A DNA test has revealed that Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace is almost 22 years old after her adoptive parents accused her of pretending to be a child when adopting her.
Natalia Grace's adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, claimed she was a murderous adult in her 20s and was posing as a six-year-old when they adopted her in 2010.
In the first explosive episode of the documentary “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which aired on Monday, the young woman learned that she was about 22 years old in August 2023 after a medical laboratory tested her DNA.
After hearing the shocking test results, Grace burst into tears.
“This little piece of paper throws every single lie the Barnetts have said right into the trash with a match,” she told her new adoptive father, Antwon Mans.
In the first explosive episode of the documentary “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which aired Monday, Natalia Grace learned that she was almost 22 years old
When Natalia heard the results of the DNA test, she burst into tears
Grace was supported by her new adoptive father Antwon Mans when she heard the results
“This is so big.” Because in the truest sense of the word, it’s been 13 years of only two people getting their asses fucked.
“You ruined a child's life. “They portrayed me as a big monster when in reality they were.”
“It just proves I didn’t lie about my age,” she added.
“That’s exactly right,” Mans said as he comforted her.
“I just want to know why this story was made up. They knew it and they still did what they did,” she said through tears.
The revelation states that Grace was nine years old when she was abandoned to live in a detached house in Indiana after the Barnetts moved to Canada.
The documentary also revealed that a dentist examined Grace in 2011 and found that she still had many of her baby teeth, putting her at around eight or nine years old.
Grace's strange story began shortly after she was adopted by the Barnetts in Florida in 2010 through a Ukrainian adoption center.
After Grace was adopted by the Barnett family in 2010, she was accused of being a murderous adult posing as a six-year-old. Breaking her silence to deny the disturbing allegations, she asked: “Do I look like a monster to you?”'
Grace, pictured days after being picked up from her Florida adoption center in May 2010, was accused by her adoptive family of violent, disturbing and erratic behavior, including threatening to kill her by looming over her bed with a knife
Grace, who was homeschooled in December 2010, criticized her adoptive parents for their “shocking” claims about her, asking: “Do I really look like a monster to you?”
Shortly after her adoption, the family alleged that she exhibited violent, disturbing and erratic behavior, including threatening to kill them by appearing over their bed with a knife and poisoning Kristine's coffee.
Grace was never charged with a crime.
The Barnetts legally turned 23 in 2012 and fled for their lives to Canada, leaving Grace in an ill-suited apartment in Lafayette, Indiana.
When they were charged with neglect for leaving her in the home, their legal re-aging meant that Michael and Kristine were only charged with neglect of a dependent, not a child.
Michael was acquitted at trial in October 2022 and the charges against Kristine were dropped before trial in March 2023.
But the adoptee has spoken out against her former family over the outlandish allegations against her, which included attempting to drag Kristine into an electric fence.
In a first look at upcoming episodes of the series, Grace confronted Michael, saying sternly: “I've never been in your room with a knife.”
“There is a hidden truth in every lie, but you have to dig deep enough to see it,” she said. “They can’t get away with it.” That’s my side of the story. Do I look like a monster to you?'
Questions remain about Grace's true age after it was legally changed from eight to 23 in 2012. A legal expert said the legal process used was a “court fraud.”
Michael Barnett holds his then-new daughter Grace in Florida in May 2010, just days after picking her up from the adoption center
Attorney Beth Karas said the Barnetts were safe from a criminal perspective after their charges were dismissed “with prejudice.” They could now expect a civil lawsuit from Grace while she “investigates” legal action against them.
“The burden of proof is much lower,” Karas said of Grace’s chances of success.
“It's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but rather the overwhelming majority of evidence that shows a high degree of probability that this happened.”
The legal expert said her case could be strengthened thanks to the new perspectives seen in the upcoming series from people who “couldn't speak before,” including Grace, the lead prosecutor in Michael's trial, and an investigator.
Karas pointed out that Grace's legal age change in 2012 was the “pivotal moment” in her case and speculated that the Barnetts may have had ulterior motives in their decision to age her.
The former prosecutor previously told that the judicial process used immediately made her feel like “something was just not right about this case.”
She said Natalia was never represented in court and was not informed about the trial, which she said should raise doubts about its accuracy.
“Based on that affidavit alone, with no witnesses or hearing, Natalia had no guardian or anyone in court to represent her, she was completely in the dark,” she said.
Karas now claims that after further review of the re-aging process, a “fraud on the court” was committed, arguing that the court “did not have all the information about her age” while the Barnetts withheld information.
Former prosecutor Beth Karas told that while the Barnetts are legally safe, a series of shocking allegations could lead to Natalia seeking civil damages
The Barnetts were accused of neglecting their child after leaving Natalia in 2012 and moving to Canada after asking a court to push back her birth year by 14 years, which was granted. In October 2022, Michael was acquitted in court and in March 2023 the charges against Kristine were dropped
Michael Barnett (pictured) claimed Grace “abused” his family in the months following her adoption.
Kristine Barnett (pictured) claimed that things quickly deteriorated after adopting Grace when they said she became violent and suspected she was an adult posing as a child
One particularly striking claim about this, which will be detailed in the upcoming season, comes from a shocking report from a doctor known as “Dr. Riggs,” who examined Grace shortly after her adoption in June 2010.
Riggs determined the child was between six and eight years old, and a skeletal examination two years later at the same hospital also revealed that he was about 11 years old.
Court documents filed by prosecutors said Barnett admitted in an interview that he knew Grace was a minor before he moved his family to Canada in 2013, leaving her alone in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana.
Barnett's lawyer denies ever making such an admission.
Karas said the Barnetts' re-aging was “always suspicious to me” and continued: “But it became more egregious than ever before, and if I were the judge and knew what we know now, I wouldn't be happy.”
While the Barnetts claimed they moved her out of fear for her family's safety, Karas said their case may also have been motivated by a desire to avoid having to pay Natalia's mounting expenses.
“We know that Natalia needed a lot more medical attention and surgeries that the Barnetts may not have known about when they first got her,” she said.
“It would be a financial burden.” “Not everything would be covered by insurance,” she added, noting that Kristine may have been hesitant to spend the money she earned from her best-selling book, “The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism” about her gifted autistic son Jacob.
“It appears she had various plans to get rid of Natalia, either by having her committed to a psychiatric hospital, prosecuting her, or re-aging her to eliminate her from her life.”
The Barnetts made their case in the first series of ID, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, in which they detailed their growing distrust of the new addition to their family almost as soon as they welcomed her in 2010.
This included a trip to Disney World, where Kristine claimed she was stunned to discover that Grace, who was then thought to be six, had “full pubic hair” while bathing her.
In the months that followed, there was a “strong escalation,” the couple claims. These included claims that she had kept her period a secret from them for months.
As the months went by, Michael claimed it became obvious that they were living with a threat, to the point that she threatened to stab her new siblings.
“She would do as much as possible to cause harm, suffering or emotional distress to the entire family,” Michael said.
“She tried to poison and kill my wife,” he claimed. “(And) one night I opened my eyes and Natalia was standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.”
Grace said it was “shocking” and “frustrating” to see these claims go unchecked on the show and urged people to wait until they heard her side of the claims before passing judgement.
Karas, a legal expert who appears on the ID Network series, told that Natalia could have a “good chance” of winning a civil case, particularly given the lower burden of proof to claim civil damages than the Barnetts did in one Criminal system
“It's very frustrating to hear everything being said by Kristine and Michael because I don't know who I am anyway and I want to know who I am and what happened to me,” she said in an early look on the upcoming show.
“But I hear from Kristine and Michael all these things that never actually happened… And people believe what Kristine and Michael say without even hearing my opinion.”
“This is my side of the story, and I'm going to say what happened because I never had the opportunity to say what happened.” You've all heard Kristine and Michael and what they said, but you have to hear both sides listen to know what really happened.”
At the heart of Michael Barnett's case in 2022 was his decision to move Natalia into her own apartment in Indiana shortly before the family moved to Canada.
Later in court, Grace testified that her diet consisted primarily of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ramen noodles and the occasional pizza. She said she had limited use of her hands and arms and had difficulty opening canned goods.
It was also claimed that the apartment was unfit for purpose as she was forced to struggle up the stairs daily, and neighbors recalled seeing her wearing dirty clothes and scuffed shoes and reeking of body odor.
Locals added that they were surprised to see Michael occasionally sitting in sports cars outside the apartment while Natalia was left in a run-down apartment.
People close to her also described her as a “pest” on the community as she entered homes uninvited and was even accused of inappropriate behavior towards local children. She denied the claims.
Michael said the family left them in Indiana and moved to Canada to support his 15-year-old prodigy's college years. However, some critics of the family claim that the move was motivated by a desire to get rid of Natalia.