DETROIT – The man who pleaded guilty to murdering missing Detroit teen Na’Ziyah Harris admitted to dumping her body, a source told Local 4.
Jarvis Butts was charged with numerous felonies in 2025 in connection with Harris’ disappearance and murder, as well as a separate sexual assault case involving an 8-year-old relative and another young girl.
Recommended Videos
He pleaded guilty to several charges in six different cases, including second-degree murder.
Harris, a 13-year-old J. E. Clark Preparatory Academy student, went missing in January 2024. Her body has not been found.
--> Read: Disturbing text messages sent to Detroit teen Na’Ziyah Harris before she went missing
On Feb. 12, 2026, just under two weeks before his trial was scheduled to begin, Butts entered guilty pleas in six different cases during his pretrial hearing.
Here are the charges Butts pleaded guilty to:
Case 1
Butts pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a sentence agreement of 10 to 15 years in prison.
Case 2
Butts pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a sentence agreement of 10 to 15 years in prison.
Case 3
Butts pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a sentence agreement of 35 to 60 years in prison.
Case 4
Butts pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a sentence agreement of 10 to 15 years in prison.
Case 5
Butts pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a sentence agreement of 10 to 15 years in prison.
Case 6
Butts pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a sentence agreement of 10 to 15 years in prison.
As part of a plea agreement, some additional charges in the six cases were dismissed.
According to court records, all sentences will run concurrently with the six cases.
He is expected to be sentenced on March 12, 2026, at 12 p.m.
Jarvis Butts admits to dumping teen’s body
A source told Local 4 that Butts admitted to dumping Harris’ body in Rouge River near 7 Mile and Berg, where police initially searched for the 13-year-old girl.
Officials previously said that officers found an inside-out pink jumpsuit, a black jacket and a red and black shoe near the intersection of 7 Mile and Berg when they initially were searching for her. A U.S. Border Patrol officer assisting in the case previously testified in court that the clothing he found had not been there for a long period of time, as there was no discoloration in the clothing and no evidence of animals getting into it. He described the clothing looked “fresh.”
A witness also testified in court that she found Harris’ school ID on the sidewalk near 7 Mile and Evergreen, about a mile and a half away from where Butts admitted to dumping the teen’s body, in March 2024. She said she stepped over the ID for 2.5 weeks from a nearby bus stop before deciding to pick it up. When she picked up the ID that was facedown, she recognized the girl’s name because she had heard about her disappearance on the news. She took the bus to a local gas station to put the ID on a lid to prevent any more fingerprints and called the police.
--> Texts, search history, ‘definition of a pedophile’: What to know about Na’Ziyah Harris murder case
Background
On Jan. 9, 2024, 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris got off the school bus in the area of Cornwall Street and 3 Mile, which is near the intersection of Warren Avenue and Outer Drive on Detroit’s east side. She was never seen again.
Na’Ziyah’s grandmother said she started getting concerned when she learned she didn’t get home that night, but she waited until the morning of Jan. 10 to report her missing to authorities.
On the same day Na’Ziyah went missing, Jarvis Butts was scheduled to turn himself in to authorities on a gun charge. However, this was pushed back to February.
Why Jarvis Butts was charged
Prosecutors said Butts was supposed to turn himself in to authorities on a gun charge on Jan. 9, 2024, the day Na’Ziyah went missing, but that date was pushed back to February. Harris allegedly met up with Butts that day, and the two reportedly went to Ypsilanti before returning back to Detroit, where Butts checked into a motel.
Text records allege that Butts knew Harris was pregnant and that he began searching online about abortions, abortion pills, and drinking red anti-freeze.
Authorities believe Butts had been sexually abusing Harris since 2022 before killing her in January 2024. Prosecutors said he had a history of targeting and befriending women to get close to and sexually abuse their daughters.
It’s not the only sexual abuse case Butts is involved with. He also has been charged for reportedly sexually abusing two other young girls, as well as a conviction for sexual assault in 2005. Prosecutors called Butts a “serial child rapist,” who sexually assaulted an 8-year-old family member and a girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter, who reportedly caught chlamydia from the assault.
He was charged on Sept. 27, 2024, as a habitual fourth-time offender.
Butts and Harris had reportedly known each other because he was the father of her cousins. The abuse of Harris allegedly began in 2022 with sexually explicit texts and photos being sent to the child.
He was tracked to the Rouge River in Detroit the day after her disappearance, where police would later recover the clothes Harris was last seen wearing. Authorities said there was damage to the clothing that could indicate a struggle.
Butts was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, child sexually abusive material, and second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13.
While he was facing charges in connection with Harris’ death, Butts was charged with additional felonies after an 8-year-old family member came forward accusing him of sexually assaulting them.