DETROIT (FOX 2) – Na’Ziyah Harris’ cousin Roxy said she wasn’t shocked to learn that 41-year-old Jarvis Butts was charged with the sexual assault and murder of the 13-year-old.

“We suspected him from the beginning, given his background and things like that we heard about him,” Roxy said.

Butts, 41, of Highland Park, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct and sexually abusive material for Harris’ murder, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced Thursday.

“The evidence in this case overwhelmingly shows that she is, in fact, deceased,” Worthy said.

Harris has been missing since January 9, 2024. She was last seen getting off a school bus at Cornwall and 3 Mile in Detroit that day, but never went home.

According to prosecutors, the teen was familiar with Butts because he has children with her biological aunt.

Text messages showed investigators that Harris met with Butts the day she disappeared, Worthy said. Evidence also shows Butts allegedly groomed her starting in 2022.

Harris was pregnant when she was killed, and Butts was allegedly the father of the unborn child, according to prosecutors. Butts was seeking abortions, abortion pills and drinking red antifreeze before the 13-year-old’s death.

Na’Ziyah Harris on the day she disappeared, January 9, 2024. This is the last photo the 13-year-old took of herself on a school-issued tablet.

“When you look at that face, you don’t see the horrors she endured in her short life – the exploitation, the harassment, the sexual abuse and the pregnancy she hid,” Worthy said. “There is no evidence that anyone other than the defendant himself, whom we have charged today, was the father of this child. He knew she was pregnant. We know he was also looking for ways to abort the baby.”

Butts is charged with murder, although the teenager’s body was never found.

Investigators found the clothing Harris was last seen in an area Butts frequented near the Rouge River at 7 Mile and Berg, the prosecutor added. A piece of clothing was damaged, suggesting a fight may have occurred.

For one rough timeline of the day Harris disappearedCheck out previous FOX 2 coverage here.

Harris’ father, Murvin Jennings, died this summer, months after his daughter went missing.

His girlfriend, Detroit Police Commissioner for District 1 Tamara Liberty Smith, said Jennings searched for his daughter in fields and abandoned houses for months while he was sick.

“(He) literally died of a broken heart,” Smith told FOX 2. “Unfortunately he had congestive heart failure, was already sick and got even sicker while he was looking for her.”

In addition to announcing the charges in the Harris case, Worthy also charged Butts with sexually abusing two other children who were under 13 at the time. Worthy said one of the victims, now 20 years old, was allegedly abused between April 2012 and April 14, while the other victim, now 11 years old, was abused from July 2015 to July 2017.

He is charged with five counts of second-degree sex crimes and one count of first-degree sex crimes for those attacks.

Court records show Butts was previously imprisoned for sexually assaulting a child in 2004.

“Mr. Butts targeted and befriended women to engage in sexual relationships with their young daughters,” Worthy said. “He was a classic and experienced dog groomer and pedophile.”

Butts is expected to be arraigned Friday morning.

Investigators said they do not plan to charge anyone else in this case.

“I’m upset about that and I want charges brought against those who knew him, who were associated with him and knew him, and who allowed him to be with the children – even though they knew he was “shouldn’t do that,” said another Harris cousin, Kewana Morton.