Earlier this year, the state of Michigan announced that it had finally found a suspect in the “Baby Garnet” cold case.
As recounted by the state, “In June of 1997, the remains of a deceased infant were discovered in a campground pit toilet at the Garnet Lake Campground in the Upper Peninsula’s Hudson Township. An autopsy at the time determined the decedent to have been a ‘term or near-term infant’ of a gestational age of 36-42 weeks.”
Although the state searched for evidence, they were unable to identify the baby, as the infant’s DNA did not match with any in their databases.
Then, earlier this year, it was revealed that they had found the infant’s mother using a public DNA database. That woman’s name is Nancy Ann Gerwatowski. She is now charged with “open murder, involuntary manslaughter and concealing the death of an individual,” per WOODTV.
But how did they suddenly discover a match? According to a TikTok user, it was because of a simple Ancestry DNA kit.
What happened?
In a video with over 10 million views, TikTok user Jenna (@__jennarose__) recounts how a simple DNA test resulted in her grandmother being arrested for the aforementioned crime.
For background, Jenna says she never met her grandmother and “didn’t even know her name until I was like 14 or 15 years old.” However, she knew of the Baby Garnet case as it was “very popular” in the town she grew up in.
According to Jenna, she decided to get an Ancestry DNA kit after seeing a friend get one. While the process was unremarkable, it did lead to something curious: A call from a detective with the Michigan State Police.
“He was like, ‘I just wanna let you know that I reopened a cold case from like 25 years ago,’ and he was like, ‘And your DNA is a direct match to the victim of this case,’” Jenna says.
To her shock, she discovered that the case in question was the one of Baby Garnet.
From there, Jenna claims the detective connected her with a woman in Chicago. This woman apparently runs a global DNA database where they wanted Jenna to enter her information. While Jenna’s mother thought it might be a scam, Jenna says she decided to press forward. Then she learned the woman in Chicago wanted her Ancestry password.
“I was like, ‘Who the [expletive] is gonna ask me for my password that’s not a scammer?’” she states. “And so, I hung up the [expletive] phone.”
Not a scammer
Despite this, after a week, Jenna got a call from her mother saying that she needed to come home urgently. Upon arrival, she discovered that the state police had been at her house and that the Chicago woman was a legitimate actor.
With this knowledge, Jenna uploaded her DNA, where it came back as a distant relative. However, when they uploaded her mother’s DNA, the results returned as a direct relative.
“The only other people that it could have been was my mom’s mother,” Jenna says. “They kind of started doing their own investigating and figured out that that’s who it was.”
Jenna closes by saying that she’s not allowed to say much else about the situation. She expressed her disbelief that this whole situation arose “because of a [expletive] Ancestry DNA kit.”
The Daily Dot could not independently verify Jenna’s story.
@__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🧿🪬
Commenters share their thoughts
In the comments section, many users expressed their shock about this story, while others questioned the use of DNA.
“How is no one talking about the fact that the police actually have access to this DNA data????” a user asked.
Law enforcement has used DNA from services like Ancestry to solve cold cases in the past, and the website has a guide for law enforcement use. As noted in the company’s terms, “we require all government agencies seeking access to Ancestry customers’ data to follow a valid legal process. We do not allow law enforcement to use the Services to investigate crimes or to identify human remains.”
“I’m dealing with a similar situation! My dna hit to a 40 year old cold case. The whole thing is absolutely insane,” offered another.
“I don’t talk to my dad or his family. I have a kit sitting in my closet and I’m scared to do it for this exact reason,” stated a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jenna via TikTok comment and Ancestry.com via email.
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