In a tragic turn of events, a Detroit man convicted of heinous crimes against a young girl has taken his own life in federal custody. Jarvis Butts, 43, who had confessed to the murder of a 13-year-old girl he had groomed and impregnated, was discovered dead in his cell just weeks after beginning a lengthy prison sentence.
Butts was located unresponsive inside his cell at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson, as confirmed by the Michigan Department of Corrections to CBS News on Thursday morning.
Despite attempts by staff to perform “life-saving measures,” their efforts proved futile, leaving officials to suspect suicide as the cause of death. The Michigan State Police are currently conducting an investigation into the incident.
Earlier this year, Butts was handed a 35 to 60-year sentence following his admission of guilt in the 2024 murder of Na’Ziyah Harris, a 13-year-old victim last sighted stepping off a bus on Detroit’s east side on January 9, 2024.
Butts was sentenced to 35 to 60 years on March 12 after pleading guilty in February to the 2024 murder of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris.
Harris was last seen alive getting off a bus on Detroit’s east side on the morning of Jan. 9, 2024.
Text messages later revealed she had planned to meet Butts that same day, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said during his sentencing, according to CBS News.
Prosecutors revealed Butts had impregnated the teen before he carried out the heinous crime. He had been searching online for ways to terminate the pregnancy weeks before the murder.
“His phone records show that he searches online about abortions, abortion pills and drinking red anti-freeze,” Worthy said.
In September 2023, Harris allegedly texted Butts to tell him she had missed her period. By November, “the evidence shows Butts knows that she is pregnant.”
Butts had already fathered children with Harris’s own aunt before allegedly turning his predatory attention to the 13-year-old. Prosecutors said he began grooming the teen as early as 2022, CBS News reported.
“He was a classic and expert groomer and pedophile,” Worthy said when he was charged.
Police tracked Butts to the Rouge River in Detroit the day after Harris disappeared, later recovering the clothes she was last seen wearing from the same area.
Despite entering a guilty plea, Harris’ body has never been recovered — though as a condition of his deal, Butts was required to tell prosecutors where her remains were located.
The 13-year-old’s adult cousin, Roxy Harris, told CBS News the family was painstakingly waiting to recover her remains following the murder conviction.
“Me, as well as other family members and members of the public, have been waiting for two years now to know where Na’Ziyah is,” Roxy said.
Even with Butts dead, the Detroit Police Department reaffirmed its commitment to finding the teen’s remains.
Beyond the murder conviction, Butts was handed an additional 10- to 15-year sentence for sexually assaulting two other girls under the age of 13, CBS News reported.
Worthy said the abuse stretched across years — one victim between 2012 and 2015, and a second who said Butts abused her between 2015 and 2017.
Butts had also previously been convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls in 2005.
