DNA Test Seemingly Confirms Natalia Grace's Real Age: 'They Knew It'

Natalia Grace was an orphan from the Ukraine when she was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett

A DNA test has seemingly concluded that Natalia Grace, the Ukrainian orphan accused by her adoptive American parents of trying to kill them, was a child when she was adopted by them.

The blood test, conducted by the medical lab TruDiagnostic, revealed that Natalia is approximately 22 years old, which suggests she was 9 years old when she was adopted by Indiana couple Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010.

At the time of the Aug. 2023 lab work, Natalia believed she was around 20 years old.

The Barnetts had claimed that Natalia, who has a rare genetic disorder, was not a child when they adopted her but rather an adult.

“This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnetts has said right into the trash with a match,” Natalia said in the premiere episode of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, which began airing on ID on Jan. 1 and will premiere through Jan. 3 from 9 to 11 ET/PT. “This is so big. Because literally, this has been 13 years of just two people lying their butts off. They ruined a kid’s life. They painted [me] as some big monster."

“It just proves that I was not lying about my age," she continued. "They ignored everything that was pointing to the truth just so they could create this stupid lie. They knew it and they still did what they did.”

Natalia’s saga with the Barnetts was the subject of the docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which debuted on ID in May and featured exclusive interviews with the Barnetts as well as other members of Natalia's adoptive family.

Related: Natalia Grace Confronts Her Father and Accused Abuser in New Episodes of ID's The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (Exclusive)

This new docuseries on ID focuses on "Natalia’s perspective, offering insight into what really went on behind closed doors in the Barnetts' home and how much truth there actually is to their claim Natalia was not a 6-year-old Ukrainian orphan with a rare genetic disorder, but rather a homicidal adult intent on harming them and their children,” according to an ID press release.

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After adopting Natalia, Michael and Kristine claimed they became suspicious of her age, leading to accusations that Natalia, who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, was merely posing as a child — and was really an adult woman with sinister intentions.

Related: Inside the Bizarre Tale of Natalia Grace, Adopted from Ukraine: Is She a Child or an Adult 'Sociopath?'

The Barnetts claimed that 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 her adopted family would step on them.

Michael told Good Morning America that doctors allegedly treating Natalia told them "this person is a sociopath. This person is a con artist. You are all in danger."

In 2012, two years after the Barnetts adopted Natalia, the couple petitioned Marion County Probate Court to have her age legally changed to 22, changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989.

The following year, the couple moved with their three sons to Canada without Natalia, leaving her as a child alone in an apartment in Lafayette.

The Barnetts, who later divorced, were charged with neglect of a dependent. Prosecutors weren't able to charge them with neglect of a child because of Natalia's court-ordered age change to 22.

Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022, the Associated Press reported.

Charges against Kristine were later dropped, according to WTHR.

Also in the newly-released episode, it is learned that an endocrinologist evaluated Natalia in 2010 and determined her age to be between the ages of nine and 11, and the information was passed along to the Barnetts.

A dentist, who was also interviewed for the documentary, said Kristine Barnett came into his office in 2011 asking if he could determine Natalia’s age by examining her teeth. The dentist determined after an X-ray that Natalia had 12 baby teeth.

“When mom and Natalia left mom knew Natalia was around 8 or 9,” the dentist said.

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks is premiering across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, Jan. 1, airing nightly from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT. 

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