IT’S a story so horrifying that it could have come straight from the pages of a Stephen King novel.
When American couple adopted a six-year-old in 2010 they finally had the daughter they always wanted.
With three biological boys, including one with , Kristine jumped at the chance of taking in six-year-old Natalia Grace after she was dumped by another US family.
But in a shocking twist, the Barnetts began to claim Natalia was really an – and was .
They allege she stood at the bottom of their bed with a knife, , tried to poison Kristine’s coffee and pushed her into an electric fence.
In response, Natalia claimed she was the victim of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of the couple who, she says, took her in to boost their social standing.
Now the whole sorry saga is being told in a new drama, Good American Family, with rising British actress Imogen Faith Reid, 27, at the helm playing Natalia.
Born Anna Volodymyrivna Gava, in Mykolaiv, , Natalia was placed in an orphanage and diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, before being adopted in the US in 2008.
Since then, Natalia’s story has left armchair detectives gripped for years and renowned experts and lawyers have grappled with the complexities of the case.
It began when author Kristine, 49, and Michael, a recruitment consultant, were “drawn by a need to help another person in the world”;.
When they were told about Natalia she had already been living in America, in New Hampshire, for a year, after being taken in by another family.
Paperwork shows they decided to give her up because of her ‘disruptive behaviour’.
The Barnetts claimed that, after a Disneyland holiday to get to know each other, Natalia started to terrorise them from the moment they welcomed her into their home.
And, they say, questions began to arise about her true age.
Michael told makers three years ago that Kristine “gasped”; when she gave Natalia her first bath and saw she had pubic hair.
The couple claimed the little girl also had and adult .
They allege she threatened to kill them while sleeping, hoarded knives in her bedroom, and even defecated in their car.
They claimed Natalia also threw out her brother’s toys and scattered clear thumbtacks on the stairs to hurt them.
Kristine said in 2019: “Natalia would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard.
“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.
“I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex or something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, ‘What are you doing?' She said, ‘I am trying to poison you.'
“The media is painting me to be a child abuser but there is no child here.”
Real age debate
In 2012, the couple managed to get a judge to legally re-age Natalia from eight to 22.
They then rented out an apartment for her in Indiana and fled to with their boys.
When Natalia was found in a dirty house, struggling to feed herself and living on peanut butter sandwiches and noodles, the pair were charged with neglect of a dependent.
Micheal was found not guilty in October 2022 and, almost six months later, Kristine’s case was dismissed.
I feel like I was brainwashed by the Barnetts. Kristine coached me to lie about my age and say I tried to murder my parents. Why would you do that to your child?
Natalia Grace
Then came another bombshell.
Natalia took a DNA test in 2023 which dated her around the age of 22 – making her around nine when she was adopted by the Barnetts. A reinstated her real age.
Natalia has always insisted that she was the wronged party, accusing the family of rehashing parts of the 2009 movie Orphan, in which a little girl torments her adoptive parents.
The is based on the real-life story of a 33-year-old Czech woman called Barbara Skrlova who tricked people into believing she was a 13-year-old male orphan called Adam.
Natalia says she is unable to bend her fingers to even grip a knife and says the Barnetts hit her with a belt and pepper-sprayed her.
She told the 2023 docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace that the Barnetts coached her to lie about her age and forced her to wear tampons aged seven.
She said: “I feel like I have to defend myself and be like, “Do I look like someone that could push someone twice my size into a fence? Do I look like I could even grip a knife?
“I feel like I was brainwashed by the Barnetts. Kristine coached me to lie about my age and say I tried to murder my parents. Why would you do that to your child?”; she anguished.
While some doubted Natalia would be strong enough to attack her parents, Michael claimed she had “guns would be impressed by”; due to using her upper body to move around for all of her life.
‘Spiritual manipulation'
Following her ordeal, Natalia was adopted by neighbour Cynthia Mans and her husband Antwon, a Christian pastor, in 2023.
However, there was no happy ending for the orphan who has since fallen out with the family and moved out.
At the Bennetts’ trial, Cynthia revealed that she had charged Natalia $250 a month to live with them and taught her to read, write and do maths.
She doesn’t have any savings. She had money from Dr. Phil, from GoFundMe and other media interviews, but she gave that money to the Manses
Beth Karas
The Mans described her being “violent in a typical way like most kids do”;, recalling fights and arguments but no “crazy unrest”; and stated there was “nothing dangerous”; about her “at all”;.
“She’s never came at us with the knife or put thumbtacks up on our stairs, or tried to hurt our children,”; Cynthia said, referencing claims by the Bennetts.
But in a weird twist, the Mans contacted producers of the documentary after it had gone out and six months after the adoption to say they had tired of her behaviour.
Antwon is recorded 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 are the enemy.
“She’s done other things, too, but this was a new low. Natalia does not have emotions for nothing but herself. We're done. We're done with her.”;
It’s claimed the fallout stemmed from Natalia having an online romance with a Brit named Neil, who convinced her the Mans were ‘spiritually manipulating’ her and stealing her .
A follow-up to the ID documentary revealed Cynthia was listed as the payee for Natalia’s $800 even after she moved out.
Legal expert Beth Karas said in this year’s installment of The Curious Case of Natalie Grace that what the Mans had done was potentially illegal. The family didn’t respond to the claims.
“She doesn’t have any savings. She had money from Dr. Phil, from and other media , but she gave that money to the Mans,”; she said.
‘Whipped, slapped, trapped'
There were also allegations from neighbours and friends that the Mans family physically abused Natalia, claiming they whipped her with a belt, slapped her and locked her in a room.
Cynthia and Antwon denied the claims. When asked about alleged abuse Natalia has flipped back and forth – sometimes she refutes it, other times she has told pals she was beaten.
In late 2023, Natalie moved in with another family, the DePauls who all have dwarfism and previously failed to adopt the Ukrainian back in 2009.
She described being “completely terrified”; when she secretly fled the Mans’ home, encouraged by Neil, and since then more claims about her ordeal have emerged.
Nicole DePaul, who doesn’t plan to adopt Natalia, says the young woman often “drops little tidbits”; including being “scared of [an] Antwon-type whooping... a whooping is like a beating.”;
The mum claimed the Mans still receive Natalia’s disability benefits and argued: “How is she going to live? She needs that money to live. Now we’re supposed to pay for everything?”;
Now living in , Natalia is studying to become a teacher and is trying to fundraise to cover urgently needed surgeries to her spine, so far $27,500 has been donated.
The sum seems just a drop in the ocean though as she requires “in excess of $500,000”; according to the page, because the specialist doesn’t accept her medical .
She risks “paralysis and incontinence”; if she isn’t operated on soon and plans to use part of the funds to start a business to pay for the surgeries.
While there are further obstacles that Natalia faces, she’s optimistic stating: “It’s a blessing to be alive today because looking back at my 7-year-old self, I should have been dead.
“I’m really just trying to take control of my life and stop letting other people control it. I feel like I’m becoming this new person. This new version feels amazing – feels free.”;
Supported by a family who understands her struggles and finally forging a future from herself, it seems like the perfect fresh start for Natalia.
But whether she can shake off the never-ending questions and surrounding her life that have fascinated a generation, is yet to be seen.
