Woman Claims Adopted Girl She 'abandoned' Was Really an Adult Dwarf Who Wanted to Kill Her Family
- Indiana parents Michael and Kristine Barnett merits they adopted a Ukrainian daughter named Natalia Grace when she was almost eight years former. Or then they thought.
- The now-divorced couple say they saw cerise flags about Natalia's age and nationality immediately afterwards the hasty adoption. According to Us Today, they also criminate that Natalia tried to impale them on more ane occasion.
- Michael and Kristine take been arrested and charged on two counts of felony kid neglect. Both posted bond and are pending their trial in January 2020. Michael shares his story on True Crime, a Dr. Oz series.
- Natalia Grace has denied the Barnett's allegations in an interview with Dr. Phil, which People released a preview of on November iv.
Here's a doozy: Did a girl's parents force their adopted daughter to say she was an adult and then abandon her? Or was she actually an adult sociopath pretending to be a kid and actively trying to kill them? It's a question Dr. Mehmet Oz poses on his True Crime series. Simply it's not a hypothetical. It's entirely real.
In a bizarre story that spins a yarn echoing that 2009 horror pic starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, Orphan, this gripping tale is really a real-life case currently making international headlines. Indiana parents Michael and Kristine Barnett are defendant of abandoning their 8-year-old daughter in Lafayette, when they moved with their 3 biological children to Canada. However, the now-divorced couple claim that their adopted Ukrainian girl with dwarfism, Natalia Grace, was actually a 22-year-old woman who tried to murder them on multiple occasions.
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Like Dr. Oz, who invited Michael Barnett and his attorney, Terrance Kennard, onto his show, True Offense, to get the truth, nosotros're attempting to unravel this mystery. Beneath, a timeline of everything we know.
Natalia arrived in the United States in 2008.
Equally reported by Us Today, Natalia told a Tippecanoe County Sheriff's deputy that she came to united states in 2008 as part of an adoption plan—this is according to a likely crusade affidavit. She also said that she has a rare form of dwarfism (medical proper name: spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita). It's characterized past deformities before nascence that include spine, hip, and knee malformations, as well ocular abnormalities.
Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted Natalia in 2010.
Originally set to prefer a lilliputian daughter from Haiti, the Barnetts plans were halted due to the expanse'due south massive earthquake. Afterwards in April 2010, Michael told Dr. Oz that the couple was contacted by an adoption agency in Florida, maxim they'd like to pair them with a Ukrainian girl. Co-ordinate to Michael, it was a hasty process.
Usa Today reports that Natalia'due south records initially indicated that she was built-in in 2003. Co-ordinate to children's hospital records, a dr. examined her in 2010 and estimated her age to exist nearly eight years old. Two years later, the infirmary did its ain testing and approximated Natalia to be xi.
However, in June 2012, the Barnetts with a courtroom judge'due south approval, changed Natalia's age from 8 to 22, with birth records indicating that Natalia was born in 1989, making her thirty years erstwhile today. Michael says 1 of the benefits of changing her age was so that she could be lawfully admitted to a psychiatric infirmary to go the intendance she needed. Merely what fabricated the Barnetts believe Natalia wasn't a kid in the first identify?
The Barnetts said they saw ruddy flags from solar day one.
Co-ordinate to the Daily Mail, Kristine, who is a famed parenting author and motivational speaker, began doubting Natalia'southward age immediately later the adoption. On Dr. Oz's show, Michael elaborated that on their outset night together, Kristine was giving Natalia a bath and noticed that she had full pubic hair. Afterward, Michael claimed the couple learned of Natalia hiding her menstrual wheel.
Kristine appears on the Katie Couric show with her son Jacob in 2013.
According to Us Today, Kristine as well declared that she became fearful for her life, as Natalia threatened to kill her and her family on more than than once occasion. On Dr. Oz's show, Michael explained that Natalia was caught pouring Pine-Sol into Kristine's coffee. Later she was confronted on the matter, Michael says Natalia simply said, "I'thou trying to kill yous."
The family unit took the girl to professionals for evaluation. "While at the stress center, she was documenting, she was telling doctors, she was telling therapists, she was writing down in her notepad. Non but am I trying to kill Kristine, but I'thou going to kill the brothers, too. Here'southward how I'chiliad going to practice it. Hither's what I'm going to do with their bodies," Michael told Dr. Oz.
The family unit moved to Canada in 2013…without Natalia.
Something of a child prodigy, the Barnetts' eldest son, 12-year-old Jacob Barnett, began getting media attention equally a physics wunderkind at Purdue University Indianapolis. He was featured in a segment on 60 minutes and even gave a TED talk. In 2013, Jacob was accustomed to the Perimeter Plant for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. Then the family upward and moved to Canada, leaving Natalia at dwelling.
Upon release from the stress center, where caretakers agreed Natalia was an adult, Michael told Dr. Oz, "We helped get her ready up in an apartment near the town that nosotros live in. We paid her get-go three months' rent; we set her up with inability, social security, food stamps. I checked on her a couple times a week. She was fine."
The Barnetts divorced in 2014.
Michael filed, according to USA Today, merely divorce proceedings are simply the beginning of his court headaches.
A new family filed for guardianship of Natalia in 2016.
Natalia got evicted from her Lafayette apartment and told regime she hasn't seen her parents since their move up north. Meanwhile, a neighbor said that the girl attended classes at Lafayette Adult Resource Academy, only abruptly quit going. According to Dr. Oz, Natalia is at present living with another family unit in Indiana, who in 2016 petitioned to be Natalia'due south guardians. Only to make that happen, they needed her old birth records, and that process required contacting the Barnetts.
Michael said he showed up at the guardianship hearing with several of Natalia's past health care professionals and documentation, and the gauge ruled that Natalia was indeed an adult. The example was dismissed.
Kristine and Michael Barnett were arrested and charged in 2019.
In what can just be described as a twist, Michael reportedly admitted to law that he believed Natalia was a minor in July of 2013. "It's non so. It's taken completely out of context," Michael said, however. "Day ane I thought she was vi, day two I idea she was 9." Despite the differing accounts, arrest warrants soon followed, and the pair was charged with two counts of felony fail of a dependent. Just concluding month, Michael and Kristine both turned themselves in and bonded out of jail. Their trial is set for January 2020. Both are pleading non guilty.
Michael Barnett talked with Dr. Oz to clear his name in October.
On the show, Michael, accompanied by his chaser, told his story and answered tough questions from the host Grand.D. He also said he thinks Natalia may non fifty-fifty be Ukrainian. She had no emphasis, couldn't speak Ukrainian, and had no memory of growing up in Ukraine, Michael said.
It all makes for one bewildering case stumping the court of public opinion. To lookout man the Dr. Oz segment in its entirely and determine the truth for yourself, head to doctoroz.com.
Natalia Grace denies that she conned the Barnetts.
While the Barnetts have certainly had their say in the media, Natalia'southward phonation had been missing from the story—now, she's immigration the air in an interview on Dr. Phil.
"She's painted you lot as an evil dwarf who'south gonna poison their coffee or stab them in their sleep," Dr. Phil tells Natalia in People'southward preview of their conversation. "They say you scammed them, lied about your age, and terrorized them."
But Natalia insists that it's "not true at all," and says she wants people to know her side of the story. During the interview her hand is held by Cynthia Mans, who sits on the burrow alongside her husband, Antwon Mans. The Indiana couple take adopted Natalia, according to an unconfirmed report from the Daily Mail.
Dr. Phil seems to remain skeptical. "A six or vii-year-old child living in an apartment alone for a yr? That'due south simply not believable to me."
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Natalia'due south face shows bemused surprise as Dr. Phil breaks information technology downward like this: "I judge it comes down to whether or not y'all are an evil psychopath demon kid whose come over here to murder everybody." Well, when you lot put it that style...
Natalia Grace's interview arrogance on Dr. Phil on November seven.
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Source: https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/a29516065/natalia-grace-barnett-orphan-parents/
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