BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Chevie Kehoe left behind two Polaroid pictures of himself in a van stolen from Clinton County three days after he and his brother were involved in shootouts with police in Wilmington, Ohio, authorities said Wednesday.

A Marion County, Ind., sheriff's deputy discovered the stolen 1987 Ford Econoline Feb. 25 parked at a truck stop off Interstate 465 on the southwest side of Indianapolis. It had been there several days. The evidence has been turned over to the FBI.

Clinton County Sheriff Ralph Fizer was not amused that the pictures seemed to be taunting authorities.

''I'm thinking, 'Why in the world would he do this?''' he said Wednesday. ''What kind of people are we dealing with?''

Mr. Kehoe, 24, and his brother, Cheyne, 20, from Colville, Wash., are the focus of a nationwide manhunt. The brothers, part of the white-separatist group Aryan Nations, also have been connected to murder investigations in Arkansas and Idaho.

The brothers' troubles began locally Feb. 15 in Wilmington, about an hour northeast of Cincinnati, when a trooper stopped their Chevrolet Suburban for expired Washington state license plates. That escalated into the brothers trading gunfire with police and fleeing. Police later found military-style gear, bulletproof vests and guns in the Suburban.

On Monday, police in Casper, Wyo, found bomb-making material in a motor home that belongs to Chevie Kehoe's wife, Karena Gumm. Until the shootings, the Kehoes and their wives and four children had been staying in the motor home at a campground in Ross County, Ohio, near Chillicothe.

Now authorities are tying to piece together whether the brothers met their wives or fled on their own.

Chevie Kehoe is thought to have remained around the area after the shootings, hiding out in an unlocked cabin at Camp Joy, along the Warren-Clinton county line for a few days, Sheriff Fizer said.

Anne Albritton, director of operations at Joy Outdoor Education Center, said she can confirm only that ''someone did get into a cabin.''

The van found in Indianapolis was stolen about 2 miles from Camp Joy from the home of a Portman Equipment employee in Clarksville, Ohio.

Besides the photographs, Chevie Kehoe left clothes, gym shoes, a handcuff key, several other items and a gas credit-card receipt bearing his signature, said a supervisor at Portman Equipment Handling in Lebanon, which owns the van.

Cheyne Kehoe is suspected of stealing a car from a barn near the shooting site and leaving it near the campground near Chillicothe, Sheriff Fizer said.

Chevie Kehoe also faces a federal indictment in Spokane, Wash., charging him with stealing guns from a victim of a triple homicide in Arkansas. Idaho police also want to question him because his former roommate is awaiting a murder trial in the death of a former Aryan Nations member.

Police are asking for the assistance of the Fox TV call-in crime show America's Most Wanted again this week to bring in leads, Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. John Born said. The show, which aired the Kehoes' story Feb. 22, will give an update Saturday night.

''The bottom line is it's just a matter of time before they're apprehended,'' Sgt. Born said. ''We've got a number of good leads. Frustration will only set in when we stop getting leads.''

Previous stories

MATERIAL FROM BOMB FOUND IN CAMPER March 5, 1997
FUGITIVES CAMPER FOUND IN WYOMING March 2, 1997
PAIR LINKED TO GUN TRADE March 1, 1997
GUNMEN CARRIED POLICE GEAR IN VAN Feb. 28, 1997
CHEVIE KEHOE INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES Feb. 26, 1997
CALLS GIVE TIPS ON FUGITIVES Feb. 25, 1997
WILMINGTON SHOOTOUT NOW FBI CONCERN Feb. 22, 1997
BROTHERS INDICTED, SOUGHT IN SHOOTOUTS Feb. 21, 1997
TWO GUNMEN TRACKED TO CAMPGROUND Feb. 20, 1997
INVESTIGATORS, SUPREMACISTS APPEAL TO PUBLIC Feb. 19, 1997
FBI JOINS HUNT FOR GUNMEN Feb. 18, 1997
SHOOTOUT MAY BE LINKED TO KILLINGS Feb. 17, 1997