[chris]

Henry Earl Dinkins was convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the 2020 shooting death of 10-year-old Breasia Terrell near DeWitt, Iowa, and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole.

Breasia lived in Davenport, Iowa. Dinkins, who was 51 at the time of his trial, was the father of Breasia's 8-year-old half-brother, a former partner of the children's mother and a registered sex offender. On the night of July 9 into July 10, 2020, he arranged for his son to sleep at the Davenport apartment he shared with his girlfriend. Breasia accompanied her half-brother.

At about 3:30 a.m. on July 10, Dinkins left the apartment with Breasia as his girlfriend watched from the doorway. Surveillance video showed him buying gas, cigarettes and a lighter at a gas station while repeatedly looking back at his vehicle. By about 4:30 a.m., he was alone on a road near Kunau Implement in DeWitt, roughly 25 miles north of Davenport, where a passing witness helped pull his Chevrolet Impala from a ditch beside a pond. His phone was turned off when his girlfriend tried to reach him that morning. At 7:08 a.m., he bought two jugs of bleach at the Walmart in Clinton. At about 8 a.m., he told Breasia's mother that the girl was gone. She was reported missing to Davenport police that day, prompting a search involving volunteers and multiple agencies over the following months.

Dinkins appeared at the police station around noon on July 10. He did not admit involvement during the interview. He said he had searched for Breasia around the Quad Cities but could not identify on a map where he had looked. Investigators documented that he changed clothes several times that morning and avoided contact with officers for hours. His son later told investigators that he went with his father to buy bleach and described Dinkins pouring bleach near bushes at the pond and cleaning a knife. Dinkins was taken into custody within days on a sex offender registry violation and remained jailed as the investigation continued.

Fishermen found Breasia's remains on March 22, 2021, in the pond near DeWitt in rural Clinton County, covered by branches and foliage. She was still wearing the white 4XL T-shirt and the seashells in her hair that she had on when last seen. The autopsy determined that the manner of death was homicide and that she had been shot three times. A .38-caliber revolver and spent casings were recovered from the pond, while soil from Dinkins's vehicle matched soil from the pond area. Scott County prosecutors charged him in May 2021 with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

Dinkins waived a jury and received a bench trial before Scott County District Judge Henry Latham. Prosecutors argued that he sexually assaulted Breasia and shot her because he believed she would tell someone. Closing arguments were held on August 29, 2023, and Latham found him guilty of both charges on September 15, 2023. Both are Class A felonies in Iowa carrying mandatory life without parole. On October 11, 2023, Latham ordered the life terms to run consecutively, citing Dinkins's criminal history and lack of remorse. Dinkins appealed, arguing that the state had not proved either offense beyond a reasonable doubt and that the hours between 3:30 a.m. and 5:55 a.m. on July 10 were unaccounted for. The Iowa Court of Appeals rejected the argument and affirmed both convictions on July 2, 2025, in case number 23-1682. He is serving life without parole in the Iowa prison system.

The video is a police interview-room recording running about 78 minutes. It presents the interview itself and begins with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

[chris]

Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.