A Michigan man who admitted last month to killing a 13-year-old girl whom he impregnated was found dead in prison on Thursday.
Jarvis Butts, 34, was serving a 35-to-60-year sentence for Na’Ziyah Harris’ 2024 murder, in addition to five other sexual assault charges, when he was reportedly found dead at Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center. The Detroit Free Press reported that Butts accepted a plea deal in which he had to reveal the whereabouts of Harris’ body.
Butts said he dumped Harris’ body in the Rouge River, according to a source who spoke to WDIV. Though Harris’ body was never located, prosecutors said they were satisfied that Butts complied with the terms of the plea deal.
“One of the most important aspects of the plea agreement was giving Na’Ziyah’s family some semblance of closure,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said after last month’s sentencing. “The disclosure of the location of her body was crucial.”
Harris was last seen at a Detroit bus stop in January 2024. Investigators believe Butts started grooming Harris in June 2022 — and murdered her after learning he impregnated her in September 2023. They suspect Harris killed the teen to prevent her from having his baby while he was incarcerated on an unrelated gun charge.
Prosecutors claimed they uncovered text messages in which Harris expressed concern about her pregnancy being discovered.
Before Harris’ presumed slaying, Butts allegedly searched online about abortions, abortion pills, and drinking anti-freeze. Text messages suggested Butts told Harris he would pick her up from school on January 9, 2024, the last day she was seen alive.
Butts was traced to the Rouge River in Detroit a day after Harris’ disappearance. A single shoe belonging to Harris was found at the river.
Detroit Police Department Sgt. Melanie O’Rourke said Harris’ school identification card was found in the area where Butts’ phone was traced between January 10 and 11, 2024. Harris’ clothes were also discovered in the vicinity — with U.S. Border Patrol agent Wyatt Barnes alleging that a black hoodie had both Harris and Butts’ blood on it.
Butts — a registered sex offender — was named in at least five reports made to Child Protective Services since 2015. A report from 2022 accused Butts of inappropriately touching Harris. None of the reports made to CPS about molestation and sexual abuse were substantiated.
In addition to the sexual abuse allegations involving Harris, prosecutors said he assaulted an 8-year-old family member and gave chlamydia to his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.
Butts had pleaded guilty to Harris’ murder two weeks before his death. Michigan Department of Corrections officials confirmed they are investigating his death as a suicide.
Harris’ unsolved disappearance one of the cases covered last month for CrimeOnline’s “Finding the Lost: Black and Missing” series, which can be read here.
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[Feature Photo: Wayne County Prosecutor/Michigan Department of Corrections]
