Bio 

Chevie O’Brien Kehoe was born on January 29, 1973, in Orange Park, Florida. He was the oldest son of Kirby and Gloria Kehoe. Several sources state that his first name came from his father’s interest in Chevrolet vehicles. Kehoe grew up in a family that moved frequently and later settled in northeastern Washington State, near Colville. His father, Kirby Kehoe, was a Vietnam-era veteran and became increasingly hostile toward the federal government.

Kehoe and his younger brother Cheyne were pulled out of public school and homeschooled. Public accounts describe Kehoe as an honors student before leaving regular school. During his teenage years, he was exposed to extremist anti-government and white supremacist beliefs, including Christian Identity ideology and Aryan Nations influence. These beliefs later became central to the criminal organization prosecutors said he tried to build.

By the early 1990s, Kehoe had become involved in white supremacist and anti-government circles in the Pacific Northwest and at Elohim City, an extremist community in Oklahoma. Federal prosecutors later described him as a leader in a group called the Aryan Peoples Republic, a planned white separatist organization that he intended to fund through theft, robbery, weapons trafficking, and other crimes. The Eighth Circuit case record states that Kehoe and Daniel Lewis Lee were charged with racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and robbery conspiracy.

Kehoe married Karena Gumm and later entered a second relationship with Angie Settle, promoting polygamy as part of his extremist racial beliefs. The supplied material states that he viewed polygamy as a way to increase the white population and build support for his planned separatist movement. These personal beliefs were not separate from his criminal conduct; prosecutors argued that his ideology motivated his efforts to collect weapons, money, and supplies.

Before the Mueller family murders, Kehoe had already been linked to a wider pattern of robberies, firearms crimes, and extremist activity. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported that he was accused of involvement in violent crimes across multiple states, including armed robberies, bomb-making, stolen firearms trafficking, and the April 1996 bombing of Spokane City Hall. Some allegations in the SPLC timeline were drawn from indictments and investigative records, so they should be described as alleged unless supported by conviction records.

Murder Story

In January 1996, Chevie O’Brien Kehoe and Daniel Lewis Lee traveled to the home of William Mueller, a gun dealer who lived near Tilly, Arkansas. Mueller had a large collection of firearms, ammunition, cash, and other property. Prosecutors said Kehoe had targeted the Muellers because he wanted weapons and money to support his extremist organization and separatist plans. The ATF later summarized the case by stating that Kehoe and Lee robbed and killed federal firearms licensee William Mueller and his family during a broader series of crimes across multiple states.

The victims were William Mueller, his wife Nancy Mueller, and Nancy’s 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. The three were abducted, robbed, and murdered. Public case summaries state that the killers placed plastic bags over the victims’ heads, sealed the bags with duct tape, and suffocated them. The bodies were weighted down and thrown into water near Russellville, Arkansas. They were not found until June 1996.

The murders were part of a federal racketeering prosecution. Kehoe and Lee were charged with racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and robbery-related offenses. Prosecutors argued that the Mueller family murders were committed to obtain firearms, ammunition, money, and supplies for Kehoe’s planned white separatist group. The federal government sought the death penalty against both Kehoe and Lee.

The case developed after investigators traced stolen Mueller firearms through later arrests and weapons sales. One of the early breaks came when a firearm connected to the Mueller collection surfaced after being sold or transferred through Kehoe family contacts. The ATF later described the investigation as a joint local, state, and federal effort that followed a five-state pattern of murders, kidnappings, firearms violations, robberies, and shootouts with police.

On February 15, 1997, Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe were stopped in Ohio in a Chevrolet Suburban with expired tags. The stop escalated into a shootout with law enforcement. The event was recorded on patrol-car video and later broadcast nationally. Chevie Kehoe was later arrested on June 17, 1997, in Gunlock, Utah, after Cheyne surrendered and helped authorities locate him. On February 20, 1998, Chevie Kehoe pleaded guilty in Ohio to attempted murder, felonious assault, and carrying a concealed weapon in connection with the police shootout.

Kehoe’s federal trial began in 1999. His mother, Gloria Kehoe, and his brother Cheyne testified for the prosecution. The jury found Kehoe and Daniel Lewis Lee guilty on May 4, 1999. Kehoe was convicted of racketeering-related crimes and three murders connected to the deaths of William Mueller, Nancy Mueller, and Sarah Powell.

Although prosecutors portrayed Kehoe as a leader of the criminal enterprise, the jury did not sentence him to death. On June 25, 1999, U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. When asked if he wished to speak, Kehoe maintained his innocence. His co-defendant Daniel Lewis Lee was sentenced to death and was later executed by the federal government on July 14, 2020.

Kehoe appealed his convictions, but the Eighth Circuit rejected his arguments and affirmed the case in 2003. The court dismissed his claim that the federal murder convictions improperly encroached on state authority and upheld the federal prosecution. Later post-conviction litigation also failed. A 2025 federal capital defendant list still identifies Kehoe’s status as a life sentence from a jury verdict.

Chevie O’Brien Kehoe remains imprisoned under a life sentence. Public Bureau of Prisons-related summaries list him under register number 21300-009 and identify him as serving three consecutive life sentences for racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and robbery conspiracy connected to the Mueller family murders.