'Do I Look Like a Monster to You?': Natalia Grace, Accused of Trying to Kill Adoptive Parents, Speaks in New Docuseries
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Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine, was adopted in 2010 by Indiana couple Michael and Kristine Barnett
Dr. Phil/ Youtube
Natalia GraceNatalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan accused of trying to kill her adoptive parents, is speaking out in a new docuseries.
The six-part docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, will feature Natalia and her side of the story about what happened after she was adopted by Indiana couple Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010.
“In every lie is a hidden truth, but you’ve gotta dig enough to be able to see it,” Natalia says in the docuseries premiering across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, Jan. 1. “They’re not going to get away with this. This is my side of the story.”
She adds, “Do I look like a monster to you?”
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.
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Her story was the subject of last May’s docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which featured exclusive interviews with the Barnetts as well as members of Natalia's adoptive family.
This new docuseries will retrace Natalia's “adoption saga and the Barnetts' allegations from 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 a press release.
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 they 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 alone in an apartment in Lafayette.
The Barnetts, who later divorced, were charged with neglect of a dependent. Prosecutors couldn't charge the couple with neglect of a child because of Natalia's court-ordered age change.
Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022, the Associated Press reported.
In March, charges against Kristine were dropped, according to WTHR.
The docuseries will also feature a sit-down conversation between Michael and Natalia.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks will premiere across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, Jan. 1, airing nightly from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT.
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