ELIZABETH, N.J. - Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker.

An employee at a Starbucks in Philadelphia is credited with recognizing 24-year-old Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose fledgling celebrity took a turn toward notoriety when authorities announced this week that he was wanted in the beating death of a New Jersey lawyer three times his age.

The unlikely pair met amid the neon lights of New York City's Times Square over the weekend and headed back to the squat brick home of 73-year-old Joseph Galfy Jr. on a quiet cul-de-sac in suburban Clark, N.J., authorities say.