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The Murder of Na'Ziyah Harris
● Convicted — Sentenced
Child Victim
Sexual Homicide
Body Never Recovered
Michigan
Na'Ziyah Harris
| Full Name | Na'Ziyah Harris |
| Age | 13 |
| From | Detroit, Michigan |
| School | J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy |
| Guardian | Grandmother (adoptive mother) |
| Remains | Not publicly recovered |
The Victim
Na'Ziyah Harris
Na'Ziyah Harris was 13 years old and a student at J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy in Detroit, Michigan. She lived with her grandmother, who was also her adoptive mother. By the accounts of those who knew her, Na'Ziyah was a child looking for connection and someone to trust. In court, evidence revealed that she told Butts he was the only person she really trusted, that she needed someone to talk to, and that she called him "babe." She was 11 years old when he began targeting her.
Prosecutors and the judge who presided over Butts' preliminary examination both acknowledged that Na'Ziyah was a child who had been failed by multiple systems, including the people in her life who were supposed to protect her. Judge Aliyah Sabree said in court that Na'Ziyah deserved love and that she was ignored and neglected by the people around her before Butts took advantage of that vulnerability.
Na'Ziyah's family has never been able to bury her. As a condition of his guilty plea, Butts provided a statement about her body's location to authorities. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy confirmed the statement was received but said the details would not be publicly released. Her family continues to wait to bring her home.
01
Background
What We Know
Na'Ziyah Harris, 13, took her school bus to J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy in Detroit on the morning of January 9, 2024, as she normally did. She did not come home that afternoon. Her grandmother reported her missing, and police began investigating. Investigators obtained access to a tablet issued by Detroit Public Schools, which revealed that Na'Ziyah had been in regular communication with Jarvis Butts, 42, and had planned to meet him on the day she disappeared.
Evidence established that Na'Ziyah met Butts and a coworker, Darnell Wright, after school. Butts' sister confirmed she saw Na'Ziyah at the auto repair shop where Butts worked. The three drove to Ypsilanti and returned to the shop. Wright and Butts then split up. That was the last time anyone other than Butts saw Na'Ziyah alive. Later that evening, Butts borrowed a car and did not return it until the following morning. Cell phone records placed his phone near 7 Mile and Berg Road in Detroit between 11:40 p.m. on January 10 and 1:34 a.m. on January 11, 2024.
Searchers in the area found Na'Ziyah's clothing, including a pink jumpsuit turned inside out, a black hoodie, a dirty towel, and both of her Nike shoes. DNA from both Na'Ziyah and Butts was found on the black hoodie. Blood was found on both the hoodie and the jumpsuit. Her school identification card was found face-down on the ground nearby. The damage to her clothing was consistent with a struggle. All contact with her family and friends, and all social media activity, stopped after January 9, 2024. As part of his February 2026 guilty plea, Butts admitted to dumping her body in the Rouge River in that area.
Case Timeline
How It Unfolded
September 2022
Grooming Begins
Jarvis Butts, a family acquaintance who was in a relationship with Na'Ziyah's aunt and had five children with her, began sexually grooming Na'Ziyah through text messages. Na'Ziyah was 11 years old. The messages were sexually explicit and the grooming escalated into sexual assault. Butts had a prior sex offense conviction from 2005 for criminal sexual conduct involving a victim aged 13 to 15.
September to November 2023
Na'Ziyah Becomes Pregnant
In September 2023, Na'Ziyah told Butts she had not gotten her period. By November 2023, text messages confirmed she was pregnant and that Butts knew. In December 2023, Butts conducted internet searches about abortion pills, herbal teas to prompt a miscarriage, Planned Parenthood, and whether a person could drink red antifreeze.
January 9, 2024
Na'Ziyah Goes Missing
Na'Ziyah took the school bus to J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy as usual. Text messages show she had planned to meet Butts that day. She met Butts and his coworker Darnell Wright and was seen at the auto repair shop by Butts' sister. The three drove to Ypsilanti and returned. Wright and Butts then split up. Na'Ziyah was never seen again by anyone other than Butts. Her grandmother reported her missing. Butts borrowed a car that night and returned it the following morning. He had also been scheduled to turn himself in on a gun charge that same day, an appointment he had postponed to February.
January 10–11, 2024
Clothing and DNA Evidence Recovered
Butts' phone was tracked to the area of 7 Mile and Berg Road in Detroit overnight. Searches recovered Na'Ziyah's pink jumpsuit, black hoodie, gloves, a towel, both Nike shoes, and her school ID. DNA from both Na'Ziyah and Butts was found on the hoodie. Blood was found on both the hoodie and jumpsuit. Damage to the clothing was consistent with a struggle.
March 2024
Jarvis Butts Arrested
Jarvis Butts was arrested in connection with the murder of Na'Ziyah Harris. He was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and child sexually abusive activity. He was held without bail.
September 27, 2024
Charges Formally Issued
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office formally issued charges in the homicide of Na'Ziyah Harris. Butts was also charged as a habitual fourth-time offender. Additional sexual assault charges were later filed involving five other child victims from separate incidents.
January 6–9, 2025
Preliminary Examination — Bound Over for Trial
A four-day preliminary examination was held before Judge Aliyah Sabree in Detroit's 36th District Court. Twenty-three witnesses testified. On January 9, 2025, exactly one year after Na'Ziyah's disappearance, Judge Sabree ordered Butts to stand trial. She called him a monster and stated she believed he had attempted a do-it-yourself abortion on Na'Ziyah that went wrong, then intentionally killed her and covered it up rather than seeking medical help.
February 12, 2026
Butts Pleads Guilty
Less than two weeks before his scheduled trial date of February 23, Butts entered guilty pleas in six separate cases. In the Na'Ziyah Harris case, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a sentencing agreement of 35 to 60 years. The original first-degree murder charge and two sexual assault counts related to Na'Ziyah were dismissed. He also pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving five other child victims, with concurrent sentences of 10 to 15 years. As part of the plea, Butts agreed to provide a truthful statement about Na'Ziyah's body location.
March 12, 2026
Butts Sentenced to 35 to 60 Years
Judge Nicholas Hathaway of Wayne County Circuit Court sentenced Butts to 35 to 60 years for second-degree murder, with credit for time served, and 10 to 15 years concurrent on each of the five criminal sexual conduct charges. Seven victim impact statements were delivered, including by Na'Ziyah's grandmother Annette Harris and her aunt Marketta Harris. The courtroom was packed and chaotic, with multiple people escorted out during the hearing. As a condition of his plea, Butts provided a statement about Na'Ziyah's body location to authorities. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy confirmed the statement was received but said the details would not be publicly released. Na'Ziyah's body has not been publicly recovered.
02
Investigation
The Investigation
Detroit Police and the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office led the investigation. Key evidence included a DPS-issued tablet that revealed Na'Ziyah's communications with Butts, cell phone tracking data placing Butts near the area where her clothing was recovered, DNA evidence linking both Butts and Na'Ziyah to that clothing, blood on the recovered items, and testimony from Butts' sister confirming she saw Na'Ziyah at the auto shop. The investigation also established that Butts had been scheduled to turn himself in on a gun charge on the very day Na'Ziyah disappeared.
Prosecutors described Butts as a serial child rapist with a documented pattern of befriending women to gain access to and sexually abuse their young daughters and female relatives. In addition to the Na'Ziyah Harris case, he was charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old relative between 2021 and 2022, and a 4-year-old girl who contracted chlamydia from the abuse. He had a prior sex offense conviction from 2005 in Michigan for criminal sexual conduct involving a victim aged 13 to 15, for which he served nearly 10 years. His guilty plea in February 2026 covered six separate cases involving six victims, five of whom were children.
Na'Ziyah's remains have not been publicly recovered. Butts provided a statement about her location as required by his plea agreement. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy confirmed the statement was given but said the information would not be released to the public.
03
Arrest & Charges
The Accused
Jarvis Butts
Jarvis Butts
Age 43 at Sentencing — Family Acquaintance, Aunt's Partner
Original Charges: First-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, child sexually abusive activity
Guilty Plea (February 12, 2026): Second-degree murder
Additional Pleas: Four counts second-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count third-degree criminal sexual conduct — five separate child victims
Sentence (March 12, 2026): 35 to 60 years — second-degree murder. 10 to 15 years concurrent — each criminal sexual conduct charge. Sentenced by Judge Nicholas Hathaway, Wayne County Circuit Court.
Prior Record: Convicted sex offender since 2005, criminal sexual conduct involving victim aged 13 to 15. Served nearly 10 years. Additional pending cases from 2015 and 2017 involving girls under 13.
Key Evidence: DPS tablet communications, cell phone tracking data, DNA on recovered clothing, blood evidence, testimony of 23 witnesses, Google search history, text message records
In Memoriam
She Is Not Forgotten
Na'Ziyah Harris was 13 years old. She was a child who wanted someone to love her and to trust. She told the man who would kill her that he was the only person she really trusted. She was 11 when he first started texting her, and no one in her life caught it in time to stop what came next. She was failed before Butts ever found her, and she was failed again by every system and every adult who was supposed to see her.
Her family still cannot bury her. Even after Jarvis Butts admitted in a courtroom that he dumped her body in the Rouge River, Na'Ziyah has not been brought home. As Butts was escorted from the courtroom after the January 2025 hearing, her family called out asking him to tell them where she was. That question has not been fully answered in public. Her grandmother testified at his sentencing two years after reporting her missing. Her aunt asked the judge for the electric chair. A life for a life, she said. That is the cruelty at the center of this case, and it has not ended.
Judge Aliyah Sabree said Na'Ziyah's case was a prime example of how much more work needs to be done to protect children, especially Black girls. Na'Ziyah's cousin asked that it bring change to Child Protective Services and Detroit Public Schools so that no other child slips through the cracks. Na'Ziyah Harris was 13 years old. She deserved so much more. She is not forgotten.
"Na'Ziyah deserved so much more. She was ignored. She was neglected, and you took complete advantage of that. She wanted someone to love her, and she will never know what that feels like."
Judge Aliyah Sabree, 36th District Court — January 9, 2025
Child Sexual Abuse Resources
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453 — 24/7 crisis intervention and referrals for child abuse concerns, including sexual abuse and grooming.
RAINN: 1-800-656-4673 — 24/7 confidential support for survivors of sexual violence, including minors.
Black and Missing Foundation: blackandmissinginc.com — Dedicated to raising awareness for missing and murdered Black women and girls.
Sources
Detroit News — Killer of Na'Ziyah Harris Sentenced, March 12, 2026 | CBS Detroit — Sentencing Coverage, March 12, 2026 | Court TV — Chaos at Sentencing, March 12, 2026 | Detroit News — Butts Pleads Guilty, February 12, 2026 | ClickOnDetroit — Guilty Plea Coverage, February 12, 2026 | FOX 2 Detroit — Guilty Plea, February 12, 2026 | Detroit News — Judge Orders Butts to Stand Trial, January 9, 2025 | TheGrio — Preliminary Hearing, January 2025 | ClickOnDetroit — Final Pretrial Date, December 5, 2025 | Wayne County Prosecutor's Office — Charges Press Release, September 27, 2024 | Michigan Sex Offender Registry — Jarvis Butts
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