The first witness in the trial is Geoffrey Peiffer, a sergeant in the Davenport Police Department. He was one of the officers who responded to the report that Breasia was missing.
Dinkins is charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder.
A jury trial had been expected to start earlier this week in Cedar Rapids. The trial was moved from Scott County to the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids after the Iowa Supreme Court granted a change of venue April 22, 2022.
On March 22, 2021, two fishermen found human remains in a remote pond three miles north of DeWitt. The next day, investigators from the Division of Criminal Investigation finished removing the remains from the pond.
Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski confirmed on March 31, 2021, the remains were those of Breasia Terrell.
On Thursday, Peiffer testified that he was called to the Jersey Meadows apartment complex at 2744 E. 53rd Street after another officer responded to a report of a missing child on July 10, 2020.
Peiffer learned the missing child was Breasia, and she had been spending the night in apartment No. 8 with her brother, Dinkins and Dinkins' girlfriend. Dinkins is the father of Breasia's brother.
According to Peiffer, the first officer told him the case did not feel like a "typical missing kid incident." It became clear Breasia was gone from the apartment for a significant amount of time, Peiffer testified. Davenport police began canvassing the area, including unoccupied apartments and garages in the complex.
"This incident was clearly not like any other we had experienced, due to the lack of details," Peiffer told Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham.
This story will be updated.
Photos: Breasia Terrell’s Garden at Monroe Elementary School
From left, attorney Chad Frese, Henry Dinkins and attorney Joel Waters sit at the defense table during Dinkins' murder trial, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport.
Geoffrey Peiffer, a sergeant with Davenport Police Department, points to a map during his testimony in Henry Dinkins' murder trial, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport.