A father who claimed his 6-year-old adopted was actually a 22-year-old adult ‘masquerading as a child’ lost his cool and broke down in tears while screaming and punching the floor in a new documentary trailer.
Michael Barnett, and his ex-wife, Kristine Barnett, from Indiana, US, adopted Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian-born dwarf, in May 2010. The couple wanted to adopt a child, so they contacted an orphanage. However, the pair claimed that when the orphanage contacted them, they were only given five minutes to meet Natalia, who looked like a 6-year-old child.
However, after bringing her home, they became suspicious of her age when she started abusing the family member and even threatened to stab their kids.
According to PEOPLE, “Natalia, who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal, was merely posing as a child — and was really an adult woman with sinister intentions.”
When the couple took Grace to a medical expert for a proper examination, they were informed that she was a full-grown woman who was at least 22 years old at the time.
After learning the shocking truth about her, Michael and Kristine left Natalia in an apartment in Indiana in 2013 and moved to Canada with their kids.
“The Barnetts claimed Natalia tried to harm them and their biological children. Natalia was accused of trying to poison Kristine’s coffee and kill her by dragging her towards an electric fence. Natalia was also accused of placing clear thumb tacks on the stairs face up so that they would step on them,” PEOPLE reported.
Previously in an interview with Good Morning America, Michael and Kristine revealed they feared for their life in her presence. A doctor told them she was a sociopath and a con artist, and their life was in danger.
In 2012, the pair filed a petition in the court to legally change Natalia’s age from 6 to 22, changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. However, the following year, when they moved to Canada with their three sons, the pair (now divorced) was charged with ‘neglect of a dependent.’
During the trial, Natalia testified that she was left alone in a flat in Lafayette and didn’t want to be alone on her own.
“I wanted to be with the Barnetts,” she said in the court. “I wanted to live with them.”
However, the couple was found not guilty – ‘of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022,’ per Associated Press.
Recently, Michael, who was acquitted of neglect charges, grew emotional in the trailer of a new documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, releasing in three parts on May 29.
In the trailer, Barnett could be seen tearing up while screaming and punching the floor as he recalled his terrifying experiences with the Ukrainian-born.
“We were all abused,” Michael cried. “I hate this.”
“She tried to poison and kill my wife,” he claimed. “[And] one night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.”
His son added, “I definitely didn’t feel safe around Natalia.”
In the trailer, Michael also warned viewers that they are going to know the truth about Natalia Grace in the documentary but not everyone will ‘like the truth.’
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Source: PEOPLE
