Overview
- Michigan corrections officials said Butts, 43, was found unresponsive Thursday at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center, and Michigan State Police are investigating the death as a suspected suicide pending autopsy results.
- Butts had been sentenced on March 12 to 35 to 60 years for second-degree murder in Na’Ziyah Harris’s killing, with additional 10 to 15 year terms for five sexual assault convictions to be served at the same time.
- The plea deal required him to disclose where Harris’s body could be found, and prosecutors say they are satisfied he provided truthful information, while Detroit police say the search continues and the remains have not been located.
- Harris, 13, disappeared in January 2024, and prosecutors cited texts, phone data, and searches about abortions and antifreeze as evidence of grooming and abuse, with investigators earlier finding clothing near the Rouge River where a source says he claimed he left her body.
- Egeler is a state intake center that processes newly sentenced inmates, and Butts’s in-custody death leaves Harris’s family still awaiting the recovery of her remains as investigators work to close both inquiries.