ACTIVE SEARCH SD - Serenity Dennard, 9, Children’s Home Society, Pennington County, 3 Feb 2019

[IceIce9]

I haven’t heard any mention of cameras outside, on the facility grounds.

It seems surprising to me that they wouldn’t have cameras. A place that has children that have been placed there by CPS, court order, domestic violence, or family dynamics would seem to be at a higher than usual risk of an unauthorized person attempting to cause a disruption or remove a child.

I realize that not all the children fall into one of those high risk catagories but some certainly would. If children have been placed there against the wishes of a parent or guardian it isn’t unreasonable to be proactive in case some sort of drama.

Not saying anything like that applies to Serenity, just that i would think cameras would be in place.

 

[Clareneko]

I'm so glad so many compassionate people are here, looking for her, and working together. I have so much hope and hopefully will be able to help this poor child.

 

[SkipperKey3]

I wonder if there are any cabins or shelters in the woods that she may have went into.
Even if they aren’t heated, she would have been warmer in one of those than being out in the elements.

IMO

I've been looking at terrain maps on Google Maps and I can't see like that anything anywhere close. Not that using those aerial shots are foolproof, of course. Hard to cover every inch of ground, even using those aerial shots.

 

[Monkey boy]

I haven’t heard any mention of cameras outside, on the facility grounds.

It seems surprising to me that they wouldn’t have cameras. A place that has children that have been placed there by CPS, court order, domestic violence, or family dynamics would seem to be at a higher than usual risk of an unauthorized person attempting to cause a disruption or remove a child.

I realize that not all the children fall into one of those high risk catagories but some certainly would. If children have been placed there against the wishes of a parent or guardian it isn’t unreasonable to be proactive in case some sort of drama.

Not saying anything like that applies to Serenity, just that i would think cameras would be in place.

I think I remember that early in the search they said outside cameras were not working because of the weather?

 

[Monkey boy]

Maybe another factor they should consider is that the stock show in rapid city ended on Sunday the day serenity disappeared.... People come from all over for the event...just hoping someone picked her up and she is safe

 

[IceIce9]

I think I remember that early in the search they said outside cameras were not working because of the weather?

Thanks, I hadn’t heard that.

 

[FruitSnack]

the Christmas pic got my tears flowing. dad has his arm stretched out and touching her shoulder. you can see the love he has for all kids kids.
this little girl needs to be in his arms again

 

[Steleheart]

The longer it takes to find her, if she is in the woods my biggest concern is that she burrowed under something with hypothermia. Will make her more difficult to find, but I have faith they will eventually. Hopefully soon.

When I was 14 and ran away, I hid in a snow bank when I heard people looking for me. I wonder if she did the same. Even if there wasn't snow on the ground, were there old snow banks still built up from previous snows?

Yes "Terminal Burrowing" or hiding from searchers, both very common. I hate to think about it but it is in fact a recovery mission.
Experienced people I'm sure.
Prayers for Serenity and Serenity for the family.

 

[Stunned]

I think I remember that early in the search they said outside cameras were not working because of the weather?

Then they should have had better cameras. I also know of many preschools that have nonfunctional cameras up too give parents a false sense of security.

 

[SkipperKey3]

the Christmas pic got my tears flowing. dad has his arm stretched out and touching her shoulder. you can see the love he has for all kids kids.
this little girl needs to be in his arms again

Where can that pic be found?

 

[MsFacetious]

I think I remember that early in the search they said outside cameras were not working because of the weather?

This was absolutely true of the NEWS cameras. They held a press conference but only got 6 minutes of it because the equipment stopped working from the cold.

I haven't heard any mention of other cameras though.

 

[LVatty10]

It just seems bizarre to me that she hasn’t been found. The passenger of the car saw her “walking” north on the road. If the adults came outside a few minutes later, she could not have gotten far!

I have an 8 almost 9 year old. So I’m just heartbroken.

Question: has the wood cutting couples story changed? I thought they saw serenity. Now they saw a staff member? May be the result of sloppy reporting but it’s a very important fact. Something doesn’t seem right. I know we cannot post the results of sleuthing the family. But I wonder who regularly visited Serenity. She lived with her dad. Any relationship with or visitors from moms side of the family? Wish we had a verified insider. I have more questions than I did a week ago.

Prayers for the searchers and the kiddos at the home who are surely missing their friend.

 

[LVatty10]

Is there a national park near CHS? Just recently watched the documentary about people who have seemingly vanished without a trace from parks. Sorry it’s on my mind now!

 

[FruitSnack]

Where can that pic be found?

it's on dads fb or moms. I don't recall. it's a beautiful family though, they all look so loved and always smiling

 

[ilovepierre]

It just seems bizarre to me that she hasn’t been found. The passenger of the car saw her “walking” north on the road. If the adults came outside a few minutes later, she could not have gotten far!

I have an 8 almost 9 year old. So I’m just heartbroken.

Question: has the wood cutting couples story changed? I thought they saw serenity. Now they saw a staff member? May be the result of sloppy reporting but it’s a very important fact. Something doesn’t seem right. I know we cannot post the results of sleuthing the family. But I wonder who regularly visited Serenity. She lived with her dad. Any relationship with or visitors from moms side of the family? Wish we had a verified insider. I have more questions than I did a week ago.

Prayers for the searchers and the kiddos at the home who are surely missing their friend.

I think it was just bad reporting in regards to the wood cutting couple.
Initial reports said they saw Serenity and then went to CHS to ask if there was a young child missing from the facility.
Then different news reports said the couple MAY HAVE SEEN Serenity and LE wanted to talk to the couple. I can’t remember if LE did in fact track the couple down and talk to them but it eventually turned out that the couple never saw Serenity at all.

AFAIK, the last person to actually see Serenity was the parent who was either dropping off or picking up their own child from CHS. The saw her by the cattle gaurd by the entrance. She tried tracking Serenity down but wasn’t able to find her.

IMO

 

[ilovepierre]

Is there a national park near CHS? Just recently watched the documentary about people who have seemingly vanished without a trace from parks. Sorry it’s on my mind now!

South Dakota (U.S. National Park Service)
This link has a list of National Parks in SD.
I don’t know if any of them are anywhere near CHS, though....
I’m not well versed in US geography

 

[AnnaGrace]

I can't get this sweet little girl off my mind. I check every hour or so for updates. I want so much to read she's been found safe in somebody's home where she's warm and well fed. I know this is a low likelihood, but I'm hoping for a miracle. Please let her be found soon.

 

[Confusion]

There's one thing that makes me wonder if someone picked her up, whether planned or not. Other than the fact that she seems to have disappeared so quickly, it seems like she may have been waiting for someone to come out and chase her/talk her into returning if she was only as far as the cattle guard after 15 minutes. If she was able to move quickly enough to completely disappear within a few minutes, she should have been able to move a lot farther than she was. I hate placing blame on the staff when I don't really know exactly what was going on, but it really seems to me that someone from inside should have gone outside (and seen her) before 15 minutes had passed - especially with that kind of weather. It also strikes me as odd that it was the visiting woman who was driving around looking for her after they were informed rather than staff. I really hope there are just gaps in the information we've received. MOO

 

[FruitSnack]

There's one thing that makes me wonder if someone picked her up, whether planned or not. Other than the fact that she seems to have disappeared so quickly, it seems like she may have been waiting for someone to come out and chase her/talk her into returning if she was only as far as the cattle guard after 15 minutes. If she was able to move quickly enough to completely disappear within a few minutes, she should have been able to move a lot farther than she was. I hate placing blame on the staff when I don't really know exactly what was going on, but it really seems to me that someone from inside should have gone outside (and seen her) before 15 minutes had passed - especially with that kind of weather. It also strikes me as odd that it was the visiting woman who was driving around looking for her after they were informed rather than staff. I really hope there are just gaps in the information we've received. MOO

i could see the staff not jumping into cars and looking. if they left in a vehicle that wasn't approved to their job, they could be facing huge lawsuit if they got in an accident and so forth.
crappy to think that lawsuit could keep a person from doing it but its what we created

 

[zecats]

Is there a national park near CHS? Just recently watched the documentary about people who have seemingly vanished without a trace from parks. Sorry it’s on my mind now!

Badlands NP is about an hour east. It's pretty isolated as National Parks go. Mostly a main road though with hiking trails and campground jus off the road the road. Then there is also Mount Rushmore, which is only 15-20 minutes away. And another NP - Wind Cave, less than an hour away from Rockerville. I'm not familiar with that one. All distances by automobile of course.

Wall is very popular tourist town as well, not far away. Not sure if any of this is helpful because I don't know how she would get to any of these places, unless she hitchhiked.