Billionaire heiress, 16, disappears in San Francisco neighbourhood known for drugs and crime
25 April 2024, 16:07 | Updated: 25 April 2024, 16:08
A 16-year-old heiress to a tech fortune has disappeared in an area of San Francisco synonymous with drugs and crime.
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Mint Butterfield is the only child of Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield and Flickr founder Caterina Fake - two of Silicon Valley's most well-known entrepreneurs.
The teen vanished four days ago from her mother's home in the wealthy Marin County, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Officials said she has a history of substance abuse and is known to frequent the Tenderloin area - one of the most drug-infested neighborhoods of the California city.
PLEASE‼️It only takes one second to share this #missingperson case. The willing and able can make a difference! 💙❤️🧡💛#MintButterfield, 16, was last seen in #Bolinas, #California on 4/21/24 in the evening. She was wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants, black boots… pic.twitter.com/8Pilsnr73j
— A Voice For The Voiceless (@AwarenessTCS) April 25, 2024
When she was last seen, the teenager was last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants and black boots. She is described as having brown/reddish curly hair and pierced eyebrows.
According to a missing poster put up in the Bay Area, Mint was last seen on Sunday night at around 10pm in Bolinas and was reported missing the following morning by her mother.
The teen, who has reportedly battled addiction problems in the past, attends a private boarding school in Napa Valley.
So far, it is not clear how she would have traveled into the downtown area.
Mint's father, Butterfield, is co-founder of the messaging app Slack which is worth $1.6 billion. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in 2021 for $28 billion and Butterfield left the company in 2022.
Her mother is Caterina Fake, who created the imaging service Flickr with her then partner, Butterfield. They sold the image-hosting website to Yahoo in 2005.
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Police are yet to say whether she went voluntarily or if she has been kidnapped.
Due to her previous problems, Mint is thought to know the Tenderloin district, it was reported.
The neighbourhood is thought to be the centre of the city's fentanyl crisis.
