The Mint Butterfield family, who are worth an estimated $1 billion, has expressed gratitude to the police for saving their daughter from predators who “groom teenagers” with the promise of narcotics.
A lady and a 26-year-old suspect are facing abduction charges against Mint Butterfield, a wealthy heiress from the family who developed the app Slack.
After more than a week of being missing in San Francisco, Mint, a 16-year-old who uses they/them pronouns, was located in the back of a white van on Saturday evening.
On Wednesday morning, the court ordered a 26-year-old parking attendant who is suspected of kidnapping 16-year-old Mint Butterfield to refrain from having any contact with the victim.
Sarah Atkins faced accusations of kidnapping and aiding a juvenile offender. A criminal complaint said that Christopher “Kio” Dizefalo was accused of many charges, one of which was child abduction.
During the short hearing, Dizefalo informed Judge Kelly Simmons that he understood her orders. Dizefalo wore a yellow prison uniform over a long-sleeved pink T-shirt and orange jail shoes. Dizefalo is facing felony accusations of child abduction and misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His face is tattooed with an image of a scythe. He is now being held on a bond of $50,000.
Stewart Butterfield, a millionaire computer entrepreneur and co-founder of the workplace messaging software Slack, and Caterina Fake, a former chair of Etsy and co-founder of the photo-sharing site Flickr alongside Butterfield, are Mint’s parents.
Even though Butterfield could see the hearing on Wednesday via Zoom, he remained silent throughout.
As of Wednesday, Atkins remained free and did not make an appearance in court.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Madow informed the court that an arrest warrant had been issued for her. Atkins, who is believed to be in her late twenties, was not there when Mint was discovered.
On April 21, Mint disappeared from their mother’s house in wealthy Bolinas. The next day, Fake reported them missing.
Detectives discovered that Mint was in a relationship with Dizefalo, who was seen driving a white van. After tracing the car, officers located Mint inside.
San Francisco’s fentanyl epidemic has its epicenter in the Tenderloin, a neighborhood notorious for its squalor, homelessness, criminality, drug trafficking, and prostitution.
