Slack co-founder's teen daughter missing, cops suspect she may be in high-crime area

Mint Butterfield is the daughter of Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield and Flickr creator Caterina Fake. (Image: @Jason/X)

Mint Butterfield, the 16-year-old daughter of billionaire tech moguls Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, has gone missing from her home in Bolinas, California.

Butterfield, a co-founder of the widely-used messaging platform Slack, and Fake, known for her role in creating Flickr, reported their daughter missing on Monday, as revealed by the San Francisco Standard. According to Marin County Sheriff spokesperson Deputy Jose Suarez, Mint was last seen around 10 pm Sunday, wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pyajama pants, and black boots, possibly carrying a gray suitcase.

Despite living with her mother and attending a private boarding school in Napa, authorities believe she may have fled to the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This area, notorious for its high crime rates, homelessness, and drug trade, poses significant dangers to a young girl.

"Mint was last seen in Bolinas, but we suspect she may have made her way to the Tenderloin area," stated Deputy Suarez. Mint's history of substance abuse adds further urgency to the search efforts, with reports indicating she has frequented the troubled neighbourhood in the past.

Stewart Butterfield has a net worth estimated at $1.6 billion, and Caterina Fake, sold Flickr to Yahoo! for around $30 million. However, personal challenges have also marked their lives, including their divorce in 2007, the same year Mint was born. Mint remains their only child.

The family's wealth and status, highlighted by their extravagant properties in Aspen, Southampton, and New York City, offer a sharp contrast to the uncertainty surrounding Mint's whereabouts. Their lifestyle, complete with multi-million dollar mansions and luxury amenities, stands in stark contrast to the gritty reality of a missing teenager, feared lost in the streets of San Francisco.

The Marin County Sheriff's Office has issued a notice to citizens: "Please contact us with any information on Mint's whereabouts” and shared pamphlets regarding her disappearance.