Missing Na’Ziyah Harris: Suspect’s search history, how police found his phone
-
-
Jarvis Butts, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Na’Ziyah Harris, returns to court Wednesday for day three of a preliminary exam.
-
Some witnesses who have previously testified include Butts’ former fianc e, a digital forensic specialist, the person who found Harris’ school ID, and Harris’ grandmother.
-
Butts is charged with sexually assaulting and murdering Harris. He’s also charged with sexually assaulting two other girls.
-
-
Jarvis Butts, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Na’Ziyah Harris, returns to court Wednesday for day three of a preliminary exam.
-
Some witnesses who have previously testified include Butts’ former fianc e, a digital forensic specialist, the person who found Harris’ school ID, and Harris’ grandmother.
-
Butts is charged with sexually assaulting and murdering Harris. He’s also charged with sexually assaulting two other girls.
DETROIT (FOX 2):Wednesday marks the continuation of Jarvis Butts’ preliminary examination.
After concluding a taped interview between the defendant and the police, the judge dismissed everyone. At 10 a.m. on Thursday, closing arguments over whether the case should proceed to trial will start.
Jarvis Butts searched “abortion”
An overview of how investigators narrowed down Jarvis Butts as a suspect, including a text message indicating that he would be picking her up from school, was provided by Shannon Jones, the police sergeant in charge of the investigation into Na’Ziyah Harris’ disappearance.
She was last seen on that day, which helped investigators identify Butts and then locate the phones and places he visited before she vanished.
They canvassed the 7 Mile and Berg area using Butts’ phone mapping, and Na’Ziyah Harris at the scene subsequently helped them identify the outfit.
After hearing a jail call between Butts and his coworker Cordell Wright, who worked at the same car dealership as the defendant, investigators located Butts’ phone.
The investigating officer stated in court that a study of the suspect’s Google history showed that in December, he looked for methods to end a pregnancy and abortion drugs.
Later, it was discovered concealed in a Cadillac that had been seized by the police.
Jones also stated in his testimony that Butts’ mid-December Google searches were discovered by police via a data extraction. He looked for ways to perform an abortion, such as ingesting red anti-freeze and making herbal tea.
More police take the stand after lunch break
On Wednesday, Detroit Police officer Christopher James will be the next witness put to the stand. He has ten years of experience with the department.
He responded to inquiries on the data extraction of an Amazon tablet that Detroit Public Schools had provided him. It was discovered that Jarvis Butts has an Instagram account.
The second person to testify was the case’s lead officer, Sergeant Shannon Jones. She works in the missing people unit of the Detroit Police Department’s murder division.
Blood testing takes center stage
In a lengthy interview with a body fluid identification specialist, Rionne Greene talked about the several types of blood tests she performed on clothing items worn by Jarvis Butts and Na’Ziyah Harris.
Butts’ black hoodie and Harris’s pink bodysuit both had several spots that tested positive for blood, according to Greene, who works with the Michigan State Police crime lab.
According to a report presented to the court, a number of additional items of clothing were also tested, although the prosecutor made no inquiries on them.
One lawyer did inquire about the other tests during the defense’s cross-examination. Despite receiving swabs for a car, Greene said that no additional tests verified the presence of blood.
The Michigan State Police crime lab tested various artifacts from the case.
Two police witnesses testify + medical examiner
After brief statements from Lisa Johnson, a detective in Detroit police’s cold case section, and Sarah Markel, a phone extraction specialist, two police officers began testifying at the hearing on Wednesday.
Asserting that Jarvis Butts checked into a room at approximately 9:30 p.m. on January 9, Johnson testified that she went to the Parkcrest motel in Harper Woods.
The following day, he checked out after 12 p.m.
In response to the defense’s queries, Johnson stated that the motel employee that evening did not remember Butts entering the room. She said that other people might have seen him.
In his subsequent testimony, Markel described how to retrieve phone data from a device. She discovered other identities, including an Instagram profile and email, linked to Jarvis Butts.
Dr. Omar Rayes, a director of the Wayne County Medical Examiner, was the third witness the prosecution summoned. He went over Na’Ziyah Harris’s medical records and stated that “her medical history reveals no life threatening conditions” and that her vaccines were current.
The defense challenged the testimony, arguing that since Na’Ziyah Harris has not been located, her cause of death is still “unknown,” and thus her death cannot be verified.
The preliminary hearing so far
After two days filled with witnesses for the investigation and testimony from those who knew both Butts and Harris, the preliminary hearing will now enter its third day.
Among the witnesses who have given testimony are Harris’ grandmother, Butts’ ex-fiance, a computer forensic expert, and the one who located Harris’ school ID.
Highlighted
As a preliminary examination continues, Jarvis Butts, the man accused with the murder and disappearance of Na’Ziyah Harris in Detroit, is scheduled to return to court on Tuesday.
What happened to Na’Ziyah Harris?
In January of last year, Harris was last saw stepping off a bus in Detroit.
Police searched the Southeast Michigan area after she vanished.
prosecutors in September, even though Harris’s body was never located.
According to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who announced charges against the 41-year-old, there is proof that Butts, who was acquainted with Harris’ family, began grooming the girl in 2022. Butts was purportedly the father of the unborn child, and Harris was pregnant when she was murdered.
The preliminary examination for Jarvis Butts, the man accused of killing a Detroit adolescent last year, included more witness testimony.
Na’Ziyah Harris disappearance timeline
A general timeline of the day Harris vanished was provided by the prosecutor’s office.
-
Na Ziyah took the school bus to school.
-
She had her hair in two braided puff balls, 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 device associated with Butts, indicating that they would be meeting up after she got out of school that day.
-
There is video of her getting out of school at the end of the day in the same clothes.
-
She meets up with Butts and a co-worker and goes back to their auto repair shop on Connor in Detroit.
-
Na Ziyah is seen by Butts s sister at the shop.
-
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 shop on Connor. Butts s phone places him at these locations.
-
At 9:30 p.m. to 12:20 p.m. Butts checked in to a motel. There is a receipt confirming this as well as his phone placing him at that location.
-
Na Ziyah is never seen again after January 9, 2024.
What is Jarvis Butts charged with?
For the alleged murder of Harris, Butts, of Highland Park, was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and child sexual abuse.
Other charges against Butts
Worthy has accused Butts with sexually abusing two additional children who were under 13 at the time, in addition to the accusations in the Harris case. According to Worthy, the two victims, one of whom is now 20 years old, was reportedly assaulted between April 2012 and April 14 and the other, who is now 11 years old, between July 2015 and July 2017.
For those assaults, he faces one case of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and five counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
A man is been charged with the sexual assault and murder of Na’Ziyah Harris, who vanished from Detroit more than nine months ago.
Court records show that Butts also previously served time in prison for sexually assaulting a child in 2004.
“Mr. Butts targeted and befriended women to have sexual relationships with their young daughters,” Worthy stated. “He was a classic and expert groomer and pedophile.”
In the two cases from last November, he was bound over for trial.
The Origin:Information is from the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as from witness testimony given in court.