A TikTokker has revealed how a easy Ancestry DNA check might have solved a infamous 27-year homicide thriller referred to as the Child Garnet case — and landed her grandmother in jail.
Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23, revealed in a clip considered greater than 1.3 million instances since Wednesday that she determined to take a DNA check a couple of years in the past merely as a result of it appeared “dope.”
“Little did I do know,” she mentioned with a chuckle — reducing to how a 12 months later a detective from the Michigan State Police known as her at work, scaring her that she might be in bother.
“I used to be like, ‘Excuse me? What the f–ok did I do?’ So I begin freaking out,” she recalled.
As an alternative, the cop advised her he had reopened a chilly case from 1997 “and your DNA is a direct match to the sufferer of this case,” she recalled being advised.
Gerwatowski mentioned she was solely shocked when she was advised it was about Child Garnet, the well-known demise of a “time period or near-term” new child present in an outhouse at Garnet Lake Campground in Naubinway, Michigan.
Additional official DNA testing confirmed Jenna’s mom was instantly associated to the kid — which means it needed to be tied “to my mother’s mom,” Gerwatowski mentioned of Nancy Gerwatoswki, 61, whom she had by no means met.
“I used to be thoughts blown,” she mentioned. “She is actually the f–king particular person they’ve been on the lookout for for 25 years — and it’s all due to a f–king Ancestry DNA package,” she alleged within the now-viral video.
Nancy Gerwatoswki was arrested in 2022 and charged with homicide, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing the demise of a person, Click on on Detroit reported.
Nancy admitted being Child Garnet’s mom, based on the native outlet.
She is assumed to have given beginning to the kid at residence the place it died of asphyxiation, earlier than she left the physique within the outhouse, based on the native outlet. Prosecutors argue that the child may have been saved if medical assist had been sought.
In October 2023, Nancy was launched on a private recognizance bond and needed to adjust to GPS monitoring and residential confinement. She faces the potential for life in jail if convicted.
Michigan Legal professional Basic Dana Nessel beforehand acknowledged the function of genetic developments in fixing long-standing chilly instances.
“This can be a testomony to the persistence of regulation enforcement and the facility of science,” Nessel mentioned in a Could press launch.
“We’re lastly in a position to pursue justice for Child Garnet, due to the tireless work of investigators and the technological progress that has made this attainable.”
The younger TikTokker, in the meantime, mentioned she by no means knew her grandmother — however knew all in regards to the case she’s now charged with.
“This was a giant deal within the city I grew up in as a result of it was so f—ked up,” she mentioned.
