Na’Ziyah Harris | The Detroit Teen Who Disappeared After School

Summary

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Crime Salad Podcast Summary

Episode: Na’Ziyah Harris | The Detroit Teen Who Disappeared After School
Hosts: Ashley and Ricky
Date: March 7, 2026

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Overview

This Crime Salad episode examines the heartbreaking and complex case of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, who disappeared after school in Detroit, Michigan, in January 2024. Through meticulous research and interviews, Ashley and Ricky analyze the systemic failures, family dynamics, and the investigative process that led to the eventual prosecution of a serial sexual offender, Jarvis Raymond Butts. With a focus on truth, awareness, and accountability, the episode avoids sensationalism to keep the victim and the impacted community at the center.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Detroit Context and Na’Ziyah’s Early Life

• Detroit’s landscape: Highlighted as a city built on resilience but challenged by underfunded social systems and strained services.
  • “From the skyline that still reflects its Motor City legacy to the quiet east side neighborhoods lined with chain linked fences…” – Ashley [00:01]
• Na’Ziyah’s childhood:
  • Adopted by her maternal grandmother, Annette, at age 2 due to her mother’s struggles with addiction and trauma [02:04].
  • Described as sweet, quiet, rule-following, but also isolated, with a love for dancing and attention from family.
  • Lived in a crowded, multi-generational home frequently visited by foster children [03:32].

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2. Disappearance and Initial Family Response

• Timeline of disappearance:
  • January 9, 2024: Na’Ziyah attends school as usual, communicates throughout the day, and is last seen after getting off the bus, taking an unexpected direction [04:09–05:09].
  • Her absence is quickly noted by family; search begins that evening, but she isn’t reported missing until the next morning [05:27–05:47].
• Family hesitancy:
  • Ashley explains the dilemma families face: balancing hope with fear, which may delay reporting [05:47].
  • Police and school authorities begin canvassing the area, seeking surveillance footage, and speaking with household members. No immediate signs of violence or abduction are found [06:00–07:06].

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3. The Investigation and Early Red Flags

• Stalling progress & case escalation:
  • Initial investigation, led by the school district, loses momentum; case transferred to Detroit Police in February 2024 [07:06].
  • Law enforcement suggests Na’Ziyah may have willingly left with someone, not initially believing it was an abduction [08:21].
• Family and public pleas:
  • Annette and other family members plead for the public’s help, while police maintain a public posture of active searching [08:42].
  • Details emerge regarding family dynamics—her biological father tries to reconnect after years, while her mother assists police [09:39].

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4. Troubling Discoveries & Suspects

• Suspicions of abuse:
  • Some family members articulate fears that Na’Ziyah may have been pregnant by a convicted sex offender, Jarvis Raymond Butts, though he is not yet named publicly at this stage [10:04].
  • Butts, familiar to the family due to a relationship with Na’Ziyah’s aunt, claims to know nothing of the disappearance when questioned by police [10:29].
• Breaks in the case:
  • March 2024: Na’Ziyah’s school ID and clothing are found near Rogue River; items contained forensic evidence linking both her and Butts [11:49–13:03].
  • “Sadly, this evidence, combined with the state of that clothing, made it pretty clear to investigators that Na’Ziyah was no longer alive…” – Ricky [13:03]
• No body recovered:
  • The investigation pivots to a homicide case, with mounting forensics but without a recovered body [13:19].

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5. The Legal Case, Charges, and Motive

• Warrant and charges:
  • August–September 2024: After 7 months, police submit a warrant; Butts is arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder, child sexually abusive activity, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct without a body [13:19–14:42].
• Key testimony and evidence:
  • Preliminary hearings in January 2025 reveal extensive evidence:
    • Testimonies from family and Butts’ associates established his access and proximity to Na’Ziyah, including his sister’s account of seeing a girl matching her description on the day she vanished [14:51–16:55].
    • Forensic testing confirms blood and DNA from both on the discarded clothing.
    • Testimony reveals Butts often targeted women to access their children, with an alleged pattern of abuse over years [17:54].
• Digital and forensic trail:
  • Cell phone mapping charts Butts’ movements the day of disappearance, placing him at key locations, including the motel and the site where clothing was found [23:57–25:48].
    • “So it’s pretty hard to dispute that he didn’t have anything to do with this.” – Ashley [23:57]

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6. Grooming, Systemic Failures, & Family Attempts to Intervene

• Grooming evidence:
  • Prosecutors present evidence of years of grooming and abuse via text messages, indicating sexual exploitation since Na’Ziyah was 11 [30:00].
    • “Jarvis Butts absolutely groomed and exploited this girl for years.” – Ashley [30:00]
• Motivation for murder:
  • Prosecutors theorize Butts killed Na’Ziyah to prevent the exposure of her pregnancy and to eliminate risk before starting a jail sentence [30:00–31:26].
• Family’s efforts and CPS failures:
  • Na’Ziyah’s great aunt Jonelle and cousin Kiwana detail years of attempts to report the abuse, including to CPS and law enforcement, often dismissed or not pursued [31:48–41:23].
    • “And they begged CPS to intervene constantly for two years.” – Ashley [41:23]
  • Even after explicit allegations from children, CPS fails to substantiate complaints; prior CPS cases about Butts dating back to 2015 are revealed [39:44].
• Systemic inertia:
  • Michigan’s offender registry and compliance systems are explained, with Butts having a history of non-compliance that went unchecked [33:33–35:21].

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7. Conflict, Blame, and Online Discourse

• Aftermath and blame:
  • The family fractures over whether people did enough, with considerable conflict emerging, particularly on the “Justice for Na’Ziyah” Facebook page [44:19].
  • Some community members blame adults for inaction, while others dangerously mischaracterize Na’Ziyah as complicit; hosts strongly counter with explanations about grooming and child victimization [45:58–47:45].
    • “That framing is so dangerous because there’s a term… it’s called grooming.” – Ashley [45:58]
    • “A 13-year-old cannot legally give consent, no matter how mature someone might claim she seems.” – Ricky [47:09]

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8. Legal Resolution & Accountability

• Plea agreement:
  • February 2026: Jarvis Butts pleads guilty to multiple counts, including second-degree murder and sexual abuse of multiple children, receiving concurrent sentences (35–60 years for murder; 10–15 for each abuse count) [48:45–49:23].
    • Some family and public perceive the potential for parole as unjustly lenient.
• Ongoing pain and unresolved justice:
  • Family fears Na’Ziyah’s body may never be found, impeding closure [49:49].
  • Record shows CPS and Detroit Police failed to properly investigate earlier credible claims of abuse [50:40–50:58].
  • CPS records confirm multiple reports about Butts, all unsubstantiated, even as allegations matched previous patterns [50:58–51:58].
    • “If you have concerns about a child in your life, report it at first sign.” – Ashley [51:58]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Detroit’s resilience and systemic gaps:
  “Detroit has fought hard against the narratives that try to paint it as broken… but like a lot of large cities, it also has failures, underfunded systems, and strained social services.” – Ashley [00:01]

• On the chilling implications:
  “This was a child, a 13-year-old, and the thought that she was possibly pregnant by a convicted offender is so awful to even consider.” – Ashley [10:04]

• On systemic failures:
  “How did this happen from 2022 at least, this was ongoing and it went under the radar for years.” – Ricky [31:26]

• On grooming and victim-blaming:
  “That framing is so dangerous because there’s a term for what happens when an adult conditions a child to seek validation from them … it’s called grooming.” – Ashley [45:58]

• Final poetic tribute:
  “I was a child… Not headlines, not whispers, not questions that never find answers. If love had wrapped around me the way it should, I would still be here. ... My story should have been homecoming dances, graduation gowns, first apartments, first paychecks, a baby cradled safely in my arms … I was a child who deserved to live.” – [52:15]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |:----------:|----------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:01–03:32| Detroit’s context & Na’Ziyah’s background | | 04:09–05:47| Na’Ziyah’s last day and the family's initial response | | 07:06–08:42| Investigation escalates; public statements | | 09:39–10:29| Suspicions emerge about potential pregnancy and abuse | | 11:49–13:03| Key evidence discovered (school ID, clothing, forensics) | | 14:51–16:55| Preliminary hearings, family testimonies, and explosive evidence| | 23:47–25:48| Digital evidence and phone tracking | | 30:00–31:26| Years of grooming, revelation of text messages | | 31:48–41:23| Family’s attempt to intervene; reports to CPS | | 44:19–47:45| Online discourse, community blame, grooming explained | | 48:45–49:23| Plea deal and public disappointment | | 50:40–51:58| CPS and police acknowledged failures | | 52:15 | Poetic tribute to Na’Ziyah |

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Tone & Final Thoughts

Ashley and Ricky deliver the episode with empathy, clarity, and a call for systemic accountability. They avoid sensationalism, instead focusing on the prolonged failure of protective systems, the realities of grooming, and the ongoing pain for Na’Ziyah’s family. The episode closes with a haunting poem that serves as both tribute and challenge to prevent such tragedies in the future.

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If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual abuse or exploitation, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

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Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out well? With the name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance and they'll help you find options within your budget. Try it [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states. Detroit, Michigan It's a city known for grit and resilience. From the skyline that still reflects its Motor City legacy to the quiet east side neighborhoods lined with chain linked fences. Detroit is built on industry and survival and in the winter months that survival feels especially literal when the wind comes off the river sharply and unforgivingly with snow settling into the cracked sidewalks. The neighborhoods of Detroit have corner stores that know your order, block clubs and grandmothers watching from their living room windows. On the east side, the neighborhoods are tight knit. Families have a lot of times lived there for generations and everyone knows each other. Detroit has fought hard against the narratives that try to paint it as broken and in truth, the city is full of resilient people, but like a lot of large cities, it also has failures, underfunded systems and strained social services.

[B]

So when a 13 year old girl disappeared in the middle of an ordinary school day, it hit differently. In neighborhoods like this where everybody knows everyone, a child going missing doesn't just affect one family, an entire community feels it.

[A]

This episode contains conversations of sexual assault, grooming and other disturbing topics. Listener discretion is strongly advised. This is the story of Naziyah Harris. I'm Ashley. And I'm Ricky and this is Crime Salad. So Naziah. She was adopted by her maternal grandmother when she was just two years old and her family says that this is because her biological mother struggled with drug use after according to Naziah's great aunt, she struggled with experiences of sexual abuse and childhood trauma. According to Naziyah's family members, after some difficulties surrounding custody during Naziah's early childhood, her biological father lost contact but consistently paid child support for Naziah throughout her life. And by all accounts, Naziah was a sweet, quiet girl who was affectionate and innocent. And she loved to dance ever since she was a little girl, with family members saying that even as a child she had better dancing skills than most adults. She loved being around family and receiving attention. A typical young teenager and she was a girl who cared about doing well in school and she followed the rules. But she was also isolated, which family members said they made it hard for her to achieve her full potential.

[B]

And Naziah was surrounded by a lot of family. According to those close to her, the house she lived in had frequent visitors, which included sometimes 11 children coming and going throughout the day, including as well as living with her own siblings, cousins and aunts. So there were plenty of people in the house that would know and miss her if she was gone. Annette, Naziah's grandmother and adopted mother, also participated in foster care and respite care, which is temporary foster placement. So she was part of a full house.

[A]

On the morning of January 9th of 2024, it looked like any other school day. Naziah boarded the school bus toward her school wearing her hair in two braided puffballs. She had clear framed glasses, a white sweater layered under a black jacket, and over that a colorful rugrats puffy coat with a fur lined hood. She was also wearing light blue jeans and Nike shoes. And at school she even took a picture of herself. And she sent messages throughout the day like any young teenager would, using an app on the Detroit Public Schools issued tablet. The school day ended, things seemed completely normal, and Naziyah got back on the school bus to head home. She and a classmate arrived at their regular stop at the area of Cornwall street in Three Mile Drive. But Naziah's classmate noticed that instead of turning left to her house, Naziah turned right instead. And thinking nothing of it, the classmate continued on her way home.

[B]

And that last sighting would seem unusual because Naziah never arrived home that afternoon at her normal time, which would have been between 3 and 3:15pm so when the early evening hours came and she still hadn't walked through that door, her grandmother started to worry.

[A]

And according to family members, those in Ziah's household went out looking for her to try to figure out where she might have gone, but found no sign of her at all. And after the night came and went, and on the morning of January 10, when Naziah still had not returned home, her grandmother Annette reported her missing.

[B]

So I've seen a lot of people criticize the family for not reporting her missing sooner. And I'll be honest, if it were me, I would be going absolutely nuts if my 13 year old was missing. But you have to remember every situation is different. So in moments like this, you hold on to hope. You tell yourself, maybe she's at a friend's house, maybe she'll come back in the morning. You don't always immediately jump to the worst case scenario. So that morning Investigators began canvassing the area, checking around the bus stop, knocking on doors, and trying to secure doorbell camera footage around the area where Naziah got off the bus. They searched near the school and retraced the route of the bus Naziah had ridden that day. Investigators pulled the specific bus number she was on and reviewed the surveillance footage to confirm exactly where she got off and secured video footage showing her exiting at her usual. From there, officers began speaking with people inside the home to gather more information. They wanted to understand her routine, who she spoke to, and whether she had mentioned meeting anyone. At that point, there was no sign of abduction or evidence of violence. Nothing to indicate anything had gone seriously wrong. But behind the scenes, a web of chaos was unfolding.

[A]

According to Naziah's great aunt and cousin, they heard about Naziah's disappearance two days later in a Facebook post. An immediately, they went to the police to share everything they knew that could help Naziah's case. And to them, they were sure something terrible had happened. As the days turned into weeks, the early momentum of the school district's investigation began to stall. And By February of 2024, more than a month after Naziah was last seen, the case was officially turned over to the Detroit Police Department. The roadblocks the school district encountered meant that this was no longer a missing student case, but this had grown into something larger. And as we now know, they had a lot more information behind the scenes than what the public was seeing. Detroit homicide detectives and officers began retracing steps, knocking on doors, following up on tips and revisiting surveillance footage, trying to piece together what happened in the hours after school let out. But early on, the tone coming from law enforcement suggested they did not initially believe it was an abduction, but that Naziah may have willingly left with someone.

[B]

Now, they wouldn't explicitly comment at the time whether they thought this, but they did say that they had very serious concerns about Naziah's safety, and they were hopeful that they would find her. Well, they had also said they can't operate on hope alone, which tells me that investigators already had reason to believe that this was an urgent scenario.

[A]

Exactly. Annette Harris made a direct plea with the public during this time for anyone that knew anything about her granddaughter to contact the police department. She didn't want to think the worst about her being abducted, and she was still holding onto faith that God would bring her home. The police chief assured the public that they were aggressively searching for Naziah and that they weren't ruling anything out at this point. As the investigation widened, more layers of Naziah's life began surfacing publicly. Her biological father appeared in news coverage, saying he had tried to reconnect with his daughter for the past eight years. He said the first time he had successfully made contact in years was when authorities called him about her disappearance. Her biological mother was also participating actively in the investigation, but she stayed mostly out of the way to let police do the work, work and help however she could.

[B]

Around the same time, the public also began hearing troubling details about what may have been happening inside Naziah's home life. Some family members reportedly believe that Naziah may have been pregnant, allegedly by a convicted sex offender. At that point, however, the individual had not been formally charged in connection with her disappearance, so his name was not being released publicly in that context.

[A]

And that implication alone is just chilling. It makes everything in me freeze up. Because this was a child, a 13 year old, and the thought that she was possibly pregnant by a convicted offender is so awful to even consider. But as we'll learn, police were much farther down this path than anyone knew outwardly. And this also turns the case into something much more concerning. We know that she made the decision not to immediately return home that day, but what happened after that? And with this new information that introduces motive and fear of consequences. As investigators continued digging into Naziah's digital history and personal connections, one name kept surfacing. Jarvis Raymond Butts. He wasn't a stranger to the family. In fact, he had dated Naziah's biological aunt and also shared five children with her. He was someone who had been around, someone familiar. And on February 15, detectives interviewed Jarvis Butz regarding Naziah's disappearance. And during that interview, he told investigators that he had been preoccupied with legal issues on the day she vanished. Butts was supposed to turn himself into the authorities on a gun charge that day, but it was ultimately pushed back to February. He insisted that despite having a decent relationship with Naziah, he knew nothing about her disappearance.

[B]

In early March, the search widened as authorities expanded their efforts to a pond near Gratiot Avenue and Queen Road in Clinton Township. Divers and officers searched the area looking for any trace of Naziah.

[A]

Then, on March 7, a local woman made a discovery that shifted everything. She found Naziah's school identification card on the ground. She later reported that she had seen it there for weeks, but she just didn't realize it was significant until seeing news coverage of the case. That ID should have been with Naziah, and instead it seemed like it was discarded, just thrown on the ground. Around the same time, investigators also searched the vehicle Of Jarvis's ex fiance Continuing to follow every possible lead. But there was another discovery in March that permanently changed the case. Near the rogue river, in some brush off seven mile road and berg road, Searchers located items believed to be belonged to Naziah, Clothing consistent with what she was wearing on the day she disappeared. They found a pink jumpsuit, A black jacket, and two small Nike shoes. Forensic testing confirmed the presence of blood on some of the recovered items, and DNA analysis identified Naziah on the garments found in the brush near the rogue river, as well as one other person.

[B]

Sadly, this evidence, combined with the state of that clothing, made it pretty clear to investigators that Naziah was no longer alive and that something terrible had happened to her. We were now looking at a homicide investigation with no body.

[A]

But the public and some of Naziah's family Were still left wondering what was being done to bring someone to justice for Naziah's disappearance. And this went on for months. Investigators continued to build their case quietly. They were collecting digital records, interviewing witnesses. They were running forensic tests, and they were mapping cell phone data, Waiting until they had enough information to come forward. The only shred of public evidence was that on August 15, 2024, seven months after Naziah disappeared, Detroit police submitted a warrant request related to Naziah's case, which signaled that prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to formally accuse someone, Even though Naziah's body still had not been recovered at this time. And the day finally came in September of 2024 when Jarvis Butz was formally charged with first degree premeditated murder, Child sexually abusive activity, and second degree criminal sexual conduct. Despite the absence of a recovered body, Prosecutors stated that the available evidence supported the conclusion that Naziah had been killed. And they were confident enough in forensic testing, as well as the DNA findings, Along with the digital communications and cell phone location data, to move forward with the murder charges.

[B]

So how did we get here? What was happening behind the scenes to get us to this conclusion? What gets uncovered is truly awful.

[A]

Everything started to come out Once the preliminary hearing took place in January of 2025, and the prosecution finally shared the overwhelming amount of evidence to point to what truly happened, which started way before that day in January of 2024. On the first day of testimony, Numerous witnesses testified like family members, school personnel, and evidence technicians, each adding another layer to what prosecutors said happened on January 9th of 2024. And the pieces started to come together. Naziah's grandmother, Annette Harris, took the stand, Speaking about Jarvis butts coming to her home in the past and had frequent relations and intentions with Naziah, then Shannon Harris, Naziah's aunt. She testified. And Shannon had five children with Jarvis Butts. And on the stand, she spoke about occasions where Jarvis Butts would pick up Naziah and take her to his job at an auto repair shop, but she never thought anything of it. So we're hearing under oath that it wasn't unusual for her to be with him, which established familiarity and, more importantly, access. But one of the most striking testimonies came from Budz's own sister, Tijuana Butz. She testified that she was at her brother's auto shop on January 9th of 2024, the day that Naziah disappeared. And according to her testimony, she was at the shop from about 4pm to 6:30pm about an hour after Naziah would have gotten off the school bus. And she told prosecutors that she observed a little girl getting in and out of a white Cadillac Escalade, a vehicle believed to belong to Jarvis.

[B]

She said at the time she didn't know that the girl was Naziah, but described the clothing she was wearing, including a colorful puffy coat, which was similar to the clothing that they recovered back in March of 2024. She testified that when she asked Jarvis that day who the girl was, he told her it was his business partner's niece.

[A]

But about a month later, after hearing some disturbing information from other people who knew Jarvis, Tijuana learns that that little girl at the shop that day was not his partner's niece, but it was Naziah Harris. And it has to be heart wrenching to make the realization about your own brother. Another woman who shares a child with Jarvis Butts also testified, and she told the court that Butts borrowed her vehicle on the day Naziah was last seen at around 9pm and returned it the next morning. And when the vehicle was returned, she testified that she left to go pick up her son from school and noticed him playing with a pair of glasses that were in the backseat. She described them as a clear pair of glasses, which matched the glasses Naziah was wearing in the last photo she took on the school tablet before she disappeared. And when she visited Jarvis to return the glasses, he told her they were his sons.

[B]

And at this point, we've talked a lot about circumstantial evidence, but at the very least, what investigators presented does appear to trace Naziyah's movements after she got off the school bus that day. And frankly, it doesn't look good when you look at what came out in court about Jarvis. Prosecutors argued that he often got close to women in order to be around their children. It was also revealed that he had had relationships with multiple women at the same time. According to testimony, he had fathered at least 13 children with different mothers, some people claiming that that number may be even closer to 20. So when you hear the pattern described in court, the word serial starts to feel like a fair way to characterize it. From there, the prosecution laid out a timeline of events that investigators believe took place on January 9, 2024.

[A]

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your podcasts so as we said before it began like any other school day, video footage showed Naziah getting onto her school bus and at school she used her school issued tablet to communicate through an app and that device would later become one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case. Using that same device, prosecutors say that she sent a message to a device associated with Jarvis Butz indicating that they would be meeting up after she got out of school. There is also a video of Naziah walking out of school at dismissal, still wearing the exact same clothes seen earlier that morning. And from there, prosecutors said she met up with Butts and one of his co workers where they then went to the auto repair shop on Connor street in Detroit. From there, prosecutors said that Butts, his co worker known as King, and Isaiah left together in the coworker's vehicle. They traveled to a nearby town and later returned after servicing someone's vehicle. Later that night, between 9:30 and 12:00am Jarvis Butts checked into a motel with the receipt confirming the check in, and Naziah never returned home.

[B]

So from that we know that Naziah was with Jarvis Butts until much later in the evening after she got off the bus. And that's where the trail of her movement stops. Based on what investigators presented, he becomes the central focus in this timeline.

[A]

Exactly. And it wasn't like there was plenty of other information that led police to this. Actually, when the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office formally announced charges in the Zayas case, there was another layer that stunned the public. Prosecutor Kim Worthy revealed that Jarvis Butz was not only being charged in connection with Naziah's death, but he was also being charged with sexually abusing two other children who were under the age of 13 at the time. According to Worthy, one of the victims, who is now 20 years old, claimed that she was abused between April 2012 and April 2014, and the second victim had been abused between July 2015 and July 2017 as an extremely young child. In connection with those cases, Butts was charged with five counts of second degree criminal sexual misconduct and one count of first degree criminal sexual misconduct.

[B]

And it makes you wonder, did the family know about this? Did they know the kind of accusations that were hanging over him? Especially if those charges end up leading to a conviction, right?

[A]

How was he getting away with all this the prosecutor said during a press conference that Mr. Butts targeted and befriended women to have sexual relationships with their young daughters. He was a classic, an expert groomer and a pedophile. So it just makes you think, how did this go on for so long? This was textbook to what he had done before he was dating Naziah's aunt. As the preliminary examination continued, prosecutors began calling law enforcement officials to walk the court through the digital and investigative trial. An expert in phone mapping testified about how investigators tracked Jarvis Butt's movements through his cell phone. On January 9th of 2024, at 6:38pm Butz received a phone call. He didn't answer it, and at that time his phone pinged at his auto shop. By 6:55pm Butts placed a call to Shannon Harris which showed his location traveling westbound on the highway toward the nearby town ypsiliani. And by 8:30pm his phone showed him back at the auto shop in Detroit. After this, he went to the home that he shared with another child's mother and remained there until about 9pm this would be around when he borrowed her car. Then at 9:30, it showed Jarvis at the Park Crest Hotel in Harper woods, where he stayed until about 1am from there, Jarvis is shown traveling to the home of another girlfriend, where he stayed throughout the day. And during the evening of January 10, at around 11pm Jarvis's phone pinged him at the Seven Mile Road in Berg, where he stayed until about 2am this is about two miles from where Naziah's clothing was found. So it's pretty hard to dispute that he didn't have anything to do with this.

[B]

When we heard the testimony about how police were called to a gas station on Detroit's west side after a woman reported finding a school identification card with Naziha's face on it. The woman told the court that the ID had been lying on the ground in that area for about two weeks. She said that she had walked past it multiple times, not realizing what it was. But one day she decided to take a closer look, and when she did, she immediately recognized the face on the card as the missing 13 year old.

[A]

The officer who interviewed Jarvis Butts also testified who had spoken with him after he had already been taken into custody for a separate crime, assumingly the gun charge that had gotten delayed. Butz told the officer he had last seen Naziah in late December or early January at his grandmother's and she would come to visit him at his shop from time to time. The officer also questioned Jarvis Butz about text messages between him And Naziah and Jarvis Butz gave him permission to search his cell phone. The court also heard from the examiner who conducted the DNA analysis on Naziah's clothing, identifying a DNA match for both Naziah Harris and Jarvis Butts. Finally, the court heard from a liaison for school safety who testified about the school's early search efforts after Naziah was reported missing, which included reviewing her communications and also identifying text messages between Naziyah and Jarvis Butts on her school issued tablet. In these messages, Naziah tells Butz to pick her up from the bus stop at around 3, telling him to reply okay, that he saw the message so that she can delete his number. This is the catalyst that made investigators look at Jarvis Butts from the very beginning.

[B]

What was not caught on camera in court that day was also the testimony of a young child who testified to witnessing abuse perpetrated by Jarvis Butts. And it's reported by the family as being absolutely heartbreaking to hear. Family members stated that the child's father tried to, quote, do what any parent would do to Jarvis Butts. After that, creating a break in the proceedings.

[A]

On the final day of the preliminary hearing, the most awful realities of the case came to light. Shannon Jones, the police officer who oversaw the investigation into Ziah's disappearance, took the stand to explain how detectives ultimately narrowed their focus to Jarvis Raymond Butts. According to Jones, one of the earliest red flags was that text message indicating that Butts planned to pick Naziah up from school on January 9, the last day she was seen. And from there, investigators began digging deeper into the devices Butz used, mapping locations his phone traveled in the hours surrounding her disappearance, which led them to Seven Mile and Berg. Using that digital trail, officers canvassed the specific area, which led to the recovery of clothing which tested positive for both Naziyah Harris and Jarvis Butz DNA. But investigators didn't stop there. At one point, they listened to a jail call between Butts and his co worker King, that one guy who worked with him at the auto shop. And that call helped lead investigators to track down Butz's phone while which was eventually found hidden inside a Cadillac that police impounded. From there, they conducted a data extraction on his devices, where they uncovered Google searches from mid December, weeks before Naziah disappeared. And those searches include various ways to administer an abortion, including references to herbal tea, abortion pills, and drinking red antifreeze.

[B]

And that's when you start to see how truly disturbing this case is. Because if prosecutors are saying a 13 year old may have been pregnant and there were searches about inducing abortion that starts to point towards what the investigators believe the motive may have been. And the fact that this man is 42 years old, it makes it even more disturbing.

[A]

Sergeant Jones also had a copy of all the text messages exchanged between Jarvis and Harris, dating all the way back from 2022. She read the messages prosecutors highlighted for her to read out loud, which revealed that Butz was sending sexually explicit messages and asked for nude photos and many more like this over the past two years, since Naziah was only 11 years old. Text messages in late 2023 revealed that Naziah claimed she was pregnant and talked about having trouble in school due to her baby. I don't even want to repeat the exact messages, but let me just tell you, they are awful. You can find them online for yourself if you would like. But just be warned, it's so clear that Jarvis Butz absolutely groomed and exploited this girl for years. And the prosecution's closing arguments presented their theory that since Butts was meant to turn himself in for a year long sentence for a drug charge, that got pushed to January and he couldn't risk Naziah having his baby while he was in jail, so he killed her and disposed of her body. At the conclusion of the hearing, exactly one year after her disappearance, a judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to bind the case for trial, stating that the evidence supported the belief that Naziah had been sexually abused and impregnated and killed.

[B]

It's just absolutely disgusting and it makes you think, how did this happen from 2022 at least, this was ongoing and it went under the radar for years. And just to hammer it home, these text messages are disgusting and it's hard to believe that she was having this kind of contact with him for so long without anybody knowing.

[A]

Well, what we'll learn after this hearing is that this wasn't shocking news to some people and they were ready to speak out about it. This case caused a lot of tension and conflict in Naziah's family, and let's talk about why. So after the preliminary hearing concluded, Naziah's great aunt and cousin, they sat down for an interview with Community Advocate Network. And what they described was a family that had been broken since long before January 9th of 2024. The great aunt Jonelle, she explained that Annette, Naziah's grandmother herself, had a difficult upbringing and raised seven children after having a teen pregnancy herself. Shannon, who is Naziah's aunt and Jarvis Butt's girlfriend, moved in with annette in late 2023, but she had frequently visited before that. So Naziah and her Siblings were sharing this home with Shannon, her five children, Annette, and at times Annette's other foster children. Since Jarvis was dating Shannon, he was frequently at the house. And family members stated that they knew of Jarvis Butts history of sexual abuse long before anything happened to Naziah. Jonelle. Naziah's gradient initially found out about who Jarvis really was about 12 years ago when she looked into his record after an arrest and found that he had been confused. Convicted of sexual crimes in 2005, however, he was not currently on the sex offender registry. So she called to ask about his status. And when she called the appropriate law enforcement agency to find out why he wasn't on the registry, they then realized that he had not reported properly and sought him out to update his profile on the public sex offender registry.

[B]

In Michigan, the Sex Offenders Registration act requires individuals convicted of certain sexual offenses to register with law enforcement. Depending on the offense, offenders are placed into tiers. And these tiers determine how often they must verify their address and information. They're required to update law enforcement if they move, change employment, enroll in school, or alter personal details to keep children safe. Failure to report or failure to comply, it's a crime itself.

[A]

And journal said that as of that interview, he hadn't reported since 2019. So he didn't have a habit of staying compliant with his obligations after this offense. Which would have given even more of a red flag that Jarvis wasn't taking these consequences seriously or the fact that he was living in the community out of compliance. With no one tracking it, Jonelle confronted Shannon about his history. But according to her, Shannon responded saying that the accuser was lying. And either way, he served his time and finished his parole. Now, Shannon herself could have been being groomed at this time because this is what these predators do. But this is a man who was charged with sexually abusing five other young girls at the time of Naziah's death and also has a conviction for sexual assault from 2005. And I know this is a little blunt, but he sexually assaulted an 8 year old family member and a girlfriend's 4 year old daughter who reportedly caught chlamydia from the assault. And it's absolutely awful to bring that up, but I just want to make it clear that this man, he did not deserve in any capacity to be around children, yet he still found a way to have unlimited access. It's disgusting that he got away with it for so long. 20 years.

[B]

And I will say that agencies are responsible for tracking hundreds, sometimes thousands of registrants, which requires regular verification, database Management and follow up when someone falls out of compliance. So it can become complicated. That doesn't excuse the failure to monitor, but it just helps to explain how that can happen.

[A]

Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of different things that failed along the way to protect children from this predator. So, Jonelle, she found out about this, but she hadn't heard of any wrongdoing inside her own family circle. So as a result, she just kind of left it alone for the time being. That is, until February of 2022. Jernell and Sharon Harris were very close, and Shannon even lived with her. At one point In February of 2022, Shannon called Journal, and according to Journal, this was to talk about what happened at her daughter's birthday party. So all the children were present, including one girl who was related to the family but hadn't been around them previously. According to this phone call with Shannon, the young girl ran upstairs crying, telling Shannon that Jarvis had touched her inappropriately while she was in the basement playing with a puppy. Shannon tried to calm the girl down, and then Jarvis came upstairs to see what was going on.

[B]

And of course, when Jonelle heard this, knowing about Jarvis's history, she told Shannon to immediately call the police. But instead, Shannon brought the children home and decided to talk to Annette, Naziah's grandmother and adopted mother. Now, keep in mind, this is Journal's side of the story. Journel called Shannon the next day to see how the situation was progressing, and Shannon apparently told her that Annette had talked to the girls and learned that this family member and Naziah had complained about inappropriate touching, but eventually admitted that they were lying. And in response, Journal called Annette to get an update, and Annette assured her that the police were involved. But Journal never heard any updates about it. I mean, when you realize he was essentially given a pass, it makes it even more frustrating.

[A]

Yeah, and from the testimonies we're seeing, it doesn't really appear that any of this was ever really brought to the level of attention that it really should have been, at least not until after Naziah was murdered in 2024. And this might sound blunt, but unfortunately, this is something that we see a lot in cases like this. Sometimes the adults around the situation are in some kind of denial, not because they don't care, but because perpetrators are often very good at manipulating and grooming those people around them, too. I mean, we really don't know what their reasoning may be. Whatever the case was, the perpetrator was protected and was given a pass. So In April of 2022, journalists after hearing about another incident involving a sexual situation with children in Jarvis, she wanted an update about the investigation into this sexual assault. This is when she learned that the police were never called and the children were not receiving any kind of help after the incident. So Journal called the police herself to report what happened. The Clinton Township Police department struggled to take her report since she didn't have enough information on the child who made the original accusation. But Journal held firm that other children at the party also reported abuse by Jarvis, including Naziah, so she was directed to contact cps. Jonelle immediately made a CPS report on both Shannon Harris and Annette Harris to investigate both households for possible sexual abuse. And at this point in the interview, Kiwana, Naziah's cousin, gave more context to the case, saying that she spoke with Shannon after Jonelle's contact with cps, and Shannon complained about Journal's decision to talk to CPS in this interaction. According to Kiwana, Shannon explained that Jarvis had offered money to several children at the party to let him commit sexual abuses against them.

[B]

After this, Kawana testified that she contacted CPS herself to make a separate report. From that point on, she said, she continued pushing for action to protect the children living under Annette's roof and to restrict Jarvis's access to them.

[A]

And when Journal continually asked for updates from cps, Jonelle explained that she was told that the children denied all the allegations and that they hadn't found any credibility to the complaints. But that didn't stop them. They continued to make complaints to CPS along with other family members, and in the process found that Jarvis had CPS cases from 2015 and 2018 with very similar accusations. Why is this guy being protected? But nothing moved forward to protect Naziah from regular interactions with Jarvis. Kiwana heard the stories from the children themselves about the interactions with Jarvis Butz and had contacted CPS agencies from separate counties to open cases on both Shannon and Annette trying to gain custody of Naziah and others and remove them from the household. According to Journal, she continually tried to connect with Naziah with no luck. She even showed text messages where she offered to pay for Naziah to participate in some type of school activity, but was denied. In September of 2022, Kiwana and Journal reportedly spoke with lawyers to try to gain custody of Naziah and her brother, but according to them, neither Naziah or her brother wanted to make any accusations against Annette, Shannon, or Jarvis about their living conditions.

[B]

Kiwana confirmed that she had made plans with her landlord to take in Naziah along with her daughters, while Journal planned to take custody of Naziah's brother since she had sons. But despite this preparation, without formal complaint from Naziah or her brother, nothing could be done.

[A]

So according to them, they were completely powerless to help the situation. And they begged CPS to intervene constantly for two years. And this caused numerous conflicts with other members of the family, a lot of which you can find on Facebook. And from then on, both Jonelle and Kiwana were isolated from the family, according to them. But once they found out about Naziah's disappearance through a Facebook post, they immediately went to the police to share their history of their efforts to protect Naziah. According to them, they were relentless with the police, handing out flyers with them along with Naziah's biological father and hounding them for their progress in the case. They said that the police told them fairly early on that they had everything they needed and they just needed time to build a case. And that brings us to Jarvis's ultimate arrest and charges for what happened to Naziah. I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. And this is Moms and Mysteries. We're two Florida moms obsessed with true crime. From infamous cases like Ellen Greenberg to shocking Florida stories like the Dan markel killing. With 55 million downloads, we bring you new deep dives every Tuesday and Thursday. Listen to Moms and Mysteries on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

Hi, this is Rob Benedict and I am Richard Speight. We were both on a little show you might know called Supernatural. It had a pretty good run, 15 seasons, 327 episodes.

[A]

And though we have seen, of course, every episode many times, we figured, hey,

[B]

now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again. And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll of course have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit

[A]

of a left field choice in the best way possible.

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The note from Kripke was, he's great, we love him, but we're looking for like a really intelligent, Duchovny type with 15 seasons to explore. It's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes. So please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now.

[A]

Oh, please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood.

[B]

Could we get something a little bit lighter? So lighter music here.

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Are you a fan of true crime TV shows? And what about unsolved Mysteries, the show

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that jump started all of our love of true crime.

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I'm Ellen Marsh.

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And I'm Joey Taranto and we host

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Baby, you will laugh, you will cry, you'll think about true crime in a whole new way.

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And you'll also ask a ask yourself

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New episodes of I Think not are released every Wednesday, with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon.

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And every Monday you can listen to our True Crime rundown where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week.

[A]

So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts. So Jarvis was arrested. Since then there was discourse that erupted online about accusations and who else was guilty for knowing about what Jarvis was doing but refused to act. Especially on the justice for Naziah Facebook page. It is extremely active with thoughts, opinions and conflicts about who's all to blame in the absolute and many people's opinion preventable tragedy that happened to Naziah. Some of the things people bring up is the fact that Naziah was never protected, providing pictures and evidence of her also being in close contact with a scene. Separate Tier 3 sex offender on a regular basis in a Tier 3 sex

[B]

offender is someone who has committed the most serious sexual offenses, requiring lifetime registrations with quarterly reporting to authorities. And because of that, some people have argued that Naziah never really stood a chance against being exploited and that the situation around her wasn't taken serious enough by adults in her immediate environment. There have also been text messages circulating online that appear to suggest Shannon was aware that Naziah was sexually active and that the conversations included language that some people felt was dismissive rather than protective. However, these messages have been shared publicly online and we want to be clear that those claims have not been independently verified by us.

[A]

And there's other people that list Naziah as the aggressor, saying that much of the time she was the one reaching out to Jarvis, seeking attention. And that framing is so dangerous because there's a term for what happens when an adult conditions a child to seek validation from them. It's called grooming. You may have heard it. And they build dependence, they create emotional hooks, and they slowly shift the boundaries so that the child feels special, chosen and needed. If the 13 year old is constantly asking am I pretty? Or seeking reassurance from a 42 year old man, that doesn't make her the aggressor that makes her a child looking for the validation in the wrong place, likely because it was cultivated that way. And we have to remember, at 13 years old, the brain is not fully developed. You're still a child. Which is why a child cannot legally or ethically consent to any kind of sexual relationship with an adult, especially not a man with a repeated history of sexual abuse. People can say that she acted too old for her age or that she knew what she was doing, but she's only 13 years old and she only knows what she's taught to do.

[B]

Even if every message in the thread was started by her first, that still doesn't remove the responsibility from the adult. Adults are supposed to set boundaries and protect children, not encourage or participate in that kind of behavior. I mean, a 13 year old cannot legally give consent, no matter how mature someone might claim she seems. She was a child. This was a child. And some of the family members who were aware that she was sexually active may have been focusing on the wrong thing. The real issue is that she needed protection from adults who were taking advantage of her.

[A]

Yeah, and if you want more details about the exact aspects, it's all on the Facebook page. But point is, this child was tragically and unthinkably violated against and it's devastating that this is what happened. By December of 2025, almost two years after Naziah Harris disappeared, the case was finally approaching trial. And the final pre trial date was scheduled for January 23rd of 2026, just a month before the trial was set to begin. During that discussion, prosecutors estimated that they were prepared to call approximately 80 potential witnesses. The defense estimated they would call around three. But the trial never happened. Then, on February 12, 2026, during a pretrial conference, Jarvis Butts entered guilty pleas in six separate cases. The plea agreement included 35 to 60 years for second degree murder in the death of 13 year old Naziah Harris, 10 to 15 years for four counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct, and 10 to 15 years for one count of third degree criminal sexual conduct. Those pleas covered Naziah Harris and five other cases involving a seven year old victim, a four year old victim, an eight year old victim, and a 13 year old victim and another eight year old victim. His sentencing is scheduled for March 12, 2026. And I think this just proves that this man was a serial offender that went undetected for weeks. Way too many years. There's just too many victims in this case. Including Naziah, who was murdered.

[B]

Exactly. And a lot of people think the plea agreements aren't even enough, since all of those sentences are concurrent, meaning he serves them together instead of one after another. There's actually a chance that he could get out of prison one day depending on his sentencing. But it's happened before where a judge rejects a plea agreement or lays down a harsher sentence. So at this point, I guess we just have to wait and see.

[A]

And for Naziah's case specifically, the plea makes the family afraid that they'll never find Naziah's body and properly lay her to rest. And the prosecution also dismissed the charges relating to the sexual abuse that Naziah endured from Jarvis Butz. But his plea agreement does state that he cannot have any contact with Naziah's family in any capacity and he will provide truthful information leading to the recovery of Naziah's body. But it doesn't bring relief for Naziah's family. Many of them say that CPS should be held accountable for their role in Naziah's abuse and death. According to them, Jarvis wasn't the only person at fault, saying that she would have never been in his hands if she hadn't been endangered and neglected by CPS and Detroit Police when they made their complaints.

[B]

CPS acknowledged that prior complaints were submitted and Detroit Police have also admitted that the department failed to investigate a 2022 claim that butts had touched Naziah inappropriately. However, CPS declined to comment on whether Naziah was ever interviewed about those allegations.

[A]

Internal CPS records show that investigators looked into a complaint in June of 2022 and they conducted a face to face interview with Jarvis Butts, but he obviously denied all allegations. The records show that it was one of five complaints filed with CPS about Jarvis since 2015, which included concerns about molestation, physical abuse and living conditions. But the complaints were not substantiated against Jarvis even though they spanned different families in different time periods. People ask if CPS ever took the truly right steps to get to the bottom of what was going on. Kiwana says that this could have all been prevented, all of it. And a lot of people agree Naziah was a sweet rule following girl who didn't deserve to be exploited and groomed for years without protection. If you have concerns about a child in your life, report it at first sign.

[B]

If you or someone you know is experiencing sexual abuse or exploitation, you can contact the National Sexual assault hotline at 1-800-656-4673. People like Naziah deserve to have someone in their corner to advocate for them.

[A]

Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode. If you would like to support stories like Naziah's. Make sure you subscribe and share it with someone so that Naziah's story continues to be told. We want to end with a poem that someone posted on the justice for Nazi's Facebook page. I was a child Soft hands, wide eyes, a heartbeat still learning how to trust the world they said I was trouble before I ever learned the world they said I was difficult before I learned how to speak my fears. No one asked what silence does to a little girl who has never believed nobody loved me the way a child deserves. I was not wrapped in safety. I was not shielded from storms. The very hands that should have guarded my sleep cast shadows over it. Why did my tears become noise instead of a signal for help? Why did the bruises on my spirit go unnoticed by the very eyes that claimed to watch over me? I carried life within me, a fragile promise, a heartbeat beneath my own. Two futures breathing inside one small body. Why was that a threat? Why did adults tremble at the existence of a child in an unborn child? I was not your enemy. I was not your burden. I was not a scandal to be erased. I was laughter. I was potential. I was a girl who deserved to grow tall enough to reach her own dreams. Now I am gone and I ask does it hurt you? Does the absence echo when the house grows quiet? Does my smile visit you in the stillness of night? Do you hear my voice woven in the wind when no one else is around? Or is it easy to fold me into silence, to tuck my name away like a memory too inconvenient to carry? I was not disposable I was not forgettable. I was not born to be erased. My story should have been homecoming dances, graduation gowns, first apartments, first paychecks, a baby cradled safely in my arms. Not headlines, not whispers, not questions that never find answers. If love had wrapped around me the way it should, I would still be here. If protection had stood firm the way it promised, I would still be breathing. Instead I am a lesson written in a heartbreak, a name that asks every adult in every room. What do you do when a child sees, says she is hurting? Do you look away or do you listen, Remember me not as a tragedy but as a mirror reflecting the responsibility we all share. Say my name softly, say it firmly, say it as a vow that no child will ever again feel unseen in a world that calls itself grown. I was a child who deserved to live. Sa. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month trial at shopify.com specialoffer oh the Regency Era. You might know it as the time when Bridgerton takes place or the time when Jane Austen wrote her books, but the Regency era was also an explosive time of social change, sex scandals and maybe the worst king in British history. And on the Vulgar History podcast, going to be looking at the balls, the gowns and all the scandal of the Regency era. Vulgar History is a women's history podcast and our Regency Era series will be focusing on the most rebellious women of this time. That includes Jane Austen herself, who is maybe more radical than you might have thought. We'll also be talking about queer icons like Anne Lister, scientists like Mary Anning and Ada Lovelace, as well as other scandalous actresses, Royal Mistress, rebellious princesses, and other lesser known figures who made history happen in England in the Regency era. Listen to Vulgar History wherever you get Podcasts.

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