Porn King's Son Held In Baseball Bat Beating Death

A 1-year-old girl was safely recovered early Monday and her 27-year-old father in custody after he allegedly brutally beat the girl's mother to death with a baseball bat, authorities said.

James Raphael Mitchell -- the son of the late porn king Jim Mitchell -- was taken into custody around midnight and the child, Samantha Mitchell, was found and determined to be unharmed, Sgt. Jennifer Welch said.

Mitchell was arrested in the Sacramento suburb of Citrus Heights and transported to the Marin County Jail, but no other details of his arrest had been released.

He was suspected of beating Danielle Keller several times with a baseball bat before fleeing with the girl -- who was celebrating her first birthday -- and threatening to kill any law enforcement agents who came into contact with him, according to police.

Family members told KTVU that there was a history of domestic abuse and restraining order had been issued against Mitchell in both San Francisco and Marin. Keeler's mother, Claudia Stevens, said Mitchell had stormed into her Novato home three weeks ago and threatened violence.

He also had been making threatening phone calls, she added.

Police found Keller dead in a yard when they responded to a call about a possible assault at a residence on Diablo Court in Novato just before 7 p.m., Lt. Dave Jeffries said.

An Amber Alert was issued for the girl, but was cancelled at about 12:15 a.m.

His father, Jim Mitchell co-owned San Francisco's Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre along with his brother, Artie, and were pioneers in pornographic film industry. However, the brothers grew apart over the years because of Artie's drug use.

In February 1991, Jim Mitchell snuck into his brother's Corte Madera home and gunned Artie down in a hallway. He was convicted of manslaughter and served three years in prison before his death.