Just two weeks after being sentenced to 35 to 60 years behind bars, Jarvis Butts — the Detroit man who pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris — was found dead in his prison cell at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, Michigan. Authorities say it was a suicide. Prison staff attempted life-saving measures early Thursday morning, but they were unsuccessful.

The 43-year-old had barely begun serving his sentence when he was gone — taking with him the one thing investigators desperately needed: the location of Na’Ziyah’s body, which has never been found.

A Case Built on Text Messages — and Heartbreak

When Butts pleaded guilty in 2024, the court was exposed to a trail of digital evidence that painted a disturbing picture of years-long grooming, abuse, and manipulation of a child he knew through family connections.

The most chilling piece of evidence was the final text exchange between Butts and Na’Ziyah — sent on January 9, 2024, the very day she vanished.

Na’Ziyah had texted him: “Don’t forget be there before 3 I will let you know when I’m leaving the school if you not there I will wait.”

She then added: “Send OK if you see the message so I can delete your number.”

Butts replied with a single word: “OK.”

That was the last anyone heard from her.

Grooming That Began in 2022

According to prosecutors, Butts had been grooming and sexually abusing Na’Ziyah since 2022 — when she was just 11 years old. During the preliminary hearing, Sergeant Shannon Jones read explicit text messages aloud in court that left the room in stunned silence.

In one 2022 exchange, Butts explicitly asked the child for sexual acts and instructed her to “erase the messages.” In another, he told her he had “stolen her panties.” By mid-2023, he was asking her to send him photographs.

He was described by prosecutors as a repeat predator with a pattern of targeting young girls between the ages of 4 and 13.

The Pregnancy No One Could Ignore

By late 2023, the text messages took an even darker turn. Na’Ziyah, still just 13, was texting Butts in a panic — her period hadn’t come. In a September 2023 exchange, she wrote:

“My period haven’t came at all… I’m scared idk what to do I have to go to the doctors.”

Butts, according to prosecutors, was fully aware. He had impregnated her. By November, Na’Ziyah was texting him:

“I don’t what your problem but I need you to bring me what I need tonight it’s hard doing all this gym s— with this baby.”

The words of a frightened, pregnant child — reaching out to the man who had destroyed her childhood.

What Happened on January 9, 2024?

Prosecutors say Na’Ziyah met Butts on the same day she went missing. The two allegedly traveled to Ypsilanti before returning to Detroit, where Butts checked into a motel. He had been expected to turn himself in on a separate gun charge — a date that had been delayed.

Investigators later traced him to the Rouge River area, where clothing believed to belong to Na’Ziyah was recovered. Her body, however, was never found.

The Case Has Taken a Massive Blow

With Butts now dead, the investigation into Na’Ziyah’s disappearance and murder has suffered what legal experts are calling a devastating setback. The preliminary examination — which began in January 2025 — involved testimony from dozens of witnesses and relied heavily on digital evidence including text messages, phone records, and search history.

But without Butts, and without Na’Ziyah’s body, prosecutors and her family are left with conviction on paper — and grief that has no closure.

Na’Ziyah Harris deserved justice. Her family deserved answers. Instead, the man responsible chose to exit on his own terms — and took the truth with him.