NOTE: This story accommodates graphic and disturbing particulars. Please learn at your personal discretion.
The newest instalment of a docuseries exploring the identification of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace, whose adoptive dad and mom claimed was really an grownup girl and terrorized their household from 2010 to 2013, has confirmed her true age but additionally left audiences with much more unanswered questions in regards to the younger girl.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks is the follow-up to the 2023 docuseries that zeroed in on Natalia’s adoptive dad and mom, Kristine and Michael Barnett, who have been charged with a number of counts of neglect and accused of abandoning Natalia at a rented Indiana condominium in 2013 and shifting to Canada.
The Barnetts beforehand claimed that Natalia was not six years previous once they adopted her in 2010, however relatively stated she was a 20-year-old sociopath who tried to kill them.
Natalia, who has a uncommon type of dwarfism referred to as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, has all the time maintained that she was certainly a baby and was mistreated by her adoptive dad and mom.
Natalia Grace speaks out in a brand new collection, alleging she was the sufferer of abuse by the hands of her adoptive dad and mom.
Investigation Discovery / YouTube
Now, nevertheless, Natalia’s claims about her age have been confirmed.
According to People, a DNA blood check, the outcomes of which have been revealed within the first episode of the collection earlier this week, discovered that Natalia is roughly 22 years previous — suggesting that she was 9 when she was adopted by the Barnetts.
“This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts has said right into the trash with a match,” Natalia stated within the premiere episode.
“This is so big. Because literally, this has been 13 years of just two people lying their butts off. They ruined a kid’s life. They painted (me) as some big monster.”
“It just proves that I was not lying about my age,” she continued. “They ignored everything that was pointing to the truth just so they could create this stupid lie. They knew it and they still did what they did.”
Kristine Barnett, left, and Michael Barnett are proven in these mugshot pictures from September 2019.
Tippecanoe County Jail
Natalia was adopted from the foster system two years after arriving within the United States from Ukraine. A physician who examined her that yr decided she was about eight years previous, in line with a possible trigger affidavit obtained by The Associated Press.
Michael Barnett advised a detective in 2019 that he and his spouse had Natalia’s age legally modified to 22 in June of 2012. He additionally claimed that Kristine instructed Natalia to inform anybody who requested that she “looks young but was actually 22.”
The affidavit stated the Barnetts left Natalia at an condominium in Lafayette, Ind., in 2013 and moved to Canada with their three organic sons, whereas persevering with to pay her lease. The affidavit didn’t specify how lengthy the lady lived alone on the condominium, or why it took so lengthy for prosecutors to put expenses towards the couple in an investigation that began in September 2014. The doc additionally didn’t say the place the Barnetts moved to in Canada.
Michael was discovered not responsible of the costs in 2022 and prosecutors dropped the case towards Kristine in March of final yr.
The docuseries’ first blockbuster season, which aired in July 2023, examined claims by the now-divorced Barnetts that accused Natalia of posing as a baby whereas attempting to poison Kristine, attempting to get their sons run over by throwing their toys into the road and brandishing a knife whereas standing close to the Barnett’s mattress late at night time.
The second season tried to reply the query of the Barnetts’ motive for attempting to color their adopted daughter as a sociopathic grownup.
Legal professional Beth Karas prompt to The Hollywood Reporter that Kristine hatched a three-prong plan to rid Natalia from their lives, which included absolving their accountability for the lady by legally altering her age, looking for a option to put Natalia in jail or a psychiatric facility and, finally, abandoning her and leaving the U.S.
In the docuseries, Natalia additionally ranges her personal slew of alleged abuses again on the Barnetts, claiming that Kristine pepper-sprayed her twice, compelled her to take drugs at excessive doses with the intent of overdosing, in addition to accusing Kristine of forcing her to insert a tampon when she was simply 7 years previous and inflicting her to bleed — which she claims Kristine then used to attempt to show that Natalia was already menstruating.
The collection additionally particulars the connection between Natalia and her new adoptive dad and mom, Bishop Antwon Mans and his spouse Cynthia, and the final 90 seconds drops a stunning new twist, leaving the collection on a cliffhanger that lends itself exceptionally nicely to a different sequel season, ought to producers be given the go-ahead.
“Something ain’t right with Natalia,” Bishop Mans is heard saying in an audio clip voiceover, that he despatched to the present’s producers simply two weeks earlier than the collection’ premiere. “This girl is tweakin’. I feel like she’s the enemy of the house. And she said to us we have held her hostage.”
Cynthia may be heard within the voiceover backing Bishop’s claims, saying, “Natalia is stabbing her family in the back over a complete lie,” to which the Bishop provides, “We’re done. We’re done with her.”
Jason Sarlanis, president of Turner Networks and Investigation Discovery, the community that produced and aired the collection, advised The Hollywood Reporter that the decision from the Mans left the crew “thoroughly shocked” as a result of they “genuinely thought Natalia had found a happy ending with her new family.”
“Our series was already finished and locked, but we instantly mobilized with our producers to ensure that this shocking development was included in our finale. Our viewers are so invested in Natalia’s case we felt our series needed to reflect the constantly shifting truth of her situation. One thing has always proven to be true with Natalia’s story — nothing is ever what it seems,” he stated.
Kristine additionally took to Facebook this week to share a prolonged publish together with her ideas on the collection and Natalia’s allegations, writing, “it was eerie watching (Natalia) as if she was very well coached in how she was dressed and behaved and presented herself.”
Kristine maintained in her writing that Natalia was by no means abused by anybody within the Barnett household.
“Natalia was a very much loved and cared for member of my family,” Kristine wrote. “Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false. Any discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of normal parenting.”
“We all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us,” she added. “As a parent, I have had good and bad days as a mom… I am certainly not going to claim I was a perfect mom.”
—
‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks’ may be streamed in Canada by means of choose On Demand platforms. Check your information for availability.