DETROIT – Charges may soon come in the case of missing Detroit 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris.
“We are prepared very soon to make an announcement on this case,” Detroit police Chief James White said Thursday during a Board of Police Commissioners meeting.
Detroit police Commissioner Tamara Smith asked White for an update during the meeting, citing a resurgence of interest and false information circulating on social media.
“It is not going to be the desired outcome that any of us want,” White said during the meeting. “And I have to stop there as Madame Prosecutor is going to probably start ringing my phone here in a minute.”
Police submitted a warrant request to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday (Aug. 15).
Progress in the investigation comes weeks after the passing of Harris’ father.
Smith, who is a family friend, said Harris’ father died in July of heart failure.
“He was already sick, but this took him over the edge,” Smith said. “With all the might in his body he was out every day searching, looking to bring awareness and do everything he could to bring his baby home.”
Meanwhile, a flurry of rumors has been circulating online, leading some community members to conduct unauthorized searches.
“I would not say you should be going in vacant houses and trespassing and making things worse because you don’t want to compromise the integrity of the case,” Smith said.
She got off a school bus at Cornwall Street and 3 Mile Drive, near Warren Avenue and Outer Drive on Detroit’s east side.
Police have executed several searches, but she’s never been found.