diff --git a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/garbagecollector_test.go b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/garbagecollector_test.go
index de037e7409a..398138b0995 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/garbagecollector_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/garbagecollector/garbagecollector_test.go
@@ -1956,6 +1956,167 @@ func TestConflictingData(t *testing.T) {
 				}),
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/98040
+			name: "cluster-scoped bad child, namespaced good child, missing parent",
+			steps: []step{
+				// setup
+				createObjectInClient("", "v1", "pods", "ns1", makeMetadataObj(pod2ns1, pod1ns1)),     // good child
+				createObjectInClient("", "v1", "nodes", "", makeMetadataObj(node1, pod1nonamespace)), // bad child
+
+				// 2,3: observe bad child
+				processEvent(makeAddEvent(node1, pod1nonamespace)),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)}, // virtual parent queued for deletion
+				}),
+
+				// 4,5: observe good child
+				processEvent(makeAddEvent(pod2ns1, pod1ns1)),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)}, // virtual parent queued for deletion
+				}),
+
+				// 6,7: process attemptToDelete of bad virtual parent coordinates
+				processAttemptToDelete(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+				}),
+
+				// steady-state is bad cluster child and bad virtual parent coordinates, with no retries
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					absentOwnerCache: []objectReference{pod1ns1},
+				}),
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/98040
+			name: "namespaced good child, cluster-scoped bad child, missing parent",
+			steps: []step{
+				// setup
+				createObjectInClient("", "v1", "pods", "ns1", makeMetadataObj(pod2ns1, pod1ns1)),     // good child
+				createObjectInClient("", "v1", "nodes", "", makeMetadataObj(node1, pod1nonamespace)), // bad child
+
+				// 2,3: observe good child
+				processEvent(makeAddEvent(pod2ns1, pod1ns1)),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual)},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual)}, // virtual parent queued for deletion
+				}),
+
+				// 4,5: observe bad child
+				processEvent(makeAddEvent(node1, pod1nonamespace)),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual)},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual),                   // virtual parent queued for deletion
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)), // mismatched child queued for deletion
+					},
+				}),
+
+				// 6,7: process attemptToDelete of good virtual parent coordinates
+				processAttemptToDelete(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					clientActions: []string{
+						"get /v1, Resource=pods ns=ns1 name=podname1", // lookup of missing parent, returns 404
+					},
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual)},
+					pendingGraphChanges: []*event{makeVirtualDeleteEvent(pod1ns1)}, // virtual parent not found, queued virtual delete event
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)), // mismatched child still queued for deletion
+					},
+				}),
+
+				// 8,9: process attemptToDelete of bad cluster child
+				processAttemptToDelete(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					clientActions: []string{
+						"get /v1, Resource=nodes name=nodename", // lookup of existing node
+					},
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1ns1, virtual)},
+					pendingGraphChanges: []*event{makeVirtualDeleteEvent(pod1ns1)}, // virtual parent virtual delete event still enqueued
+				}),
+
+				// 10,11: process virtual delete event for good virtual parent coordinates
+				processPendingGraphChanges(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)}, // missing virtual parent replaced with alternate coordinates, still virtual
+					absentOwnerCache: []objectReference{pod1ns1}, // cached absence of missing parent
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)), // good child of missing parent enqueued for deletion
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual),     // new virtual parent coordinates enqueued for deletion
+					},
+				}),
+
+				// 12,13: process attemptToDelete of good child
+				processAttemptToDelete(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					clientActions: []string{
+						"get /v1, Resource=pods ns=ns1 name=podname2",    // lookup of good child
+						"delete /v1, Resource=pods ns=ns1 name=podname2", // delete of good child
+					},
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod2ns1, withOwners(pod1ns1)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					absentOwnerCache: []objectReference{pod1ns1},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual), // new virtual parent coordinates enqueued for deletion
+					},
+				}),
+
+				// 14,15: observe deletion of good child
+				processEvent(makeDeleteEvent(pod2ns1, pod1ns1)),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					absentOwnerCache: []objectReference{pod1ns1},
+					pendingAttemptToDelete: []*node{
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual), // new virtual parent coordinates enqueued for deletion
+					},
+				}),
+
+				// 16,17: process attemptToDelete of bad virtual parent coordinates
+				// steady-state is bad cluster child and bad virtual parent coordinates, with no retries
+				processAttemptToDelete(1),
+				assertState(state{
+					graphNodes: []*node{
+						makeNode(node1, withOwners(pod1nonamespace)),
+						makeNode(pod1nonamespace, virtual)},
+					absentOwnerCache: []objectReference{pod1ns1},
+				}),
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	alwaysStarted := make(chan struct{})