Episode 174: Na’Ziyah Harris

When a young girl disappears after getting off the school bus, the investigation uncovers a tragic history of abuse and neglect. What happened to Na’Ziyah Harris?

Episode Media

Picture taken by Na’Ziyah at school the day she disappeared *(Detroit PD)*

Na’Ziyah on the school bus on January 9, 2024 *(Detroit PD)*

Jarvis Ramon Butts *(Michigan Department of Corrections)*

Episode Sources

Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you the heartbreaking case of a young girl who was failed by the adults in her life over and over again. Cases involving children are often the most difficult to process; this episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

On the morning of January 9, 2024, 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris got up and got ready for school as usual. Na’Ziyah lived with her maternal grandmother, Annette Harris, who had adopted Na’Ziyah when her mother couldn’t care for her anymore. In many ways, Na’Ziyah was a typical middle schooler – a bright girl with a beautiful smile who loved to make videos with her friends. She attended J. E. Clark Preparatory Academy on the east side of Detroit, Michigan.

That Tuesday morning, Na’Ziyah walked a few blocks to the bus stop wearing jeans and a sweater with her favorite red Nike shoes. The weather wasn’t too bad for winter in Detroit – overcast and in the mid-50s – but Na’Ziyah was well prepared with a black hoodie layered under a puffy coat with a colorful Rugrats design. The fur-lined hood protected her from the wind as she boarded the school bus and settled into her seat.

At school, Na’Ziyah went to her classes and chatted with friends as usual. She took selfies on her school-issued tablet in between working on her assignments. It was a typical school day, but one teacher later recalled that Na’Ziyah had been acting strangely early that morning. In her homeroom class, before the first bell rang, Na’Ziyah had laid down on the classroom floor and told the teacher she needed to talk to the counselor. According to the teacher, she told Na’Ziyah that she could see the counselor after breakfast was served, but for whatever reason, that meeting never took place, and Na’Ziyah seemed to bounce back and finished the day as usual. It wouldn’t be until much later that anyone wondered what was really going on with Na’Ziyah.

That afternoon, the school bus dropped Na’Ziyah off at the corner of Cornwall Street and 3 Mile Drive. Na’Ziyah typically arrived home around 3pm, but on that day she didn’t. Her grandmother Annette was surprised that Na’Ziyah was late, but not overly concerned. She figured Na’Ziyah must be hanging out with friends or with her many cousins. However, hours passed, and Na’Ziyah still didn’t come home. By 6:00, Annette knew something was wrong. She started searching the neighborhood, calling friends and family members to see if anyone knew where Na’Ziyah was.

As the sun set and the temperature dropped, Na’Ziyah’s absence was even more alarming. For whatever reason, Annette didn’t call the police to report her granddaughter missing right away. Instead, she waited until Wednesday morning before contacting the Detroit Public Schools Community District Department of Public Safety. According to the district’s website, the Department of Public Safety focuses on student and school safety – a sort of independent police department contained within the school district.

When Annette reached out to the department, officers started an investigation right away. Na’Ziyah had excellent school attendance, rarely missing a day, so when she didn’t show up for class on Wednesday, it was further confirmation that something was amiss. Officers were able to get surveillance footage from the school bus, which showed Na’Ziyah getting on and off the bus on Tuesday at her regularly scheduled times. The bus driver also confirmed that Na’Ziyah had gotten off at the corner of Cornwall and 3 Mile Drive around 2:50pm on January 9th. It should have taken her less than 10 minutes to walk home. What had happened in that short time?

Investigators talked to school officials at J. E. Clark, who confirmed that Na’Ziyah was a good student with a solid attendance record. They also spoke with Na’Ziyah’s friends and classmates, but the students were hesitant to give up any information at first, perhaps not wanting to betray Na’Ziyah’s trust. Eventually though, they revealed that Na’Ziyah had talked about running away.

To get access to Na’Ziyah’s school and social media accounts, investigators reached out to federal law enforcement for assistance. But after weeks of tracking down leads, there was still no sign of Na’Ziyah. Finally, on February 13th, the Department of Public Safety turned the case over to the Detroit Police Department. When asked why they had waited so long to contact the city police, DPS Chief Labrit Jackson blamed Na’Ziyah’s friends for their lack of cooperation and said the department had been investigating a teenage runaway. It wasn’t until a month into the investigation that they felt there was more to the case.

Once the Detroit Police Department took over Na’Ziyah’s case, they put all their resources into finding her. They canvassed the neighborhoods around her home and school, covering as much of the area as possible. Officers even talked to local gang members and drug dealers, asking them to keep an eye out for the missing girl and to spread the word among their contacts. The department deployed helicopters and K-9 units around Wayne County and served a search warrant on a home on Detroit’s east side. At a press conference, Detroit Police Chief James White told reporters that they were extremely concerned about Na’Ziyah’s wellbeing. “We’re hopeful that we find her well, but we can’t operate on hope.”

On March 6th, search teams descended on a pond in Clinton Township, about 12 miles north of Na’Ziyah’s home. Officials wouldn’t say what led them there, but the search eventually ended without success.

The next day, police got an important lead. A woman had found Na’Ziyah’s school ID on the sidewalk near 7 Mile and Evergreen Road on Detroit’s west side. The woman told police that she had noticed the small piece of plastic on her way to the bus stop weeks prior but had simply stepped over it each time. But that day, something told her to pick it up. When she did, she recognized Na’Ziyah’s name and picture from local news reports. She took the ID to a nearby gas station and called the police.

On March 12th, police conducted another search, this time near the River Rouge, less than 2 miles from where Na’Ziyah’s ID had been found. Chief White told reporters that they had received multiple tips that led them to that location. “There’s something very specific about this area that we want to take off of our list and that’s why we’re here today.”

During the search, investigators found items of clothing that they believed could have belonged to Na’Ziyah, including her black jacket and a pair of red Nike shoes similar to what she had been wearing when she disappeared. It was beginning to look more and more like this search would be a recovery effort.

For a while, the case was quiet, but behind the scenes, investigators were gathering evidence. On May 7th, they announced that they had a suspect – an inmate with a history of child sexual abuse. They wouldn’t name him just yet, saying only that it was his cell phone data that had led them to search the River Rouge. Now they just needed enough information to get an arrest warrant.

Finally, on September 26th, nearly ten months after Na’Ziyah’s disappearance, police announced that they were charging 41-year-old Jarvis Ramon Butts with first-degree premeditated murder and second-degree criminal sexual conduct. The investigation had revealed a horrific history of abuse and neglect that prosecutors believed led to Na’Ziyah’s death.

According to court documents, Jarvis Butts had been abusing Na’Ziyah since at least 2022 if not before. Butts was the father of Na’Ziyah’s cousins by her aunt Shannon, and he was often around children in spite of the fact that he was a registered sex offender who had previously served an 8-year prison sentence for criminal sexual assault of a minor.

Family members told WXYZ that they had called Children’s Protective Services to report Butts at least five times since 2015, alleging improper conduct with several children in the family, including Na’Ziyah. But CPS determined that there weren’t any safety concerns in the home, and the case was assigned a low risk level.

One family member told WXYZ that Shannon and Annette were well-aware of what was happening in the home, something the women have denied. During preliminary hearings, Annette testified under oath that she never saw Butts interact with Na’Ziyah, and Shannon testified that she never suspected anything other than a normal uncle-niece relationship between Butts and Na’Ziyah.

Sadly, Jarvis Butts abused Na’Ziyah for years, sending her sexually explicit messages and assaulting her repeatedly. From their messages, it’s clear that Na’Ziyah thought she was in a relationship with Butts, the result of years of grooming at the hands of an experienced predator.

Then, shortly after Na’Ziyah’s 13th birthday, things took a turn.

In September of 2023, Na’Ziyah texted Butts to say that she had missed her period and asked him to get her a pregnancy test. Messages in late November confirm that Butts knew Na’Ziyah was pregnant. Investigators uncovered his search history from mid-December, which showed he had been looking for information about at-home abortions, including searches for abortion pills and drinking anti-freeze. Prosecutors believe that Butts wanted to do whatever it took to cover up his crimes.

On January 9, 2024, Na’Ziyah used her school-issued tablet to message Butts, saying, “Don’t forget be there before 3 I will let you know when I’m leaving the school if you not there I will wait.” After the school bus dropped her off, Butts and a co-worker picked her up and took her to their auto shop. The co-worker testified that Butts had told him Na’Ziyah was his niece and that she had been to the shop on multiple occasions. He didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary.

Several witnesses, including Jarvis Butts’ sister, testified to seeing Na’Ziyah at the auto shop that afternoon. Sometime after 4pm, Na’Ziyah went with Butts and his co-worker to the neighboring city of Ypsilanti, about a 45-minute drive from the shop. It’s unclear what they were doing there, but phone activity showed they were back at the shop shortly before 8:30pm.

An hour later, Butts checked in at a hotel in Harper Woods off Interstate 94. This was allegedly a frequent spot for Butts – two witnesses testified that he often took women there for sex. A police expert testified that his phone location data showed him at the hotel until just after 12:30am on January 10th. He then traveled to midtown Detroit where his phone pinged near the Children’s Hospital of Michigan just after 1am.

After that, there is a nearly 21-hour gap in the cell phone data presented in court. Butts made and received several phone calls around 10pm on the 10th. At 10:51, his phone pinged in Greenfield Township before heading further west. At 11:40pm, the phone was located near the River Rouge, where it stayed for nearly 2 hours. Na’Ziyah’s clothes and shoes would later be found in that same spot.

In court, Detective Jason Mays explained how he had interviewed Jarvis Butts just two days after the Detroit Police Department took over the investigation into Na’Ziyah’s disappearance. Butts denied having seen or been with Na’Ziyah on January 9th. Even when confronted with their text messages, he insisted that he hadn’t talked to her or picked her up after school. He denied having any sexual contact with Na’Ziyah and claimed he was never alone with her. Evidence would show these were all lies.

During preliminary hearings, prosecutors laid out how Jarvis Butts had tried to cover up his crimes. A woman testified that Butts had borrowed her car on the night of January 9th and didn’t return it until the next morning, then asked to borrow it again later that day. The woman later found a pair of clear-framed eyeglasses in the vehicle and recognized them as the ones Na’Ziyah had been wearing in a picture she took at school the day she disappeared. Butts told the woman the glasses belonged to his son and took them back, telling her to clean her car and not drive it anywhere.

Butts’ co-worker testified that Butts had called him from jail and asked him to remove his cell phone from his car. The co-worker said he didn’t find a cell phone, and he never asked Butts why it had been so important to him. However, police later found the phone in a Cadillac they had impounded. The defense argued that Butts was just trying to prevent his many girlfriends from finding out about each other, but the prosecution asserted that Butts was trying to cover his trail.

Sadly, one of Na’Ziyah’s young cousins also testified in court, detailing how Butts had groomed Na’Ziyah over the last few years. She said she had witnessed Butts coercing Na’Ziyah and other children in the family on multiple occasions.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy told the court, “[Jarvis Butts] groomed and preyed upon Na’Ziyah with expertise… [He] targeted and befriended women to have sexual relationships with their young daughters… He was a classic and expert groomer.”

In January of 2025, after nearly a week of testimony, Judge Aliyah Sabree determined that the evidence against Jarvis Butts was enough probable cause to warrant a trial. She told the court, “We may never know what happened, but from what I heard today and over the last four or five days, it appears he intended to perform what he thought was a do-it-yourself abortion on Na’Ziyah and went south. And instead of seeking medical attention for her, he intentionally killed her and tried his best to cover it up.”

Speaking directly to Butts, Judge Sabree said, “Na’Ziyah deserved so much more. And while I mentioned other people that failed her, Jarvis Butts, you are the monster in this whole picture. She did deserve love from her parents and everyone who was in her life. She was ignored. She was neglected, and you took complete advantage of that. She wanted someone to love her, and she will never know what that feels like. I pray for the healing of all the victims and the young girls, and possibly boys, who have come into contact with you.”

In February of 2026, Jarvis Butts pleaded guilty to all charges, including charges in six other cases involving child sexual assault. The court sentenced him to 35-60 years for second-degree murder, 10-15 years on four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and 10-15 years for third-degree criminal sexual conduct, all to be served concurrently. As a part of the plea deal, Butts agreed to provide the location of Na’Ziyah’s remains. That information will be shared with the family, who will hopefully be able to bring Na’Ziyah home.

Na’Ziyah Harris was a bright young girl with her whole life ahead of her. Her story is a reminder that we must do everything in our power to advocate for those without a voice. In the words of Judge Sabree, “As a community, we should look at this case as a prime example of how much work we have to do when it comes to protecting our children and especially Black girls.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, please reach out for help. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673 or online at rainn.org. You deserve to be heard.