When Kehoe, 20, decided it was time to give up Monday, he called pastor Ray Barker, who helped arrange the surrender on the steps of the Stevens County Courthouse in Colville, Wash.
"He's been living in fear," said Barker, who married Kehoe and his wife, Tana. "He's been debating for the past couple of months how to go about it without endangering his family."
Kehoe was accompanied by his wife, his toddler son and his wife's parents. Barker said Kehoe was calm and appeared to be in good health.
Both Kehoe brothers face indictment in Ohio on 16 counts, including attempted murder of a police officer. They also face federal charges of fleeing to avoid extradition.
A detective with the Kehoe task force said Kehoe had two conditions for surrender. He wanted only local law enforcement agents involved and he wanted to hold a news conference.
The surrender caught the detectives by surprise. "Nobody had heard hide nor hair of him," the detective said. "(As far as leads go), it was pretty bare."
After his surrender, Kehoe read a brief statement to reporters, but declined to answer questions.
"The reason I acted in the manner I did was due to the actions taken against men like Randy Weaver, Gordon Kahl and Bob Mathews. When the government law enforcement agencies abused the individual rights of these men, I feared for my life."
The men Kehoe named were all involved in highly publicized confrontations with law enforcement agents. Kahl and Mathews were killed. Weaver's wife and child were killed.
There was no word Monday on the whereabouts of Chevie Kehoe, 24.
Barker, a member of the Old Testament-based, white supremacist Christian Identity movement, runs a book and tape ministry in Colville. He said he has known Kehoe for about five years.
He hadn't heard from either Kehoe since the shootouts until Cheyne called him at 5 a.m. Monday. "He said I was the only man he trusted," Barker said.
Kehoe did not say where he has been since February or what he has been doing, Barker said. He also did not reveal the whereabouts of his brother Chevie.
"This is 50 percent done," said Sgt. John Born of the Ohio Highway Patrol. "We're obviously very pleased that he turned himself in peaceably and we hope Chevie will do the same."
The brothers came to national attention following a Feb. 15 shoot-out in Wilmington when Ohio highway patrol troopers there stopped a Chevrolet Suburban to question its driver about expired tags.
In action videotaped by a camera mounted inside an officer's cruiser, the passenger jumped from the car and fired at the officers. Both men fled, one driving away in the car and the other on foot.
Minutes later, a second confrontation took place when a Wilmington police officer spotted the Suburban in a parking lot. The police cruiser's windshield was shattered when the driver fired at the officer and then fled on foot.
Investigators said the brothers had hats and jackets bearing FBI logos, and two U.S. marshal badges, along with six guns, more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition, bulletproof vests and a large amount of military-type gear found inside the abandoned 1977 Chevrolet Suburban.
Police said three bulletproof vests and a piece of body armor found in the Suburban help support a theory that Cheyne Kehoe put on a vest before exchanging gunfire with a trooper and deputy during the first Ohio confrontation.
TORSTEN KJELLSTRAND/ASSOCIATED PRESS
(2) Chevie Kehoe
* STAFF WRITER Russell Carollo and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.