My Ancestry DNA test solved the infamous Baby Garnet murder case that shocked America

A lady who took an at-home DNA check by no means thought it could be the lacking puzzle piece in a decades-long chilly case homicide. 

Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23, took to TikTok to share how she unwittingly cracked the notorious Child Garnet case. 

In June 1997, a deceased toddler was present in an outhouse on the Garnet Lake Campground in Naubinway, Michigan. 

An post-mortem revealed that the newborn woman – who was decided to be anyplace from the gestational age of 36 to 42 weeks outdated – died from asphyxiation, which, in line with officers, was preventable. 

For 27 years, the investigation into who dumped the kid’s stays was at a stand nonetheless – till Jenna, who posted a TikTok video explaining the case, received a name from the Michigan State Police a 12 months after submitting her DNA. 

Authorities knowledgeable her they have been re-opening the case as a result of she ‘was a direct match’ to the toddler, who was her aunt.  

After investigators performed extra analysis and examined her mom’s DNA, Jenna’s maternal grandmother Nancy Gerwatowski – who she’d by no means met – was recognized as the lady that deserted the newborn. 

‘I’ve by no means made a video like this earlier than.  I maintain stumbling over my phrases… this may take a couple of minutes to get by means of. It is a lengthy story…’ she defined within the now viral video. 

‘I’ve by no means met my grandmother, I did not even know her title till I used to be 14 or 15 years outdated. This case was highly regarded within the city that I grew up in as a result of it was so f***ed up.

‘It was the Child Garnet case… lots of people have questions. I am right here to begin speaking about it.’ 

About two years in the past, I watched my greatest pal get an Ancestry DNA equipment for Christmas. I believed it was dope. I used to be like “I would like a kind of”. I purchased one.

‘You spit in a tube, you despatched it in, they usually provide you with your ancestry outcomes. Little did I do know… so I despatched it in, received my outcomes again.

‘A couple of 12 months later, I am at work, and I get a cellphone name. It is a detective from the Michigan State Police.

‘I begin freaking out. He mentioned he’d reopened the chilly case from 25 years in the past and your DNA is a direct match to the sufferer of this case,’ she went on. 

‘Because the investigation proceeded, detectives took Jenna’s mom’s DNA. They found she was a direct relative to the newborn.

‘The one different person who it may have been was my mother’s mom. We have been thoughts blown. She is actually the individual they’ve been on the lookout for for 25 years. It is all due to an Ancestry DNA equipment.’ 

Gerwatowski, 61, was arrested in July 2022 and charged with one depend every of open homicide, involuntary manslaughter and concealing the dying of a person after she confirmed she was the mom of the lifeless baby. 

On the time, Nancy delivered the new child by herself at her residence in Newberry, and didn’t search medical intervention to save lots of her, the state alleges. 

After investigators performed extra analysis and examined her mom’s DNA, Jenna’s maternal grandmother Nancy Gerwatowski – who she’d by no means met – was recognized as the lady that deserted the newborn

As an alternative, she selected to cover the lifeless toddler in an outhouse on the campground, ‘greater than 20 miles out of city,’ earlier than a employee discovered the kid, the state added. 

In October 2023 Nancy, who now resides in Wyoming, was launched on a private recognizance bond, which means a choose set her free after her case and prison historical past was reviewed and accomplished throughout a pretrial listening to. 

She was ordered to put on a GPS monitoring machine and to stay underneath residence confinement. 

In Could 2024, the Michigan Division of Legal professional Normal introduced she’s going to stand trial for the crime after Honorable Beth Ann Gibson of the 92nd District Court docket in St. Ignace issued an Opinion and Order over Nancy. 

Michigan Legal professional Normal Dana Nessel credited developments in genetics testing for fixing the case. 

‘Because of the unimaginable efforts of investigators throughout three many years, we’re lastly capable of pursue justice for Child Garnet greater than 25 years after her tragic dying,’ Nessel mentioned. 

‘In 1997, genetics testing was nowhere close to as subtle as it’s right now, and I’m grateful for the work of detectives and responders on-scene to protect important proof on this matter.

‘Prosecutors in my workplace are capable of result in this long-delayed prison trial due to twenty-seven years of sound police work, scientific development, proof preservation, and diligent state and native detectives who by no means gave up on justice for this toddler sufferer,’ she added

She is predicted to to seem earlier than the eleventh Circuit Court docket in Mackinac County on December 12, 2024 for a movement listening to, in line with courtroom information reviewed by DailyMail.com. 

DailyMail.com contacted the Michigan Division of Legal professional Normal and Nancy’s lawyer for remark.