A Detroit man, Jarvis Ramon Butts, has been charged in connection with the sexual assault and homicide of Na'Ziyah Harris, a 13-year-old girl who vanished in January and has yet to be found, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy revealed in a press conference today; Butts is facing a litany of charges, including first-degree murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and possession of child sexually abusive material, with additional allegations of sexual assault involving two other victims who were under the age of 13 at the time of the reported crimes, as per Detroit Free Press.
Authorities say that Harris, last seen taking a school bus in the vicinity of Cornwall Street and 3 Mile Drive in East Detroit, was targeted by Butts, who knew her through family connections, Butts allegedly communicated with Harris via sexually explicit text messages and knew of her pregnancy before her disappearance, informed by digital trails, including internet searches concerning abortion pills and the consumption of red anti-freeze, according to a release by the Prosecutor's office obtained by Detroit Free Press.
Meanwhile, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office had hinted at an update on this grim case today after previously describing their review of whether to file criminal charges since August, when a warrant request was received from Detroit police, this notable gap in developments came despite Detroit Police Chief James White having said that the case was not "cold", despite its challenging nature and apparent misleading leads provided to law enforcement, according to an update shared by Audacy.
"He was a classic and expert groomer and pedophile," said Worthy, highlighting the disturbing pattern of behavior by Butts who served previous time in prison for sexually assaulting a child in 2004, Worthy detailed that Butts had systematically used relationships with women to gain access to their daughters, and is now also accused of assaults on two other young girls in cases dating back to 2012, Butts, with his record and the current charges, presents the haunting archetype of systemic predation in our midst, as obtained from a report by FOX 2 Detroit and the Michigan Department of Corrections.
