When Indiana couple Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted 6-12 months-old Natalia Grace, a girl from Ukraine, in April 2010, it was a dream come true.
But almost immediately, the Barnetts claim they’ve found themselves in a nightmare.
“[Natalia] threatened to stab my sons to death, drag their bodies outside, and bury them below deck,” says Michael Barnett in the brand new Investigation Discovery documentary series “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which is about to air on Monday.
“She tried to poison and kill my wife!” He says.
“She’s a sociopath.”
Within the six-part series, Michael details the fear he, Kristine and their biological sons Jacob, Wesley and Ethan endured by the hands of Natalia, who was born with a rare type of dwarfism called congenital spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia.
![Kristine Barnett (center) holding Natalia Grace Barnett next to Michael Barnett in front of an American flag.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746595.jpg?w=1024)
“What they hoped for can be a very glad family life that turns into a real horror,” legal analyst Beth Karas, co-creator of the documentary, told The Post.
But was Natalia the perpetrator or the victim?
On April 26, 2010, after picking up Natalia from the Adoption by Shepherd Care agency in Hollywood, Florida, the Barnetts allegedly made a shocking discovery while bathing their recent daughter.
“Natalia had full pubic hair,” says Michael.
![Powerful shot of smiling Natalia Grace Barnett.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746594.jpg?w=1024)
The disturbing find led them to imagine she was an adult posing as a child – despite documents showing her date of birth was September 4, 2003. The couple later claimed to have discovered she was menstruating.
“We do not know who she is. We do not know where it’s really coming from,” says Michael. “Who the hell is that this person? So far as I do know, she has lived in Ukraine for 20 years.”
He also claims that Natalia began plotting to murder his family throughout the first 4 months of her adoption.
![Kristine Barnett (left) with sons Ethan, Jacob and Wesley, and Michael Barnett (right).](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011747255.jpg?w=1024)
“She would take knives out of the kitchen and conceal them under the bed,” Michael says within the documentary. “[She said]”I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
Michael claims that Natalia viciously lured the Barnett boys onto busy roads, smeared feces on their faces, spiked Kristine’s coffee with poisonous cleansing products, and tried to push her into a high-voltage electric fence.
“She was screaming loudly, ‘You fuck… – queen bitch, I’ll kill you. You are going to die,” he says of the fence incident.
![Black and white image of a scowling Natalia Grace Barnett.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746593.jpg?w=1024)
In 2012, the couple placed Natalia within the Larue Carter House psychiatric hospital in Indianapolis.
“She’s not a child. He’s an adult now,” says an anonymous hospital employee within the document.
“I remember when she was busty,” says one other. “She talked a lot about sex … Natalia proposed to men.”
Natalia, who didn’t take part in the documentary and was unable to contact The Post, publicly denied all allegations. In 2019, she took part in this system “Dr. Phil” and said the claims “are usually not true in any respect”.
“I’m 16,” she said with tears in her eyes.
![Natalia Grace Barnett on](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011748174.jpg?w=1024)
Others who met Natalia before she moved in with the Barnetts say she was nothing greater than a disabled and harmless child who was shuttled from house to accommodate after arriving in the US in 2008.
“In my heart, Natalia is the daughter I never had,” says Judith Irving, a short one that considered adopting Natalia.
Irving says Natalia’s alleged acts of violence against the Barnetts were likely empty threats.
“I find being afraid of a child while you’re a full-blown grown-up adult is form of ridiculous,” she says. “[The Barnetts] she desired to say she was older than she was. It’s just crazy. Who thinks about it?
![Michael and Kristine Barnett in Venice, Italy.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746597.jpg?w=1024)
After a month in a psychiatric hospital, Natalia was released. Soon after, Michael and Kristine legally modified her age to 22 and rented her a one-story apartment within the Westfield, Indiana complex.
There, in response to this series, residents accused Natalia of stalking, terrorizing and sexually harassing adults and youngsters within the neighborhood.
“She’s really evil and cunning,” former neighbor Sue McCallum says on the show. “People think, ‘She’s small and deformed. She couldn’t do all of the things that everybody talks about. But they’re fallacious and he or she did it.
The owner refused to renew Natalia’s lease for one more 12 months.
![The Lafayette, Indiana house where the Barnetts rented an apartment to Natalia.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746941.jpg?w=1024)
The Barnetts, who were preparing to maneuver to Canada, placed Natalia in a two-story apartment constructing – but with none adjustments for her special needs – in Lafayette, Indiana.
“They abandoned her,” Karas told The Post. “The concept that they’d put her in an apartment that had no modifications or an occupational therapist is heartbreaking.”
Michael now claims within the documentary that it was Kristine who got here up with the concept of leaving Natalia alone. He also claims that Kristine was cruel to Natalia.
Kristine was not interviewed within the documentary and the phone number given to her was not lively when contacted by The Post.
![Kristine Barnett (left) and Michael Barnett posed together on a couch.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746592.jpg?w=1024)
The couple divorced in 2014.
In the identical 12 months, after a lonely fight for survival, Natalia moved in with Antwon and Cynthia Mans, whom she met by probability and had only known for 3 days.
Within the documentary, Karas explains that several law enforcement agencies actively investigated Natalia’s case between 2014 and 2019 to find out if she was wrongly dumped by the Barnetts.
In September 2019, Michael and Kristine were charged with two counts of negligence.
![Police photo of Michael Barnett (left) and photo of Kristine Barnett.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746598.jpg?w=606)
Karas tells The Post: “One set of allegations of neglect was that Natalia was a child who had been abandoned. Second set [was based on] Natalia as an adult with special needs who was abandoned.
The prosecutor’s office set the goal of proving that Natalia was a minor.
In December 2019, they found her biological mother, Anna Gava, who confirmed that Natalia was born in 2003.
Within the October 14, 2022 pre-trial hearing footage, Natalia testifies about her age, saying: “I’m 33 by law. Biologically, 19.
![Michael Barnett (left) and Kristine Barnett leave the courthouse in Lafayette, Indiana.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011746890.jpg?w=682)
Nevertheless, during Michael’s trial, which began on October 24, 2022 in Lafayette, the judge ruled that neither biological age nor Natalia’s legal age can be disclosed in the course of the proceedings.
Michael was ultimately found not guilty of each counts of negligence on October 27, 2022. The negligence charges against Kristine were dismissed on March 23, 2023.
Natalia reportedly remained a surrogate member of the Mans family who accompanied her to court in the course of the trials.
“I do not know if there’s even one victim [in this case]Karas said.
“Is Natalia a convincing fraud or a neglected child?” she asked. “I do not know if we know the entire truth.”