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

[borndem]

Snow is in the forecast again for Thursday. Predicted high of 22 and low of 15.

Searching for her seems more hopeless all the time. I thought for sure they would have found her by now or some trace of her.

I'm in NC (current temp 67 F), so those temps for October are darn near unbelievable to me. How long can someone who is outside overnight survive? Do we know what she was wearing when she left? On google, there doesn't look like many opportunities for shelter are nearby. Maybe a barn? Any type of store, 24-hr convenience store, McDonald's, Walmart or other business nearby where she could hide inside and sleep? Any type of bus or train station nearby?
It just sounds dire for her survival if she is outside somewhere. Just plain sad and scary.

 

[PommyMommy]

I'm in NC (current temp 67 F), so those temps for October are darn near unbelievable to me. How long can someone who is outside overnight survive? Do we know what she was wearing when she left? On google, there doesn't look like many opportunities for shelter are nearby. Maybe a barn? Any type of store, 24-hr convenience store, McDonald's, Walmart or other business nearby where she could hide inside and sleep? Any type of bus or train station nearby?
It just sounds dire for her survival if she is outside somewhere. Just plain sad and scary.

Serenity was wearing a long-sleeve gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans, and black snow boots.

There are no stores or businesses nearby and an alert went out to over 600 phone numbers in the area requesting residents to search their properties, sheds, outbuildings, etc. I know we identified some possibilities looking at maps but I don't remember now how many or how close they were. Someone else may recall.

No bus or train station either - the location of The Children's Home is in a pretty remote area.

It's tragic. It wasn't snowing when she ran away, but began a few hours later and she wouldn't have survived long in what she was wearing. It hurts to type that. MOO

 

[borndem]

Serenity was wearing a long-sleeve gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans, and black snow boots.

There are no stores or businesses nearby and an alert went out to over 600 phone numbers in the area requesting residents to search their properties, sheds, outbuildings, etc. I know we identified some possibilities looking at maps but I don't remember now how many or how close they were. Someone else may recall.

No bus or train station either - the location of The Children's Home is in a pretty remote area.

It's tragic. It wasn't snowing when she ran away, but began a few hours later and she wouldn't have survived long in what she was wearing. It hurts to type that. MOO

Many thanks for the info, @PommyMommy -- it's much as I thought -- I couldn't see anything close to the Home that resembled any type of safe place for her to hunker-down and be warm and safe. We can only hope that she had someone to rescue her from at least the weather, but that seems very unlikely.
This may be a tragedy that is unknown to everyone at this time. We can still hope and think positively, but it is difficult, isn't it?

 

[PommyMommy]

Many thanks for the info, @PommyMommy -- it's much as I thought -- I couldn't see anything close to the Home that resembled any type of safe place for her to hunker-down and be warm and safe. We can only hope that she had someone to rescue her from at least the weather, but that seems very unlikely.
This may be a tragedy that is unknown to everyone at this time. We can still hope and think positively, but it is difficult, isn't it?

It certainly is. Waiting, hoping, praying - rinse and repeat. MOO

 

[SandyQLS]

I have never believed the timeline or the story from the employees. Nor was I aware of any real time video that corroborated their story.

The weather is something else, for this time of year. We have already had 2 blizzards.

ITA. I'm glad someone finally said so...

Does anyone remember where the exact start point was for the dogs? I mean, did they allow the dogs to search around the campus, or did they start at the dogs at the street gate and the dogs followed her scent down the road? Or... did they start the dogs at the woods away from the campus altogether based on eyewitnesses?

 

[mickey2942]

ITA. I'm glad someone finally said so...

Does anyone remember where the exact start point was for the dogs? I mean, did they allow the dogs to search around the campus, or did they start at the dogs at the street gate and the dogs followed her scent down the road? Or... did they start the dogs at the woods away from the campus altogether based on eyewitnesses?

I don't know. Or the "credibility" of additional eyewitness accounts. I would only believe actual empirical evidence, such as a date and time stamped video.

 

[SkipperKey3]

ITA. I'm glad someone finally said so...

Does anyone remember where the exact start point was for the dogs? I mean, did they allow the dogs to search around the campus, or did they start at the dogs at the street gate and the dogs followed her scent down the road? Or... did they start the dogs at the woods away from the campus altogether based on eyewitnesses?

I don't think it has really been said definitely. It also depends on which dogs you mean - the initial tracking dogs are the ones having been used since spring, the cadaver dogs? Last I heard, the cadaver dogs were still getting scents, but there is no real way to zero in on a direction when that happens. But that was before the bad weather that has apparently settled in.

 

[SkipperKey3]

Serenity was wearing a long-sleeve gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans, and black snow boots.

There are no stores or businesses nearby and an alert went out to over 600 phone numbers in the area requesting residents to search their properties, sheds, outbuildings, etc. I know we identified some possibilities looking at maps but I don't remember now how many or how close they were. Someone else may recall.

No bus or train station either - the location of The Children's Home is in a pretty remote area.

It's tragic. It wasn't snowing when she ran away, but began a few hours later and she wouldn't have survived long in what she was wearing. It hurts to type that. MOO

No, it wasn't snowing when she ran off, which means it wasn't easy to track her. But the temps plummeted all day and it did start snowing later in the day with temps dipping way down to around zero degrees Fahrenheit. And she was not wearing a coat. That is why just two or three days later they said it had changed from a rescue attempt into a recovery attempt. But so far... she hasn't been located.

 

[flashy09]

Does anyone know what has happened to the scent the dogs were picking up? Have they brought the dogs inside the school?

What is the local wildlife? Could she have been carried away way out of the search radius by a wolf or mountain lion? Sorry for my ignorance if they are not even local, I am typing as I think!

I hope the RSO's (there are a few) in the nearby area that could use the main road were properly looked at.

This case just does not sit right with me and never has.

Could a drone be used to look for clothing over a greater area? This might be a good time of year with the grass dying/dead before snow is on the ground.

Where is this girl??? How did nobody follow her outside?? Do the doors not lock from the inside? Did nobody notice she had left until the visitors told someone they saw her by the road?

 

[borndem]

Current temp in Rapid City, SD is 43 degrees.
Is there any snow accumulation in Rapid City area now?

 

[MsGazette]

Still here...following along. Hoping for a miracle <3

 

[PayrollNerd]

Sweet little Serenity please send us a sign. You need to be home with your family.

 

[PommyMommy]

Current temp in Rapid City, SD is 43 degrees.
Is there any snow accumulation in Rapid City area now?

There's a few little patches of snow left but really, it's pretty clear. MOO

• Searches for continued over the weekend, through today and will pick up again tomorrow.
• They've had nine K-9s from around the region (CO, NM, MT, UT) and some ground searchers looking for Serenity Dennard and Larry Genzlinger.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=412920322597605

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

Sweet little Serenity please send us a sign. You need to be home with your family.

I think if she could she certainly would. Chances are though that she's not reading these posts.

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

I'm in NC (current temp 67 F), so those temps for October are darn near unbelievable to me. How long can someone who is outside overnight survive? Do we know what she was wearing when she left? On google, there doesn't look like many opportunities for shelter are nearby. Maybe a barn? Any type of store, 24-hr convenience store, McDonald's, Walmart or other business nearby where she could hide inside and sleep? Any type of bus or train station nearby?
It just sounds dire for her survival if she is outside somewhere. Just plain sad and scary.

Serenity has been missing since February - almost 9 months. Could she live outside, alone, for that long? That's very doubtful. While she may indeed have found a place to go inside to sleep, it's doubtful that a 9 year-old would possess the skills necessary to avoid leaving a massive trail of evidence behind her. I worked as a park ranger (hence my profile pic) and one of my main responsibilities was locating/rescuing lost hikers. Here in Illinois where the climate is harsh (not nearly as harsh as South Dakota) unless it was the heart of summer, most people who were lost were in bad shape even after a mere 10 hours in the elements. I spent my entire 14-hour shift outside, often either on foot or ATV, and I was trained and prepared (clothing, equipment) to deal with whatever nature threw at me, and there were times when even I was exhausted from being outside for so long (on those bitter-cold days especially). When it's cold like that we'd literally have a lack with nothing but high-energy foods and drinks to keep us going strong. A 9 year-old out in that kind of weather, well, it just does not seem survivable to me. I think that unless she was picked up she probably did not get very far. I would not hesitate to say that she probably did not make it through the first night; the weather there in the day she went missing was very, very cold - 38F as a high for a short time at around 4-5am; by Noon it dropped to around 14F. All day long the wind averaged 15MPH - certainly this added to the windchill. There was a little snow from about 4-5pm (it was heavy for a short time, however). On the 4th the wind was gusting to nearly 30mph overnight (the actual temperature was 0F), and by 8am they died down to 17mph, but the temperature was -5F. The temperature stayed around 0 for the entire day, but after around Noon the winds died down to about 7mph. The weather for the 5th and 6th was pretty much exactly the same, except there was some light snow on the 6th (with a period of heavy downfall during the day for a short time). The sunset during this period was around 5:07pm, and sunrise at about 7:10am. Each of these days was cloudy/overcast. The Moon was crescent, so at night without a flashlight or some form of illumination it would be difficult to see where she was going. To give you an idea, when I was out in this kind of weather my special 'extreme cold' jacket was warm to -30F, plus I had a heated vest, I had arctic gloves that had heated inserts, arctic boots used my the US military that kept my feet warm to -60F, heated socks, a wind-proof balaclava, arctic goggles, an ushanka to keep my head and ears warm even in frigid weather, weatherproof pants, arctic long underwear, my cold-weather uniform shirt, etc. I also had extra heating packs that I could use if I needed to. I also had a lot of redundant equipment (i.e., multiple light sources, extra batteries for my radio, etc). The article below shows a map of the searches that were done, and has the stats on these as well. It appears that more than one cadaver dog indicated on the scent of deceased human remains, but as they've said - this could be anyone. I suspect in that area where there is so much wildlife that bones would indeed be scattered - so if I were involved in that search I'd be looking for any clothing, shoes, etc.

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/01/authorities-hope-cadaver-scent-leads-missing-9-year-old-serenity-dennard/3646356002/

The below are from this article in the May 1, 2019 edition of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Search map - Red lines on a map of the Black Hills area show where teams have searched for Serenity Dennard since her disappearance in February, based on GPS data. Green lines show where K-9 units have searched. (Photo: Pennington County Sheriff's Office)

Teams are tracking miles of searched terrain around the Children's Home with GPS units to make sure all areas are covered. Almost 85 agencies have been involved in the search, five aircrafts have been used and almost 55 K-9 teams have searched for her, said Helene Duhamel, spokesperson for the sheriff's office

Authorities continue to search for Dennard and investigate her case, Thom said. More than six search warrants have been served, 375 interviews or contacts established and 115 leads followed, Duhamel said.

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

General map of the area around the Children's Home Society: Google Maps

Street view: Google Maps

 

[GoJacks]

General map of the area around the Children's Home Society: Google Maps

Street view: Google Maps

I actually used to live extremely close to this Children's Home for 2-3 years.. Right off Rockerville Rd. Drove past it couple times a week at least...used to ride my ATV's/Dirtbikes all over the area.

Just knowing the area, I can't imagine that a 9 year old could make it far enough to where they couldn't find her.

Haven't paid much attention to the case, I honestly had thought they had found her by now.

Has there been any talk of perhaps something else could have happened to her? (For what it's worth though, I have seen mountain lions in the area, maybe it's something where an animal was able to get ahold of the body).

 

[Seattle1]

I actually used to live extremely close to this Children's Home for 2-3 years.. Right off Rockerville Rd. Drove past it couple times a week at least...used to ride my ATV's/Dirtbikes all over the area.

Just knowing the area, I can't imagine that a 9 year old could make it far enough to where they couldn't find her.

Haven't paid much attention to the case, I honestly had thought they had found her by now.

Has there been any talk of perhaps something else could have happened to her? (For what it's worth though, I have seen mountain lions in the area, maybe it's something where an animal was able to get ahold of the body).

It's troubled me that searches haven't even found remnants of her clothes worn that day. (at least that I'm aware of).

 

[Ragnarok]

It's troubled me that searches haven't even found remnants of her clothes worn that day. (at least that I'm aware of).

Agreed. If an animal(s) got her some clothing items I think would of been found. Highly unlikely she would of survived long outside in that weather.

She was probably picked up by someone and it's anyone's guess where she is now. Whether alive or not is the question and until she is found remain hopeful Serenity is alive.