Jarvis Butts, the 43-year-old Michigan man convicted of murdering 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris and sexually assaulting multiple children, has died in prison just two weeks after being sentenced, authorities confirmed Thursday.
Michigan Department of Corrections officials told Click On Detroit that Butts was found dead on Thursday at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson County, where he had been processed following his sentencing. His death is being investigated as a suicide, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Butts was sentenced on March 12 to 35 to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Harris’s death. According to Fox 2 Detroit, Butts was also sentenced to five concurrent terms of 10 to 15 years each for sexually assaulting children ranging in age from 4 to 13. His earliest possible release date had been set for Sept. 26, 2059.
Butts entered guilty pleas in six separate cases on Feb. 12, 2026, less than two weeks before his trial was set to begin. In addition to the murder charge, he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Some additional charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Harris, a student at J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, was last seen getting off a bus in Detroit in January 2024. Her body has never been recovered. As part of his plea deal, Butts was required to disclose the location of her remains.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said text messages showed Harris met up with Butts the day she disappeared, and that he had allegedly groomed the girl starting in 2022. Harris was pregnant at the time of her death, and Butts was allegedly the father of her unborn child. Prosecutors said Butts had searched online for abortions, abortion pills and drinking red antifreeze before Harris’s disappearance.
According to a source cited by Click On Detroit, Butts admitted to disposing of Harris’s body in the Rouge River near 7 Mile and Berg — the same area where police had initially searched for the girl. Officers recovered an inside-out pink jumpsuit, a black jacket and a red and black shoe near that intersection during the search. According to local reports of court testimony, a U.S. Border Patrol officer who assisted in the case said the clothing appeared recently placed, showing no discoloration or signs of animal disturbance.
Ms. Worthy said the disclosure of the body’s location was a key condition of the plea agreement.
“One of the most important aspects of the plea agreement was giving Na’Ziyah’s family some semblance of closure,” Ms. Worthy said. “The disclosure of the location of her body was crucial.”
Butts also had a prior sex crime conviction involving a child assault.
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