Baby Garnet Cold Case Cracked as TikToker’s AncestryDNA Test Leads to Grandmother’s Arrest
In today’s world, technology and advances in forensic science have helped solve many complex and unsolved police cases, and the most recent has been the solving of a 27-year-old cold case: the death of Baby Garnet.
What is the Baby Garnet cold case, and how was it finally solved? Read on to know more about this incredible story.
Jenna Rose, a 23-year-old TikTok user, revealed in a post how a seemingly trivial AncestryDNA test solved a 27-year-old cold case.
Interestingly, the test also led to the arrest of Rose’s grandmother, Nancy Ann Gerwatoski, and, if convicted, she could spend the rest of her life in prison for her role in the ‘Baby Garnet’ case from 1997.
Jenna Rose did not foresee the groundbreaking events her simple $99 AncestryDNA test would precipitate. Rose had taken the test to fill in the blank spots in her family tree. She had never met her estranged grandmother and came to know of her only when she was 15.
TikToker’s AncestryDNA Test Solves 27-Year-Old Baby Garnet Cold Case
One year after she took the AncestryDNA test, a police officer contacted her, submitted her sample, and told her that her DNA could be linked to a 27-year-old case.
Rose recounted on TikTok:
“[The officer] said, ‘I just want to let you know I reopened a cold case from 25 years ago… and your DNA is a direct match to the victim.’”
Jenna Rose was skeptical at first and even thought it to be a scam. However, when the officer told her that she would be connected to a “worldwide database expert,” she became serious.
When her mother asked her to come back home, all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to fall into place. Follow-up tests revealed even more information: that her mother’s DNA directly implicated Gerwatoski as the suspect in the Baby Garnet case.
Rose added in her TikTok video:
“Mind you, I’ve never met this woman before. She is literally the fucking person they’ve been looking for 25 years. And it’s all because of a fucking AncestryDNA kit.”
The small village of Newberry, a quiet and peaceful place, was awakened from its tranquil existence by the discovery of the remains of a newborn baby abandoned at the Garnet Lake Campground.
The cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation shortly after a home birth. The baby could have been saved if the mother had sought medical help, which she did not do.
Nancy Ann Gerwatoski, Rose’s grandmother, who was living quietly in Wyoming, was arrested in July 2022. The new leads could result in the filing of fresh charges, which will be determined at the hearing on December 12, 2024, if evidence of her lack of prenatal care is presented before the court.
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