Jailed sex offender “person of interest” in missing Davenport girl case

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KCRG) - A man being held in the Scott County Jail on a sex offender registry violation charge is a person of interest in the case of a missing 10-year-old Davenport girl, according to a motion filed in district court by his attorney on Monday afternoon.

As first reported by television station KWQC, Henry Earl Dinkins, 47, was arrested on Friday, July 10, and charged with second-offense sex offender registration violation, a class D felony. He was also charged with a probation violation.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Scott County District Court on Friday, a search warrant was executed at an apartment in the 2700 block of East 53rd Street. Items belonging to, and identifying of, Dinkins were found in the apartment, according to officers. A woman in the residence who said she was his girlfriend told officers that he had been living there for over a month. Police allege that Dinkins did not notify the Scott County Sheriff’s Office of the change in address, as required by sex offender registry rules.

Earlier that day, police say Breasia Terrell, 10, was last seen Friday morning in the 2700 block East 53rd Street in Davenport. The criminal complaint did not explicitly link the search warrant for the apartment where Dinkins was allegedly living in that neighborhood to the Terrell case.

However, a motion to withdraw as counsel for Dinkins by his court-appointed attorney, Russell A. Dircks, filed on Monday said that Dinkins is a “person of interest in matter of a missing minor Breasia Terrell.” The motion says that Dircks’ wife is a teacher who had Terrell in one of her classes, and adds that Dircks had received information that “would create a conflict of interest with Mr. Dinkins.”

A judge has not yet ruled on Dircks’ request as of Monday afternoon.

Terrell is 4 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 75 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. Davenport Police said she was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops. CrimeStoppers of the Quad Cities is offering a $3,500 cash reward for information that leads to law enforcement locating Terrell.