DETROIT (WWJ) — On the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, Jarvis Butts has been ordered to stand trial for her presumed murder.
After four days of testimony this week, Butts was bound over for trial on Thursday, facing charges of first-degree murder, child sexually abusive material and second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13.
Though the teen’s body has never been found, prosecutors believe Butts killed her after sexually assaulting her for multiple years.
Continuing her testimony from Wednesday, Detroit Police Sgt. Shannon Jones was on the stand again Thursday, reading months of text message transcripts between Butts and Harris, including a request for explicit photos from the 13-year-old.
In another text message exchange between Harris and Butts three months before her disappearance, Jones shared messages from the teen expressing that she believed she may be pregnant, saying “IDK what to do.”
Prosecutors allege that Harris was pregnant at the time she disappeared and Butts was the unborn child’s father. Authorities say Butts knew Harris because he has a child with her aunt and allege that he groomed her over the course of several years.
Harris was last seen getting off the school bus on Jan. 9, 2024, on the city’s east side.
Following her disappearance, authorities conducted multiple unsuccessful searches for the teen throughout 2024 in Clinton Township, Ann Arbor and the Rouge River on the city’s west side.
During testimony on Tuesday, Detroit Police Sgt. Melanie O'Rourke said investigators were able to track the movement of Butts’ cell phone the day after Harris' disappearance to an area of the Rouge River, near 7 Mile and Berg.
O’Rourke said that’s where some of the girl’s clothing was later recovered. In an exchange with Prosecutor Matthew Makepeace, O’Rourke said cell phone records show Butts was in that area for about 20 minutes and there were “no calls, no texts,” during that time.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest updates as they become available. >>> LISTEN LIVE!