Far too many of us have forked over our DNA to Ancestry or 23andMe, and I say that as someone who also Hawk Tuah’d into that test tube. But while I discovered I was 0.06% Cypriot (and immediately changed my dating profile to sound more exotic), one girlie solved a 27-year-old cold case with her spit. I thought the most significant danger of those companies was the data minefield and potential clones they’d make of us, but for Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, it all became far more sinister. Soon, secrets were unearthed that couldn’t be covered up again, and one of her family members ended up on trial for murder. Yikes. Here’s everything we know about the Baby Garnet case, and how one TikTok user solved it almost 30 years later.
Who is Jenna Rose Gerwatowski?
@__jennarose__ sorry this video is so long, but thank you if you stuck around to watch the whole thing. its time we start talking. #foryou #foryourpagetiktok #fyppp #foryourpage #fyp #truecrime #ancestrydna #ancestry #michigan ♬ original sound – jennarose🧿🪬
A few days ago, Jenna was just another TikToker uploading concert footage, clips of herself singing, and other cute videos. That was until she posted a ‘Get Ready With Me,’ but instead of answering viewer questions or talking about something mundane like the rest of the TikTok girlies, the 23-year-old Michigan native shared a crazy family story. She now has over 67k followers on TikTok and 10 million views on the post. You literally have to watch this video to believe it, as I was gasping, blindly reaching for my Stanley Cup. I also have to say that her makeup was so snatched, so she’s solving murder cases and doing “Vigilante Shit” eyeliner. Iconic.
What happened to her DNA test?
Jenna initially shares why she decided to take the test, saying, “About two years ago, I watched my best friend get an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas. I thought it was dope. I was like, ‘I need one of those.’ I bought one.”
She ordered one, spat in the tube, sent it off, and got her results. Voila! Nothing really happened until a year later, when this test was firmly out of sight, out of mind — unless you’re me and gifted with Cypriot blood.
“About a year later, I’m at work, and I get a phone call,” Jenna explains. “It’s a detective from the Michigan State Police. I start freaking out. He said he’d reopened the cold case from 25 years ago and your DNA is a direct match to the victim of this case.” Ruh roh.
Jenna shares this with her mom, who assumes it’s some kind of scam. At this point, I was fully sus about the mom. It’s like when you’re watching a whodunnit, and you keep thinking, AHA, IT WAS JEEVES THE BUTLER, FUCKING TOOL!! Jenna gets a call from the woman running the world database, but when she asks for a password, Jenna gets sus and hangs up.
But alas, this was no episode of Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d. Jenna is called by her mom to immediately return home, where her cousin is waiting, having also been contacted by the world database expert.
The police take a sample of Jenna’s mom’s DNA and discover she is a direct relative of the victim. Through Jenna’s DNA sample, the police finally solve the mysterious case of ‘Baby Garnet.’
Who is “Baby Garnet?”
In June 1997, the remains of a deceased infant were discovered in a campground pit toilet at Garnet Lake Campground located in Hudson Township, 20 miles away from Newberry. They had no identity for the victim, who was henceforth known as “Baby Garnet.” An autopsy determined the child to have been at term or near-term, at a gestational age of 36-42 weeks.
The “Baby Garnet” case shook the local community as everyone searched for answers. However, investigators were unable to identify the baby and solve the death, so it became a cold case. Both Jenna and her mom were aware of the case, as it was deeply embedded in local lore. This changed in 2022 when a forensic genealogist successfully tracked down relatives of Baby Garnet using a public DNA database.
It turns out that “Baby Garnet” is Jenna’s mom’s sibling, making the deceased infant her aunt.
What happened to Nancy Gerwatowski?
@__jennarose__ Replying to @Hey Victor 🪶 we hope people will keep following along so we can tell our story, we can’t thank you guys enough for the support during this time. we appreciate every single one of you. #foryou #foryourpagetiktok #fyppp #foryourpage #fyp #michigan #truecrime #ancestrydna #ancestry ♬ original sound – jennarose🧿🪬
As a result, Jenna’s grandma was arrested in July 2022 and charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing the death of an individual after she confirmed she was the mother of the lifeless child.
The state alleges that Nancy, her grandma, delivered the newborn by herself at her home in Newberry and did not seek medical intervention to save her. Instead, she hid the dead infant in an outhouse at the campground, where it was eventually discovered by a worker.
It is believed that “Baby Garnet” died of asphyxiation but that the baby’s “death could have been prevented by medical intervention,” which Gerwatowski reportedly did not seek.
In October 2023, Nancy was released on a personal recognizance bond, meaning a judge set her free after reviewing her case and criminal history. She just had to remain under home confinement and wear a GPS tracking device — a la Anna Delvey.
In May 2024, the Michigan Department of Attorney General announced she would stand trial for the crime. The Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel credited advancements in genetics testing for solving the case. “Thanks to the incredible efforts of investigators across three decades, we are finally able to pursue justice for Baby Garnet more than 25 years after her tragic death,” Nessel said.
Nancy is expected to appear for a motion hearing in court on December 12, 2024. Jenna and her mom are estranged from Nancy, so I highly doubt they’ll be making an appearance. In fact, Jenna specifies that she has never met her maternal grandmother. “Mind you, I’ve never met this woman before. She is literally the fucking person that they’ve been looking for for 25 years. And it’s all because of a fucking Ancestry DNA kit,” Jenna exclaimed.
Until now, I believed the worst thing that could happen with a DNA test is discovering the product of your parent’s affairs or a The Man With 1000 Kids scenario, but nope!! You can also end up sending granny to prison!
