Killer of 13-Year-Old Na'Ziyah Harris Dies in Prison Weeks After Sentencing

Jarvis Butts, the 43-year-old Detroit man who pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 13-year-old Na'Ziyah Harris and the sexual assault of multiple children, was found dead inside his prison cell on March 26, 2026, just two weeks after a Wayne County judge sentenced him to up to 60 years behind bars.

An MDOC spokesperson confirmed that Butts was pronounced dead Thursday morning at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, Michigan. Prison staff discovered his body and provided life-saving measures that proved unsuccessful, according to MDOC spokesperson Jenni Riehle. "The Michigan State Police have been called to the facility to investigate; the death is currently being reported as a suicide," Riehle said.

At his March 12 sentencing before Judge Nicholas J. Hathaway in Wayne County Third Circuit Court, Butts received 35 to 60 years in prison on the murder charge, with credit for time served. He was also sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 10 to 15 years on five counts of criminal sexual conduct involving females between age four and 13 years old. According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Butts would not have been eligible for parole until he had served 35 years, with the MDOC website listing his earliest possible release date as September 26, 2059.

On February 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. Those pleas covered second-degree murder, the sexual assault of Na'Ziyah, and the sexual assaults of five young girls ranging in age from 4 to 13. Butts was originally charged with first-degree murder, child sexually abusive commercial activity, and two counts of sexual assault of Na'Ziyah, all of which were dismissed in exchange for the plea to second-degree murder.

Butts was dating Na'Ziyah's aunt at the time he began sexually assaulting her niece. Prosecutors said evidence showed he allegedly groomed the girl starting in 2022. Harris was pregnant when she was killed, and Butts was allegedly the unborn child's father. According to the prosecutor's office, Butts had searched for abortions, abortion pills, and drinking red anti-freeze before Harris's death.

Na'Ziyah, a seventh grader at J.E. Clark Preparatory Academy, got off her school bus on January 9, 2024, near Cornwell Street and Three Mile Drive on Detroit's east side, but never made it home. A source told Local 4 that Butts admitted to dumping Harris' body in the Rouge River near 7 Mile and Berg, where police initially searched for the 13-year-old girl. Her body has not been found.

A condition of Butts' plea required him to provide a truthful statement about the location of Na'Ziyah's body, which he did privately rather than in open court. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said after the sentencing hearing, "One of the most important aspects of the plea agreement was giving Na'Ziyah's family some semblance of closure. The disclosure of the location of her body was crucial." Worthy added that she was satisfied with the statement Butts provided to authorities, but declined to release its contents publicly.

In a statement Thursday, the Detroit Police Department said it was aware of Butts' death and that, while "the legal process ended with a conviction in court, our work is not done," pledging to continue efforts to locate Na'Ziyah's body.

Na'Ziyah's father, Murvin Jennings, became ill and died after searching for his daughter in abandoned houses and overgrown fields. Family friend and former Detroit Board of Police Commissioners vice president Tamara Liberty Smith said Butts' death means questions about the case will go unanswered. "I feel like justice hasn't been served," Smith said.