Serenity Dennard

What happened

Serenity June Dennard, 9, was playing in the gymnasium of the Black Hills Children’s Home near Rockerville, South Dakota, on the morning of February 3, 2019, when she ran outside into below-freezing cold without a coat. She was last seen wearing a long-sleeved gray t-shirt with flowers, a purple tank top, dark stone-washed blue jeans and black boots. According to the timeline documented by the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, she ran from the home at about 10:45 a.m., was last seen near the home at about 11:00 a.m., and a 911 call was placed at 12:26 p.m. Fresh snow covered traces of where she may have gone.

The search that followed was described by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as possibly the largest South Dakota has ever seen. According to the sheriff’s office, more than 1,500 personnel from 66 agencies took part in 220 search attempts and 220 K-9 searches, covering more than 6,000 miles of rugged, wooded terrain around the home. No trace of Serenity was found. The physical search was suspended on January 28, 2021, and the investigation has remained open since.

The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office says its working theory is that Serenity likely succumbed to the elements in the hills around the home, while emphasizing that nothing has been ruled out. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has age-progressed her photograph to 13, and, in a joint release with the sheriff’s office on her 14th birthday in May 2023, to 14. Serenity is still missing.