Billionaire Slack heiress Mint Butterfield reportedly changed after meeting Christopher Dizefalo, 26.
The only child of Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield, the 16-year-old made headlines when she went vanished last month.
Her Disappearance
Mint, who uses they/them pronouns, disappeared from Fake’s weekend home in affluent Bolinas, northwest of San Francisco, on April 22, before she was found alive a week later.
The mother had brought Mint to the weekend home so they could get away from a 26-year-old man – Christopher Dizefalo- who goes by Kio and has now been arrested for her disappearance.
It All Started When She Clocked 16
Fake told The Daily Beast that Mint’s downward spiral began when she turned 16 and started going to punk and emo clubs in the East Bay.
Mint met Dizefalo at a club in Oakland, and while they saw something ‘magical’ in him, one of their friends said they had instead detected something ‘disgusting and creepy.’
According to their family, the heiress did not have drug problems until they met Dizefalo, who is said to be a fentanyl addict.
The teen had also only had romantic relationships with girls before meeting Dizefalo.
Statement From Mom
Fake told The Daily Beast: ‘My child became a different person overnight. Starting last fall they became a person I didn’t recognize. And I didn’t know what was happening and I didn’t understand it. Mint is a teenager. Teens are full of empathy and love and hormones.’
Fake, who is divorced from Mint’s father, said she went into panic mode when she realized the teen was missing, and ran a half mile down the street searching for them, she told The Daily Beast. Mint left their mom a note saying they loved them.
The mother said that she gave Kio’s phone number to police when she reported Mint missing, and was displeased when the Marin County Sheriff’s Office spoke to the media about the case.
Police initially classified Mint as ‘voluntarily missing’ as they believed she left the home on her own, which angered her mother who thought her child was in danger.
How Mint Was Found
Within days of going missing, Mint was seen outside an Oakland home throwing up blood on the sidewalk, outside a parked van. They were wearing just shorts, a tank top and black boots.
A week after they were reported missing, police found the van Dizefalo had been using on its way to the Tenderloin District and arrested him. Police also arrested the 21-year-old woman who owned the van, Sarah Atkins.
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The Tenderloin is the center of the fentanyl crisis in San Francisco and is known for squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, drug trade, and prostitution.
According to the Daily Beast, Atkins has suffered abuse by Dizefalo, who she financially supports.
Police did not initially realize that Mint was also in the van, but then discovered her underneath a mattress that was in the back.
In a statement, Marin County Sheriff’s Office said Butterfield was found uninjured and that she had run away from home voluntarily.
After Dizefalo was interviewed by detectives, he was arrested and booked in the Marin County Jail, with bail set at $50,000.
