What Happened to Serenity Dennard?

On February 3rd, 2019, 9-year-old Serenity Dennard left the Black Hill’s Children’s Home and walked into the forest, never to be seen again.

Background:

Serenity had been placed in the children’s home due to her issues with frequent running away from her adoptive parents’ home in Sturgis, SD. Runaway prevention had been part of her treatment plan at the children’s home. Caretakers had even gone as far as to put her under “arm’s length only” surveillance for a while, though this apparently ended just before she went missing.

On the morning of Sunday, February 3, 2019, Serenity Dennard was spotted running away from the Black Hills Children's Home in Rockerville, South Dakota by a grandmother and her granddaughter who were dropping off another child at the home. The grandmother immediately alerted the staff at the children's home, while the granddaughter watched Serenity disappear into the woods. However, the staff at the children's home failed to take immediate action and waited nearly 90 minutes before contacting the authorities. According to the executive director of the children's home, the staff had decided to conduct a search of the buildings and grounds before calling 911. The staff members responsible for Serenity's care at the time of the incident claimed that they were busy with another child and did not take immediate action. As a result of this incident, both staff members were subsequently fired. 

The Search Begins:

After Serenity Dennard's disappearance from the Black Hills Children's Home on Sunday, February 3, 2019, an endangered alert was immediately issued. However, the search effort was hindered by a winter storm in the area, delaying the search until Wednesday and Thursday. It was reported that Serenity was not properly dressed for the cold weather when she went missing. On Friday, authorities deployed a team of 40 people, including search crews with specially trained dogs and a helicopter, to aid in the search for Serenity.

The dogs were used to track her scent while the helicopter assisted in the search from above. Despite the challenging weather conditions, the search teams were determined to find Serenity and bring her home safely.

The Search Continues:

By January 2020, the search covered 4,500 miles of rough terrain, led by more than 1,000 people from 60 different agencies. The police department also reported that by this time they had more than 220 leads exhausted and 465 interviews conducted. Cadaver dogs notably did pick up scents but found no remains. Unfortunately, in February 2021, the Pennington County Sheriff, Kevin Thom, called off the official search.

What happened to Serenity?:

The primary theory is that Serenity got lost in the woods and succumbed to hypothermia. However, this begs the question of how or why were cadaver dogs not able to find her.

Further information:

In August 2021, Serenity’s family hired an Indiana-based investigative firm to work the case.

Serenity is described as 4’9”, and just over 90 lbs. She has blonde hair. Her photo is included in the links below.

Questions:

If staff conducted a thorough grounds search as they claim, did they search extensively in the area described by the grandmother who last saw her? It seems to me like an adult would be able to walk much faster than a small child like Serenity. I would think they would have been able to find her.

Why didn’t cadaver dogs find her body if she did succumb to hypothermia? With as much ground as was covered by so many people, I would think that her body would be discovered especially because the winters in South Dakota have heavy snow so a body would be packed down into the ground.

Are there houses or roads nearby where she could have been abducted?

Sources:

Reddit

https://www.kotatv.com

https://heavy.com/news/serenity-dennard/