Inside the VERY twisted tale of Ukrainian orphan Natalia Grace – as her THIRD adoptive mother insists things are ‘PERFECT’ between them despite previously claiming she was ‘done with her’

When Michael and Kristine Barnett claimed that they had been ‘abused’ and ‘terrorized’ by a ‘con artist’ posing as a six-year-old orphan, the shocking allegations captured the entire nation.

The Indiana-based couple alleged that they brought home who they thought to be a helpless little girl suffering from a disability – only to discover that she was actually a ‘sociopathic’ adult masquerading as a child.

The plot only thickened when the girl in question spoke out and told a very different tale, one of a scared and innocent kid who was abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for her.

The story may seem fit for the big screen – in fact, it’s eerily similar to the plot of the movie The Orphan – but it is not fiction dreamed up to entertain audiences.

This is the very twisted – but all too real – story of Natalia Grace.

The journey began in 2010, when the Barnett’s adopted Ukraine-born Natalia, who has a rare form of dwarfism, after they discovered they were ‘unable to have more children.’ 

At the time, the agency provided a birth certificate that listed her birth year as 2003, which would have made her six years old.

Soon after she joined the family, the couple claimed that Natalia began to display erratic, frightening, and even violent behavior that left them fearing for their lives.

They alleged that she would threaten to kill them, stand over their beds with a knife at night, and once tried to poison Kristine by putting cleaning supplies in her coffee.

The Barnetts said that they started to suspect she was older than they were originally told after they noticed she had developed pubic hair and had started her period.

By 2012, the couple claimed that they had come to believe that Natalia was actually an adult pretending to be a little girl, so they had her age legally changed with the courts.

Soon after, they packed up their things and moved hundreds of miles away, leaving Natalia all by herself in an apartment that they rented for her.

Natalia has long maintained that she was just a kid when the Barnetts left her to fend for herself, one who knew little about cooking and had limited use of her arms due to her disability, which left her often hungry, scared, and alone. 

She also denied that she ever tried to hurt the Barnetts, and has claimed that Kristine was physically abusive to her. 

In 2019, the complicated story was thrust into the spotlight when Michael and Kristine were arrested for a series of charges including neglect of a dependent, endangering a dependent’s life, and abandoning or cruelly confining a dependent.

And the vastly different takes about what went down sparked a slew of burning questions: Who was the victim – Natalia or the Barnetts? Was it justified for them to leave her alone? And most importantly, was she a kid or an adult? 

Despite a whirlwind trial, explosive testimony, numerous medical professionals weighing in, and even interviews with Natalia’s birth mother, many things still remain a mystery.

As the latest twist to Natalia’s story unfolds, FEMAIL went ahead and broke down each side of the horrific tale, uncovering everything that both the Barnetts and Natalia have said about what occurred.

So was she a six-year-old abuse victim or an adult con artist? Take a look at everything we know about Natalia’s case.

The Barnetts’ version: Michael and Kristine claimed that they were ‘abused’ and ‘terrorized’ by ‘con artist’ and ‘sociopath’ Natalia

While many details of Natalia’s childhood still remain a mystery, some things we know for sure are that she was born in Ukraine and put in an orphanage by her mother soon after.

She was diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia – which causes short stature, joint deformities, skeletal abnormalities, and problems with vision – when she was young.

Natalia first came to America in 2008 when she was adopted by a couple who remained anonymous, but it didn’t work out for undisclosed reasons, and she was placed with a Florida-based agency two years later.

That’s when Michael and Kristine, who already had three biological sons, found Natalia.

‘I always wanted to have a larger family and I had very severe complications in my pregnancies and was unable to have more children,’ Kristine previously explained to DailyMail.com about their decision to adopt. 

‘I also at that time had a very privileged life. I felt that if I had the ability to help another person in the world then I wanted to do it.’ 

When they adopted Natalia, they said they were given very few details regarding her background, but were told that she needed a home immediately because her previous adoptive parents suddenly gave her up. 

‘Out of compassion for their situation I didn’t want to press them for information on what had gone wrong,’ Kristine said. 

The agency allegedly provided the Barnetts with a Ukrainian birth certificate that listed Natalia’s birthday as September 4, 2003, which would have made her six years old at the time of the adoption.

Soon after they brought Natalia into their home in Westfield, Indiana, the couple claimed that she started to display bizarre, erratic, and violent behavior that they said made them believe that she was actually a full-grown adult masquerading as a child.

Michael claimed in Investigation Discovery’s docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace that when they went to give Natalia her first bath a day after they adopted her, they noticed she had pubic hair – something doctors say starts as early as eight years old in girls.

In the doc, family friends recalled how Kristine told them that she had found blood-stained socks in the trash soon after, which lead to her believing that Natalia had been having her period and trying to hide it from her new parents.

In addition, Kristine told DailyMail.com that Natalia shunned kids’ toys, sought the company of teenage girls, and appeared to use sophisticated vocabulary way beyond someone her age. 

‘It was very hard to decipher how old she was because she has such a unique look. But at that time I started to believe she was probably a teenager,’ she said.

‘But I didn’t have any regrets. This was what I wanted to do. I felt overwhelming love for her.’

The couple have said that over time, they began to feel threatened by Natalia, with Kristine claiming in her 2019 interview with DailyMail.com that she ‘would make statements and draw pictures’ that hinted she ‘wanted to kill them.’

She also claimed Natalia would ‘stand over’ their beds in the middle of the night with a knife, and that she once tried to put chemicals in their drinks – both of which Natalia has denied. 

‘She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn’t go to sleep. 

‘We had to hide all the sharp objects,’ Kristine said.

‘I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, what are you doing? She said, “I am trying to poison you.”‘

She also alleged that Natalia would ‘jump out of moving cars, smear blood on mirrors,’ and do other ‘things you could never imagine a little child doing.’ 

In ID’s doc, Michael said he and his family were ‘abused’ and ‘terrorized’ by Natalia, branding her as a ‘con artist’ and a ‘sociopath’ and comparing what they went through to ‘the stuff you see in horror movies.’

Throughout 2011, the parents said they sent Natalia to St Vincent Indianapolis Stress Center.

But after Kristine claimed Natalia tried to drag her on to an electric fence during a 2012 birthday outing, she was moved to a Indiana State Mental Hospital for longer-term care.

The couple explained to DailyMail.com that Natalia’s primary care physician Andrew McLaren told them that he believed that Natalia’s 2003 birth date was ‘inaccurate’ and that she was pretending be a young child soon after. 

A letter written by the doctor in 2016 would later surface as part of the court case against the Barnetts.

‘I served as Natalia’s primary care doctor until at least 2012. Over time, it has become increasingly apparent that this patient is substantially older than she claimed to be,’ he wrote.

‘She was seen by a dentist in 2011, who described her dentition as adult. A neuropsychology evaluation in 2011 described her as “fully grown” and with “secondary sex characteristics.”

‘This signifies adult sexual development. During an inpatient psychiatric hospitalization in 2012, it was stated that she was at least 14 years of age. A normal menstrual cycle was documented during that hospitalization.’

In the letter, he continued, ‘[Natalia] has made a career of perpetuating her age façade. She has continued to fool those who have the best intentions. 

‘The biggest victims here are Michael and Kristine Barnett, who did everything in their power to provide her with a better life.’ 

In June 2012, the Barnetts decided to apply to have Natalia’s age ‘corrected’ with  Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis, which lead to a judge revising Natalia’s date of birth to September 4, 1989 – changing her legal age from eight to 22.

Kristine claimed they did it so that Natalia could receive the ‘appropriate’ psychiatric treatment for an adult instead of a child.

Natalia was now considered an adult by the state of Indiana – which meant she was legally responsible for herself. 

When she was discharged from the institution in August 2012, the Barnetts began renting an apartment for her in Lafayette, Indiana.

The couple, along with their three biological children, then moved hundreds of miles away to Canada, so that their eldest son could attend a prestigious school there – leaving Natalia to fend for herself.

However, Kristine insisted to DailyMail.com that they helped her get a social security number and apply for benefits, food stamps, and an ID before they left.

Kristine also claimed that she was communicating daily with Natalia and said she even came up with a plan to help her enroll in college and study cosmetology. 

But she said Natalia stopped returning her calls soon after, and that she believed she was posing as a child again for another unsuspecting family.

It was later revealed that Natalia had been taken in by a neighboring couple named Cynthia and Antwon Mans, who had discovered that she was living there alone.

In 2016, the Mans applied to become Natalia’s legal guardians, which meant they would have to prove she was a minor and restore her original birth date. 

The Barnetts – who split in 2014, and have blamed Natalia for tearing them apart – filed an objection, claiming that Natalia was an adult.

While the judge upheld the original results and the Mans ultimately dropped the guardianship petition, this sparked an in-depth investigation into Natalia’s odd situation.

Three years later, in 2019, the story was thrust into the spotlight when Michael and Kristine were arrested for a series of charges including neglect of a dependent, endangering a dependent’s life, and abandoning or cruelly confining a dependent.

‘The media is painting me to be a child abuser but there is no child here,’ Kristine insisted to DailyMail.com afterwards.

‘Natalia was a woman. She had periods. She had adult teeth. She never grew a single inch, which would happen even with a child with dwarfism.

‘The doctors all confirmed she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults. 

‘I did not abandon anyone. These accusations are absolutely devastating. I have been cooperative the whole time. I have been truthful with people the whole time.

‘I am being charged by the state of Indiana for crimes against a child when the state of Indiana has determined multiple times that Natalia was an adult.

‘From day one this was a mission of love. But when you bring a child into your home, you expect them to be a child.

‘To be accused of this is a unconscionable to me. It’s just horrifying.’

Michael was acquitted in October 2022, and Kristine had her charges dropped three weeks before her trial in March 2023. 

Natalia’s take of the horrific tale: She has insisted that the Barnetts are ‘liars’ – and that she was a scared and innocent child

Natalia would later tell a very different story, one of a scared and innocent child who was abandoned by the people who were supposed to care for her.

She has long maintained that she was a kid when the Barnetts left her to move to Canada, and that she never tried to hurt them.

Weeks after the Barnetts were arrested, Natalia sat down with Dr. Phil for an explosive interview, and she denied all of her adoptive parents’ claims, stating, ‘It’s not true at all.’

Cynthia and Antwon, who had been looking after Natalia since she was abandoned by the Barnetts, described Natalia as a ‘genuine and loving young lady who has been through a horrible situation’ during the interview. 

They branded the Barnetts heartless liars who deserved to be brought to justice for what they did to the child they promised to look after.

They also shut down some of Kristine’s claims, with Cynthia telling Dr. Phil, ‘She’s been with us for almost seven years, to this day she does not have a menstrual cycle. Not one.’ 

Afterwards, Dr. Phil stated that he believed Natalia was telling the truth. He told Good Morning America, ‘I certainly don’t think this individual is 30 years old.

‘I think the court has done a real miscarriage of justice here in reading her the way they have. I don’t think there’s really medical support for that.’

In court, Natalia spoke about being ‘abandoned’ in the Lafayette apartment, and she said she was barely able to take of herself since she had limited use of her hands and arms and didn’t know how to cook.

She said she sustained herself mostly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Ramen Noodles, and an occasional pizza.

In a new HBO Max documentary, called The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, which premiered last week, Natalia spoke in detail about what she allegedly went through with the Barnetts.

She alleged that Kristine would ‘pepper spray’ her if she misbehaved, and that she once forced her to put a tampon in even though she hadn’t actually started her period.

‘Kristine literally just said, “You started your period,” and then she forced me to put the tampon in. It hurt so bad. And I was scared,’ she said in the doc. 

In addition, she claimed that Kristine encouraged her to tell people she was older, and that if she didn’t, she would physically abuse her.

‘She [once] started hitting me with a belt… just anywhere she could. I remember trying to move, but she kept telling me to stop moving, and then she would just hit me harder,’ she said in the documentary.

‘These people were supposed to be the ones to love me, to take care of me, but all they did was hurt me.’

She also shut down rumors that she tried to hurt them, stating, ‘It’s a lie. I’m an eight-year-old, 37-pound little girl.

‘I never tried to murder anybody. Kristine is the real monster. Michael is an accomplice to the monster.’

When asked about the coffee incident, she insisted that she was scrubbing the table when Kristine walked in and saw her holding a bottle of cleaning liquid near her coffee, but that she never put any in the drink.

What we know: Michael was found not guilty and Kristine’s charges were dropped, but a recent DNA test put Natalia at 22 years old

So who is telling the truth? Unfortunately, its’ still hard to say but a recent DNA test has confirmed that Natalia was a child when she was in the care of the Barnetts – something that was also backed up by her birth mother.

In the new HBO series, Natalia was seen reading the results of the test, which determined that she was now around age 22, which would have made her nine when she was first adopted by Kristine and Michael.

In the doc, Natalia broke down in tears upon reading the results.

‘This one little piece of paper throws every single lie that the Barnett’s said right into the trash with a match,’ she said. 

‘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, when in reality they were the ones.’

ID’s deep dive also revealed that a dentist who had examined Natalia in 2011 had determined that she still had many of her baby teeth, and placed her around eight or nine years old. 

In addition, a probable cause affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com following the Barnetts arrest showed that an expert at the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital had carried out bone density tests on Natalia in June 2010 – and they concluded she was aged approximately eight years old.

A further skeletal test two years later at the same facility concluded she was around 11 years old. 

In order to determine her true age, prosecutors located Natalia’s birth mother, Anna Volodymyrivna Gava, who told them that Natalia’s date of birth was September 3, 2003, like the original birth certificate said.

Anna also said that she herself was born in 1979, which would have made her only 10 years old had Natalia been born in 1989 like the Barnetts had claimed. 

Anna has continued to insist that her daughter was born in 2003 to numerous media outlets, including DailyMail.com, who spoke to her in 2019.

Even so, Michael was found not-guilty of all charges in 2022, and Kristine’s case was later dropped due to ‘insufficient evidence.’ 

They both still maintain their innocence, however, Michael did apologize to Natalia in the new documentary.

After she spoke about the alleged abuse she endured in the home, he said he was ‘overly sorry’ and claimed that he too was a ‘victim’ of his ex-wife Kristine.

‘I was exceptionally controlled and put down and threatened,’ he said. ‘Anything that was who I was ripped from me and I was guided and instructed to be exactly what she wanted me to be.’

Where is she now? A decade on from separating from the Barnetts, Natalia is attempting to raise money to get her own house and start a photography business

In the recent documentary, it was revealed that Natalia was officially adopted by the Mans in 2023.

‘This is the day I close the door on the Barnetts and never open it again,’ she said in a clip taken on the day she was adopted.

But in the final moments of the series, her story took yet another shocking turn when it was revealed that the Mans had now cut ties with her, despite fiercely defending her for years.

Producers said that the Mans were by her side during the entire process of making the doc, but they received a call from the couple six months after it was done.

In an alleged recording to the call, Antwon could be heard saying, ‘Something ain’t right with Natalia. This girl is tweakin’.

‘I feel like she’s the enemy in the house. And she said to us, we have held her hostage. Made us look like we’re the enemy.

‘Natalia does not have emotions for nothing but herself. We’re done. We’re done with her.’ 

Cynthia added, ‘Natalia is stabbing her family in the back over a complete lie.’ 

In an interview with The Sun this week, however, Cynthia appeared to backtrack and insisted that everything was ‘perfect’ between them and Natalia.

She said that Natalia was ‘living with friends’ but that the family were still in regular contact with her. 

‘We are absolutely perfect,’ she insisted. ‘No, she doesn’t live with us but we are fine.’

She also shared a screenshot of herself and Natalia on a FaceTime call with the publication, which was reportedly taken this week.

‘It’s rough, but with God, we gonna make it,’ Cynthia added. ‘I am in prayer.’

Following the new show, Natalia took to social media to share an update on how she’s doing.

‘I am OK and doing well and thank you all for your support and prayers,’ she wrote.

‘I wish I could tell you more about the show but I signed an agreement with the show to keep things confidential for now.

‘I will let you guys know when I can for sure, but just know I am OK. Love y’all.’

She also revealed that she had started a GoFundMe in an attempt to raise money to get her ‘own house’ and launch a photography business.

‘I recently moved out and I’m saving money to get my own house so I can have a personal place of my own,’ she wrote in the description of the fundraiser.

‘I am wanting to start my own photography business to create a fun and awesome way to have fun and do what I love which is taking pictures and creating memories for myself and other people.

‘I am doing this so I can have a fresh start in life as an adult and get past everything that happened in my life.’

In addition, Natalia said she is saving up to get ‘spine surgery,’ adding that if she doesn’t get the treatment soon she might become ‘paralyzed.’

‘I have a type of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia – a form of dwarfism that has many serious issues which often require surgery,’ she continued.

‘I’ll likely have to have major spine surgery and even more surgery on my legs. The costs associated with these surgeries are in excess of $500,000 because the specialist does not accept my medical insurance.

‘The first treatment I need is to have my spine corrected as if I leave it too long it could lead to paralysis and incontinence.

‘I would like to make enough to at least put a deposit on my own place and start a business to start earning some money so I can start saving for this expensive treatment.

‘However if I reach over my goal I will be able to put that towards the treatment I require to give me a better chance at getting enough to cover it.’ 

As for where the Barnetts are now, little is known about their whereabouts, but Kristine did release a statement on Facebook addressing Natalia’s claims that she was physically abusive in the documentary.

‘I have had good and bad days as a mom… I am sure there were plenty of fails and some successes I had as a parent and mom but I was not abusive to my children,’ she wrote in the now-deleted post.

‘The fact that these false allegations are occurring after a trial with evidence which was dismissed is disturbing. It’s like being assumed guilty after being proven innocent.’

It’s been said Michael lives in Indiana and Kristine lives in Florida.