ACTIVE SEARCH SD - Serenity Dennard, 9, Children’s Home Society, Pennington County, 3 Feb 2019 #2

[jewelsmac]

All very interesting, thank you. Given the steep rocky terrain and the weather, it is hard to see how she could have gotten very far at all.
I know it was mentioned about the outside cameras not working, but it was warm the day before and when she ran it was still in the 20s so that is curious. And it may be the media cameras that were being referred to.
So they were in the gym for the purpose of going to another building?
It is a curious detail - they didn't seem to know right away that she went outside, but if the doors are alarmed, wouldn't she have set them off?

Your local knowledge is really helpful.

These are all the same questions I have. How did a nine-year-old, not dressed for the weather, in those conditions get so far ahead of the adults who ,according to posts here, noticed her missing right away. I’m assuming they didn’t call the police right away because they thought they could catch her maybe?

 

[JerseyGirl]

Authorities release new photo of missing 9-year-old girl

 

[ilovechili]

Wait, they were in the gym but they didn't have their coats. So they couldn't have been heading directly to another building from there. They would have had to go to where their coats were first.

Excellent point. Doesn't make much sense does it? To me it sounds more like she was coming in from going outside or getting ready to go outside. Boots, no coat, etc.

 

[SkipperKey3]

Excellent point. Doesn't make much sense does it? To me it sounds more like she was coming in from going outside or getting ready to go outside. Boots, no coat, etc.

Since it has been said that the gym didn't lead directly outside, but to a hallway, I toyed with the idea that that would be where the coats were. But if so, I would have thought Serenity would have grabbed hers before heading out. I just don't know. There's just so much we don't know. We don't know if some info has been mis-reported or misunderstood by MSM, or statements were taken out of context, or what. We have so little concrete facts to really go on.

 

[ilovechili]

Since it has been said that the gym didn't lead directly outside, but to a hallway, I toyed with the idea that that would be where the coats were. But if so, I would have thought Serenity would have grabbed hers before heading out. I just don't know. There's just so much we don't know. We don't know if some info has been mis-reported or misunderstood by MSM, or statements were taken out of context, or what. We have so little concrete facts to really go on.

Entirely agree. I think it is also the reason the thread is so quiet. There just are not many facts and those that there are just confuse. One of the clearest things never changed seems to be what she was wearing though. Winter boots (now heard black), a long sleeved gray sweatshirt with flowers on it and jeans right? Why just the boots as far as outdoor gear? I have wondered that from the beginning.

Would she not have left tracks? I know there was less snow at the time, perhaps none, but the ground would still be pretty crisp wouldn't it per what people say temps were that day.

I don't know, I agree though, it is very hard to say with what has maybe been misunderstood, misreported, etc. as to almost anything.

 

[sodakblackbird]

These are all the same questions I have. How did a nine-year-old, not dressed for the weather, in those conditions get so far ahead of the adults who ,according to posts here, noticed her missing right away. I’m assuming they didn’t call the police right away because they thought they could catch her maybe?

They have a set protocol. Two adults to escort between 4-6 kids.

One kid had already ran, and a staff member went after him. When Serenity ran, the protocol was for the remaining staff member to stay with the other kids and call for help.

I couldn't work there, my instinct would have been to haul my butt after the kid who was heading towards the road.

It's quite a ways from the buildings to the road, at least 300 feet.

There are tons of things that make no sense and I'm trying very hard to not let my own feelings towards the Home interfere

 

[sodakblackbird]

Entirely agree. I think it is also the reason the thread is so quiet. There just are not many facts and those that there are just confuse. One of the clearest things never changed seems to be what she was wearing though. Winter boots (now heard black), a long sleeved gray sweatshirt with flowers on it and jeans right? Why just the boots as far as outdoor gear? I have wondered that from the beginning.

Would she not have left tracks? I know there was less snow at the time, perhaps none, but the ground would still be pretty crisp wouldn't it per what people say temps were that day.

I don't know, I agree though, it is very hard to say with what has maybe been misunderstood, misreported, etc. as to almost anything.

The wind was blowing pretty hard that day, with fresh snow falling, so tracks may have been wiped out as fast as they were made.

 

[ilovechili]

The wind was blowing pretty hard that day, with fresh snow falling, so tracks may have been wiped out as fast as they were made.

Excellent point and never thought of that. I guess I was also thinking like as they got into the woods, more cover if she was seen heading a certain way through the trees as some reports have said or found cover, and even subsequent days if there was some way she survived. Just looking for some hope I guess, like we all are.

 

[SkipperKey3]

The wind was blowing pretty hard that day, with fresh snow falling, so tracks may have been wiped out as fast as they were made.

It had been quite warm the two days prior, so little to no snow for tracks. It was cold when she ran, but it had not yet begun to snow. It was windy. By the time LE got involved, the snow had started. It seems to have been just the perfect combination of bad conditions to prevent a good search.
At least that is the way I understand it.

 

[ilovechili]

They have a set protocol. Two adults to escort between 4-6 kids.

One kid had already ran, and a staff member went after him. When Serenity ran, the protocol was for the remaining staff member to stay with the other kids and call for help.

I couldn't work there, my instinct would have been to haul my butt after the kid who was heading towards the road.

It's quite a ways from the buildings to the road, at least 300 feet.

There are tons of things that make no sense and I'm trying very hard to not let my own feelings towards the Home interfere

Truly appreciate the info from your having knowledge of the surroundings and buildings. I agree, I think I would take off after a child as well and that it would be a very natural instinct in such a circumstance and be very hard not to.

Do you think there is any chance she was picked up some how, some way or reached someone can I ask? Or what traffic is or would be like around there?

 

[sodakblackbird]

Truly appreciate the info from your having knowledge of the surroundings and buildings. I agree, I think I would take off after a child as well and that it would be a very natural instinct in such a circumstance and be very hard not to.

Do you think there is any chance she was picked up some how, some way or reached someone can I ask? Or what traffic is or would be like around there?

There isn't a lot of traffic on that road. It's mostly local traffic, heading home or up to Custer State Park. On a cold Sunday, there wouldn't have been much traffic at all.

I do know that there was a couple out cutting wood who saw her, I'm not sure if it was up Teepee gulch or on the main road. They did go to the Home to report what they had seen.

 

[SkipperKey3]

There isn't a lot of traffic on that road. It's mostly local traffic, heading home or up to Custer State Park. On a cold Sunday, there wouldn't have been much traffic at all.

I do know that there was a couple out cutting wood who saw her, I'm not sure if it was up Teepee gulch or on the main road. They did go to the Home to report what they had seen.

I thought that it had been determined that the wood cutters never actually saw her, they only saw the searchers.
I do wonder where the wood cutters were. The location I heard was south a way. Foster Gulch? I don't think it is likely that Serenity purposefully headed south. The reports seem to indicate either north up S Rockerville Rd or west up into the hills, unless I am misinterpreting where they meant when they said she was seen going up into the hills.

 

[SkipperKey3]

Concerning the weather and search conditions and the possibility of tracks on the day Serenity went missing:

Weather on day girl went missing significantly hurt search efforts
(part of the article... )
The weather the day the girl went missing from a residential youth home in rural Pennington County significantly hampered efforts to find her.

When search and rescue personnel arrived in the early afternoon last Sunday to search for 9-year-old Serenity Dennard near the Black Hills Children's Home near Rockerville, there was little snow on the ground, said Willie Whelchel, chief deputy of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.

"There would have been no footprints in the snow because we didn't have any," he said. The snow began falling mid-afternoon, and would have covered up evidence of Dennard's trail, such as overturned leaves.

 

[Jackielee09]

Checking back to see if she was found. Looks like a no.

 

[human]

If she was seen by a cattle guard 15 mins later outside, hypothermia had to be setting in. She cannot last that long outside with no protective clothing.

 

[jewelsmac]

Not a judgment, not an accusation. What do we know about this Chilrens home?

 

[bradfordsleuth]

Forgive me if this was mentioned, but could the other child who ran have been a 'decoy' so that Serenity could run away and be picked up on the road ( a pre-planned escape) ?
Maybe by a well-meaning relative or family friend who felt she didn't belong there?
Surely they would have found her by now if she had succumbed to the cold as she wouldn't have gotten that far in the freezing temperatures!
Who visited her recently?
JMO

 

[PommyMommy]

Entirely agree. I think it is also the reason the thread is so quiet. There just are not many facts and those that there are just confuse. One of the clearest things never changed seems to be what she was wearing though. Winter boots (now heard black), a long sleeved gray sweatshirt with flowers on it and jeans right? Why just the boots as far as outdoor gear? I have wondered that from the beginning.

Would she not have left tracks? I know there was less snow at the time, perhaps none, but the ground would still be pretty crisp wouldn't it per what people say temps were that day.

I don't know, I agree though, it is very hard to say with what has maybe been misunderstood, misreported, etc. as to almost anything.

The wind was blowing pretty hard that day, with fresh snow falling, so tracks may have been wiped out as fast as they were made.

Weather on day girl went missing significantly hurt search efforts
When search and rescue personnel arrived in the early afternoon last Sunday to search for 9-year-old Serenity Dennard near the Black Hills Children's Home near Rockerville, there was little snow on the ground, said Willie Whelchel, chief deputy of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office.

"There would have been no footprints in the snow because we didn't have any," he said. The snow began falling mid-afternoon, and would have covered up evidence of Dennard's trail, such as overturned leaves.

"Quite frankly, the snow didn't help us with this," Whelchel said of the fresh snow that fell after Dennard went missing and throughout the week. "It makes it harder for the dogs, it makes it harder for ground folks to be searching obviously because it would be very easy to go right by something."

 

[PommyMommy]

There isn't a lot of traffic on that road. It's mostly local traffic, heading home or up to Custer State Park. On a cold Sunday, there wouldn't have been much traffic at all.

I do know that there was a couple out cutting wood who saw her, I'm not sure if it was up Teepee gulch or on the main road. They did go to the Home to report what they had seen.

I thought that it had been determined that the wood cutters never actually saw her, they only saw the searchers.
I do wonder where the wood cutters were. The location I heard was south a way. Foster Gulch? I don't think it is likely that Serenity purposefully headed south. The reports seem to indicate either north up S Rockerville Rd or west up into the hills, unless I am misinterpreting where they meant when they said she was seen going up into the hills.

The couple were cutting wood at Foster Gulch. They spoke with a staff member from the Children's Home but they did not see Serenity.

Weather on day girl went missing significantly hurt search efforts
The couple that the sheriff's office was initially looking for hadn't seen Dennard, but a staff member who was looking for her, Whelchel said.

Investigators seek couple that might have seen missing girl
The couple, according to the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, was cutting wood around Foster Gulch and South Rockerville Road. They spoke with Children’s Home staff Sunday around the same time that the girl ran away from the home.

 

[PommyMommy]

Not a judgment, not an accusation. What do we know about this Chilrens home?

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