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

After four days of testimony in the case of Na’Ziyah Harris, who vanished precisely one year ago from the end of the preliminary hearing, a judge declares there is sufficient evidence to put Jarvis Butts on trial.

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    Thursday is the fourth day of Jarvis Butts’ preliminary exam.
    
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    Butts is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, who has been missing since January 2024.
    
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    He was also charged with sexually assaulting two other girls in a separate case
    

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  Thursday is the fourth day of Jarvis Butts’ preliminary exam.
  
• 
  Butts is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, who has been missing since January 2024.
  
• 
  He was also charged with sexually assaulting two other girls in a separate case
  

DETROIT (FOX 2):Na’Ziyah Harris’s case will go to trial after a judge determined that there was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause.

Butts was referred to as a “monster” by Judge Aliyah Sabree, who then sent the case to circuit court. He faces charges of criminal sexual behavior, first-degree murder, and child sexual abuse.

Exactly one year after Harris’ disappearance, the preliminary hearing took place. Since then, police have been presented with mounds of evidence demonstrating Butts’s contact with Harris, who was 12 years old when he groomed her.

On the final day of the hearing, hundreds of text messages were among the many facts of that relationship that were made public.

Jarvis Butts, the man accused of killing Na’Ziyah Harris, had a preliminary hearing, and the judge presiding over it thought there was sufficient evidence to put him on trial.

Because of her age, the prosecution also used that as justification to raise the accusation of criminal sexual conduct to the first degree.

“Na’Ziyah was so deserving of more. “Jarvis Butts, you are the monster in this entire situation,” she continued, referring to the other individuals who let her down.

On January 16, Butts will appear in circuit court for binding.

* Graphic testimony of a minor being sexually groomed is presented during the preliminary hearing. *Discretion is urged for viewers.

Closing Arguments

First, the prosecution gave its closing argument, summarizing the evidence that had been presented to the court throughout the previous four days.

Blood on the missing teen’s sweater, which was discovered in the same location as Jarvis Butts the day after Na’Ziyah Harris was last seen, was discussed.

The lengthy list of text messages that show the two had a relationship—which the prosection believes resulted in Harris getting pregnant—was also cited.

Prosecutors think Butts’ reference to a “legal issue” had to do with impregnating a teenager, even though he was scheduled to turn himself in to jail on January 9 for a different offense. Prosecutors said that he killed Harris because of such motivation.

Jarvis Butts’s conduct, particularly his taped lies, were part of the prosecution’s closing statement arguments.

The defense contended that there was insufficient evidence against Butts to establish cause, much less a conviction, because there was neither a body nor any correspondence suggesting a plot to kill Harris.

Additionally, the defense contended that Butts’ whereabouts on the day Harris vanished do not establish that he was with her. They had never seen him with Harris, but he had paid a visit to one of the ladies he was seeing.

The defense further stated that the bodily fluid specialist was concerned she would not be able to test the pink jumpsuit again since the blood spot, which was thought to be Harris’, was so tiny.

According to the defense lawyer, there was insufficient proof that Jarvis Butts killed Na’Ziyah Harris.

Testimony concludes

The prosecution wrapped up their interrogation after four days of testimony, more than two dozen witnesses, and a variety of evidence, including police interviews, clothing, and text messages.

The judge declared that closing arguments would start Thursday afternoon, and the defense did not call any witnesses.

Incriminating text messages

In 2022 and 2023, Jarvis Butts and Na’Ziyah Harris exchanged more than 100 texts, which Sergeant Shannon Jones read.

Many of them were sexual and featured photos, preparations for sex, and worries about Harris’s pregnancy. When the messages were sent, she was twelve years old.

Jones claimed that Harris had “Bae for life” saved on Butts’ contact details.

Late November was the last time the victim’s and defendant’s devices exchanged texts.

Clips from police interview with Butts

More snippets from a June 2024 police interview with Jarvis Butts were shown by prosecutors to begin the fourth day.

The case’s investigating officer, Sergeant Shannon Jones, questioned Butts regarding text messages that suggested a link between him and Na’Ziyah Harris.

Despite messages that suggested otherwise, Butts denied the two were physically together. He once sent her a text saying, “be mine.”

According to the police interview, Butts also denied seeing Harris on the day she vanished, telling Jones that he had seen her two days prior.

Jarvis Butts, the defendant, arrives in court on the fourth day of the preliminary hearing with his attorneys.

Preliminary Hearing Overview

Harris was 13 when she vanished from Detroit in January of last year, and Butts is accused of killing her and sexually abusing her. Investigators say there is sufficient evidence to prove she was slain, even though police never located her body.

Several witnesses have previously testified, including Harris’ grandmother, Butts’ ex-fiance, a computer forensic expert, multiple police officers, and the individual who located Harris’ school ID.

Highlighted

The preliminary exam for Jarvis Butts, the man accused of kidnapping and killing 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, continues Wednesday.

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.

On the day she vanished, Na’Ziyah Harris

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.

Na’Ziyah Harris disappearance timeline

A general timeline of the day Harris vanished was provided by the prosecutor’s office.

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  Na Ziyah took the school bus to school.
  
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  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.
  
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  There is video of Na Ziyah getting on the school bus.
  
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  Na Ziyah used a DPS issued tablet that she used to communicate and communicated with an app.
  
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  She took one last picture of herself on the tablet.
  
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  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.
  
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  There is video of her getting out of school at the end of the day in the same clothes.
  
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  She meets up with Butts and a co-worker and goes back to their auto repair shop on Connor in Detroit.
  
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  Na Ziyah is seen by Butts s sister at the shop.
  
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  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.
  
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  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.
  
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  Na Ziyah is never seen again after January 9, 2024.
  

Highlighted

A man is been charged with the sexual assault and murder of Na’Ziyah Harris, who vanished from Detroit more than nine months ago.

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.

Butts also served time in prison for sexually assaulting a child in 2004, according to court documents.

“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:The information comes from both witness testimony in court and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.