Preliminary exam in Jarvis Butts case: phone extractions, GPS mapping and forensic lab tests presented

A preliminary examination in the case People of the State of Michigan v. Jarvis Butts, in CTRM 234 at the 36th District Court, focused on evidence prosecutors say links Butts to the disappearance of 5-year‑old Naziah ("Neziah") Harris and to a string of investigative leads. Butts is charged with first‑degree premeditated murder, child sexual abuse of a minor and related offenses, and the court admitted multiple extraction reports, hotel records and forensic lab reports during the hearing.

Prosecutors introduced a Park West Motel receipt dated Jan. 9, 2024, that lists a checkout time of 12:30 p.m., room 69 and a phone number ending in 8719. Detective Lisa Jackson of the Detroit Police Department testified she collected a January ledger entry that listed the name Charles R. Butts and that the receipt was placed into evidence. Prosecutors moved to admit the item as People’s Exhibit 19; the court admitted it over a defense objection.

The court also admitted forensic extraction reports from phones and a tablet. Detective Sarah Markle, who performs phone extractions for the department, described the extraction process: “It is just making a copy connecting the phone, to the software program on a computer and make it a copy of anything that is inside,” she testified, and said extracted data are delivered in a reviewable format and placed on evidence. Markle identified extractions connected to numbers 313‑585‑8719 and another ending in 2510 and the court admitted the full extraction reports (People’s Exhibits 57, 43 and 45 among others).

Detectives and analysts testified that the phone and Google‑account returns contained account names and search activity prosecutors say are relevant to the investigation. A certified return for the Google account jarvisbutts82@gmail.com showed subscriber data (including the 8719 phone number) and search entries from December 2023 that included internet searches about medication abortion and related terms; prosecutors offered that return into evidence and the court admitted it.

Michigan State Police forensic scientist Rhiannon Green testified about body‑fluid testing on two clothing items recovered during searches at a river search site on 7 Mile and nearby locations. Green described multi‑step screening: alternate light screening (ALS) and infrared imaging to locate stains, presumptive blood testing (phenolphthalein/“pheno”) and confirmatory human blood testing (Hematrace). She reported that multiple stains on a black hoodie produced positive presumptive blood reactions and that three stains were Hematrace‑positive for human blood. Green said she selected two stronger Hematrace‑positive stains (identified in her notes as stains 20 and 28) and forwarded swabs from those stains to DNA analysis. She also tested a pink bodysuit and identified at least one small pheno‑positive area that she swabbed and sent for further testing. Green’s report and her testing photographs were admitted as People’s Exhibits 41, 44 and 64.

Forensic pathologist Omar Reyes — retained by the Wayne County prosecutor’s office to review medical records, not to perform an autopsy — told the court he reviewed medical records for the child and authored a report admitted as People’s Exhibit 42. The report’s last paragraph reads, in part, “the cause of death remains unknown,” language the defense objected to as assuming facts not in evidence; the court admitted the report and said the document can be given appropriate weight by the trier of fact.

Detective Sergeant Shannon Jones, the officer in charge of the missing‑persons/homicide response, described the investigation that followed reports that Naziah Harris was last seen with Butts on Jan. 9, 2024. Jones said investigators executed multiple search warrants at a Wilshire residence associated with Butts, at an auto shop on 9000 Conner and at a second residence associated to Butts’ acquaintances. Investigators recovered electronic devices (seized for extractions), firearms and, after a later community and law‑enforcement search of a river area at 7 Mile and adjacent properties, recovered a black hoodie, a pink jumpsuit and a pair of shoes. The recovered clothing items were submitted to the MSP lab for testing, Jones said. Jones also described coordinated land and water searches, use of cadaver dogs, GPS mapping of search areas and efforts to collect video before it was overwritten.

The defense asked about voluntariness of a recorded custodial interview of Butts conducted at Wayne County jail on May 31 and again on June 1, 2024. Prosecutors presented signed advice‑of‑rights forms (People’s Exhibit 26) and admitted audio and video recordings of those interviews (People’s Exhibits 27–30). The court admitted the recorded interviews and related forms after argument about whether re‑advisement was required before the second interview; the court found the defendant had been advised and the recordings were admitted for the preliminary examination.

The hearing included numerous admitted exhibits and repeated defense objections preserved on the record. After several witnesses and admitted exhibits, the court recessed for the day and scheduled further proceedings to resume at 10 a.m. the next day.

Why this matters: prosecutors presented a combination of physical evidence, laboratory testing and geolocation/phone records that they say link the defendant with items and movements under investigation in a case where no body has been recovered. Defense counsel preserved objections to portions of the record and to expert inferences; the judge admitted contested reports and recordings for the preliminary‑examination record.

The judge set the matter to continue; no trial date was set during the hearing.