New docuseries covers real-life story eerily similar to the movie "Orphan"
The bizarre story of an adoption that went horribly wrong is the subject of a limited docuseries by Investigation Discovery that started airing on Monday, May 29.
The story has been compared to Orphan, the 2009 psychological horror movie starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard. In the movie, a grieving couple adopts a girl who they believe to be nine years old but turns out to be a 33-year-old woman with a murderous past.
The events in the new documentary, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, take place a year after the movie’s release and focuses on a woman accused of pretending to be a six-year-old orphan in order to be adopted.
Michael and Kristine Barnett claimed to have adopted Natalia from Ukraine in 2010, believing she was a six-year-old child. The couple from Indiana already had three sons and was excited to have a daughter.
However, things were not as they seemed with their daughter and they learned that Natalia, who had a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, was actually an adult.
The Barnetts allege that Natalia threatened to kill them and their sons.
The couple then left her in an apartment in Lafayette and moved with their sons to Canada so that their 15-year-old could go to college, reported the Lafayette Journal & Courier. In 2013, the couple was charged with abandoning their daughter but were then acquitted.
Watch the clip below:
@investigationdiscovery Replying to @therealbiggdracco Shocking allegations and explosive revelations. Watch “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” starting Monday, May 29 at 9/8c on ID. #NataliaGrace ♬ original sound – ID
In an interview with Dr. Phil, Natalia said, “I had thought I had found the family for me.”
Kristine alleges that Natalia tried to poison their coffee and tried to push her into an electric fence.
Natalia denies the Barnetts’ accusations.
@investigationdiscovery Bombshell interviews, unprecedented access, and an unexpected liar. Watch “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” starting Monday, May 29 at 9/8c on ID. #NataliaGrace ♬ original sound – ID
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