A 26-year-old man has been arrested after the child of two tech moguls was found in the back of his van.
Mint Butterfield, 16, was missing for six days before being discovered by San Francisco police on Saturday.
Butterfield, who uses they/them pronouns, is the child of two tech founders. Their parents, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, co-founded Flickr in 2004, and Stewart Butterfield later co-founded Slack.
Their disappearance led to an extensive search in the Tenderloin, a San Francisco neighborhood known for homelessness, crime and drugs.
Police had warned the teenager’s safety was at risk due to a previous suicide threat.
Butterfield was found safe in San Francisco on Saturday in the back of a white pickup truck owned by Christopher “Kio” Dizefalo, according to a news release issued by the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.
Dizefalo was described in the press release as an “adult friend” of Butterfield. He was arrested for “multiple criminal violations” and booked into the Marin County Jail, where his bond was set at $50,000, the press release states.
Police did not specify what the charges were, although the press release added that the teen ran away from home “voluntarily.”
However, according to information obtained by the San Francisco Standard, Dizefalo is being held on suspicion of child kidnapping as well as a misdemeanor charge of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
Adam Schermerhorn, a representative for the Marin County Sheriff’s Office, previously told People there was no reason to believe “foul play” or “anything criminal” was connected to Butterfield’s disappearance .
Speaking to the Standard after Dizefalo’s arrest, Schermerhorn said: “This is based on statements that have been made and some work that our detectives have been able to uncover.”
“I don’t think there was any foul play related to kidnapping or anything, and that’s what some people have said,” he added.
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Dizefalo currently does not have an attorney listed.
In a joint statement sent to the press, Butterfield’s parents and stepfather, Jyri Engeström, thanked “the family, friends, volunteers and strangers who gave advice and made this recovery possible,” according to The standard.
“We especially want to thank seasoned law enforcement officers who understand the very real threat posed by predators who use the lure of drugs to seduce teenagers,” they added.
Butterfield’s parents, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, were married from 2001 to 2007. New York Post reported.
They co-founded Flickr together in 2004 and later sold the company to Yahoo in 2005 for an estimated $30 million, the outlet said.
Stewart Butterfield co-founded Slack in 2013 with Cal Henderson. In December 2022, it left the company.
Its value is estimated at $1.6 billion, according to Forbes.
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