Canine teams to conduct 4-day search for South Dakota girl

ROCKERVILLE — Seven canine teams from Colorado, Montana and Wyoming will be in South Dakota for a four-day search for a missing 9-year-old girl.

Serenity Dennard was last seen in February of 2019 near the Black Hills Children’s Home in Rockerville. Pennington County authorities said she ran away from the home on a cold and snowy day, in a mountainous and forested area of southwestern South Dakota.

The canine teams will be in South Dakota from Saturday through Tuesday looking for Serenity.

They will also search for 66-year-old Larry Genzlinger, of Howard. Genzlinger was last seen in October while elk hunting with his nephew near Sawmill Draw, Six Mile and Ditch Creek Roads.

Because of continued snow cover in the higher elevations, the search for Genzlinger stopped in October and resumed this month when the snow melted.

The search for Serenity has continued since she went missing, but changed to a recovery effort not long after her disappearance. Authorities said Serenity likely wouldn’t have survived if she was outside in subzero temperatures.