A new documentary reveals the disturbing signs that adopted ‘child’ Natalia Grace was actually a fully-grown adult.
Kristine and Michael Barnett were convinced they’d adopted a six-year-old Ukrainian girl when they welcomed Natalia Grace into their lives back in 2010.
However, within hours of the adoption, they began to pick up on strange signs that not everything was as it seemed with their daughter, who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia.
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Their accusations are now being investigated in a new Investigation Discovery documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which features interviews from the family members, former neighbours and friends.
In episode one, Michael details a number of warning signs that he and Kristine noticed in the early stages of adoption – including biological factors that did not seem to match her supposed age.
He explains: “We get to the hotel that night, and Kristine’s going to give our brand new daughter a bath, and I hear a shout from the bathroom.
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“This was a, ‘I’m not playing around, come here right now, Michael’ shout.
“I get up and go flying to the bathroom, and the colour’s almost gone from her face. It’s almost like she’s seen a ghost. She’s truly frightened and she just doesn’t know what she’s seeing or what’s going on.
“She says, 'Michael, look. Look down.’
“And Natalia had full pubic hair. And I don’t know what you think. Is that possible? Is that even possible? Who the f**k is this person?”
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Michael says they started Googling the matter, with searches indicating the earliest possible age people tend to start growing pubic hair is around eight years.
He said they vowed to show ‘love and compassion’ to Natalia, in spite of the shocking discovery, adding: “That doesn’t make a difference."
Michael goes on to say there was ‘a lot of escalation going on in the first few months’ after adopting Natalia.
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He continues: “There was a day where I came home from work, Kristine’s got a pair of Natalia’s underwear.
“Kristine asked Natalia to tell me what’s going on.”
A home video then shows Kristine asking Natalia to explain to her dad ‘what happened’, as Michael recalls: “I can remember her physical-ness at the time, her hands were just out in front of her like this, and she’s like, ‘Well, I have a period, and I’ve been hiding it.'
“And I just don’t know what’s going on right now.”
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A clearly stunned Michael then tells his wife in the clip: “That’s not possible.”
A family friend also says Kristine once found some socks that she had used in her underwear and thrown them out of the window, saying she was ‘just mortified’.
They explain: “She said, ‘This isn’t normal. What have I got myself into?’
“And I said, ‘You need to start finding out how old she is.’”
Later in the documentary, we also hear how Natalia was sent to a state mental hospital after claims she had been trying to kill Kristine and the Barnetts' sons, but that she had to be transferred to the adult wing after staff discovered her pubic hair.
Various employees are interviewed anonymously via phone in the six-part series, saying she could be ‘manipulative’ and ‘aggressive’.
One unnamed worker said she ‘talked about sex a lot’, with the Barnetts reportedly getting a call a few weeks after she was sent there to say she was ‘propositioning the men’.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace will air for three consecutive nights on Investigation Discovery starting tonight (29 May).
Topics: Documentaries, Film and TV, Natalia Grace
Jess Hardiman