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Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism whose adoptive parents claim she posed as a child and terrorized her family, told a very different story in a series of interviews aired this week.
The Strange Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, which aired on Investigation Discovery, answered some lingering questions about the bizarre case and shocked producers with additional uncertainties that could lead to a follow-up series.
“'Natalia Speaks' is one of those projects where the more we delved, the more twists we discovered,” Jason Sarlanis, president of Investigation Discovery, told , describing last-minute developments in the production.
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“Our viewers are so invested in Natalia's case that we felt our series needed to reflect the ever-changing truth of her situation. One thing has always proven true in Natalia’s story – nothing is ever as it seems.”
Adopted Girl Accused of 'Masking' While 6-Year-Old Says 'Do I Look Like a Monster to You' in New Documentary?
Natalia Grace smiles as Kristine Barnett looks at a computer. The Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism, now 22, disputes her adoptive parents' claims that she was posing as an adult, according to new blood tests. (investigative discovery)
The six-part series is a follow-up to its counterpart released in May, which explored the claims made by adoptive parents Kristine and Michael Barnett.
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Due to flooding in the Ukrainian hospital where she was born, she does not have a birth certificate legally stating her age. To add to the confusion, FBI Special Agent Kenneth J. Maxwell told producers that the judge who presided over the girl's adoption process was later fired for corruption.
QUESTIONS TOWARDS A FAMILY WHO CLAIM THEY ADOPTED AN ADULT WHO “MASQUERATED” HIMSELF AS A 6-YEAR-OLD: LAWYER
Anna Gava, Natalia's biological mother, said in interviews that she gave her daughter up for adoption because of her disability.
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The Indiana couple adopted Natalia in April 2010, believing she was six years old.
But after six months of allegedly strange behavior, the parents began to suspect that their daughter was an adult who was betraying her family. Natalia suffers from a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, which gives her a small frame that leaves her true age a mystery without a medical examination.
A still of Natalia Grace in “Dr. Phil” (Dr. Phil)
According to previous documentaries, Natalia hoarded knives, stuck thumbtacks up for the family to accidentally step on, and once tried to poison her adoptive mother with Pine-Sol.
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But in her last interview, Natalia tried to clear her name.
“There is a hidden truth in every lie, but you have to dig deep enough to see it,” Natalia said. “They can’t get away with it. This is my side of the story. Do I look like a monster to you?”
Adopted girl accused of 'masking' when 6-year-old was spotted selling fireworks in the parking lot with his new father
The Barnetts successfully petitioned a Marion County court to change Natalia's birth year from 2003 to 1989, making her officially 22 years old.
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According to the documentary, they moved her into an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Canada with their three biological sons. Neighbors there noticed that the new tenant struggled with everyday household tasks and often went hungry.
Michael and Kristine Barnett, who appear in their mugshots, were charged in 2019 with multiple counts of neglect of a dependent. But a jury found Michael not guilty in 2022 and the charges against Kristine were dropped. (Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office)
Even though she was a legal adult, the Barnetts were charged in 2019 with neglect of a dependent due to her disability.
The adoptive father was found not guilty by a jury in 2022, while the mother's charges were dismissed this year. Both parents defended themselves against the allegations against them in the documentary, claiming that Natalia was an adult capable of taking care of herself.
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Father who claims he adopted violent adult 'masquerading' as 6-year-old collapses over 'abuse'
Through a blood sample from TruDiagnostic, a medical laboratory specializing in biological aging, the show's producers determined that Natalia is 22 years old and disputed her legal age of 34.
As a possible explanation for the Barnetts' motivation to change Natalia's age, documentary filmmakers claim that the couple wanted to exploit the girl for money. Her son Jacob inspired “The Spark,” Kristine Barnett's book about raising her autistic son and his academic successes, which, according to the documentary, earned a $600,000 advance and included an upcoming film deal.
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But when the girl was tested and found to have average intelligence, legal expert Beth Karas hypothesized on the show that the couple planned to remove her from their home.
Kristine Barnett and her husband claimed that Natalia menstruated and exhibited bizarre, sociopathic behavior. (investigative discovery)
First, Karas posited, the Barnetts had the girl's age legally changed. Because her genetic disorder made her a dependent person for whom they would be legally responsible regardless of age, they fabricated details of her alleged sociopathic behavior in order to land her in prison or a mental health facility.
Natalia was admitted to the Larue Carter psychiatric hospital in Indiana in June 2012, but the facility quickly determined that she was not mentally unstable.
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She was then sent to a foster home, where she called her adoptive parents and told them she was afraid of living with drug addicts.
Michael Barnett told producers that they took the girl back to avoid negative repercussions if something were to happen to the girl.
But Natalia, who confronted her adoptive father in the latest episode of the new series, claims she was abused by the couple. She said she was pepper-sprayed three times and that Kristine once gave her three times her prescribed dose of heart medication in an attempt to kill her.
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Natalia Grace's birth certificates in Ukraine were reportedly lost in a flood, further complicating the question of her true age. (investigative discovery)
Natalia also described how her adoptive mother forced her to insert a tampon when she was seven years old. She claims that this caused her to bleed, which Kristine later used as false evidence that she was menstruating.
But new details from Natalia's most recent adoptive parents, Bishop Antwon Mans and his wife Cynthia, raised more questions.
The Mans family has featured Natalia on television shows such as “Dr. Phil” publicly defended her and even stood by her when she confronted her former adoptive father for the documentary.
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Kristine Barnett holds a book next to her son (Investigation Discovery)
But two weeks before the series was set to air and six months after officially adopting her, the couple frantically called producers.
“There’s something wrong with Natalia,” Bishop Mans said in an audio clip that aired in the final 90 seconds of the series. “This girl pinches. I feel like she's the enemy of the house. And she told us we held her hostage. … We’re done, we’re done with her.”
“Natalia stabs her family in the back because of a complete lie,” Cynthia is heard saying, backing up her husband’s claims.
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“Our series was already finished and wrapped up, but we immediately mobilized with our producers to ensure this shocking development was included in our finale,” Sarlanis told of the twist. “We really thought Natalia had found a happy ending with her new family, so you can imagine we were all deeply shocked when that call came from the Mans.”
Following its live broadcast, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks is now available to stream on HBO Max and Discovery+.