The nine-month search for Breasia Terrell has come to an end after police identified human remains found in DeWitt, Iowa.
The months-long search for missing 10-year-old Breasia Terrell came to a tragic end this week after police identified remains they said was that of the young girl.
Terrell was reported missing on July 10 and an Amber Alert was issued alerting the public that the girl's mother's ex-boyfriend, Henry Earl Dinkins, 47, was a person of interest, the Des Moines Register reported.
In an interview with NBC's Dateline, Aishia Lankford, the girl's mother, told the outlet that on the night of July 9, Terrell was staying with her 8-year-old half-brother, who lived with Dinkins and his girlfriend, who lived in Davenport.
Terrell had texted her mother before going to bed to say goodnight.
"That's the last time I heard from her," she said. In the weeks following her daughter's disappearance, Lankford thought her daughter was being held against her will.
Dinkins was arrested in connection with unrelated alleged sex offender registration violations, which he has pleaded not guilty to, according to ABC News. He not been charged in connection to the girl's disappearance or death.
"I was with [Dinkins] and then I found out about him. He was weird," Aisha Lankford told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier at the time of her disappearance, referencing his criminal history.
But, nearly nine months later, the mother's worst nightmare became a reality when the girl's remains were found on March 22 near DeWitt.
"We grieve alongside Breasia’s family and the community,” said Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski.
Her death is being investigated as a homicide Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski told reporters Wednesday. The girl's cause of death is unclear at this time.
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