A Detroit man is facing charges of murder and sexual assault in connection with the disappearance of Na'Ziyah Harris, a 13-year-old girl who has been missing since January of this year. 41-year-old Jarvis Ramon Butts was arraigned in the 36th District Court without the option of bond, with prosecutors arguing that Butts groomed and subsequently murdered Harris after learning she was pregnant with his child.
Butts is accused of having engaged in a series of predatory acts, leading to charges that include First Degree Premeditated Murder and Child Sexually Abusive Activity. In a statement detailed by the Audacy, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the evidence is extensive, detailing that "more than 100 gigabytes of video, more than 500 GB of phone data and 19 GB of documents in this case" were reviewed. Despite ongoing searches, Harris' body remains unfound, as noted by the Detroit News.
In the wake of the arraignment, Detroit Police Chief James White expressed confidence in the digital evidence compiled against Butts. "What the digital world has brought us is new opportunities to find additional information in the cadence in which people communicate," White said, speaking to the weight and significance of the digital footprint in the case. Apart from the charges related to Harris, Butts is also accused of sexually assaulting two other children in separate incidents dating back to 2012, as reported by Audacy.
Butts’ situation got more complicated because he was supposed to turn himself in for a weapons charge on January 9, the same day Harris went missing. That date has since been pushed to February 7. Worthy mentioned troubling allegations and used the case to warn families to be careful about who gets close to their children. Meanwhile, Butts’ next court date is a Probable Cause Conference on October 5, followed by a preliminary examination on October 10.
