Na'Ziyah Harris disappearance, Chipotle guacamole shooting, mysterious gray wolf, and more top stories of 2024
DETROIT (FOX 2) - As 2024 comes to an end, we're taking a look back at some of the biggest stories of the year.
Here are the stories viewers cared about the most, and where ongoing cases stand heading into 2025:
Suspect charged in murder of Na'Ziyah Harris
Nearly a year ago, 13-year-old Na'Ziyah disappeared in Detroit. The teen was last seen getting off a school bus on Jan. 9, never to be seen again.
After months of searching, police finally arrested and charged a man in connection with her disappearance and death.
Jarvis Butts, 41, of Highland Park, was charged with first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and child sexually abusive material for the murder of Harris.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said evidence shows that Butts, who knew Harris's family members, allegedly groomed the girl starting in 2022. Harris was pregnant when she was killed, and Butts was allegedly the unborn child's father.
In addition to announcing charges in the Harris case in September, Worthy has also charged Butts with sexually abusing two other children who were under 13 at the time. Worthy said one of the victims, who is now 20, was allegedly abused between April 2012 and April 14, while the other victim, who is now 11, was abused from July 2015 until July 2017.
What's next?
According to records, Butts is due back in court in early 2025.
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Missing Na’Ziyah Harris: Man charged with murder, sexual assault of Detroit teen
More than nine months after Na'Ziyah Harris disappeared from Detroit, a suspect is facing charges for sexually assaulting and murdering the girl.
Mystery of gray wolf in SW Michigan
A hunter mistakenly shot and killed a gray wolf in southwest Michigan in January, an area where the animal hadn't been in more than 100 years.
The hunter thought they had shot a coyote in Calhoun County, but genetic testing confirmed it was a wolf.
"This is an unusual case, and the DNR is actively delving into the matter to learn more about this particular animal's origin," said Brian Roell, large carnivore specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "You have much better luck of getting struck by lightning than seeing one in Calhoun County again."
That doesn't mean there aren't wolves that live in the southern region - there have been examples of wolves traveling vast distances and being reported in the Lower Peninsula. The most recent sighting was in 2014 when biologists working with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians spotted a wolf on a trail camera.
There were other sightings in October 2004 in Presque Isle County and in track surveys in 2011 and 2015.
At least one of those wolves was collared and came from the Upper Peninsula. It's possible the wolf that was killed also came from there.
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Gray wolf shot by Michigan hunter in rare Lower Peninsula sighting for species
It's been a hundred years since a wolf has been seen this far south in Michigan. "You have much better luck of getting struck by lightning than seeing one in Calhoun County again," a biologist said.
James and Jennifer Crumbley sentenced
James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford High School shooter, were sentenced earlier this year in landmark cases.
The couple were charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter each, one count for each student their then-15-year-old son killed on Nov. 30, 2021.
Jennifer was found guilty by a jury in February, while another jury pool found James guilty in March. In April they were both sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. Te couple's son is also in prison after he was sentenced to life without parole in 2023.
What's next?
Currently, Jennifer is seeking to to appeal her conviction. Her attorney is also requesting that she be released from prison during the appeal process, saying that she "has committed no crime, has never harmed anyone, and is certainly not a flight risk."
According to court records, a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2025.
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Oxford High School shooter's mom Jennifer Crumbley wants out of prison
As Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the Oxford High School shooter, works to appeal her sentence, her attorney is demanding she be released from prison.
Artificial shorelines making lakes sick
Artifical shorelines are causing problems for Michigan's lakes.
"There are so many sicknesses that lakes get," said Craig Kivi, who lives on Portage Lake in Pinckney. "And I hate to use that term because people get all alarmed, but that's the truth," he said. "I don't know how else to say it."
Portage Lake, like hundreds of others in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, is surrounded by property. According to one 2012 estimate from the DNR, 91% of lakes in southern Michigan have varying forms of development. More than two-thirds had high levels of development.
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As a result, the delicate balance watersheds need in order to thrive has been disturbed - and the impacts are far-reaching. Fisheries have disappeared, and water quality has suffered - which can keep people out of the same lakes they live next to.
Kivi, who works in real estate and has sold some of the homes on Portage Lake, says homeowners want their waterfronts "to look like swimming pool lakes." An unobstructed view of the lake, a crisp blue surface, and nothing else.
The only problem is, a healthy lake looks nothing like a swimming pool.
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Michigan's artificial shorelines are making its lakes sick. Can they be healed?
Michigan's lakes have been severed from the landscape as the state's shorelines are increasingly developed. The consequences stretch beyond the beach.
Woman crashes through boat club, kills two children
On April 20, Marshella Chidester, 67, crashed through the Swan Boat Club in Monroe County, killing two children who were attending a birthday party.
Chidester was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury for the April 20 crash at the Swan Boat Club that killed 8-year-old Alanah Phillips and 5-year-old Zayn Phillips.
Her blood alcohol level was .18, more than double the legal limit in Michigan, according to blood test results read during a preliminary exam. Chidester was bound over for trial in June.
After the crash, Chidester told deputies that she had drunk some wine earlier in the day. She also said that she has seizures and takes medication for the condition.
"I thought I was driving up to the boat club, and evidently I was driving right into the building," she told the deputy while being questioned following the crash.
What's next?
Chidester is due in court for a motion hearing in January before her trial, which is scheduled to begin March 3, 2025.
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Swan Boat Club crash: Marshella Chidester's trial date set
The trial date for Marshella Chidester, the woman who slammed into a Monroe County boat club and killed two children while allegedly drunk, was set Friday morning.
Invasive hydrilla threatens state's water, economy
Hydrilla, one of the most feared invasive plants in the country, is in Michigan, and the state took the first steps toward eradicating it this year.
"It takes six to eight years to control hydrilla. That's why we're so nervous about this plant," said Bill Keiper, with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.
Sometimes called "one of the most invasive aquatic plant species in the world," hydrilla can spread quickly with ease, requires little resources to grow, and can spawn in most water bodies.
And once established, the aggressive plant spells certain doom for the native species in the rivers and lakes it lives in. Already, it's become a major problem in the states it lives in, causing environmental, economic, and ecological damage in most of the eastern U.S.
It can kill water habitats and interfere with fish populations. The dense mats it creates can disrupt recreation and create major headaches for those that live and enjoy life on the water.
Until 2023, Michigan had avoided the challenges that come with managing hydrilla.
Even with the disheartening news, Keiper considers the state fortunate.
"In reality, it could be way worse. At least it's in a small pond, that doesn't have huge public access," he said. "It's a very contained system."
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Invasive hydrilla in Michigan a major threat to state's water bodies and economy
It's considered one of the world's most invasive plants and officials are so worried about it's arrival they are digging up the ponds where it was found to eradicate it.
Guacamole dispute leads to shooting at Chiptole
An argument over guacamole at a Southfield Chipotle led to a customer shooting an employee in April.
Aaron Brown was charged after police say he pulled out a gun at the restaurant on Evergreen near Civic Center and shot a worker in the leg.
It all started after Brown got upset that he didn't get enough guacamole when he had asked for extra, police said.
"Mr. Brown then called the female Chipotle employee a derogatory name - the b word - which upset her understandably," Barren said.
Fellow employees took her to the back to try to calm her down, leaving the front counter unattended.
"Our suspect, Mr. Brown, who previously paid for his food items, began to proceed to go around the counter - and began to bag his own items and then he took a cup and filled it with guacamole," Southfield Police Chief Elvin Barren said.
A 21-year-old male employee tried to stop him, and a physical fight ensued. Then Brown — a licensed CPL holder with no prior criminal history, allegedly shot the employee in the leg.
What's next?
Brown was charged with discharging a firearm in a building causing injury, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, and two counts of felony firearm.
He pleaded no contest to the assault charge and one felony firearms count.
His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2025.
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'Poor decisions' led to Chipotle shooting over guacamole says Southfield police chief
"This happened right across the street from the police station, so what’s the nerve of that? And you think you’re going to get away with it?"
Fake crime stories gain traction
Two fabricated stories about crimes in Metro Detroit became so popular on social media this year that they had to be debunked, and subsequently led to a lot of traction.
The first story posted to TikTok in the spring, claimed that a man named Douglass Barnes killed a teen girl named Samantha McCaffery at her prom in Livonia. The video says the murder was revenge for Samantha's cop father, Mike McCaffery, killing Barnes's son several years ago.
The only thing? It didn't happen. The people involved in the bogus story aren't even real - they were AI-generated.
That story made its rounds on numerous social media websites, was picked up by AI-curated websites, and led to numerous people reaching out to FOX 2 questioning why the station wasn't covering it.
A few months later, another story elicited the same response. That story claimed an elderly woman shot a man in the parking lot of a Target store for taking a handicap parking spot that the suspect was headed to.
Like the prom murder, that story was also made up and included computer-generated images of the so-called suspects.
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Livonia prom revenge murder story is fake news, police say
A TikTok claiming that a man named Douglass Barnes murdered a girl named Samantha McCaffery at a prom at Livonia High School in Michigan is fake AI-generated news.