Police release new details in case of missing teenager last seen exiting a Detroit bus in January

DETROIT – If missing Detroit 13-year-old Na'Ziyah Harris.

“We are prepared to make a statement on this case shortly,” Detroit Police Chief James White said Thursday during a meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners.

Detroit Police Commissioner Tamara Smith asked White for an update during the meeting, citing renewed interest and false information circulating on social media.

“This is not going to be the desired outcome that any of us want,” White said during the meeting. “And I have to stop here because the District Attorney is probably going to call me right now.”

Police filed an arrest warrant with the Wayne County District Attorney's Office on Thursday (August 15).

Progress in the investigation comes weeks after the death of Harris' father.

Smith, a family friend, said Harris' father died of heart failure in July.

“He was already sick, but this was beyond him,” Smith said. “Every day he was searching with all his might, trying to get attention and do whatever he could to bring his baby home.”

Meanwhile, numerous rumors were circulating on the Internet, prompting some community members to conduct unauthorized searches.

“I wouldn't say you should go into vacant homes and make things worse because you don't want to compromise the integrity of the case,” Smith said.

Police said Harris, a 13-year-old student at JE Clark Preparatory Academy in Detroit, was last seen on Jan. 9, 2024.

She got off a school bus at the corner of Cornwall Street and 3 Mile Drive, near Warren Avenue and Outer Drive on Detroit's east side.

The police conducted several searches, but she was never found.