Missing Na’Ziyah Harris: Judge sends case to trial, says Jarvis Butts ‘intentionally killed her’

DETROIT (FOX 2) – The case of Na’Ziyah Harris will go to trial after a judge found the evidence was enough to meet the threshold of probable cause.

Judge Aliyah Sabree called Butts a “monster” before bringing him to circuit court and sending the case away. He is charged with first degree murder, criminal sexual conduct and child sexual abuse material.

The initial hearing took place exactly one year after Harris disappeared. Since then, mountains of evidence showing Butts had a relationship with Harris, who was 12 years old at the time he groomed her, have come before police.

Many of the details of that connection were revealed on the final day of the hearing, including hundreds of text messages.

It was also the basis for the prosecution to elevate the criminal sexual conduct to the first degree because of her age.

“Na’Ziyah deserved so much more. And while I mentioned other people who failed her, Jarvis Butts, you are the monster in this whole picture,” she said.

Butts will appear in the High Court for bond on January 16.

*The preliminary hearing includes graphic evidence of sexual grooming of a minor. Viewer discretion is advised*

Concluding arguments

The prosecution first presented its closing argument and outlined evidence given to the court over the past four days.

They touched on blood found on the missing teenager’s sweatshirt, which was found in an area Jarvis Butts was in the day after Na’Ziyah Harris was last seen.

They also referred to the extensive list of text messages indicating the two had a relationship, which prosecutors believe led to Harris becoming pregnant.

While Butts was due to turn himself in to jail for a separate sentencing on January 9, prosecutors believe his reference to a “legal issue” had to do with impregnating a teenager. That motive is what led him to kill Harris, prosecutors said.

The defense argued that without a body or any communications indicating a plan to kill Harris, the evidence against Butts did not meet the threshold to establish motive, let alone a conviction.

The defense also argued that the location information about where Butts was on the day Harris disappeared does not prove he was with her. He had visited one of the women with whom he had a relationship, but they never observed him with Harris.

The defense added that the blood stain on a pink jumpsuit believed to be Harris’s was so small that the body fluid expert was concerned she would not be able to retest it.

Testimony ends

After more than two dozen witnesses, four days of testimony and a trove of evidence, including text messages, clothing, police interviews and more, the prosecution concluded its questioning.

The defense called no witnesses, and the judge said closing arguments would begin Thursday afternoon.

Incriminating text messages

Sergeant Shannon Jones read over a hundred text messages exchanged between Jarvis Butts and Na’Ziyah Harris in 2022 and 2023.

Many were explicit and included making plans to have sex, as well as pictures and concerns that Harris was pregnant. She was 12 years old at the time of the messages.

According to Jones, Harris had saved Butts’ contact information as “Bae for life.”

The last messages exchanged between the devices owned by the defendant and the victim were in late November.

Clips from the police interview with Butts

Prosecutors began the fourth day with several clips from a June 2024 police interview with Jarvis Butts.

Sergeant Shannon Jones, the officer in charge of the case, asked Butts about text messages exchanged between him and Na’Ziyah Harris indicating the two were in a relationship.

Butts denied the two were physical together, despite messages indicating otherwise. At one point, he texted her to “be mine.”

Butts also denied seeing Harris the day she disappeared, according to the police interview, instead telling Jones he had seen her two days before.

Preliminary consultation overview

Butts is charged with the sexual assault and murder of Harris, who was 13 when she disappeared from Detroit last January. Police never found her body, but investigators say there is enough evidence to show she was killed.

Some witnesses who have previously testified include Butts’ ex-fiancé, a digital forensics specialist, several police officers, the person who found Harris’ school ID and Harris’ grandmother.

Read a summary of day three testimony here.

What happened to Na’Ziyah Harris?

Harris was last seen getting off a bus in Detroit last January.

Her disappearance prompted police to search areas around southeast Michigan.

While Harris’ body was never found, prosecutors charged Butts with murder and rape in September.

When Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced charges against the 41-year-old, she said evidence shows Butts, who knew Harris’ family members, allegedly groomed the girl from 2022. Harris was pregnant when she was killed, and Butts was allegedly the unborn child’s sheep.

Na’Ziyah Harris Disappearance Timeline

Prosecutors gave a rough timeline of the day Harris disappeared.

• Na’Ziyah took the school bus to school.
• She had her hair in two braided poufs, clear framed glasses, a white sweater with a black jacket over it, a colorful Rugrats puffy jacket, with a fur lined hood, with light blue jeans and Nike shoes.
• There is video of Na’Ziyah getting on the school bus.
• Na’Ziyah used a DPS-issued tablet that she used to communicate and communicated with an app.
• She took one last picture of herself on the tablet.
• Using her tablet, she sent a message to a unit associated with Butts indicating they would meet after she got out of school that day.
• There is video of her walking out of school at the end of the day in the same clothes.
• She meets Butts and a colleague and goes back to their auto repair shop on Connor in Detroit.
• Na’Ziyah is seen by Butts’ sister in the store.
• Butts, the co-worker and Na’Ziyah were together in the co-worker’s car when they went to Ypsilanti and then returned to the store on Connor. Butts’ phone places him in these locations.
• At 21:30 to 12:20 Butts checked into a motel. There is a receipt confirming this as well as his phone placing him in that location.
• Na’Ziyah is never seen again after January 9, 2024.

What is Jarvis Butts charged with?

Butts, of Highland Park, was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and child sexual abuse for Harris’ alleged murder.

Other charges against Butts

In addition to announcing charges in the Harris case, Worthy has also accused Butts of sexually abusing two other children who were under 13 at the time. Worthy said one of the victims, now 20, was allegedly abused between April 2012 and April 14, while the other victim, now 11, was abused from July 2015 to July 2017.

He has been charged with five counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for those assaults.

Court records show that Butts has also previously served time in prison for sexually assaulting a child in 2004.

“Mr. Butts targeted and befriended women to have sexual relations with their young daughters,” Worthy said. “He was a classic and expert groomer and pedophile.”

He was sentenced in the two cases last November.

Crime and Public Safety, Detroit