Key facts
- Name: Serenity June Dennard
- Born: May 12, 2009, Sturgis, South Dakota
- Age at disappearance: 9
- Last seen: February 3, 2019, ~10:45 a.m.
- Location: Black Hills Children’s Home, near Rockerville, Pennington County, South Dakota
- Height / build: 9-year-old girl, small for her age
- Status: Still missing — Pennington County Sheriff’s Office open investigation
- Investigating agency: Pennington County Sheriff’s Office — (605) 394-6115
Super Bowl Sunday
At 10:45 on the morning of Sunday, February 3, 2019 — Super Bowl Sunday — nine-year-old Serenity Dennard ran out of the gymnasium at the Black Hills Children’s Home and into the trees. Staff chased her. They lost her.
Two witnesses saw her after that: walking north along rural Old Rockerville Road, a small figure in the cold. She was last seen by a woman dropping off a relative at the children’s home — about fifty yards north of the entrance, the last confirmed sighting. A grandmother and granddaughter in the area drove the road looking for her, looped back, and never saw her again.
Inside the facility, the response was unraveling. Staff were on three different radio frequencies, talking past each other. And the call to 911 — the call that starts every search — didn’t go out for 101 minutes.
By the time the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office took over, the temperature across western South Dakota was dropping toward subzero. Serenity wasn’t wearing a coat. What began as a rescue became, within days, a recovery effort. One of the largest search operations in South Dakota history — dozens of agencies, hundreds of searchers, dogs, aircraft, GPS-mapped grids across thousands of acres — found nothing. Not a mitten. Not a footprint that held. Nothing.
Who Serenity was
Serenity June Dennard was born May 12, 2009, in Sturgis. Her early life was instability itself: more than a dozen foster placements before Chad Dennard and Darcie Gentry fostered and then adopted her. She’d been described as having serious behavioral-health challenges rooted in early-childhood trauma — a child whose earliest bonds broke and who never quite learned to trust the new ones.
She had a history of running. Her adoptive father said she’d become adept at planning runaway attempts — and that she seemed to enjoy watching people search for her, treating it as a game. That’s why she’d been placed at the Black Hills Children’s Home, a residential treatment facility in a remote, wooded stretch of Pennington County: for structure, for help, for safety.
Her adoptive mother Darcie kept her bedroom ready for years. “Her bedroom is all set up for her, waiting for her to come home,” Gentry said in an interview. “Sometimes I just go in there and I cry. I lay down, I hold her unicorn, and I cuddle up in the blankets. It just completely rips your heart out.”
The investigation
Sheriff Kevin Thom’s office led a search that drew agencies from across South Dakota — Brown, Butte, Douglas, Hughes and Meade counties, police departments from Rapid City to Sioux Falls, the Civil Air Patrol, Wyoming search and rescue. Detectives interviewed every employee and former employee who’d had contact with Serenity — about 100 people — plus both sets of adoptive parents and her birth parents. None are considered suspects. They checked whether she’d contacted anyone outside the home by phone or computer before running. She hadn’t. By early 2021, investigators had pursued 275 leads and conducted 538 interviews; by 2023 the sheriff’s office said it had investigated 329 leads, with help from law enforcement agencies across the country (South Dakota News Watch). Sightings were reported from as far away as Las Vegas; none panned out.
Cadaver dogs picked up scents in the search area. Investigators couldn’t say whether the odors came from Serenity.
Captain Marty Hartland, who ran much of the investigation, has said he considers stranger abduction highly unlikely: the window was minutes, the road was traveled almost exclusively by locals in winter, and it was a frigid late morning on Super Bowl Sunday. “I can’t even begin to calculate the odds that someone who would be willing to violently abduct a child happened by on a rural western South Dakota road within the few minutes they had to do that and successfully abducted her,” he said.
Her father Chad has his own theory, and it shifts: “As far as what I think happened, it changes every day. But I think she’s out there; I truly don’t think somebody picked her up. I think she liked to run and she wouldn’t run very far, but she liked to see people looking for her. I think she watched people look for her and I think she went too far and got lost.”
In 2020, state Sen. Lynne DiSanto launched a public advocacy campaign — a website, Facebook page, and GoFundMe for reward money — that eventually curdled into a public social-media feud (reported by the Rapid City Journal).
Seven years on, Sheriff Thom’s line still stands: “Our goal has always been to bring Serenity home and so far, we haven’t been able to do that.”
Theories: what might have happened
Succumbed to the cold. The official leaning and the cruelest math: nine years old, no coat, subzero temperatures arriving that evening, rugged terrain. What undercuts it: one of the most intensive ground searches in state history covered the area for years and never found a trace — no clothing, no remains.
Abducted. The theory the family fears and investigators discount. The sighting window was minutes on an empty rural road; no vehicle was seen; no ransom, no witness, no evidence. Hartland’s statistical argument against it is strong — but “unlikely” is not “impossible,” and the absence of remains keeps the question alive.
Still alive. The hope her family voices — that someone took her in, that she’s out there. No credible sighting in seven years, no contact, no digital trace. Investigators found nothing to support it and have never stopped looking.
Have information?
Contact the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office: (605) 394-6115. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- May 12, 2009 — Serenity June Dennard is born in Sturgis, South Dakota.
- 2009–2018 — More than a dozen foster placements; adopted by Chad Dennard and Darcie Gentry.
- 2018 — Placed at the Black Hills Children’s Home for residential treatment.
- February 3, 2019, 10:45 a.m. — Runs from the facility gym; last seen on Old Rockerville Road.
- February 3, 2019 — 911 called 101 minutes later; massive multi-agency search begins.
- 2019 — Search transitions from rescue to recovery. By early 2021, investigators had pursued 275 leads and conducted 538 interviews; by 2023 the sheriff’s office said it had investigated 329 leads (South Dakota News Watch).
- 2020 — State Sen. Lynne DiSanto’s public advocacy campaign for the case (reported by the Rapid City Journal).
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Serenity Dennard still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Serenity Dennard has been missing for more than seven years. The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office investigation remains open.
Was Serenity Dennard ever found?
No. Despite one of the largest search operations in South Dakota history, no trace of Serenity has ever been found.
Why did it take 101 minutes to call 911?
The children’s home’s internal response was disorganized — staff were on three different radio frequencies — and leadership delayed calling emergency services for 101 minutes after Serenity ran. The delay has been heavily criticized.
How old would Serenity Dennard be today?
Born May 12, 2009, she would be 17 in 2026.
Was foul play suspected in Serenity Dennard’s disappearance?
Investigators have said stranger abduction is highly unlikely given the short window and remote location, and no family members or staff are considered suspects. The leading theory is that she succumbed to the elements — though no remains have ever been found.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information should contact the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office at (605) 394-6115.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Pennington County Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff Kevin Thom; Capt. Marty Hartland) — (605) 394-6115.
- News: South Dakota News Watch, “Serenity Still Missing: One Year Later” (2020); Associated Press (via Brookings Register, 2019); Rapid City Journal (via AP, Sen. DiSanto dispute, 2019).
- Reference: NamUs; FBI assistance noted in sheriff’s briefings.
- Media: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace (2019).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here.
Verification corrections (October 2026):
– BEFORE: last confirmed sighting attributed to “a grandmother and granddaughter” spotting her ~50 yards north of the entrance → AFTER: she was last seen by a woman dropping off a relative at the children’s home, about fifty yards north of the entrance (per the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office via Missing Persons Center); the grandmother and granddaughter drove the road searching but did not see her again (South Dakota News Watch).
– BEFORE: “They chased 224 leads across 36 states and Canada, with the FBI’s help — including scam sightings reported from Pakistan and Nigeria” → AFTER: “By early 2021, investigators had pursued 275 leads and conducted 538 interviews; by 2023 the sheriff’s office said it had investigated 329 leads, with help from law enforcement agencies across the country” (South Dakota News Watch). The 224-lead/Pakistan-Nigeria figures could not be verified from public sources and were removed.
– BEFORE: “She’d been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder” → AFTER: “She’d been described as having serious behavioral-health challenges rooted in early-childhood trauma.” The specific clinical diagnoses could not be verified from public sources.
– BEFORE: “the family hired private investigator Doug Kouns of Veracity IIR” (with quote) → REMOVED. The claim could not be verified from public sources.
– BEFORE: “a campaign that eventually curdled into a public social-media feud and a no-trespass order” → AFTER: “that eventually curdled into a public social-media feud.” The no-trespass order detail could not be independently verified and was removed.
– Slug and URL unchanged.
Last verified October 2026.