Search ramps up for missing 9-year-old in South Dakota

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office says more than 100 people are looking for a 9-year-old girl who ran away from a residential youth home near Rockerville.

It’s the third day of the search for Serenity Dennard who left the Children’s Home Society Sunday morning without a coat. Sheriff’s officials say deputies have been going door to door speaking with neighbors and looking in outbuildings, hay bales, log piles and other spaces.

Authorities have located a couple they were seeking who spotted the girl. The couple was able to give investigators a better timeline of events. The sheriff’s office says Tuesday’s focus is on a 1-mile radius of the children’s home campus.

Officials are encouraging anyone living in the Rockerville, Foster Gulch and Highway 16 area to check their property.

The Missing Endangered Alert is here.

AP-WF-02-05-19 1754GMT