I had no idea I’d solved 27-year-old cold case after taking at-home DNA test – my gran was arrested over baby’s murder
A NOTORIOUS 27-year-old murder mystery has been solved after an Ancestry DNA test resulted in an arrest.
TikToker Jenna Rose Gerwatowski, 23, revealed that a DNA test led to her grandmother’s arrest in an open cold case.
In a video that has now amassed more than 15 million views, Jenna revealed how she put her grandmother behind bars with a basic Ancestry DNA kit.
In the 7 minute video, Jenna explained the events that led to the arrest.
She said: “So two years ago I watched my best friend get an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas and thought it was dope.
“I was like I need one of those. I wanna see all the cool s**t that she’s seeing right now. So I bought one.”
Explaining the process, she said: “You swab your mouth and they give you your ancestry results. It’s actually really cool and I had a blast doing it.”
Jenna revealed that a year after she received her results, she was contacted by the cops in Michigan.
She said: “I’m at work and I get a phone call.
“It’s a detective from the Michigan State Police out of Saint Hicks.”
She said the phone call “freaked her out” and thought she was either going to go to jail or that somebody had died.
It is unclear how the cops were able to track her DNA down.
Jenna said the detective had reopened a cold case and that her DNA was a “direct match to the victim of this case.”
The 23-year-old revealed that the cops called her after her DNA matched that of a 1997 cold case dubbed “Baby Garnet”.
The infamous case involved the death of a “term or near term” newborn found in an outhouse at Garnet Lake Campground in Naubinway, Michigan.
In the clip, Jenna explained that after that phone call she was encouraged to call a lady from Chicago.
She said: “He said that she runs a worldwide database and he wants me to talk to her so she can upload my DNA into this worldwide database.
“He told me that he would give her my number and she would call me after I got off work.”
However, the phone call left Jenna suspicious it was a scam after she was asked for her password and she promptly hung up the phone.
A week later, Jenna’s mom and cousin reached out and explained that the cops had visited the cousin’s home and it was not a scam.
She then gave permission for her DNA to be run in the database, which revealed she was a distant relative to the deceased baby from 27 years ago.
Jenna’s mum also undertook a DNA test which revealed a direct link to the victim.
In the video, Jenna explained that following the new piece of the puzzle, the cops began investigating Jenna’s grandmother, Nancy Gerwatowski.
She said: “We were mind blown, mind you.
“I’ve never met this woman before.
“She is literally the person that they’ve been looking for 25 years.
“And it’s all because of an Ancestry DNA kit.
“Everything unfolded from there.”
Jenna added that she’s not allowed to talk about anything that happened since the DNA discovery.
In a follow up video, Jenna answered how the cops were able to get her DNA.
She said: ” A lot of people arguing in the comments about whether or not police can actually use Ancestry DNA for stuff like this.
“They absolutely can, and they did.”
According to Ancestry’s guide for law enforcement, contents of communications and any data relating to the DNA of an Ancestry user will be released only pursuant to a valid search warrant from a government agency with proper jurisdiction.
An Ancestry DNA spokesperson said: “Ancestry is not a public database and does not voluntarily share customer personal information with law enforcement unless compelled to by valid legal process, such as a court order or search warrant.
“Ancestry received no such court order or search warrant in regards to this investigation and therefore did not share any customer personal information with law enforcement.”
Following the DNA test results, Nancy Ann Gerwatowski, 60, was arrested in 2022 on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter, and concealing a body, according to Click on Detroit.
Authorities believe she gave birth at home, where the child died from asphyxiation.
She then allegedly hid the newborn’s body in an outhouse at the Garnet Lake campground in Hudson.
Investigators claim Gerwatowski confirmed to them that she is the child’s mother.
According to court records, a hearing is scheduled to be held on December 12, 2024.
The Sun has reached out to Michigan State Police for comment.
It’s not the first time DNA from ancestry kits have been used to solve an open cold case.
The Golden State serial killer who terrorised residents in California during the 1970s was identified as Joseph James DeAngelo Jr in 2018.
DeAngelo was caught thanks to a complex genealogy process that is now used across the US.
In DeAngelo’s case, investigators were able to narrow down their search thanks to a third cousin.