SD SD - Serenity Dennard, 9, Children’s Home Society, Pennington County, 3 Feb 2019 #4

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Dylansmom08 said:
SERENITY STILL MISSING: One year later, S.D. girl's fate unknown despite extensive search and investigation | South Dakota News Watch

I'm just now hearing about this case but I really hope that she can be found she has to be out there somewhere I just wonder how far could she have gotten. I know they searched a massive area and I would have thought that some sign of her would have turned up somewhere in the searched areas.
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Unfortunately, from what we have been told, Serenity had found little secretive hiding places before, and was rather clever about it. If she did that this time, first to hide from searchers, then stayed there in an attempt to keep warm as the temperatures plummeted, there would be no external "signs" that would turn up until somebody happens to stumble upon (and check out) the niche / hiding place. However, if she opted to move as fast and as far as she could, rather than hide, that's different. I think she moved off rather quickly for awhile and then found a spot to hide away. I was hoping the expanding net and search ares with the help of the dogs would help, but so far, despite some reaction by dogs, her location is still unknown.

Those of us who have followed this case since the beginning (or nearly so) kept hoping that she would somehow turn up safely, even though that seemed unlikely. No such luck. I don't even know if there is any more planned searches for Serenity now, since it has been so long.

Somebody recalled another incident in the same area that occurred a number of years ago. A man went missing in that area, and despite extensive searches, he was not found. It wasn't until 5 years later that somebody stumbled upon him. Searches aren't easy under the best of circumstances, and the wild, rough terrain there make it especially difficult.
 
YaYa_521 said:
RBBM

I've said early on in this thread that I hoped searchers were looking higher up in the trees. I keep imagining little Serenity climbing up a tree into a little cubbyhole in an effort to hide from searchers and stay warm. She's a very smart, experienced little lady for her age.;) At her age, my brother and I were everywhere in the woods surrounding our home. I had camps and hideouts that :eek: scare me when I think of them in my adult years. I pray for her. I hope she ran to someone who thinks they're helping her by keeping her safe and happy. But I know...I know. :(
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Yes, up trees, in logs, in niches in rocks - all possibilities. She was apparently known to be good at finding difficult-to-locate, small hiding places. I think this is highly likely - she found some place that just wouldn't be seen by a cursory ground search.
 
SkipperKey3 said:
Unfortunately, from what we have been told, Serenity had found little secretive hiding places before, and was rather clever about it. If she did that this time, first to hide from searchers, then stayed there in an attempt to keep warm as the temperatures plummeted, there would be no external "signs" that would turn up until somebody happens to stumble upon (and check out) the niche / hiding place. However, if she opted to move as fast and as far as she could, rather than hide, that's different. I think she moved off rather quickly for awhile and then found a spot to hide away. I was hoping the expanding net and search ares with the help of the dogs would help, but so far, despite some reaction by dogs, her location is still unknown.

Those of us who have followed this case since the beginning (or nearly so) kept hoping that she would somehow turn up safely, even though that seemed unlikely. No such luck. I don't even know if there is any more planned searches for Serenity now, since it has been so long.

Somebody recalled another incident in the same area that occurred a number of years ago. A man went missing in that area, and despite extensive searches, he was not found. It wasn't until 5 years later that somebody stumbled upon him. Searches aren't easy under the best of circumstances, and the wild, rough terrain there make it especially difficult.
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Good post. Little ones sometimes hide from searchers when they hear their name being called. They don't want to get in trouble. I know of a few cases like that (happy endings however) but there's no MSM source so I will state it as my opinion and I believe children do this sometimes.
 
K9Enzo said:
Good post. Little ones sometimes hide from searchers when they hear their name being called. They don't want to get in trouble. I know of a few cases like that (happy endings however) but there's no MSM source so I will state it as my opinion and I believe children do this sometimes.
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bbm
Agreed. She left for whatever reason -- at least to be alone for a while, or she felt "crowded," as we all do sometimes -- and I'm sure she had done it before, but maybe not in an area such as she found herself when she took that walk.
I so hope she was picked-up/offered a ride by some loving and caring folks, and that they are loving and caring for her still. Yes, a big, big stretch considering the notoriety, searches, etc.
If not, her clever and hard-to-discover little niche became too-good a hiding place, and she went under the relaxing and no-more-worries long, long sleep. Bless her little heart.
And I think about her still-grieving family. SMH.
 
I still think that something different happened here. Something odd. I know about the weather, and the lack of cameras, the hiding places that someday may be found, the rugged terrain, but I think that some of the people that worked there also knew that there was not cameras. If I remember, the time frames and explanations of what transpired were fluid. Perhaps staff had lost a bit of control of the situation? Perhaps a staff member did find her and lost their temper? Perhaps someone DID happen upon her on the road? Something along these lines seems even more probable as the amount of time goes on without finding a trace of her.
 
Rural_PC said:
I still think that something different happened here. Something odd. I know about the weather, and the lack of cameras, the hiding places that someday may be found, the rugged terrain, but I think that some of the people that worked there also knew that there was not cameras. If I remember, the time frames and explanations of what transpired were fluid. Perhaps staff had lost a bit of control of the situation? Perhaps a staff member did find her and lost their temper? Perhaps someone DID happen upon her on the road? Something along these lines seems even more probable as the amount of time goes on without finding a trace of her.
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She was last seen walking up on the road by a visitor, not by an employee.
Maybe it's me, but to my way of thinking, it seems that while that remains a possibility, it seems LESS probable as time goes on without finding any trace of her.
We just have no way of knowing how far she may have gotten on foot, or if she might have tried to hide. They initially said that her motive was that she was trying to get away and get to her adoptive mother (not the current wife of her adoptive father), but I'm not sure what that was based on. Anyway, I don't think it would be that easy to find any trace of her if she decided to hide or find a niche somewhere to try to keep warm.
The fact is, we just don't know.
 
Rural_PC said:
I still think that something different happened here. Something odd. I know about the weather, and the lack of cameras, the hiding places that someday may be found, the rugged terrain, but I think that some of the people that worked there also knew that there was not cameras. If I remember, the time frames and explanations of what transpired were fluid. Perhaps staff had lost a bit of control of the situation? Perhaps a staff member did find her and lost their temper? Perhaps someone DID happen upon her on the road? Something along these lines seems even more probable as the amount of time goes on without finding a trace of her.
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The timeline did not make sense to me. I have worked in facilities like this one, and if a child gets out of sight, an employee goes to find the child or person. Immediately.

There were two employees on the shift, one stays at the facility with other clients, one goes looking. The one who is on site, notifies supervision, clinical staff, and police Immediately.

We never saw a complete timeline, but something seemed "off" to me. Like the staff had not noticed the child missing for a significant amount of time. Or something.
 
mickey2942 said:
The timeline did not make sense to me. I have worked in facilities like this one, and if a child gets out of sight, an employee goes to find the child or person. Immediately.

There were two employees on the shift, one stays at the facility with other clients, one goes looking. The one who is on site, notifies supervision, clinical staff, and police Immediately.

We never saw a complete timeline, but something seemed "off" to me. Like the staff had not noticed the child missing for a significant amount of time. Or something.
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She was noticed missing. They just handled it badly. There were two staff members with the kids, but one had gone off retrieving another child who had run, so the second couldn't just run immediately after Serenity and leave the other kids. After that, for the next 15 minutes or so, they did look, but made the mistake of assuming that she was still INSIDE the building. They did not immediately alert LE - probably because they have kids running this way and that all the time - but they should have when she didn't turn up within 15 minutes. Or at the very least, when they were told she was spotted outside - especially since it was a Sunday and I believe they were already short-staffed. Instead, they spent over an hour trying to find her themselves before alerting LE.
At that point, when Serenity was spotted outside, it was cold but not yet frigid. It would be an hour or two before the temperatures really dropped off.
Unfortunately, we don't have any way of knowing what Serenity's intent was from there - get as far away as possible, and move quickly if she heard anybody, or find a place to hide? Up a tree, in a log, in a drain pipe (there was one just a few yards under the road from where she was last spotted), in a niche in the rocks...
She was seen walking along the main road. If, as initial reports indicate, she wanted to get to her adoptive mother, I would have expected her to stay along the road. But the people who saw her proceeded to drive up and down the road looking for her, and never saw her. I don't believe they saw any other traffic either, but I'm not sure if I am remembering that correctly or not.
If this had happened 24 hours earlier, it would have been warm and she would have been in less danger. If this had happened 24 hours later, it was frigid and snowy, but there would have been tracks. But at the time it happened, it was cold enough for the ground to be hard but there was no snow yet. The weather definitely worked against her - and against those trying to find her.
 
SkipperKey3 said:
She was noticed missing. They just handled it badly. There were two staff members with the kids, but one had gone off retrieving another child who had run, so the second couldn't just run immediately after Serenity and leave the other kids. After that, for the next 15 minutes or so, they did look, but made the mistake of assuming that she was still INSIDE the building. They did not immediately alert LE - probably because they have kids running this way and that all the time - but they should have when she didn't turn up within 15 minutes. Or at the very least, when they were told she was spotted outside - especially since it was a Sunday and I believe they were already short-staffed. Instead, they spent over an hour trying to find her themselves before alerting LE.
At that point, when Serenity was spotted outside, it was cold but not yet frigid. It would be an hour or two before the temperatures really dropped off.
Unfortunately, we don't have any way of knowing what Serenity's intent was from there - get as far away as possible, and move quickly if she heard anybody, or find a place to hide? Up a tree, in a log, in a drain pipe (there was one just a few yards under the road from where she was last spotted), in a niche in the rocks...
She was seen walking along the main road. If, as initial reports indicate, she wanted to get to her adoptive mother, I would have expected her to stay along the road. But the people who saw her proceeded to drive up and down the road looking for her, and never saw her. I don't believe they saw any other traffic either, but I'm not sure if I am remembering that correctly or not.
If this had happened 24 hours earlier, it would have been warm and she would have been in less danger. If this had happened 24 hours later, it was frigid and snowy, but there would have been tracks. But at the time it happened, it was cold enough for the ground to be hard but there was no snow yet. The weather definitely worked against her - and against those trying to find her.
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That was a Fall snow storm, it was nice, then the temp dropped, and it was literally a blizzard for 3 or 4 days. That definitely didn't help. I always thought that maybe she went under a tree or bushes when the snow started. Who kniws?!
 
IMO, the whole timeline of events is just terrible, especially the response time to these events from the facility. Of course, they didn't ever anticipate THIS.

I just go back to LE must feel strongly that she is out there deceased in the area surrounding the facility. They have organized more official searches than I can think of for a missing person. IMO, they have been relentless with searching.
 
K9Enzo said:
IMO, the whole timeline of events is just terrible, especially the response time to these events from the facility. Of course, they didn't ever anticipate THIS.

I just go back to LE must feel strongly that she is out there deceased in the area surrounding the facility. They have organized more official searches than I can think of for a missing person. IMO, they have been relentless with searching.
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Good point.

But also this:
Head of Children's Home Society in Black Hills to retire by end of 2019
 
mickey2942 said:
That was a Fall snow storm, it was nice, then the temp dropped, and it was literally a blizzard for 3 or 4 days. That definitely didn't help. I always thought that maybe she went under a tree or bushes when the snow started. Who kniws?!
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I don’t understand what you mean by a “Fall snow storm?” It was February.
 
mickey2942 said:
Sorry, then it was Spring storm. I couldn't remember. But I remember how warm and nice it was that day. And then, boom, the temperature dropped 60 degrees or more. It was crazy. That happens here, fall and spring.
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I don't think it can be classified as either a Fall storm or a Spring storm. It was the middle of winter, the first weekend in February. Spring was still a couple months away in South Dakota. It had been pretty cold but the last few days had been unseasonably warm, almost spring-like. The day she went missing, however, the temps went into freefall, with snow and winds and temps around 0 degress by nightfall. At the time she ran, it was probably around freezing - slightly above perhaps, or slightly below. But within two hours the temps really started to plummet. And she didn't have on a coat of any kind. She may have been able to keep moving initially, perhaps even for up to two hours, but after that the cold would have really settled in. It got quite brutal that evening and stayed that way for days. It is because of the weather that some of us have speculated that she may well have tried to find a little hole or space somewhere to try to fend off the cold, someplace not readily noticeable from outside, someplace that offered a little relief from the wind.
 
Family members of Serenity Dennard hire a private investigator | KELOLAND.com

"Honestly, being realistic, the odds are not in our favor but we are going to take a look at it and see if there’s anything we can do,” Doug Kouns with Veracity IIR said.

Kouns works for Veracity IIR in Carmel, Indiana. It’s an organization made up of several retired FBI agents. He says the group has looked into four missing persons cases.

“We’re really just getting started in the research phase;..."
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Last edited:
Sept 2, 2020

13Serenity3.jpg


Never forget Serenity....

Family members of Serenity Dennard hire a private investigator | KELOLAND.com
 
https://www.sdnewswatch.org/stories/a-year-after-serenity-disappeared-broken-hearts-unable-to-heal/

Jan 29, 2020

In fact, the idea that Serenity has been gone for a year and yet nothing certain is known about her whereabouts is haunting to those who helped raise and care for her.

Serenity was 9 on Feb. 3, 2019, when she ran away from the Black Hills Children’s Home near Rockerville in western South Dakota. Witnesses saw her leave the facility, but quickly lost sight of her as she walked on a rural road.

Serenity, or any trace of her, has never been found despite an extensive search and investigation.

In this compilation of text and videos, South Dakota News Watch shares the stories of three of the people who were the closest to Serenity and are suffering the most over her continued absence.


Darcie Gentry, the adoptive mother of Serenity Dennard, talks about how Serenity's disappearance has affected her life and how she is holding out hope that even after a year since the girl went missing, that she might still be found safe.

[Darcie Gentry and her husband recently announced they hired PI Doug Kouns with Veracity IIR].


Chad Dennard, Serenity Dennard's adoptive father, shares his view on what happened to Serenity, discusses her bubbly personality and tells of how much he misses her. Serenity ran away from the Black Hills Children's Home treatment facility in South Dakota on Feb. 3, 2019 and has never been found. Chad Dennard and his wife, KaSandra Dennard, were Serenity's primary caregivers at the time of her disappearance.
 
New set of eyes looks at Serenity Dennard case

Sept 2, 2020

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - After talking to multiple private investigators, Serenity Dennard’s adoptive mother and stepfather hired an investigator from Veracity, a firm in Indiana. The same place where coincidently Serenity’s stepfather once lived.

More than a year and a half later and the whereabouts of Serenity Dennard are still up in the air despite the extensive search from local and surrounding states law enforcement.

That’s why the Gentrys’ want a new set of eyes on the case.

“We need someone who isn’t familiar with all of Serenity’s family, her friends. She has a very extensive family,” Darcie Gentry, Serenity’s adoptive mother, said.

Though the Gentrys made this decision together privately, Brian Gentry, Serenity’s stepfather, said Chad Dennard, Serenity’s adoptive father, has reached out to the private investigator and expects other family members to do so in the coming days.

“It’s not going to go cold,” Brian said. “We won’t allow that. We said that from the very beginning. Darcie and I did put this together after a lengthy conversation with the investigator that this was the right answer at this time.”

However, the private investigator comes with a hefty price tag starting at $2,500.

While the Gentrys are looking to the public for donations, past fundraisers have accumulated $1,900 so far.

As for the Black Hills Children’s Home in Rockerville, Darcie said she was just tired of being left with more questions than answers.

“We were just never able to even talk to anybody. You know we were never able to really learn anything from the workers or anybody up there so...,” Darcie said.

However, the idea of a lawsuit against the home is not on her radar right now.
 
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