Court reveals disturbing messages ‘serial rapist’ sent Na’Ziyah Harris before she disappeared

Text messages between Jarvis Butts and Na’Ziyah Harris were read in court Thursday.

Butts faces multiple felonies in the death of Harris, a JE Clark Preparatory Academy student who disappeared in January. While her body has not been found, police said there is an “overwhelming” amount of evidence that Butts murdered Harris.

A preliminary hearing to determine whether Butts will stand trial for Harris’ murder began Monday, January 6, 2025. The day-long hearing continued into Thursday, with dozens of witnesses testifying.

Background

Prosecutors said Butts was supposed to surrender to authorities on a weapons charge on Jan. 9, 2024, the day Harris disappeared, but that date was pushed back to February. Harris reportedly met with Butts that day, and the two reportedly went to Ypsilanti before returning to Detroit, where Butts checked into a motel.

Text records claim Butts knew Harris was pregnant and began searching online for abortions, abortion pills and drinking red antifreeze.

Authorities believe Butts had sexually abused Harris since 2022 before killing her in January 2024. Prosecutors said he had a history of attacking and befriending women to get close to and sexually abuse their daughters.

This is not the only sexual abuse case Butts is involved in. He has also been charged with allegedly sexually abusing two other teenage girls, as well as a 2005 sexual assault conviction. Prosecutors called Butts a “serial rapist” who sexually assaulted an 8-year-old family member and a girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, who allegedly contracted chlamydia from the assault.

He was charged on September 27, 2024 as a fourth-time habitual offender.

Butts and Harris had reportedly known each other because he was the father of her cousins. The abuse of Harris allegedly began in 2022 with sexually explicit texts and images sent to the child.

He was tracked to the Rouge River in Detroit the day after her disappearance, where police would later find the clothes Harris was last seen wearing. Authorities said there was damage to the clothing that could indicate a struggle.

Butts has been charged first degree premeditated murder, child sexual abuse materialand second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under the age of 13.

Court reveals explicit text messages Butts sent to Harris

Sergeant Shannon Jones, the officer in charge of investigating Harris’ disappearance, had a copy of all the text messages exchanged between Butts and Harris dating back to 2022. She read the messages that prosecutors highlighted, so she could read aloud in the preliminary hearing d. 9 January 2025.

The text messages revealed that Butts allegedly sent sexually explicit messages and asked her for nude photos. The messages suggested that there were more conversations like these in the past.

The text messages later in 2023 reveal that Harris claimed she was pregnant and talked about having problems at school because of her “baby”.

The following text messages were translated and spelled the way Jones specified or said when he testified in court Thursday:

27 September 2022

Harris: Come on

Harris: Are you okay?

Harris: Where do we do it at your choice

Butts: Tell me

Harris: Basement

Harris: Are you sure?

Harris: Or jobs

Butts: Can you suck my d— please

Butts: And be sure to delete the messages

Harris: K that’s what I planned to do

5 June 2022

Butts: I’m at your house

Harris: Damn, we were just there

Harris: You bet you’re not in my room

Harris: I need another phone

Harris: I miss you

Butts: I stole your panties

24 June 2023

Butts: Please send me some pictures

Harris: Don’t you still have the other pictures

Buttocks: No

Harris: I’ll send some

27 June 2023

Butts: Are you naked yet

Harris: No, I don’t want to be naked

Harris: Are you mad I didn’t get naked

Butts: I used to say no to you

Harris: Come on bae, I’m sorry, just not in the mood right now, I’m sorry

26 September 2023

Harris: Bae you up???

Harris: ???

Harris: Yes

Harris: My period hasn’t come at all

Harris: Hello with you???

Butts: What do you mean

Harris: It hasn’t come

Butts: Since when

Harris: Since I was in the hospital

Butts: That was last month

Harris: I’m afraid of what to do, I have to go to the doctor etc

Butts: You said you took a pregnancy test and it was negative

Harris: It did

Butts: Then take another

Harris: I can’t, I have no money

Harris: Go get one

Harris: You’re not afraid to get a plan b, get a pregnancy test and bring it later today, just act like you need to use the bathroom

Harris: Pls

Harris: You wanna do it???

Harris: Hello ?????

Butts: Okay

27 November 2023

Harris: I just want to talk, I really don’t want to lose you

Harris: Can we talk later, yes or no

Harris: I don’t know what your problem is, but I need you to bring me what I need tonight, it’s hard to do all this gymnastics— with this baby, and if I don’t do them, I will get an F

9 January 2024

This is the last text exchange between Butts and Harris before she disappeared.

Harris: Don’t forget to be there by 3. I’ll let you know when I leave school, if you’re not there I’ll wait

Harris: Send OK if you see the message so I can delete your number

Buttocks: OK