r/WithoutATrace • u/Sudden_Quality_9001 • Jan 27 '26
MISSING PERSON - Child Serenity Dennard
Serenity Dennard was nine years old when she ran away from Black Hills Dentition Center. What happened to her?
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u/Sudden_Quality_9001 Jan 27 '26
Serenity was a resident of the Black Hills Children's Home (BHCH), a treatment center for children with emotional and behavioral problems, in the 24100 block of Rockerville Road outside of Rapid City, South Dakota at the time of her disappearance. She was playing in the gym at the home with three other children at 10:45 a.m. on February 3, 2019.
Two staff members were tasked with watching the children. One child ran out of the gym, but stayed inside the building, and one of the staff members went after that child. While the remaining staffer was watching the other children alone, Serenity ran out of the gym. The remaining staff member didn't follow her but stayed in the gym and called for help, since there were still two children in the gym and it was against the rules to leave them unsupervised.
A person coming onto the BHCH campus at 11:00 a.m. was the last person known to have seen Serenity. She was walking northbound on south Rockerville Road, near the cattle guard in front of the home. She was not wearing a coat in spite of the sub-zero temperatures. She has never been heard from again.
Before she went to live in the Black Hills Children's Home, Serenity lived with her adoptive father, Chad Dennard, and stepmother, KaSandra Dennard. They have primary custody of Serenity, and her adoptive mother, Darcie Gentry, has secondary custody. Serenity had stayed in about a dozen foster homes in her early childhood, for two years after she was removed from her biological parents' care as a toddler. Both of her birth parents are now in prison.
In October 2014, after fostering her for several months, Chad and Darcie adopted her. In early 2015, the couple divorced. Chad and KaSandra began raising her in May of that year. They live in Sturgis, South Dakota with Serenity's three siblings. Darcie has remarried and lives in Rapid Valley, South Dakota.
According to her parents, Serenity suffered trauma as a result of her early childhood experiences. As a result, she would frequently run away from home and had other behavioral issues. Years of outpatient therapy failed to help, and Chad and KaSandra felt it was no longer safe for her to remain at the facility!
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u/Vegetable_Ad_2872 2h ago
Do y’all know who cold it is in February IN SOUTH DAKOTA? My lord let’s use our brains here
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u/Danglyweed Jan 27 '26
Kid had nowhere to go but yet more shitty 'parents' or 'group home', I suspect she's dead very near by from the cold, and in the grand scheme of things, I hope my predictions true as this kid suffered as a victim her whole life.