Car of missing minister found in Durham

Durham police said late Wednesday that they found the car of an Anglican priest last seen mid-afternoon Monday when he went to run errands.

Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said the red 2011 Hyundai Sonata was recovered in the 1800 block of Williamsburg Road, approximately 4.5 miles from Kent Torrey Hinkson's home on Fox Chase Lane in the Woodcroft Community.

Hinkson, Michael said, is still missing.

Family members and friends, who spent Wednesday searching for clues in the 71-year-old's disappearance, called the discovery a "big break" in the case.

"Anything that can help us find Kent and bring him home is a positive," family spokesman Brian Ellison said Thursday.

Jeline Hinkson said her husband of 48 years left around 3:30 p.m. Monday and that his last known whereabouts was at a bank about a half-mile from their home where he made a deposit.

"We really aren't sure where he went after that," she said.

The family was also able to trace his cellphone to a location near Hillsborough Road but found no sign of him there.

Kent Hinkson, a volunteer minister at All Saints Church in Durham, has no history of dementia or cognitive illness and has never disappeared, his family said.

He is white, has blue eyes, gray hair and a gray mustache and goatee and is about 5 feet 8 inches tall. He wears prescription glasses and may also be wearing a black leather hat, Durham police said.

Anyone with information about his disappearance or whereabouts is asked to call Durham police at 919-560-4440, extension 29335.