Henry Dinkins, right, listens as Judge Henry Latham, left, reads his verdict in Dinkins’ murder and kidnapping trial (via Law&Crime Network). Inset: Breasia Terrell (via Davenport (Iowa) Police Department).
A sex offender accused of killing a 10-year-old girl whose remains weren’t found for months has been convicted of murder.
Henry Dinkins, 51, has been found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of Breasia Terrell. The little girl disappeared while in Dinkins’ custody in Iowa in July of 2020, and her remains were found the following year.
Breasia was the half-brother of Dinkins’ son, identified only as “D.L.” The children had been on an overnight stay at Dinkins’ apartment the night she was killed.
The little girl was last seen alive at Dinkins’ apartment in Davenport on July 10. Hours before she is believed to have been killed, she texted her mother, Aishia Lankford, to say goodnight.
Her remains were ultimately found on March 22, 2021, by fishermen near DeWitt, some 23 miles north of Davenport.
“The court finds beyond a reasonable doubt that Breasia was shot by the defendant and that she died as a result of being shot,” Judge Henry Latham said at the verdict hearing on Friday. The verdict came after a bench trial in August.
Rather than simply read the verdict, Latham said that due to the seriousness of the crime, it was appropriate for him to read his entire opinion.
As he recounted the facts of the case, the judge at times grew emotional. While recalling that Breasia’s half-brother, identified only as “D.L.,” provided “brave testimony” to investigators about his own father’s murder of his sibling, a choked-up Latham paused multiple times, and the hand holding the opinion the judge was reading was seen trembling slightly.
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Latham later said that D.L. was “instrumental” in solving his half-sister’s kidnapping and murder.
Dinkins sat still and emotionless as Latham declared him guilty of Breasia’s kidnapping and murder.
Applause could be heard after Latham finished reading his verdict and Dinkins was led out of the courtroom.
On Monday, Dinkins sent a three-page letter to the judge accusing the state of violating multiple Iowa court rules. He insisted that the state withheld evidence from his lawyers, and said prosecutors “used deception and sabotaged this whole case to fit their opinion of a theory.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Dinkins had been granted parole just months before Breasia was killed, having been released from prison ahead of schedule in March 2020.
In August 1990, when he was 17 years old, Dinkins pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse of a 5-year-old child. At the time of his arrest for Breasia’s murder, he was already in police custody, having been arrested for failing to register as a sex offender the same month Breasia disappeared.
Dinkins faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. Latham set sentencing for Oct. 11.
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