Katharina Buczek
On Super Bowl Sunday in 2019, Serenity Dennard ran away from a South Dakota children’s home and vanished. To this day, her case remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in the area.
At the time, 9-year-old Serenity was part of the inpatient program at the Black Hills Children’s Home, located at 24100 South Rockerville Road in Rapid City.
The facility provided therapy and schooling to kids who struggled with trauma, abuse, and mental and behavioral issues.
According to her primary parents, Serenity was reportedly dealing with behavioral problems due to the trauma that came along with being removed from her biological parents, as well as living with over 12 different foster families. Her stay at the home started in July 2018.
Serenity had actually run away from the children’s home once, one week prior to her disappearance. This led her to be placed under special monitoring, which concluded just before she vanished on February 3, 2019.
That day, Serenity ran away into the cold at about 10:45 a.m. A witness had been dropping a relative off at home and reportedly saw Serenity at 11:00 a.m. when she was heading north on South Rockerville Road.
The witness informed staff members inside the home and attempted to follow her. However, the witness lost Serenity because of the tree cover and terrain. This marked the last confirmed sighting of the 9-year-old.
Staff stated that Serenity left via the gym at the same time another child had run off within the home. The staff member who’d been watching the kids in the gym reportedly called for help as opposed to following Serenity outside and leaving the other children unattended.
Then, at 12:26 p.m., the police were contacted, and Serenity was reported missing.
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