The son of a late San Francisco pornography mogul was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on suspicion of beating his former girlfriend to death with a baseball bat and fleeing with their 1-year-old daughter.
James Raphael Mitchell, the 27-year-old son of the late "Behind the Green Door" director Jim Mitchell, is being held on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and violating a restraining order.
His ex-girlfriend, Danielle Keller, 29, was found beaten to death Sunday evening in the backyard of her mother's home in Novato, north of San Francisco.
A neighbor said she saw Mitchell run from the home with his screaming daughter, Samantha, then drive away Sunday evening. A five-hour manhunt for Mitchell ended just off Interstate 80 in Citrus Heights after police found him and the girl, who was unharmed, authorities said.
The search for Mitchell included an Amber Alert. Police also credit cell phone tracking for the capture of the suspected killer. Novato police tracked Mitchell Jr. through his cell phone provider and helped direct the Sacramento-area authorities by following "pings" between Mitchell's phone and cell phone towers.
"It's fairly routine under these kind of circumstances when there's an Amber Alert and a child abduction." Novato police Capt. Jim Berg told the Marin IJ. "It's the same kind of thing when somebody is lost in the woods."
Keller's friends and family gathered Monday for a candlelight vigil and marched from the Novato police station to the home where she was found dead to remember the young mother, share prayers and hope for the couple's daughter and draw more awareness to domestic violence.
They say that while Keller was terrified of her former boyfriend, they never imagined he'd be suspected of killing her on her daughter's first birthday.
Mitchell's father, Jim Mitchell, co-founded the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco in 1969 with his brother, Artie. The brothers produced hundreds of porn films, including "Resurrection of Eve" and "Sodom and Gomorrah: The Last 7 Days" and the first feature-length adult film in 1972, "Behind the Green Door," starring Marilyn Chambers. In their heyday, the brothers faced multiple arrests on obscenity charges.
The elder Mitchell was convicted of manslaughter for the 1991 shooting death of his brother and spent three years in San Quentin State Prison. He died in 2007 from an apparent heart attack.
A jail report for Mitchell Jr. listed his occupation as a theater owner. Keller's mom, Claudia Stevens, prays the alleged killer's famed family and his fortune won't cloud the judicial process.
"His father always bailed him out of every piece of trouble he ever got into. Now that Daddy's gone, there's no one to bail him out." Stevens said. "I do not think all the money in the world is going to set him free."
Mitchell Jr. and Keller had been in a "pretty combustive and combative relationship" for about two years, Stevens said. Keller had sole custody of Samantha and had obtained a restraining order against Mitchell, Stevens said.
Keller had sole custody of Samantha.
Mitchell Jr. will be arraigned at 1:30 today.
