The Search for Serenity Dennard continues this weekend as weather conditions improve in the Black Hills. The multiagency search involves more than 800 people, 65 K-9 teams and seven aircraft.
The search will continue through Sunday and will involve foot patrols in conjunction with specialized K-9 units.
Helene Duhamel is the public information officer for the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office.
Duhamel says the search for Serenity has remained a top priority since she was reported missing in February.
She says the search was supposed to start Wednesday but hazardous conditions, caused by inclement weather have posed serious problems. She says the steep terrain and loose pine needles can be dangerous even in the best conditions.
“Weather has played a big role and has, at times, delayed us weeks. Searchers and dog teams all needed melting, they needed warmer conditions, and in this case, we needed some drier conditions,” says Duhamel.
Duhamel says despite delays, the investigation into Serenity’s disappearance has not stopped and the department has received hundreds of leads, conducted over 300 interviews and acted on six search warrants.
“We’re just heartbroken that we haven’t found Serenity. We continue on the investigative side as well, but we’re doing both fronts at all times and working very hard following all leads and trying to find Serenity Dennard,” says Duhamel.
Duhamel says agencies nationwide have supported the search effort and have reached out on social media for any information regarding Serenity.
Kevin Thom is the Sheriff for Pennington County. He says they have systematically started eliminating areas.
“In all of our searches we have GPS units on, so we can see where we’ve gone, and then – like today – we were going back and cleaning up some areas where we had some, what we call holes. Areas we didn’t have as much concentration as we’d like, so we went back and cleaned up some of those areas,” says Thom.
Thom says the K-9 teams will use information from ground searches to expand the search into other areas.