A TikTokker has revealed how a simple ancestry DNA test solved an infamous 27-year-old murder mystery known as the Baby Garnet case and put his grandmother behind bars.
Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23 years old; revealed in the clip It has been viewed more than 1.3 million times since Wednesday's post, in which she said she decided to take a DNA test several years ago simply because she thought it was “cool.”
“Little did I know,” she says with a laugh, describing how a year later a Michigan State Police detective called her at work and scared her that she might get into trouble.
“I was like, ‘Excuse me?’” What the hell did I do? That's when I started freaking out,” she recalled.
Instead, the officer told her they had reopened a cold case from 1997 and recalled being told, “Your DNA is a direct match to the victim in this case.”
Garwatowski said she was only shocked when she learned it was about Baby Garnet. The incident is a well-publicized death of a “full-term or near-term'' newborn who was found in an outhouse at Garnet Lake Campground in Novin Way, Michigan.
Further official DNA testing confirmed that Jenna's mother was directly related to the child. That meant the child had to be linked to “my mother's mother,” Gerwatowski said of Nancy Gerwatowski, 61, whom she had never met.
“I was surprised,” she said. “She's literally the fucking human being they've been looking for for 25 years, and it's all because of the fucking King's ancestry DNA kit,” she claimed in the now-viral video.
Nancy Gerwatski was arrested in 2022 and charged with murder, manslaughter, and concealment of the death of an individual. Click on “Detroit Report”.
According to local media, Nancy has confirmed that she is Baby Garnet's mother.
According to local reports, she is believed to have given birth to a child at home, who suffocated to death before leaving his body in a barn. Prosecutors have argued that the baby could have been saved had she sought medical help.
In October 2023, Nancy was released on recognizance bond and had to submit to GPS monitoring and home confinement. If convicted, she faces the possibility of life in prison.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel previously recognized The role of genetic advances in solving long-standing cold cases.
“This is a testament to the tenacity of law enforcement and the power of science,” Nessel said in a May press release.
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of our investigators and the advances in technology that have made it possible, we are finally able to pursue justice for Baby Garnet.”
Meanwhile, the young TikTokker said he didn't know his grandmother at all, but knew everything about the case that was currently being prosecuted.
“This was a big deal in the town I grew up in, because it was so bad,” she said.
