Mint Butterfield: Parking valet arrested after former Slack CEO’s missing child is found in back of van
BOLINAS, CALIFORNIA: A 16-year-old Slack tech billionaire's child was discovered alive in the back of a white van after going missing in a known dangerous area of San Francisco.
The child of Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, non-binary teenager Mint Butterfield, vanished from the Tenderloin neighborhood on April 21. However, on April 27, police announced that Mint Butterfield had been discovered safely in San Francisco, accompanied by 26-year-old Christopher 'Kio' Dizefalo, who was a parking valet as per jail records.
Mint Butterfield allegedly ran away from home
According to the Marin County Sheriff's Office, Mint ran away from home willingly and was found unharmed. When police stated earlier this week that Mint was "at-risk" because of a reportedly prior suicide threat and history of substance abuse, there was significant concern for the teen's welfare.
The day following their last sighting, Mint's mother reported them missing, raising suspicions among the local authorities. Mint vanished, and Sergeant Adam Schermerhorn of the San Francisco Chronicle said that the sheriff's office was "working with SFPD detectives to try and locate" them.
The teenager is said to have a history of substance abuse and is a student at a private boarding school in the neighboring Napa Valley.
Mint Butterfield found after vanishing from home
The police located the car on Eddy Street in the Tenderloin district. This part of San Francisco is widely regarded as dangerous for children and is well-known for its high crime rate, according to News Bytes.
The neighborhood is a hotspot for drug sales, especially fentanyl, due to its high rate of homelessness and increased criminal activity. In 2018, a concerning report described Tenderloin's streets as overrun with heroin needles and growing amounts of human waste.
Christopher Dizefalo accused of kidnapping Mint Butterfield
It's unclear what Butterfield and Dizefalo were up to for the previous week, why they ran away from home, and the nature of their relationship.
Dizefalo is now being accused of kidnapping. He was taken into custody and placed under arrest, with a $50,000 bail amount set by the detectives, Mirror reported.
Mint is the only child of Flickr founder Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, who separated in 2007.
Their mother is a successful businesswoman and a former chair of Etsy, and the teen's father co-founded the team messaging app Slack. Along with that, the ex-couple founded Flickr, an image-sharing website.
In 2013, Stewart was a co-founder of Slack, an instant messaging service. Salesforce paid an astounding $28 billion in 2021 to acquire Slack, which is currently valued at $1.6 billion, Mirror added to its report.
In 2022, Butterfield left the organization. Both of their parents are now married again and have other children.
