A Detroit man was hit with serious charges for his connection in the case of missing 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris.
On Friday afternoon, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office charged 41-year-old Jarvis Butts with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and child sexually abusive activity. Butts was arrested shortly after and is expected to return to court on October 4th for a probable cause conference.
According to reports, Harris and Butts knew each other because he has children with Na’Ziyah’s biological aunt. The two allegedly met up after Harris got out of school on January 9th. The prosecutor’s office states that Harris joined Butts and his coworker and went to their auto repair shop. Evidence showed that Butts checked into a motel later. However, Harris was never seen again after that day.
The evidence in this case will clearly show that the defendant’s alleged actions were beyond predatory,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. “They were vulturous – he groomed and preyed upon Na’Ziyah with expertise. We will prove that he killed young Na’Ziyah after he found out she was pregnant at 13 with his child.”
Butts allegedly started sending sexually explicit to Harris in September 2022. A year later, Harris reportedly sent Butts a message revealing that she had not gotten her menstrual cycle. Two months later, Butts learned that Harris was pregnant. To make matters worse, phone records showed that Butts had been researching abortion clinics online. Additionally, the day after Harris went missing, Butts was allegedly in the area of the Rouge River, where Harris’ clothes were found.
Outside of Harris’s case, Butts is also being charged in two separate cases for allegedly sexually abusing two other girls. The first victim claims Butts assaulted her from April 2012 to April 2014. As a result, Butts is facing one count of first-degree criminal sexual sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. In the second case, the 13-year-old victim alleges she was assaulted by Butts from July 2015 to July 2017. He is also being charged with one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a child under 13.
Nonetheless, despite Harris’s body never being found, prosecutors believe that she is dead due to the substantial amount of evidence.
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