A hearing will decide if there’s enough evidence for the suspect in 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris' disappearance to stand trial.
Testimonies began in November 2024, resumed on Jan. 6, 2025, continued into Jan. 7, and is continuing again on Jan. 8.
Related: Timeline: What we learned in Na’Ziyah Harris’ disappearance nearly 1 year later
Jarvis Butts faces multiple felonies in the death of Na’Ziyah Harris, a J. E. Clark Preparatory Academy student who went missing in January. While her body has not been recovered, police said there is an “overwhelming” amount of evidence that Butts murdered Harris.
Previous coverage with testimonies: Court to decide if ‘serial child rapist’ will stand trial in Detroit teen’s murder
Background
Prosecutors said Butts was supposed to turn himself in to authorities on a gun charge on Jan. 9, 2024, the day Na’Ziyah went missing, but that date was pushed back to February. Harris allegedly met up with Butts that day, and the two reportedly went to Ypsilanti before returning back to Detroit, where Butts checked into a motel.
Text records allege that Butts knew Harris was pregnant and that he began searching online about abortions, abortion pills, and drinking red anti-freeze.
Authorities believe Butts had been sexually abusing Harris since 2022 before killing her in January. Prosecutors said he had a history of targeting and befriending women to get close to and sexually abuse their daughters.
It’s not the only sexual abuse case Butts is involved with. He also has been charged for reportedly sexually abusing two other young girls, as well as a conviction for sexual assault in 2005. Prosecutors called Butts a “serial child rapist,” who sexually assaulted an 8-year-old family member and a girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, who reportedly caught chlamydia from the assault.
He was charged on Sept. 27, 2024, as a habitual fourth-time 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 photos being sent to the child.
He was tracked to the Rouge River in Detroit the day after her disappearance, where police would later recover the clothes Harris was last seen wearing. Authorities said there was damage to the clothing that could indicate a struggle.
Butts has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, child sexually abusive material, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13.
He was denied bond.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Detroit Police Department’s Major Crimes Division at 313-596-2260.
Tips can be made anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-SPEAK-UP or going to their website.
Testimonies heard on Jan. 8, 2025
Detective Lisa Johnson - Detroit Police Department
Johnson testified she spoke with a clerk at a hotel at 20000 Harper in February 2024.
The manager and clerk gave Johnson a sign-in sheet filled in by Butts, where he checked in at 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 9, 2024, and checked out at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 10.
Detective Sarah Markle - Detroit Police Department
Markle, who’s in charge of phone extractions, explained what phone extractions were and confirmed deleted messages could be recovered through phone extractions but it’s not guaranteed.
Dr. Omar Rayes - Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office
Interim Chief Medical Examiner for Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office reviewed Na’Ziyah’s medical records from July 2014 to October 2023 to confirm she had no life-threatening health conditions prior to going missing.
Rionne Green - Michigan State Police
The Michigan State Police forensic scientist testified she tested the clothing items found at 7 Mile and Berg, Harris’ blood card, trunk door handle swabs, trunk speaker swabs, driver trunk speaker swabs, trunk door frame swabs and a folding knife.
She confirmed blood was found on the hoodie and pink jumpsuit found on 7 Mile and Berg.
Christopher James - Detroit police officer
He testified he was working in cyber crimes when he received an Amazon tablet from the Detroit Public Schools on Jan. 30, 2024, to extract data from it. There, they found Butts’ account information on the tablet.
Sergeant Shannon Jones - Detroit Police Department
Sergeant Jones, the officer in charge of the investigation, testified she began reviewing the case on Feb. 12, 2024, after Detroit Public Schools asked her to look over it.
She learned the last person Na’Ziyah contacted before going missing was Butts. This led to crews searching in Ypsilanti and then slowly tracking back to Detroit for clues.
She also testified Butts called his business partner while he was in jail in February 2024 to get his phone he allegedly hid in a car before police got it.
Jones testified Butts searched online on Dec. 10, 2023, for abortion options such as pills or planned parenthood. She also testified he also searched for abortion options that could be done at home and searched online, “can I drink red anti-freeze.”
