MORE:

Fans of 'Kai the Hitchhiker' Want to Raise $3M in Bail Money

CAUGHT: 'Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker' Arrested in Philadelphia

UPDATE: 'Suspicious Death' of Clark Resident Now Ruled a Homicide