A man who adopted a woman who posed as a child, named Natalia Grace, has claimed she tried to kill his family in a documentary on the case.
Michael and Kristine Bartnett, from Indiana in the US, adopted who they thought was a six-year-old Ukrainian girl in 2010. But it turned out she was a 22-year-old woman with dwarfism. The family discovered she had “periods, adult teeth and pubic hair”. Things only got worse when Natalia allegedly became violent towards them.
Natalia Grace case: Man alleges woman posing as child tried to kill his family
In a new documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, Michael alleges that Natalia tried to stab one of their sons, “poison his wife” and “abused all of us”. But their son Jake adds that his mother, Kristine, “definitely wasn’t innocent”. Public eyes fell on Michael and Kristine when neglect cases were filed against them in September 2019. Part of the neglect charges alleged that the Bartnetts did not get expensive surgeries for Natalia.
The Barnetts adopted Natalia on April 26, 2010. But they claimed they quickly began to think the adoption was a scam. They realised that Natalia was older than she seemed. In the summer of 2012, the couple petitioned to the courts to re-age Natalia by changing her birth year. The Barnetts were convinced that her Ukrainian records were incorrect. Natalia’s birth year was subsequently changed from 2003 to 1989.
After the couple were granted their petition, they moved to Canada with their three biological sons. Their eldest, Jake, was meant to due to start college there. The Barnetts left Natalia in Layfette, Indiana, after getting her an apartment. Prosecutors later dismissed neglect charges against Kristine Barnett on March 24, 2023, and a jury acquitted Michael Barnett in October 2022.
But in the new shocking documentary, Michael alleges that Kristine did beat Natalia. At one point in the trailer for the series, their son Jacob is overheard saying: “Kicking down the stairs, we said we’re not going to say right?” before realising he still had his microphone on.
Family alleges Natalia ‘terrorised’ them ‘for years’
In an interview with DailyMailTV earlier this year, Kristine Barnett claimed that Natalia threatened to stab the family in their sleep, pushed her towards an electric fence and poured bleach in her coffee. She alleged: “She would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard.”
Kristine also alleged that Natalia knew what she was doing. She claimed: “I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her: ‘What are you doing?’ She said: ‘I am trying to poison you.'” Kristine argued that she is painted as a “child abuser” but Natalia was “no child”.
In 2019, Natalia appeared on Dr Phil, where she denied being an adult and her new adoptive parents defended her. They stated she was a “genuine loving girl” and not an “adult sociopath masquerading as a child”.
The three-part documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, is set to uncover the full details of the case and airs in the United States later this May.
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