A 26-year-old man has been charged in connection with the abduction of a child of two tech founders.
Mint Butterfield, 16, was discovered Saturday by San Francisco cops in the back of a van belonging to Christopher "Kio" Dizefalo, according to police.
Mint Butterfield, who goes by they/them pronouns, is the child of two tech pioneers. Their parents, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, co-founded Flickr in 2004. Stewart Butterfield later co-founded Slack.
A widespread search was launched in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Police raised concerns after the teen made a suicide threat. They classified Mint Butterfield as a voluntary missing person, indicating they had left home willingly.
Police described Dizefalo as an "adult friend" of Mint Butterfield's. He was arrested for "multiple criminal violations" and taken into custody at Marin County Jail. His bail was set at $50,000.
A statement to Business Insider, sent by Adam Schermerhorn, a sergeant with the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, revealed Dizefalo was arrested in connection to "contributing to the delinquency of a minor," "unlawful sexual intercourse," and "child stealing."
Police stated they believed Butterfield had left home voluntarily.
In a statement to The San Francisco Standard, Schermerhorn previously said he did not think there "was foul play related to kidnapping or anything else, which is what some people were saying is what happened."
Mint Butterfield's parents and stepfather Jyri Engeström have since released a statement thanking "family, friends, volunteers and strangers who called in tips and made this recovery possible," according to the Standard.
"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," they added.
Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, who were married from 2001 to 2007, according to the New York Post, co-founded Flickr together in 2004 and sold the company to Yahoo in 2005 for about $30 million.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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