Where Is Na'Ziyah? Police Claim Man Raped Missing 13-Year-Old, Then Killed Her After She Got Pregnant

A 13-year-old Michigan girl vanished after getting off the bus in January. Now, authorities arrested a man they allege raped her and killed her after she became pregnant.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that Jarvis Butts, 41, of Highland Park, was arrested in connection with the death and disappearance of Na’Ziyah Harris, the Associated Press, WMYD and Fox2Detroit report.

“Today we are charging Jarvis Butts with one count of first-degree premeditated murder, one count of criminal sexual conduct in the second-degree and one count of child sexually abusive material,” Worthy said at a press conference aired by Fox2 Detroit and viewed by PEOPLE.

“We are also charging Mr. Butts with more counts of criminal sex conduct on two more girls — yes girls — in two other separate cases,” she said. 

The alleged victims are now 20 and 13 years old, respectively, but both were under 13 when the alleged crimes took place, Worthy said.

"Mr. Butts targeted and befriended women to have sexual relationships with their young daughters," Worthy said. "He would have relationships with their mothers, but his true desire was to have sex with their young daughters. That’s what the evidence will show.

“He was a classic and expert groomer and pedophile,” she continued. "It’s incredibly sad and incredibly unspeakable, and we want to bring justice to her and her family."

Na’Ziyah was last seen on Jan. 9 about a quarter mile from her home, according to a bulletin from the Detroit Police Department. Her grandmother reported her missing that day when she failed to return home from school, Worthy said.

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The young girl’s remains have not yet been found, but Worthy said, "The evidence shows overwhelmingly in this case that she is deceased." 

Text messages show that Na’Ziyah met up with Butts on the day she disappeared, Worthy claimed.

People “he knew well” also saw the two together “in several different locations,” Worthy alleged.

“We have evidence that at 9:30 p.m. on that day that Mr. Butts checked into a motel and Na’Ziyah was never seen or heard from again," she said.

Speaking about a selfie Na’Ziyah took shortly before she vanished, Worthy said, “She is smiling and waving and saying hello, but little did she know that she was really saying goodbye."

Worthy later added, “You look at that face and you do not see the horrors that she had gone through in her short life: the exploitation, the molestations, the sexual abuse and the pregnancy that she was concealing.”

Butts has children with Na'Ziyah's aunt, according to a release from the prosecutor's office,

He allegedly began sending sexually explicit text messages to Na'Ziyah starting in September 2022, it says. She sent sexually explicit photographs of herself in return.

"In November 2023, the evidence shows that Butts knows that she is pregnant," the release alleged. "His phone records show that he searches online about abortions, abortion pills and drinking red anti-freeze."

Butts is being held in the Wayne County Jail on a $250,000 bond, where he has been held since April on other charges, online jail records show.

It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.