“I can’t even begin to calculate the odds that someone who would be willing to violently abduct a child happened by on a rural western South Dakota road within the few minutes they had to do that and successfully abducted her,” Hartland said.Ĭadaver dogs searching for her have picked up scents, but it is unknown if the odors emanated from Serenity. Hartland and Sheriff Kevin Thom say it is highly unlikely that Serenity was taken by a stranger or someone driving by. “We just have no solid evidence thus far to suggest that this was an abduction or anything other than a girl who ran away from a facility and has yet to be found,” he said. The eyewitnesses lost sight of Serenity for only 3 to 5 minutes before trying to follow Serenity’s path.ĭeputy Jamin Hartland, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office lead detective on the case, said the investigation so far has shown no evidence of an abduction or other form of foul play. Two eyewitnesses who saw Serenity run away reported it and then searched for her. Sheriff’s officials say Serenity had only a 3-minute to 5-minute head start on the first searchers. But the on-call supervisor who advised employees on the scene to search longer on their own before calling 911 remains employed, as does the director of the home. Two people with direct physical oversight of Serenity at the time of her disappearance were fired after she ran away, according to Children’s Home Society Executive Director Michelle Lavallee.
The children’s home, run by the non-profit Children’s Home Society, was cited by state and federal regulators after Serenity’s disappearance for waiting 80 minutes to call 911, for having radios that were on different channels and for lacking planning and training in runaway prevention. 3 escape, according to Serenity’s adoptive father and his wife, who are her primary caretakers. But for reasons unexplained, the strict runaway-prevention effort was ended a day or two before her Feb. Serenity tried to run away one week before her final escape and was placed on a protocol of “arm’s length only” monitoring. Serenity was known to run away frequently from her family home in Sturgis, and runaway prevention was part of the reason for her placement and part of her treatment plan at Black Hills Children’s Home. Yet until Serenity or any evidence is found, her disappearance will remain a mystery. Pennington County authorities have not ruled nothing out, but their working theory is that Serenity ran into the woods, got lost and froze to death or died of hypothermia. Over the past year, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office has led an aggressive, two-pronged attempt to find Serenity - an investigative track that has sought to rule out foul play and search nationwide for Serenity and the search track that has engaged 1,200 trained personnel from more than 65 agencies using scent and cadaver dogs, aircraft and thermal devices to look for Serenity’s body or any evidence.
Though witnesses saw her run off, and a search began almost immediately, Serenity has never been seen again and no evidence of her death has been discovered. 3, 2019, when she ran away on a cold Sunday morning from the Black Hills Children’s Home, a residential youth treatment facility located near Rockerville in Pennington County. One year later, mystery still unsolved despite extensive search and investigationīy Bart Pfankuch, South Dakota News Watchĭespite a search by more than 1,200 people covering 4,500 miles of woodlands, and an investigation tracking down more than 220 leads and involving 465 interviews, Serenity Dennard remains missing and her fate remains a mystery.
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