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The newest instalment of a docuseries exploring the identification of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace, whose adoptive mother and father claimed was really an grownup girl and terrorized their household from 2010 to 2013, has confirmed her true age but in addition left audiences with much more unanswered questions concerning the younger girl.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks is the follow-up to the 2023 docuseries that zeroed in on Natalia’s adoptive mother and father, Kristine and Michael Barnett, who had been charged with a number of counts of neglect and accused of abandoning Natalia at a rented Indiana residence in 2013 and shifting to Canada.
The Barnetts beforehand claimed that Natalia was not six years outdated after they adopted her in 2010, however quite mentioned she was a 20-year-old sociopath who tried to kill them.
Natalia, who has a uncommon type of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, has all the time maintained that she was certainly a baby and was mistreated by her adoptive mother and father.
Natalia Grace speaks out in a brand new collection, alleging she was the sufferer of abuse by the hands of her adoptive mother and father.
Investigation Discovery / YouTube
Now, nonetheless, Natalia’s claims about her age have been confirmed.
In keeping with Folks, a DNA blood take a look at, the outcomes of which had been revealed within the first episode of the collection earlier this week, discovered that Natalia is roughly 22 years outdated — suggesting that she was 9 when she was adopted by the Barnetts.
“This one little piece of paper throws each single lie that the Barnetts has mentioned proper into the trash with a match,” Natalia mentioned within the premiere episode.
“That is so massive. As a result of actually, this has been 13 years of simply two individuals mendacity their butts off. They ruined a child’s life. They painted (me) as some massive monster.”
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“It simply proves that I used to be not mendacity about my age,” she continued. “They ignored every part that was pointing to the reality simply so they might create this silly lie. They knew it and so they nonetheless did what they did.”
Kristine Barnett, left, and Michael Barnett are proven in these mugshot photographs from September 2019.
Tippecanoe County Jail
Natalia was adopted from the foster system two years after arriving in america from Ukraine. A health care provider who examined her that yr decided she was about eight years outdated, in accordance with a possible trigger affidavit obtained by The Related Press.
Michael Barnett informed a detective in 2019 that he and his spouse had Natalia’s age legally modified to 22 in June of 2012. He additionally claimed that Kristine instructed Natalia to inform anybody who requested that she “seems to be younger however was really 22.”
The affidavit mentioned the Barnetts left Natalia at an residence in Lafayette, Ind., in 2013 and moved to Canada with their three organic sons, whereas persevering with to pay her hire. The affidavit didn’t specify how lengthy the lady lived alone on the residence, or why it took so lengthy for prosecutors to put fees towards the couple in an investigation that began in September 2014. The doc additionally didn’t say the place the Barnetts moved to in Canada.
Michael was discovered not responsible of the fees in 2022 and prosecutors dropped the case towards Kristine in March of final yr.
The docuseries’ first blockbuster season, which aired in July 2023, examined claims by the now-divorced Barnetts that accused Natalia of posing as a baby whereas making an attempt to poison Kristine, making an attempt to get their sons run over by throwing their toys into the road and brandishing a knife whereas standing close to the Barnett’s mattress late at night time.
The second season tried to reply the query of the Barnetts’ motive for making an attempt to color their adopted daughter as a sociopathic grownup.
Authorized knowledgeable Beth Karas instructed to The Hollywood Reporter that Kristine hatched a three-prong plan to rid Natalia from their lives, which included absolving their duty for the lady by legally altering her age, looking for a method to put Natalia in jail or a psychiatric facility and, ultimately, abandoning her and leaving the U.S.
Within the docuseries, Natalia additionally ranges her personal slew of alleged abuses again on the Barnetts, claiming that Kristine pepper-sprayed her twice, pressured her to take drugs at excessive doses with the intent of overdosing, in addition to accusing Kristine of forcing her to insert a tampon when she was simply 7 years outdated and inflicting her to bleed — which she claims Kristine then used to attempt to show that Natalia was already menstruating.
The collection additionally particulars the connection between Natalia and her new adoptive mother and father, Bishop Antwon Mans and his spouse Cynthia, and the final 90 seconds drops a surprising new twist, leaving the collection on a cliffhanger that lends itself exceptionally properly to a different sequel season, ought to producers be given the go-ahead.
“One thing ain’t proper with Natalia,” Bishop Mans is heard saying in an audio clip voiceover, that he despatched to the present’s producers simply two weeks earlier than the collection’ premiere. “This lady is tweakin’. I really feel like she’s the enemy of the home. And she or he mentioned to us we now have held her hostage.”
Cynthia may be heard within the voiceover backing Bishop’s claims, saying, “Natalia is stabbing her household within the again over a whole lie,” to which the Bishop provides, “We’re achieved. We’re achieved along with her.”
Jason Sarlanis, president of Turner Networks and Investigation Discovery, the community that produced and aired the collection, informed The Hollywood Reporter that the decision from the Mans left the crew “completely shocked” as a result of they “genuinely thought Natalia had discovered a contented ending along with her new household.”
“Our collection was already completed and locked, however we immediately mobilized with our producers to make sure that this surprising improvement was included in our finale. Our viewers are so invested in Natalia’s case we felt our collection wanted to replicate the continually shifting reality of her state of affairs. One factor has all the time confirmed to be true with Natalia’s story — nothing is ever what it appears,” he mentioned.
Kristine additionally took to Fb this week to share a prolonged put up along with her ideas on the collection and Natalia’s allegations, writing, “it was eerie watching (Natalia) as if she was very properly coached in how she was dressed and behaved and introduced herself.”
Kristine maintained in her writing that Natalia was by no means abused by anybody within the Barnett household.
“Natalia was a really a lot liked and cared for member of my household,” Kristine wrote. “No one ever took a belt to Natalia and the allegations that she was ‘crushed’ are simply plain false. Any self-discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of regular parenting.”
“All of us felt an amazing quantity of sympathy for Natalia and liked her whereas she lived with us,” she added. “As a mum or dad, I’ve had good and unhealthy days as a mother… I’m definitely not going to assert I used to be an ideal mother.”
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‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks’ may be streamed in Canada by means of choose On Demand platforms. Verify your information for availability.
