June 5, 2019 • 38 mins
9-year-old, Serenity Dennard, runs from a children's home and vanishes. As the search continues, questions remain about the day she went missing. How did she leave so easily, and why did it take so long to call 911?
Nancy talks with South Dakota State Senator, Lynne DiSanto, who is a leader in the search for Serenity.
Nancy's Expert Panel Also Weighs in:
Marc Klass: Founder, The KlassKids Foundation
Jeff Cortese: Former FBI supervisory special agent
Randall Kessler: Defense attorney
Dr. Ryan Fuller Clinical Psychologist
Leigh Egan Crime online investigative Reporter
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Authorities in Rockerville are searching
for a nine year old girl who went missing earlier today.
Nine year old Serenity Dinner was last spotted leaving the
Children's Home Society on South Rockerville Road around eleven twenty
this morning. Dinner. It is seven, is four to seven,
(00:27):
ninety pounds with blue eyes and shoulder length a dirty
blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a long sleeved
gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans and snow boots. Temperatures
are expected to drop below zero to night. If anyone
has any information regarding her whereabouts, please contact the Pinton
County Sheriff's Office at six oh five three nine four
(00:49):
six one one five. Friends at KOTATVS. That was Nick
Reagan with the breaking knees seven Nity Dinner missing the
gorgeous little girl in South Dakota. And we are now
learning that the original reports regarding the disappearance of nine
year old Serenity Dinner are not exactly correct. What, if anything,
(01:14):
does it mean? This as a search for the nine
year old girl goes on I Nancy Grays, this is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Straight out
to Mark Class, the founder of Class Kids Foundation. Mark.
So many aspects of this story don't fit together with me.
(01:35):
This little girl was in a children's home in South Dakota,
and I'm now learning that the staff there called nine
one one much later than they initially reported after Serenity
goes missing. Now does it mean anything, I'm not sure.
But whenever I find an inconsistency in the timeline and
(01:57):
there is a missing nine year old girl, I don't
like it, Mark Class, I don't like it at all. Well,
what it means, Dancy, is that the home was ill
prepared to deal with the emergency that they found themselves in.
They waited an out over an hour and forty minutes
before they notified law enforcement. And this is a little
girl who was practiced at running away. One of the
(02:20):
reasons she was in the home was because she is
a problematic child and has various emotional and personality issues,
and she was able to they're saying, she was almost
able to finesse her escape, and the response was totally,
incompletely inadequate. And the result is three months later, law
(02:43):
enforcement is scouring the area with multiple search teams and
multiple law enforcement agencies. I understood that people are at
the facility saw her running away, and if they saw her,
why could not retrieve her. Also, a couple on the road,
(03:04):
as I recall the facts, saw a young girl going
in the opposite direction. She was spotted. And I mean,
and I'm ignoring the elephant in the room, is why
she keep trying to run away? To start with? What
is causing this girl, this little tiny girl, to take
out in horrible weather conditions, to leave this facility. That's
(03:26):
my number two question. My number one question is where
is she to Mark Class, founder of Class Kids Foundation,
give me your understanding of how her departure went down. Well,
it's exactly as you said. She was in the gym with,
as I understand it, three other children and two supervisors.
(03:46):
One of the children ran, so the supervisor went after
that little girl. When I say run, I believe she
left the gym facility and was outside in the exposed
there and that when Serenity decided, or that's when Serenity
took the opportunity to do exactly the same thing, to
(04:08):
bolt and run away from the facility. The remaining supervisor
made the decision, as I understand it, to stay with
the other two children, who were in the gym and
did not follow after Serenity. And as you said, two
people saw Serenity heading north. I believe on the road
(04:29):
that she was never seen again. Mark Class Founder, Class
Kids Foundation, You're absolutely right to search. Now goes into
day two. Take a listen to Kota. A desperate search
continues in Pennington County. Search and rescue teams continue looking
for nine year old Serenity Denard, who ran from the
Black Hills Children's Home on Sunday. Now, in case you're
not familiar with the children's home, it's on South Rockerville Road,
(04:52):
between Rockerville and Keystone, in a fairly remote, mostly wooded area.
She was last seen late Sunday morning at the home
near Rockerville. The search and rescue teams took three dogs
and used handheld thermal imaging device to search for any
evidence of the girl. The search went until ten o'clock
Sunday night and started back up this morning around six.
(05:12):
They say more than sixty five people, four dogs, and
a Civil Air Patrol plane were searching the Rockerville area today.
Alexis de Ville explains how the weather affected the search
and how Dennard ran away from the hall. We just
learned deputies are now looking for a couple who may
have seen Dennard last A couple was cutting wood near
Foster Gulch and South Rockerville Road. They spoke with Children's
(05:33):
Home Society staff Sunday morning, just before Dennard was reported
missing to police. The couples described to be in the
late twenties or early thirties and driving a pickup truck.
About sixty five search and rescue members, some with dogs,
are scanning the Rockerville area, but the cold weather is
still affecting the search. Wow, so she was spotted by
(05:54):
passers by and this couple, she could be anywhere. Joining
me right now is a special guest South Dakota State
Senator Lynn DeSanto. Lynn, thank you so much for being
with us. Senator, we received your plea on Facebook. Tell
(06:15):
me how you became focused on Serenity Dinard. Thank you, Mancy.
I originally became involved when Serenity's biological family reached out
to me and said, we need help. Our loved one,
our relative is missing, and we're not sure that enough
is being done. And so they brought my attention to it,
(06:37):
and I started to make some phone calls, and I
realized that we had a very serious problem and someone
needed to take a closer look. Senator de Santo, could
you tell me why you believe Serenity kept running away
from the children's time, that she would brave sleet and
snow and horrific weather conditions to get away. Serenity had
(07:01):
had a very tumultuous childhood. She had been in multiple
foster homes, throwing up. Biological mother is incarcerated in prison,
biological father had been in and out of prison as well.
And so this is a child that came from a
very difficult background who then was adopted by some people
(07:22):
who ended up getting divorced. And this little girl really
got caught up in a lot of different problems of
adults in her life that were supposed to be taking
care of her and keeping an eye on her. And
so I think when you take that into consideration, you
have a child that has some emotional and behavioral issues
and running away and these types of behaviors are included
(07:45):
in that. I just can't help but wonder if she
was not threatened or deeply unhappy in some way, why
would she If she wasn't, why would she have run away?
And hearing her background down Senator makes me feel so
much worse for her. She has never had a chance
(08:10):
in life and if somebody picked her up in a car,
God in Heaven only knows what is happening to this
little child right now. Listen to our friend Alexis de Villa,
a KOTATV. Pennington County Search and Rescue Team leader Tammy
Stradel says, between the steep terrain and the ice build up,
(08:31):
the team was struggling to move around and find evidence.
The snow made it difficult for the crew to find
tracks and four dogs to pick up a cent Children's
Home Society Executive director Bill Colson says Dennard was the
last scene playing with three other children in the gym
when she ran out of the school and headed towards
the hills across the street. He says two staffers were
watching the children, but neither could catch her in time.
(08:54):
One child in one direction, and one of our staff
members that was with those children followed her, and then
Trinity went the other way, and another staff member could
pursue her because she had two other children to be responsible,
and she was the only staff remaining. Learning everything we
can about this circumstance, and you know if this were
(09:14):
to go on unresolved and she's not located, the investigation
will remain a priority until she is located. Crime Stories
(09:36):
with Nancy Grace. The search continues for missing nine year
old Serenity Dennard and Rockerville, who was lasting at the
Children's Home Society. Let's head to our Alexus to deal
alive near the ongoing search efforts. So alexis, do we
have any new information about Serenity. Pennington County Shares Office
(09:58):
is thanking the public for being able to find the
couple who was cutting wood. They believe they were the
last people to see Serenity Lenard. Now they know they've
the investagers have talked to them and found out a
little bit more details to understand a little bit more
of the timeline of what happened. Serenity was last seen
on Sunday morning at ten forty five, and they saw
her when she ran out of the facility across Rockerville
(10:20):
Road and up into the hills. Now they've even added
more people to the search and rescue team today. Yesterday
was sixty five. Today it's more than one hundred. Now.
Over here, I'm actually right beside the gaslight restaurant where
they're taking a little break to have their lunch, get
warmed up a little bit, and try to face the
cold once again. I've talked to a few of the
newbies who have come from are coming from box El.
(10:42):
They're telling me that they're not even really prepared for
this cold. Where they'd said they had the wrong shoes,
they didn't have enough layers, So this cold is really
something putting them behind. And it's still a big problem
with this search. They've also talked about that today they're
focusing about a one mile radius around in Rockerville. Are
so close to the Children's Home Society. They are checking
(11:03):
all the neighbors, are going through the hay piles, are
going woodpiles, asking people if they can look into that
to see if maybe Serenity might be hiding in there.
They are also asking the Sheriff's office because also asking
people of who hunt if they can check their game
cameras maybe there might be any type of footage there
that could be helpful to the search. Hearing our friends
at Kota, that's Kelly Schmidt and Alexis de Villa describing
(11:25):
the search third day for nine year old Serenity Denard
I don't understand how a child just nine years old
on foot could outpace searchers, hundreds of searchers, unless she
ended up in somebody's car, which is a very, very
(11:48):
bad thing to South Dakota State Senator Lynn De Santo Senator,
I'm trying to understand the thinking behind the search. We
hear that the searchers were not prepared for the elements,
the weather conditions, and I get it, really really tough
(12:10):
cold weather conditions. So how could this child get away
and they can't find her under these conditions unless she's
in somebody's car. What is the thinking now regarding how
Serenity managed to outpace the searchers. That's an excellent question,
(12:30):
and I think that is exactly what the problem is.
Is when you look at the facts of the case,
you have a little girl, no jacket, no boots, not
dressed at all for the cold, a storm coming in
in an area that is very mountainous, filled with pine
trees and difficult to train. You could be in the
(12:52):
best hiking boots and have excellent gear and have a
difficult time walking through this rain, and yet somehow the
story has been that she somehow got away and was
not found totally ill equipped. That doesn't make sense. And
so in my opinion, as well as many others, there's
(13:16):
a good possibility that serenity is not in the woods
and we need to be looking somewhere else, you know,
State Senator DeSanto. I want to just take a moment
and tell you something. People often ask me about why
I don't talk about politics, and I say, well, because
it makes me sick, and I don't like politicians. I
(13:38):
don't think they care about us. I think they're all lying.
You know what hearing? You be involved and care and
know the facts. You're not just b essing. You know
the facts, you know what happened, You're involved, you care.
(13:58):
It's really meaning a lot to us in the crime
fighting community because very often we feel like we're the
only ones that care. And to hear I hate to
even say politician, let me just a state senator be
this involved in a case really gives us renewed, renewed
(14:21):
strength to keep going. And I'm telling you Mark Class,
founder of Class Kids Foundation. Mark has lived through it.
He has walked the walk. He's just not talking to talk.
His daughter Polly was abducted and what he did to
try to bring Polly home is incredible, and what he
(14:44):
has lived through since her death is overwhelming. Mark Class,
I was I've been faulting the supervisor who just stayed
there with the two kids that were safe and sound
instead of running after the one that was getting out
of the facility. Something's not working for me with this
(15:05):
story that all of these rescuers, all of these searchers
by air, by land, by foot with dogs, they can't
find a nine year old little girl. The only thing
that makes me think it's somewhat true is that couple
who spotted her. I don't know that she's in the wood.
Smart class. First of all, Matthew, I'd like to agree
(15:27):
with everything that you said about the senator. You know,
I've done a million photo ops with politicians, and I
can count the ones that I really believe and trust.
On one hand, I think what we have to do
in this case is really look back, like they always
say in a missing child case, look back at the
last person that saw that child. And I don't necessarily
(15:48):
mean the people that were chopping wood, but the people
in the facility themselves. She was a difficult little girl,
there's no question about that, and she might have just
run somebody to the ground. Another thing they need to do.
And I'm not quite sure how populated South Dakota is
(16:08):
with surveillance cameras, but they need to check and probably
have at this point any surveillance cameras that will give
them a glimmer as to who might have been driving
on that road during this time frame, within an hour
or two of when this little girl disappeared. Because everything
you're saying is correct, the idea that she somehow has
(16:32):
been able to evade detection for this amount of time,
given the fact that multiple agencies have been looking for her,
defies credibility with me. Former FBI supervisory special Agent Jeff
Cortez Jeff, I mean, I hardly know where to start,
but I know something's not fitting together with me with
(16:53):
this story. Number one, Why would a supervisor leave two
children safe inside and not go after the one that's
leaving the facility? To me, that defies common sense. Yes,
the two may break out in a fight, Yes they
may get into mischief while you're gone. Of course they will. Okay,
that's just to be expected. But this is a life
(17:15):
threatening situation, So that's a very interesting decision. Then you've
got a delay over which they let me just say, euphemistically,
gave the wrong time. They called nine one one, and
it's really hard for me to accept a nine year
(17:35):
old girl can outsmart dogs and one hundred volunteers and
airplanes and the works. It's very difficult for me to
make sense. I agree with South Dakota State Senator Lenda
Santo No. I totally agree Nancy, And you can't help
but see the glaring issues right out of the gates.
(17:56):
I think if you had any one of those issues,
it's less problematic. In other words, if they chased her
right away, and that's why it took her took them
an hour and forty five minutes to call the police,
because they were running through the woods. Okay, I can,
I can. I can understand that. But to not chase
and not call and allow that time to lapse is
(18:19):
certainly an area that would would stand out to investigators.
You know, the time is of the essence and missing
persons cases, and losing that first hour and forty five
minutes is no small thing. Crime stories with Nancy Grace,
(18:56):
but gorgeous little girl in South Dakota, any dinner missing
to Randy Kessler for now, defense attorney, family law specialists,
the author of divorce Protect Yourself, your kids in your future.
You can find them at divorce protect dot com. Randy Kessler.
We heard South Dakota State Senator Lynda Santo say, this
(19:19):
little girl had been through so much, bounced from home
to home, taken in, actually adopted. Then the couple divorces.
I don't know how you somehow lose your children in
a divorce. I mean, what you just leave them at
the house with the dog and the doghouse and the
furniture you don't want. Anyway, somehow she ends up in
a children's home post divorce. That's your specialty, divorce. How
(19:42):
the heck did that happen? You know, It's not like
you bought a coffee maker at Target and then just
returned it because you didn't like it. Human beings with
the strangest creatures on earth. I mean, we see people
that have the reverse custody fight, No you take the kids,
No you take them. I want freedom. The kids are
ruined my life. It's crazy what people will do, but
it's me. How can that just roll off your tongue? Terrible?
(20:05):
When I think about the twins, Oh, I'd fight the
devil himself try to take the twins away from me.
Davy wouldn't even suggest it, No way. He wants to live. Well,
you're normal, and not everybody's normal, and there are all
sorts of Look, we're in an industry. Age of mental
health is so prevalent everywhere, mental health issues, mental dilemmas,
(20:28):
mental instability. It is crazy the things that I hear,
and usually I may be the first line of defense.
I actually hear people that sit in my office and
tell me, you know what. I know this sounds terrible,
but I don't want custody. And I take a gulp,
and I can either fire them and not let them
hire me, or I can try to fix it and
try to get some help and get a psychologist involved.
But you know, some people are beyond help. But I
(20:49):
don't understand how anybody would not say I gave birth
to this child, I'm responsible for the rest of my life.
That just it blows me away. But I do hear it,
and I do see it. Man, I don't feel that
way all. I don't feel like, oh, I'm responsible for
the twins your blessing. I feel like I can't wait
to pick him up. I can't wait to see him.
I can't wait for him to wake up. I feel
(21:11):
like I'm the lucky one. Doctor Ryan Fuller, we need
a shrink with me, Doctor Ryan Fuller, clinical psychologist, Executive
director of New York Behavioral Health and lecturer at NYU,
my old alma mater, Doctor Fuller, when State Senator Linda
Santo was describing what this little girl has been through,
(21:32):
why would that make her run away? I mean, in
my mind, it would make her want to cleave to
the home even more because she's never had a home
and now she's got one. According to what I've read,
the diagnosis that were mentioned were a reactive attachment disorder
which is associated Now wait wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait,
(21:52):
doctor Ryan Fuller, you are a shrink. Now you remember
you're talking to Kesther and I are just trial lawyers. Okay,
then you've got an FBI guy, you've got a state senator,
and you've got Mark Class and Lee Egan. We're not shrinks.
What did you just say? A react of what? So
it's reactive attachment disorder was one of the diagnosis, But
(22:15):
what is that It actually in fact touches on what
you're what you're raising, which is that the child might
have difficulty attaching and feeling close to um you know, adults,
custodial figures, parents, and things like that. And it's oftentimes
related to the kinds of tough situations that children oftentimes
(22:36):
put through foster care and you know, having issues with
you know, biological parents early on might have experienced and
so they don't form those stable attachments that you might
see and healthy families where a child has a sense
of security and warmth and predictability, that is where they're
getting from their their parents, where they feel that they're
they're safe, they're going to be cared for, they know
(22:57):
what to expect and things like that. And you know,
I can't speak to this particular child, but you know,
I can't speak to the nature of that kind of
a diagnosis, which would mean, you know, she may not
have felt attached to anyone particular adult person at the
home right and the other I think the other diagnosis
it was listed to the disruptive mood disregulation disorder, and
(23:18):
so that's going to be associated with issues around emotion regulation,
meaning that she's going to have intense negative emotions like
anger and other negative emotions. So you know that might
mean that basically that she's really unhappy, and so it
wouldn't be happy in that home and might think, you know,
if I go elsewhere, maybe I can find something better.
I just still find it impossible for a child to
(23:41):
run out without a coat, without anything on her really
except for her you know, regular clothes, into the cold,
into the snow, and then she out thoughts as all
the searchers, I want to go back to where you
start every case, the timeline and how I got s
root up at the get go. Take a listen to
(24:02):
kV and TV Stuart Huntington. The first hours had a
lot of moving parts and there were some conflicting early reports.
Here's what we know today. At ten forty five am Sunday,
Serenity was in the gym at the Black Hills Children's
Home with two staffers and three other kids. One kid
caused a disturbance and a staffer attended to that child.
(24:24):
Serenity then ran out of the building. The other staffer
stayed with the two other children. At eleven am, Serenity
is last seen walking near the home At twelve twenty
six pm and nine one one call goes out and
Pennington County Sheriff's deputy arrives at twelve forty six. By
one sixteen, several deputies are on scene and the decision
(24:45):
is made to bring in search and rescue. We reached
out repeatedly to the children's home today to ask about
the hour and a half between when they say she
disappeared and the call went out to nine one one.
No one would speak to us, but they did offer
this statement. Our hearts hold out hope for the safe
return of a wonderful little girl. We are grateful for
(25:05):
the efforts of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office and all
those who continue to search for serenity in these difficult
winter conditions. The staff the Sheriff's office had this to say.
They got things going on there, They got protocols and
stuff that they do. So I can't answer to all that,
But what I can tell you is is we responded
as quickly as we could once we got the information. Okay,
(25:30):
right there too, you Mark, Class Founder, Class Kids Foundation.
I've got so many problems with what I just heard. Well,
you know, it turns out that the home was working
off of a twenty year old plan. It didn't take
into account to the contingency of a little girl running away,
and they completely and totally failed in their response at
(25:52):
that hour and a half. That hour and a half
a lag time. Joining me right now, South Dakota State
Senator Lynn DeSanto, what does the home have to say, Senator, Well,
there's been a number of interesting things that have come
to light through this particular situation. The executive director has
announced recently that he is going to be leaving Children's
(26:14):
Home Society. It has also come to life that in fact,
the staff had radios that were supposed to be used
if there were this type of a situation. Unfortunately they
were on different channels and so they could not hear
each other, and so there was really no solid plan
(26:36):
or protocol in place. And I think that the home
is really going to have to make some changes. They
lost a child. They have a very important job keeping
children safe and they have failed at that and it
is just a tragedy all the way around. Yeah. The
(26:57):
other thing, South Dakota State Senator with me, alien to Santo,
who is raising the alarm to all of us regarding
Serenity Dinner, a nine year old little girl. These homes
are four children, many of them having been bounced around
(27:18):
from home to home. I mean, that's how you end
up in an orphanage. There's no nothing good leaves you
to an orphanage. Okay, You're not coming from a happy
home where your parents can't wait to pick you up
in the afternoon. It's not like that. And my point is, Senator,
that they need to be equipped for eventualities like this
(27:41):
like this to protect the child. State Senator to Santo, absolutely,
and I think it's pretty clear that that did not
happen in this situation. And you know, when you look
at Serenity, this is a little girl. You see a
little girl's face looking at you. This could be anyone's daughter,
(28:02):
and she deserved better than this, and she is important.
And that's why I appreciate so many people like you
getting involved in this case and caring, because it would
be easy, because of her past and because of where
she is, to not care. It would be easy for
people to disregard her as a troubled child. But this
(28:22):
is a little girl that is a troubled child, but
for very good reasons that are not her fault. Crime
(28:43):
stories with Nancy Grace moving ahead from that point, then
tell me you know day to day. Were you able
to work? I mean, what were you doing? This has
got to be a terrible time emotionally, I mean, don't
just go home and go on with your life. So
tell me what those following days, just how were you coping?
(29:06):
What were you doing? They were hell? Well, you know,
like I said, we wanted to stay out of their
way because we wanted them to be doing everything that
they can possibly be doing and not get in their way.
At the same time, our hearts just say, you know,
(29:27):
it was a constant up and down. We weren't working.
Brian does a lot of work from home and tried
to work, but he wasn't able to work. I just
I wasn't working at all. You were hearing State Senator
Lynda Santo speaking with Serenity's adoptive parents saying that then
(29:47):
the days after her disappearance, their lives have been hell.
They can't work. They also go on to state that
they thought Serenity was living with her biological dad. Now
this doesn't make any sense to me, joining me a
special guest, South Dakota State Senator Lynda Santo, she had
(30:09):
been in the home. How could they not know where
she was? So Nancy. The way that it worked out
is is that there was two people that adopted Serenity
and ended up getting divorced a year later, and both
then remarried other people. And at that time, the agreement
was that the adoptive father would have physical custody of
(30:31):
Serenity and the adoptive mother would have visitation and doing
every other weekend or some type of an arrangement like that.
At some point the communication broke down between these two
people and he actually placed her at children's home without
the knowledge of the adoptive mother. This woman was at
(30:53):
work one day and sees there's a missing child on
the news and looks up and it's her daughter. And
that's how she became aware that her ex husband had
placed Serenity at children's home. Okay, whoa, whoa wait right there,
State Senator to Santo, I believe everything that you just
(31:15):
told me in that I think that's what the adoptive
mother told you, Mark class what happened to every other weekend?
You know, Nancy, two little girls somehow outsmarted the entire
staff of this children's home, and the end result is
one of those little girls lives is very much in danger.
(31:35):
Now and I want a salute law enforcement because they
continue to go out into the wild and look for
this little girl. She's getting me attention now that she
deserved and did not receive for her entire life. Well
as usual, I have to agree with everything you just said.
You're right, and you know, cops and law enforcement always
(31:57):
get the bad rap when a cop or a sheriff
does something wrong, and they do things wrong, I get it,
But for the most part, this is who they are.
They're out there in the snow, in the wild, up
and down the side of mountains, trying to find this
little girl and they never get the credit. State Senator
to Santo, explain to me how the mom was she
(32:20):
not doing her visitation or had Sunity just been in
the home a day or two? I mean, how did
she not see her on the weekends like she was
supposed to. Well, there has just recently been a lawsuit
filed between these two parties, and she is claiming parental
alienation in her lawsuit that he was not responsive to
calls and that he was in fact breaking a court
(32:43):
order saying that she was to get visitation and he
was not allowing it. So that is going to be
hashed out in court here over the next couple of weeks. Okay,
so then we really don't know. She may have been
trying to see the daughter and was prevented from seeing
the daughter or somehow blocked from seeing the daughter. So
before I come down to you hard on her, I
(33:04):
don't know those facts yet, and they are not clear
to me. You're absolutely right. I don't know why the
adopted dad put her in this home. Somebody put her
in the home. I know that much. And now she's gone, Nancy,
go ahead. A little bit of a little bit of
insight that has been brought to light, as the adopted
father had recently remarried a woman, and there's reports that
(33:29):
there was some very difficult and strained relationships that were
occurring between Serenity and the new mother, the new wife,
and there actually had been reports made by Serenity of
some mistreatment to her by the new wife, and so
that certainly seems to be a factor in the mix
(33:51):
on why that adopted father made the decision to take
her to Children's home and place her there. I think
I would have placed any wife add on the street
before I would place a child in home. But I
don't know what he was thinking. Maybe he thought he
was doing the best thing for the child. I don't
know why the mother wasn't seeing her. All that aside,
(34:14):
I know that she's gone, and I know the search
is on. Take a listen to this. Yesday night, authorities
moved the search from a rescue to a recovery effort.
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office says if Serenity has been
outside this entire time, it's unlikely she survived. However, they
have not ruled out the possibility that she could still
(34:34):
be alive in a warm shelter or was picked up
by someone. More than one hundred people helped in the
search for Serenity di Nard on Tuesday, but now only
people from the Paignton County Sheriff's Office remain in the area.
We still have deputies up there, we still are manning
our command post, but as far as ground search people
(34:55):
that are back in the woods, we don't have them
Folks right now doing that. We suspended that at approximately
four or five o'clock yesterday. The Sheriff's office says it's
still trying to figure out all the details of what
happened the morning Serenity disappeared. We have five investigators that
are assigned to this that this is all they're doing,
(35:16):
is working every lead, every possibility. Again, they continue to
interview staff and other children in the home and family
and neighbors, anybody that might have possibly been on that road.
Hearing our Free Kota's Alexia de Villa of the search
is on for this little girl. To Jeff Gretz, a
(35:36):
former FBI supervisory special agent, what should the search be now,
because I've never been convinced she was in those still
in those woods, you know, I think in terms of
what the investigators are going to be focusing on now,
it's going to be you know, a lot of what
you're doing keeping this story in the news, tickle the
complaint line, so to speak, putting our photo out there,
(36:00):
covering multiple avenues, one obviously searching the woods and continuing
to search, while at the same time chasing down other leads,
you know, identifying sex offenders in the area that may
have a propensity towards young children, interviewing, interviewing all of them,
exhausting those leads, answering any answered questions to date related
(36:22):
to the parents, the children's center, local and regional sex
offenders locking down and identifying any CCTV in the area.
You know, I think one of the biggest takeaways from
this story is that, you know, emergency preparedness has has
to be more than words on a page. Policies, procedures.
They need to be updated reviewed, staff need to train,
(36:46):
they need to rehearse. This stuff has to stay up
to date so that situations like this don't happen in
the future. Man, you're telling it, and I guarantee you
South Dakota State Center to LANDA. Santo is all over
that Mark Class Founder, Class Kids Foundation. What now? What
should they be doing? This is your specialty. If I
can add absolutely nothing to what the special agent just said,
(37:07):
he completely covered the next steps, the steps that have
been taken in the next steps. And let's just hope
law enforcement is able to somehow find this little girl
and that maybe the public can stay vigilant. Somebody must
know something, somebody might know something, and hopefully they'll come
forward in this case can be resolved. Nancy Joehead, if
(37:27):
you know Warren Jeffs, he is the polygamous fact that
you know was arrested for marrying off twelve and thirteen
year old little girls. You know, this little girl is
missing within the vicinity of that place, and I would
like to see that looked at further as an angle.
And so far they've been told, I've been told they've
(37:48):
been blocked. So this is a very unusual situation. We
stand by as just as unfolds and the search for
nine year old Serenity goes on. If you have information
on Serenity, please dial six zero five three nine four
six one one five repeat six zero five three nine
(38:11):
four six one one five Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off,
goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Authorities in Rockerville are searching
for a nine year old girl who went missing earlier today.
Nine year old Serenity Dinner was last spotted leaving the
Children's Home Society on South Rockerville Road around eleven twenty
this morning. Dinner. It is seven, is four to seven,
(00:27):
ninety pounds with blue eyes and shoulder length a dirty
blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a long sleeved
gray shirt with flowers, blue jeans and snow boots. Temperatures
are expected to drop below zero to night. If anyone
has any information regarding her whereabouts, please contact the Pinton
County Sheriff's Office at six oh five three nine four
(00:49):
six one one five. Friends at KOTATVS. That was Nick
Reagan with the breaking knees seven Nity Dinner missing the
gorgeous little girl in South Dakota. And we are now
learning that the original reports regarding the disappearance of nine
year old Serenity Dinner are not exactly correct. What, if anything,
(01:14):
does it mean? This as a search for the nine
year old girl goes on I Nancy Grays, this is
Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Straight out
to Mark Class, the founder of Class Kids Foundation. Mark.
So many aspects of this story don't fit together with me.
(01:35):
This little girl was in a children's home in South Dakota,
and I'm now learning that the staff there called nine
one one much later than they initially reported after Serenity
goes missing. Now does it mean anything, I'm not sure.
But whenever I find an inconsistency in the timeline and
(01:57):
there is a missing nine year old girl, I don't
like it, Mark Class, I don't like it at all. Well,
what it means, Dancy, is that the home was ill
prepared to deal with the emergency that they found themselves in.
They waited an out over an hour and forty minutes
before they notified law enforcement. And this is a little
girl who was practiced at running away. One of the
(02:20):
reasons she was in the home was because she is
a problematic child and has various emotional and personality issues,
and she was able to they're saying, she was almost
able to finesse her escape, and the response was totally,
incompletely inadequate. And the result is three months later, law
(02:43):
enforcement is scouring the area with multiple search teams and
multiple law enforcement agencies. I understood that people are at
the facility saw her running away, and if they saw her,
why could not retrieve her. Also, a couple on the road,
(03:04):
as I recall the facts, saw a young girl going
in the opposite direction. She was spotted. And I mean,
and I'm ignoring the elephant in the room, is why
she keep trying to run away? To start with? What
is causing this girl, this little tiny girl, to take
out in horrible weather conditions, to leave this facility. That's
(03:26):
my number two question. My number one question is where
is she to Mark Class, founder of Class Kids Foundation,
give me your understanding of how her departure went down. Well,
it's exactly as you said. She was in the gym with,
as I understand it, three other children and two supervisors.
(03:46):
One of the children ran, so the supervisor went after
that little girl. When I say run, I believe she
left the gym facility and was outside in the exposed
there and that when Serenity decided, or that's when Serenity
took the opportunity to do exactly the same thing, to
(04:08):
bolt and run away from the facility. The remaining supervisor
made the decision, as I understand it, to stay with
the other two children, who were in the gym and
did not follow after Serenity. And as you said, two
people saw Serenity heading north. I believe on the road
(04:29):
that she was never seen again. Mark Class Founder, Class
Kids Foundation, You're absolutely right to search. Now goes into
day two. Take a listen to Kota. A desperate search
continues in Pennington County. Search and rescue teams continue looking
for nine year old Serenity Denard, who ran from the
Black Hills Children's Home on Sunday. Now, in case you're
not familiar with the children's home, it's on South Rockerville Road,
(04:52):
between Rockerville and Keystone, in a fairly remote, mostly wooded area.
She was last seen late Sunday morning at the home
near Rockerville. The search and rescue teams took three dogs
and used handheld thermal imaging device to search for any
evidence of the girl. The search went until ten o'clock
Sunday night and started back up this morning around six.
(05:12):
They say more than sixty five people, four dogs, and
a Civil Air Patrol plane were searching the Rockerville area today.
Alexis de Ville explains how the weather affected the search
and how Dennard ran away from the hall. We just
learned deputies are now looking for a couple who may
have seen Dennard last A couple was cutting wood near
Foster Gulch and South Rockerville Road. They spoke with Children's
(05:33):
Home Society staff Sunday morning, just before Dennard was reported
missing to police. The couples described to be in the
late twenties or early thirties and driving a pickup truck.
About sixty five search and rescue members, some with dogs,
are scanning the Rockerville area, but the cold weather is
still affecting the search. Wow, so she was spotted by
(05:54):
passers by and this couple, she could be anywhere. Joining
me right now is a special guest South Dakota State
Senator Lynn DeSanto. Lynn, thank you so much for being
with us. Senator, we received your plea on Facebook. Tell
(06:15):
me how you became focused on Serenity Dinard. Thank you, Mancy.
I originally became involved when Serenity's biological family reached out
to me and said, we need help. Our loved one,
our relative is missing, and we're not sure that enough
is being done. And so they brought my attention to it,
(06:37):
and I started to make some phone calls, and I
realized that we had a very serious problem and someone
needed to take a closer look. Senator de Santo, could
you tell me why you believe Serenity kept running away
from the children's time, that she would brave sleet and
snow and horrific weather conditions to get away. Serenity had
(07:01):
had a very tumultuous childhood. She had been in multiple
foster homes, throwing up. Biological mother is incarcerated in prison,
biological father had been in and out of prison as well.
And so this is a child that came from a
very difficult background who then was adopted by some people
(07:22):
who ended up getting divorced. And this little girl really
got caught up in a lot of different problems of
adults in her life that were supposed to be taking
care of her and keeping an eye on her. And
so I think when you take that into consideration, you
have a child that has some emotional and behavioral issues
and running away and these types of behaviors are included
(07:45):
in that. I just can't help but wonder if she
was not threatened or deeply unhappy in some way, why
would she If she wasn't, why would she have run away?
And hearing her background down Senator makes me feel so
much worse for her. She has never had a chance
(08:10):
in life and if somebody picked her up in a car,
God in Heaven only knows what is happening to this
little child right now. Listen to our friend Alexis de Villa,
a KOTATV. Pennington County Search and Rescue Team leader Tammy
Stradel says, between the steep terrain and the ice build up,
(08:31):
the team was struggling to move around and find evidence.
The snow made it difficult for the crew to find
tracks and four dogs to pick up a cent Children's
Home Society Executive director Bill Colson says Dennard was the
last scene playing with three other children in the gym
when she ran out of the school and headed towards
the hills across the street. He says two staffers were
watching the children, but neither could catch her in time.
(08:54):
One child in one direction, and one of our staff
members that was with those children followed her, and then
Trinity went the other way, and another staff member could
pursue her because she had two other children to be responsible,
and she was the only staff remaining. Learning everything we
can about this circumstance, and you know if this were
(09:14):
to go on unresolved and she's not located, the investigation
will remain a priority until she is located. Crime Stories
(09:36):
with Nancy Grace. The search continues for missing nine year
old Serenity Dennard and Rockerville, who was lasting at the
Children's Home Society. Let's head to our Alexus to deal
alive near the ongoing search efforts. So alexis, do we
have any new information about Serenity. Pennington County Shares Office
(09:58):
is thanking the public for being able to find the
couple who was cutting wood. They believe they were the
last people to see Serenity Lenard. Now they know they've
the investagers have talked to them and found out a
little bit more details to understand a little bit more
of the timeline of what happened. Serenity was last seen
on Sunday morning at ten forty five, and they saw
her when she ran out of the facility across Rockerville
(10:20):
Road and up into the hills. Now they've even added
more people to the search and rescue team today. Yesterday
was sixty five. Today it's more than one hundred. Now.
Over here, I'm actually right beside the gaslight restaurant where
they're taking a little break to have their lunch, get
warmed up a little bit, and try to face the
cold once again. I've talked to a few of the
newbies who have come from are coming from box El.
(10:42):
They're telling me that they're not even really prepared for
this cold. Where they'd said they had the wrong shoes,
they didn't have enough layers, So this cold is really
something putting them behind. And it's still a big problem
with this search. They've also talked about that today they're
focusing about a one mile radius around in Rockerville. Are
so close to the Children's Home Society. They are checking
(11:03):
all the neighbors, are going through the hay piles, are
going woodpiles, asking people if they can look into that
to see if maybe Serenity might be hiding in there.
They are also asking the Sheriff's office because also asking
people of who hunt if they can check their game
cameras maybe there might be any type of footage there
that could be helpful to the search. Hearing our friends
at Kota, that's Kelly Schmidt and Alexis de Villa describing
(11:25):
the search third day for nine year old Serenity Denard
I don't understand how a child just nine years old
on foot could outpace searchers, hundreds of searchers, unless she
ended up in somebody's car, which is a very, very
(11:48):
bad thing to South Dakota State Senator Lynn De Santo Senator,
I'm trying to understand the thinking behind the search. We
hear that the searchers were not prepared for the elements,
the weather conditions, and I get it, really really tough
(12:10):
cold weather conditions. So how could this child get away
and they can't find her under these conditions unless she's
in somebody's car. What is the thinking now regarding how
Serenity managed to outpace the searchers. That's an excellent question,
(12:30):
and I think that is exactly what the problem is.
Is when you look at the facts of the case,
you have a little girl, no jacket, no boots, not
dressed at all for the cold, a storm coming in
in an area that is very mountainous, filled with pine
trees and difficult to train. You could be in the
(12:52):
best hiking boots and have excellent gear and have a
difficult time walking through this rain, and yet somehow the
story has been that she somehow got away and was
not found totally ill equipped. That doesn't make sense. And
so in my opinion, as well as many others, there's
(13:16):
a good possibility that serenity is not in the woods
and we need to be looking somewhere else, you know,
State Senator DeSanto. I want to just take a moment
and tell you something. People often ask me about why
I don't talk about politics, and I say, well, because
it makes me sick, and I don't like politicians. I
(13:38):
don't think they care about us. I think they're all lying.
You know what hearing? You be involved and care and
know the facts. You're not just b essing. You know
the facts, you know what happened, You're involved, you care.
(13:58):
It's really meaning a lot to us in the crime
fighting community because very often we feel like we're the
only ones that care. And to hear I hate to
even say politician, let me just a state senator be
this involved in a case really gives us renewed, renewed
(14:21):
strength to keep going. And I'm telling you Mark Class,
founder of Class Kids Foundation. Mark has lived through it.
He has walked the walk. He's just not talking to talk.
His daughter Polly was abducted and what he did to
try to bring Polly home is incredible, and what he
(14:44):
has lived through since her death is overwhelming. Mark Class,
I was I've been faulting the supervisor who just stayed
there with the two kids that were safe and sound
instead of running after the one that was getting out
of the facility. Something's not working for me with this
(15:05):
story that all of these rescuers, all of these searchers
by air, by land, by foot with dogs, they can't
find a nine year old little girl. The only thing
that makes me think it's somewhat true is that couple
who spotted her. I don't know that she's in the wood.
Smart class. First of all, Matthew, I'd like to agree
(15:27):
with everything that you said about the senator. You know,
I've done a million photo ops with politicians, and I
can count the ones that I really believe and trust.
On one hand, I think what we have to do
in this case is really look back, like they always
say in a missing child case, look back at the
last person that saw that child. And I don't necessarily
(15:48):
mean the people that were chopping wood, but the people
in the facility themselves. She was a difficult little girl,
there's no question about that, and she might have just
run somebody to the ground. Another thing they need to do.
And I'm not quite sure how populated South Dakota is
(16:08):
with surveillance cameras, but they need to check and probably
have at this point any surveillance cameras that will give
them a glimmer as to who might have been driving
on that road during this time frame, within an hour
or two of when this little girl disappeared. Because everything
you're saying is correct, the idea that she somehow has
(16:32):
been able to evade detection for this amount of time,
given the fact that multiple agencies have been looking for her,
defies credibility with me. Former FBI supervisory special Agent Jeff
Cortez Jeff, I mean, I hardly know where to start,
but I know something's not fitting together with me with
(16:53):
this story. Number one, Why would a supervisor leave two
children safe inside and not go after the one that's
leaving the facility? To me, that defies common sense. Yes,
the two may break out in a fight, Yes they
may get into mischief while you're gone. Of course they will. Okay,
that's just to be expected. But this is a life
(17:15):
threatening situation, So that's a very interesting decision. Then you've
got a delay over which they let me just say, euphemistically,
gave the wrong time. They called nine one one, and
it's really hard for me to accept a nine year
(17:35):
old girl can outsmart dogs and one hundred volunteers and
airplanes and the works. It's very difficult for me to
make sense. I agree with South Dakota State Senator Lenda
Santo No. I totally agree Nancy, And you can't help
but see the glaring issues right out of the gates.
(17:56):
I think if you had any one of those issues,
it's less problematic. In other words, if they chased her
right away, and that's why it took her took them
an hour and forty five minutes to call the police,
because they were running through the woods. Okay, I can,
I can. I can understand that. But to not chase
and not call and allow that time to lapse is
(18:19):
certainly an area that would would stand out to investigators.
You know, the time is of the essence and missing
persons cases, and losing that first hour and forty five
minutes is no small thing. Crime stories with Nancy Grace,
(18:56):
but gorgeous little girl in South Dakota, any dinner missing
to Randy Kessler for now, defense attorney, family law specialists,
the author of divorce Protect Yourself, your kids in your future.
You can find them at divorce protect dot com. Randy Kessler.
We heard South Dakota State Senator Lynda Santo say, this
(19:19):
little girl had been through so much, bounced from home
to home, taken in, actually adopted. Then the couple divorces.
I don't know how you somehow lose your children in
a divorce. I mean, what you just leave them at
the house with the dog and the doghouse and the
furniture you don't want. Anyway, somehow she ends up in
a children's home post divorce. That's your specialty, divorce. How
(19:42):
the heck did that happen? You know, It's not like
you bought a coffee maker at Target and then just
returned it because you didn't like it. Human beings with
the strangest creatures on earth. I mean, we see people
that have the reverse custody fight, No you take the kids,
No you take them. I want freedom. The kids are
ruined my life. It's crazy what people will do, but
it's me. How can that just roll off your tongue? Terrible?
(20:05):
When I think about the twins, Oh, I'd fight the
devil himself try to take the twins away from me.
Davy wouldn't even suggest it, No way. He wants to live. Well,
you're normal, and not everybody's normal, and there are all
sorts of Look, we're in an industry. Age of mental
health is so prevalent everywhere, mental health issues, mental dilemmas,
(20:28):
mental instability. It is crazy the things that I hear,
and usually I may be the first line of defense.
I actually hear people that sit in my office and
tell me, you know what. I know this sounds terrible,
but I don't want custody. And I take a gulp,
and I can either fire them and not let them
hire me, or I can try to fix it and
try to get some help and get a psychologist involved.
But you know, some people are beyond help. But I
(20:49):
don't understand how anybody would not say I gave birth
to this child, I'm responsible for the rest of my life.
That just it blows me away. But I do hear it,
and I do see it. Man, I don't feel that
way all. I don't feel like, oh, I'm responsible for
the twins your blessing. I feel like I can't wait
to pick him up. I can't wait to see him.
I can't wait for him to wake up. I feel
(21:11):
like I'm the lucky one. Doctor Ryan Fuller, we need
a shrink with me, Doctor Ryan Fuller, clinical psychologist, Executive
director of New York Behavioral Health and lecturer at NYU,
my old alma mater, Doctor Fuller, when State Senator Linda
Santo was describing what this little girl has been through,
(21:32):
why would that make her run away? I mean, in
my mind, it would make her want to cleave to
the home even more because she's never had a home
and now she's got one. According to what I've read,
the diagnosis that were mentioned were a reactive attachment disorder
which is associated Now wait wait, wait, wait, wait wait wait,
(21:52):
doctor Ryan Fuller, you are a shrink. Now you remember
you're talking to Kesther and I are just trial lawyers. Okay,
then you've got an FBI guy, you've got a state senator,
and you've got Mark Class and Lee Egan. We're not shrinks.
What did you just say? A react of what? So
it's reactive attachment disorder was one of the diagnosis, But
(22:15):
what is that It actually in fact touches on what
you're what you're raising, which is that the child might
have difficulty attaching and feeling close to um you know, adults,
custodial figures, parents, and things like that. And it's oftentimes
related to the kinds of tough situations that children oftentimes
(22:36):
put through foster care and you know, having issues with
you know, biological parents early on might have experienced and
so they don't form those stable attachments that you might
see and healthy families where a child has a sense
of security and warmth and predictability, that is where they're
getting from their their parents, where they feel that they're
they're safe, they're going to be cared for, they know
(22:57):
what to expect and things like that. And you know,
I can't speak to this particular child, but you know,
I can't speak to the nature of that kind of
a diagnosis, which would mean, you know, she may not
have felt attached to anyone particular adult person at the
home right and the other I think the other diagnosis
it was listed to the disruptive mood disregulation disorder, and
(23:18):
so that's going to be associated with issues around emotion regulation,
meaning that she's going to have intense negative emotions like
anger and other negative emotions. So you know that might
mean that basically that she's really unhappy, and so it
wouldn't be happy in that home and might think, you know,
if I go elsewhere, maybe I can find something better.
I just still find it impossible for a child to
(23:41):
run out without a coat, without anything on her really
except for her you know, regular clothes, into the cold,
into the snow, and then she out thoughts as all
the searchers, I want to go back to where you
start every case, the timeline and how I got s
root up at the get go. Take a listen to
(24:02):
kV and TV Stuart Huntington. The first hours had a
lot of moving parts and there were some conflicting early reports.
Here's what we know today. At ten forty five am Sunday,
Serenity was in the gym at the Black Hills Children's
Home with two staffers and three other kids. One kid
caused a disturbance and a staffer attended to that child.
(24:24):
Serenity then ran out of the building. The other staffer
stayed with the two other children. At eleven am, Serenity
is last seen walking near the home At twelve twenty
six pm and nine one one call goes out and
Pennington County Sheriff's deputy arrives at twelve forty six. By
one sixteen, several deputies are on scene and the decision
(24:45):
is made to bring in search and rescue. We reached
out repeatedly to the children's home today to ask about
the hour and a half between when they say she
disappeared and the call went out to nine one one.
No one would speak to us, but they did offer
this statement. Our hearts hold out hope for the safe
return of a wonderful little girl. We are grateful for
(25:05):
the efforts of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office and all
those who continue to search for serenity in these difficult
winter conditions. The staff the Sheriff's office had this to say.
They got things going on there, They got protocols and
stuff that they do. So I can't answer to all that,
But what I can tell you is is we responded
as quickly as we could once we got the information. Okay,
(25:30):
right there too, you Mark, Class Founder, Class Kids Foundation.
I've got so many problems with what I just heard. Well,
you know, it turns out that the home was working
off of a twenty year old plan. It didn't take
into account to the contingency of a little girl running away,
and they completely and totally failed in their response at
(25:52):
that hour and a half. That hour and a half
a lag time. Joining me right now, South Dakota State
Senator Lynn DeSanto, what does the home have to say, Senator, Well,
there's been a number of interesting things that have come
to light through this particular situation. The executive director has
announced recently that he is going to be leaving Children's
(26:14):
Home Society. It has also come to life that in fact,
the staff had radios that were supposed to be used
if there were this type of a situation. Unfortunately they
were on different channels and so they could not hear
each other, and so there was really no solid plan
(26:36):
or protocol in place. And I think that the home
is really going to have to make some changes. They
lost a child. They have a very important job keeping
children safe and they have failed at that and it
is just a tragedy all the way around. Yeah. The
(26:57):
other thing, South Dakota State Senator with me, alien to Santo,
who is raising the alarm to all of us regarding
Serenity Dinner, a nine year old little girl. These homes
are four children, many of them having been bounced around
(27:18):
from home to home. I mean, that's how you end
up in an orphanage. There's no nothing good leaves you
to an orphanage. Okay, You're not coming from a happy
home where your parents can't wait to pick you up
in the afternoon. It's not like that. And my point is, Senator,
that they need to be equipped for eventualities like this
(27:41):
like this to protect the child. State Senator to Santo, absolutely,
and I think it's pretty clear that that did not
happen in this situation. And you know, when you look
at Serenity, this is a little girl. You see a
little girl's face looking at you. This could be anyone's daughter,
(28:02):
and she deserved better than this, and she is important.
And that's why I appreciate so many people like you
getting involved in this case and caring, because it would
be easy, because of her past and because of where
she is, to not care. It would be easy for
people to disregard her as a troubled child. But this
(28:22):
is a little girl that is a troubled child, but
for very good reasons that are not her fault. Crime
(28:43):
stories with Nancy Grace moving ahead from that point, then
tell me you know day to day. Were you able
to work? I mean, what were you doing? This has
got to be a terrible time emotionally, I mean, don't
just go home and go on with your life. So
tell me what those following days, just how were you coping?
(29:06):
What were you doing? They were hell? Well, you know,
like I said, we wanted to stay out of their
way because we wanted them to be doing everything that
they can possibly be doing and not get in their way.
At the same time, our hearts just say, you know,
(29:27):
it was a constant up and down. We weren't working.
Brian does a lot of work from home and tried
to work, but he wasn't able to work. I just
I wasn't working at all. You were hearing State Senator
Lynda Santo speaking with Serenity's adoptive parents saying that then
(29:47):
the days after her disappearance, their lives have been hell.
They can't work. They also go on to state that
they thought Serenity was living with her biological dad. Now
this doesn't make any sense to me, joining me a
special guest, South Dakota State Senator Lynda Santo, she had
(30:09):
been in the home. How could they not know where
she was? So Nancy. The way that it worked out
is is that there was two people that adopted Serenity
and ended up getting divorced a year later, and both
then remarried other people. And at that time, the agreement
was that the adoptive father would have physical custody of
(30:31):
Serenity and the adoptive mother would have visitation and doing
every other weekend or some type of an arrangement like that.
At some point the communication broke down between these two
people and he actually placed her at children's home without
the knowledge of the adoptive mother. This woman was at
(30:53):
work one day and sees there's a missing child on
the news and looks up and it's her daughter. And
that's how she became aware that her ex husband had
placed Serenity at children's home. Okay, whoa, whoa wait right there,
State Senator to Santo, I believe everything that you just
(31:15):
told me in that I think that's what the adoptive
mother told you, Mark class what happened to every other weekend?
You know, Nancy, two little girls somehow outsmarted the entire
staff of this children's home, and the end result is
one of those little girls lives is very much in danger.
(31:35):
Now and I want a salute law enforcement because they
continue to go out into the wild and look for
this little girl. She's getting me attention now that she
deserved and did not receive for her entire life. Well
as usual, I have to agree with everything you just said.
You're right, and you know, cops and law enforcement always
(31:57):
get the bad rap when a cop or a sheriff
does something wrong, and they do things wrong, I get it,
But for the most part, this is who they are.
They're out there in the snow, in the wild, up
and down the side of mountains, trying to find this
little girl and they never get the credit. State Senator
to Santo, explain to me how the mom was she
(32:20):
not doing her visitation or had Sunity just been in
the home a day or two? I mean, how did
she not see her on the weekends like she was
supposed to. Well, there has just recently been a lawsuit
filed between these two parties, and she is claiming parental
alienation in her lawsuit that he was not responsive to
calls and that he was in fact breaking a court
(32:43):
order saying that she was to get visitation and he
was not allowing it. So that is going to be
hashed out in court here over the next couple of weeks. Okay,
so then we really don't know. She may have been
trying to see the daughter and was prevented from seeing
the daughter or somehow blocked from seeing the daughter. So
before I come down to you hard on her, I
(33:04):
don't know those facts yet, and they are not clear
to me. You're absolutely right. I don't know why the
adopted dad put her in this home. Somebody put her
in the home. I know that much. And now she's gone, Nancy,
go ahead. A little bit of a little bit of
insight that has been brought to light, as the adopted
father had recently remarried a woman, and there's reports that
(33:29):
there was some very difficult and strained relationships that were
occurring between Serenity and the new mother, the new wife,
and there actually had been reports made by Serenity of
some mistreatment to her by the new wife, and so
that certainly seems to be a factor in the mix
(33:51):
on why that adopted father made the decision to take
her to Children's home and place her there. I think
I would have placed any wife add on the street
before I would place a child in home. But I
don't know what he was thinking. Maybe he thought he
was doing the best thing for the child. I don't
know why the mother wasn't seeing her. All that aside,
(34:14):
I know that she's gone, and I know the search
is on. Take a listen to this. Yesday night, authorities
moved the search from a rescue to a recovery effort.
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office says if Serenity has been
outside this entire time, it's unlikely she survived. However, they
have not ruled out the possibility that she could still
(34:34):
be alive in a warm shelter or was picked up
by someone. More than one hundred people helped in the
search for Serenity di Nard on Tuesday, but now only
people from the Paignton County Sheriff's Office remain in the area.
We still have deputies up there, we still are manning
our command post, but as far as ground search people
(34:55):
that are back in the woods, we don't have them
Folks right now doing that. We suspended that at approximately
four or five o'clock yesterday. The Sheriff's office says it's
still trying to figure out all the details of what
happened the morning Serenity disappeared. We have five investigators that
are assigned to this that this is all they're doing,
(35:16):
is working every lead, every possibility. Again, they continue to
interview staff and other children in the home and family
and neighbors, anybody that might have possibly been on that road.
Hearing our Free Kota's Alexia de Villa of the search
is on for this little girl. To Jeff Gretz, a
(35:36):
former FBI supervisory special agent, what should the search be now,
because I've never been convinced she was in those still
in those woods, you know, I think in terms of
what the investigators are going to be focusing on now,
it's going to be you know, a lot of what
you're doing keeping this story in the news, tickle the
complaint line, so to speak, putting our photo out there,
(36:00):
covering multiple avenues, one obviously searching the woods and continuing
to search, while at the same time chasing down other leads,
you know, identifying sex offenders in the area that may
have a propensity towards young children, interviewing, interviewing all of them,
exhausting those leads, answering any answered questions to date related
(36:22):
to the parents, the children's center, local and regional sex
offenders locking down and identifying any CCTV in the area.
You know, I think one of the biggest takeaways from
this story is that, you know, emergency preparedness has has
to be more than words on a page. Policies, procedures.
They need to be updated reviewed, staff need to train,
(36:46):
they need to rehearse. This stuff has to stay up
to date so that situations like this don't happen in
the future. Man, you're telling it, and I guarantee you
South Dakota State Center to LANDA. Santo is all over
that Mark Class Founder, Class Kids Foundation. What now? What
should they be doing? This is your specialty. If I
can add absolutely nothing to what the special agent just said,
(37:07):
he completely covered the next steps, the steps that have
been taken in the next steps. And let's just hope
law enforcement is able to somehow find this little girl
and that maybe the public can stay vigilant. Somebody must
know something, somebody might know something, and hopefully they'll come
forward in this case can be resolved. Nancy Joehead, if
(37:27):
you know Warren Jeffs, he is the polygamous fact that
you know was arrested for marrying off twelve and thirteen
year old little girls. You know, this little girl is
missing within the vicinity of that place, and I would
like to see that looked at further as an angle.
And so far they've been told, I've been told they've
(37:48):
been blocked. So this is a very unusual situation. We
stand by as just as unfolds and the search for
nine year old Serenity goes on. If you have information
on Serenity, please dial six zero five three nine four
six one one five repeat six zero five three nine
(38:11):
four six one one five Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off,
goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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