May 12th 2023, marks the 14th birthday of Serenity Dennard, whose sudden disappearance from the Black Hills Children's Home in February 2019 left countless questions waiting to be answered.

More than four years after her vanishing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the Pennington County Sheriff's Office have released new age-progressed images of Dennard in the hopes it will generate new leads in the investigation. Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller called the photo "another investigative tool" in the open and active investigation.

"We’re all watching Serenity grow up before our eyes through these images and it’s surreal,” said Angeline Hartmann, communications director at NCMEC. “At NCMEC, we know that our age progression images can be a catalyst in a missing child investigation, and we're hoping this will somehow generate fresh leads."

Dennard, then nine-years-old, ran away from the Children's Home in Rockerville around 10:45 a.m. Sunday, February 3, while playing inside the facility's gym. Dennard and three other children were being supervised by two staff members when one of the other children ran off inside the building. As a staffer ran after that child, Dennard ran outside. The remaining staff member called for help but decided to remain with the two other children rather than go after Dennard.

BHCH staff called 911 at 12:26 p.m. after searching the grounds. The delay prompted separate investigations by the Department of Social Services and Department of Health. Both reports said law enforcement should've been called as soon as staff lost sight of Dennard, with one report citing interviews with staffers who said the initial search was "disorganized."

Dennard was last seen by a woman dropping off a relative at the Children's Home, according to the sheriff's office at the time.

Chad and Kasandra Dennard, Serenity's primary parents at the time of the disappearance, previously told the Journal she had behavioral health problems stemming from the trauma of being removed from her biological parents and living with multiple foster families. They said they enrolled Serenity with the inpatient program at the Children's Home because years of outpatient therapy wasn't working well enough, and felt she was a risk to herself and others.

Weather at the time hampered the search. Cold weather and snowfall in the days following her disappearance led to intermittent pauses in the search effort and limited aerial searches. Hundreds of searchers walked miles in the harsh terrain around Rockerville and used dogs and planes when possible. Law enforcement said at the time they believed she would not have survived past Tuesday night if she'd been in the woods.

The search for Serenity Dennard was formally suspended in January 2021, nearly two years after she was last seen. The last physical search took place Jan. 13 of that year, according to then-Sheriff Kevin Thom. A release from the Pennington County Sheriff's Office stated, “Absent new information, the search for Serenity Dennard is being suspended. The investigation will remain open, and we encourage the public to report any new information or tips. Our collective thoughts and prayers remain with Serenity Dennard’s family.” Thom said at the time there was no evidence Serenity was abducted, and that the "highest probability" is that she was in the woods and simply unable to be located.

The search for Serenity Dennard garnered nationwide media attention, and the PCSO investigated more than 150 leads across 15 states. In Jan. 2021 when the search was formally suspended, Thom told the Journal it had included multiple searches of the Children's Home, nearly 1,600 personnel across 66 agencies, 220 K-9 searches, and more than 6,000 miles searched. More than 530 people had been interviewed, six search warrants were executed, and Dennard's family had been investigated.

At the time of her disappearance, Serenity Dennard was four-foot-seven-inches and weighed 96 lbs.

Source of the above update: https://rapidcityjournal.com/community/shed-be-14-authorities-release-new-age-progressed-images-of-serenity-dennard/article_14a1d41c-f0d8-11ed-89b2-1bcc52af4999.html