Billionaire Stewart Butterfield’s 16-year-old daughter Mint Butterfield was found in San Francisco on April 27 with an adult man, who is now facing charges of kidnapping. Mint, who uses they/them pronouns, was found along with 26-year-old Christopher “Kio” Dizefalo, as per the New York Post. He was found with the teenager inside a van in San Francisco’s dangerous Tenderloin District neighbourhood, according to the booking records.
The man, who is being referred to as an “adult friend” by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, was arrested and booked on suspicion of kidnapping and other violations. He was being held on $50,000 bail.
According to the police, both of them “voluntarily” ran away from Bolinas and have now reunited with their families.
Flickr Co-founders Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield thanked the police and investigators for their efforts. “A heartfelt thanks to all the family, friends, volunteers and strangers who called in tips and made this recovery possible. We especially want to thank the seasoned law enforcement officers who understand the very real threat of predators who use the allure of drugs to groom teenagers,” the family said.
Mint was reported missing after “running away” from the family’s Marin County residence. They were last seen near her home on Sunday, April 21 at approximately 10 pm in Bolinas, California. The teen was reported missing on Monday at 8:30 am by the mother.
The Tenderloin neighbourhood is known for its high crime rate and is home to a sizable portion of the city’s homeless population. It has lately become well-known for being the epicentre of the fentanyl issue in California, which is a subset of the larger opioid crisis in the United States, as per a report in Metro.
Meanwhile, Flickr was founded in 2004 by Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, who used a tool they had developed for an online game to establish the platform. They divorced in 2007. Mr Butterfield then established the communication platform Slack in 2012. Now, with over 10 million daily active users, Slack is seen as a vital tool in offices all around the world.
