The adopted girl who was accused of posing as a 22-year-old woman has shared a major life update.
We all remember Natalia Grace, the Ukrainian orphan who allegedly made several attempts to kill her adoptive parents over a decade ago.
2023 marked the release of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, a shocking docuseries following the aftermath of Natalia’s adoption.
Husband and wife Kristine and Michael Barnett took in – who they believed to be a six-year-old – to live with them in their Indiana home in the US in 2010.
However, just months later, the Barnett family claimed she was an ‘adult sociopath masquerading as a child’ who allegedly tried to kill them.
“She tried to poison and kill my wife,” Michael claimed. “One night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.”
Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace was accused of trying to kill her adoptive parents (Dr Phil)
Their biological son, Jake, added: “I definitely didn’t feel safe around Natalia.”
To escape, the couple left Natalia in an apartment in Lafayette in 2013 and moved to Canada.
While Natalia has continuously denied all of the allegations made against her, her age was legally changed in 2012 and health testing company TruDiagnostic estimated that she was about 22 years old.
Although the Barnetts were handed neglect charges later on, they were dismissed.
Having made headlines a couple of years ago, Natalia has provided a fresh update in the upcoming season three of her docuseries, titled The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter.
Natalia with her new family in New York (Investigation Discovery)
Natalia has now settled in with Nicole DePaul, 49, and her husband Vince, 51 – who also have dwarfism – in upstate New York. The couple tried to adopt her in 2009 but were turned down.
“At first it was bumpy because the Mans were still involved,” Nicole told People. “They were calling Natalia constantly and trying to wheel her back in.
“She’s also never done one violent thing ever.
“Our dogs love her and they sleep with her. I’m an animal lover.
“If I didn’t trust her, I wouldn’t leave my babies with her. They’re also a judge of character, as well.”
“We’re trying to guide Natalia, not control her,” Vince told the outlet. “She’s super sweet. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Natalia has been undergoing therapy to deal with past trauma and is now studying to become a teacher one day.
Episode one of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter will air on 6 January on Investigation Discovery, with three additional episodes to follow.
The adopted girl who was accused of posing as a 22-year-old woman broke down in tears after she found out her real age.
Ukrainian-born Natalia Grace – who has a rare form of dwarfism – was adopted by husband and wife Kristine and Michael Barnett from Indiana, US, back in 2010.
However, the Barnett family claimed she was an ‘adult sociopath masquerading as a child’ who had allegedly made several attempts to kill them.
After the couple deserted Natalia in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana in 2013 and moved to Canada, authorities pushed ‘neglect charges’ onto both of them, which were later dropped.
Meanwhile, Natalia has continuously denied all of the allegations made against her.
She told her side of the story for the first time in ID documentary series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, which aired last year.
In the documentary, Grace said: “I want you to know how old I am, I want you to know about my past because I want to know, too. I want the puzzle to be complete.”
(ID)
During the opening episode, Grace visits TruDiagnostics, where she undergoes various medical and diagnostic tests to confirm her true biological age.
Doctor Halland Chen, from TruDiagnostics, brings Grace in to give her the news.
He explains: “Based on all the studies and everything being analysed, you’re more close to 22, which is pretty close to what you think… you’re almost 20. That’s two years.”
So this means that Grace was indeed around seven years old when the Barnetts adopted her – and not an adult.
After being given the news, Grace comments: “This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts have said right into the trash with a match.”
(ID)
Grace, who attends the appointment with her adoptive dad Antwon Mans, then breaks down in tears as she adds: “This is so big, because literally this has been 13 years. 13 years of just two people lying their butts off.
“They ruined a kid’s life. They painted me as some big monster when in reality they were the ones.”
With Mans agreeing with his daughter, her voice cracks as she adds: “It just proves that I was not lying about my age. They ignored everything that was pointing to the truth just so they could create this stupid lie.”
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and Discovery Plus in the UK.
If there was ever a case which could keep you up at night, Natalia Grace’s adoption saga has to be up there.
Even though the row regarding her age first erupted 12-years ago, people are still fascinated by the Ukraine-born woman’s story more than a decade on – and luckily for them, a new series about her is in the works.
And according to the Brit actress who is taking on the complicated character of Natalia Grace, it could be on our TV screens sooner than you might have thought.
For those who need a quick refresher on who Natalia Grace is, let’s get into it.
Back in 2010, US couple Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted the then-six-year-old girl and were informed that she suffered from a rare form of dwarfism – but two years later, they abandoned her.
The pair alleged that Natalia was actually an ‘adult sociopath masquerading as a child’, while also claiming that she had tried to kill them.
The Barnetts successfully petitioned to have her birth age changed from 2003 to 1989, meaning she would legally be recognised as an adult in her 20s, and left Natalia Grace in an apartment in Indiana while they moved to Canada.
In a bid to prove her medical condition or her age wasn’t a lie, Natalia Grace underwent examinations by age specialists and even appeared on an interview with Dr Phil to give her side of the story.
She also went through DNA testing with the company TruDiagnostic, who told her: “Based on all the studies and everything being analysed, you’re more close to 22, which is pretty close to what you think… you’re almost 20.”
The Natalia Grace adoption saga is set to be retold from several perspectives in the new series (Information Discovery)
When her adopted parents abandoned her in 2012 they claimed she was a 22-year-old posing as a child, but according to these results, she would have been around nine when they left her in Indiana.
Charges of neglect were brought against the Barnetts but in 2022, a jury trial acquitted Michael, while the Journal and Courier reports that in 2023 a judge dismissed the charges against Kristine as there was ‘insufficient evidence at trial to prove the charges in this case beyond a reasonable doubt’.
Mental, we know – and Hulu’s upcoming series Orphan is set to delve into it all over again, from various different perspectives of those at the centre of the scandal.
The show will focus on the Barnetts as they come to terms with the possibility that their daughter lied to them, and suspect she may not be who she says she is.
Greys Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo will play Kristine, while The Morning Show’s Mark Duplass will play her husband Michael while Dule Hill and Sarayu Blue will also appear in the new show.
Imogen Faith Reid will star as the Ukrainian (Instagram/@imogenfaith__)
Imogen Faith Reid will portray Natalia Grace in Orphan, which will mark her first major acting appearance.
Back in August, she issued an update on the progress of the series to fans on Instagram, declaring filming had wrapped.
The 4ft’ 3ins actress wrote: “Very, very, late wrap post. I can’t believe I’ve just filmed my first ever TV series and I happen to be playing the main character.
“This experience has been honestly the best experience I have ever had! Every single person was so so supportive and I remember being soo nervous on my first day as it was all soo new to me!!”
Reid went on to praise the cast and crew, as well as adding: “I still can’t believe I got this opportunity, I still pinch myself everyday about what I’ve just done for the last 5 months I’m soo lucky and grateful.
“Thank you for giving me this role and believing in me. This story is for Natalia Grace.”
A release date for Orphan has not yet been confirmed, but we will keep you posted.
Viewers warned we ‘may never know’ truth about adopted ‘child’ who turned out to be 22-year-old woman
Viewers of a upcoming new true crime series have been warned they ‘may never know the truth’ about an adopted child who turned out to be a fully-grown adult.
We are, of course, talking about the infamous docu-series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which explores the mind-blowing story of Natalia Grace, a 22-year-old who posed as an adopted six-year-old Ukrainian orphan.
Natalia has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal, with her case being compared to the movie Orphan, which sees a fully grown adult with shunted growth pretend to be a child in order to infiltrate a family.
Natalia went on to be adopted by Michael and his wife, Kristine in 2010 in the US.
They went on to claim, however, that she ‘threatened to stab’ their children while living with them in Layfette, Indiana, and also tried to ‘poison and kill’ Kristine.
Michael said: “One night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.”
Investigation Discovery
Kristine also claimed Natalia was already getting periods and had adult teeth, while medical tests looking at Natalia’s bone density indicated she was much older than the family initially thought.
After these shocking incidents, the family then began to grow doubtful over Natalia’s identity and suspected that she was actually an adult illegally posing as a child.
Despite this evidence, the couple were eventually charged with neglect of a dependent after taking off to Canada and leaving Natalia to fend for herself – but not neglect of a child, due to the court-ordered age change.
Natalia has since moved on with a new adoptive family.
However, Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent, while the charges against Kristina were dropped in March.
Now, ahead of the docuseries being released next week, attorney Beth Karas joined TMZ Live to speak about the first episode of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace.
Investigation Discovery
On being asked if the family went back to Ukraine and tried to find birth records or parents, Karas said: “They went to the court with an emergency petition and an affidavit from a doctor who had been treating her for the past few years who said that he did not notice any growth and there was no growth in four years.
“She was supposedly eight at the time. So he said, ‘Well, you stop growing when you’re 18. If she hasn’t had any bone growth in four years, then she’s at least 22’.
“And with a stroke of a pen, he went from age eight to 22 for Natalia. So she theoretically became somebody who could vote, drink, and drive.”
Karas further gave her opinion on being asked how a six-year-old child posed as a 22-year-old woman can actually pull off something so deadly.
“There are people who observed her who lived near her because she had two different apartments, and they come down on a different side whether or not she is an adult or a child.
TMZ
“They observe her riding a bicycle with another child, they also observe her acting out and coming out on men sexually,” she added. “So, was she masquerading as a child?
“I’m not so sure because we are the sum total of our life experiences and we don’t know what her life experiences were until then, even as a child, maybe she was sexually abused as a child, and was acting out because she didn’t know any better.”
Karas added: “She didn’t know her boundaries. But it’s very strange because neighbours who had a lot of contact with her some believe she was an adult and some believe she was a child, and really the viewers are gonna make up their own minds because I really don’t know.”
“I lean one way but I don’t know we’ll ever know the entire truth here.”
The first part of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace will be available to watch on Investigation Discovery later this month on 29 May.
The biological mother of Natalia Grace, the ‘adopted child’ who actually turned out to be a 22-year-old woman, has been tracked down in a new documentary – with her comments thickening the plot even further about what her real age may be.
Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace back in 2010, believing her to be a six-year-old girl with a rare bone growth disorder.
However, as time went on, it transpired that she wasn’t who she said she was – with the Barnetts saying she was secretly an adult attempting to harm their family.
The bizarre story has become the subject of a brand new documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which explores the Barnetts’ accusations of their adoptive daughter being a fraudulent ‘adult sociopath masquerading as a child’.
Investigation Discovery
After realising they’d been ‘living with a sociopath’, the family filed a motion in Indiana’s Marion County Court for her case to be heard, with Michael saying in the series that the aim was to ‘have her age corrected to something more appropriate’.
Natalia – who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia – was eventually re-aged in 2012 by a judge, who determined she was 22.
She was given a new birth certificate with a date of birth of 4 September 1989, along with a new Indiana I.D.
Legal expert Beth Karas explains: “The judge had a petition prepared by an attorney that would lay out the arguments for why this person is not the age they believe she is – she is actually an adult.
“Nobody knows quite what age, but she has not grown in four years, so the judge came up with his own little formula: ‘Well, you stop growing at 18 – if she hasn’t grown in four years then she’s at least 18 when she entered their lives. And I’m gonna add four years’.
“He said, ‘Okay, I find you 22′.”
Investigation Discovery
While Karas says re-aging is ‘not unusual’ with adoption, she says Natalia’s new age still doesn’t quite ‘make sense’ to her.
“It does happen in international adoptions,” she continues.
“A couple of years might be shaved off the age of the child because it’s more attractive to adoptive families, the younger the child is. At least, that’s the belief.
“So, all I can buy are a couple of years, right? Like, she’s not really eight, she’s 10 or 11 or something. But to jump 14 years to 22? It doesn’t make sense.”
However, things get murkier still when we see an investigator tracking down Natalia’s birth mother, Anna Gava, in Terniva, Ukraine, back in 2020.
Investigation Discovery
The investigator meets Anna’s sister Tatyana, asking where her sibling is.
Tatyana then calls Anna, who can angrily be heard shouting down the phone: “My God, why can’t they leave me alone?
“I do not want to talk to anybody.”
Investigation Discovery
She adds: “It is 17 years, they are all going here and there to me.”
Given that the conversation happened in 2020 – a whole decade after the Barnetts adopted Natalia, Karas points out that this could indicate Natalia was a child when she was adopted after all.
“This woman, Anna Gava, who is supposedly Natalia’s biological mother, just said she’s been going through this saga for 17 years,” she says.
“Well, she said that in 2020 – do the math: that means Natalia may really have been born in 2003, which is what she has said all along.”
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace has been airing for three consecutive nights on Investigation Discovery, from 29 May.
