‘Case Of Natalia Grace’ Keeps Getting Curiouser And Curiouser

I had heard of the case of Natalia Grace a long time ago, but I had forgotten about it. It is disturbing in so many ways it makes your skin crawl. Natalia is a Ukrainian-born woman who doesn’t even know how old she is. Some people say she was born in 2003. The State of Indiana ruled in a crazy court case that she was born in 1989. But she may have been born closer to 2003 than 1989.

I sat through all 12 episodes of the Investigation Discovery docuseries streaming on HBO Max. The first six episodes aired last year and they were a little too biased in their presentation. Like everyone, I was asking the question – where is Natalia herself? For about 10 years, she’s been living with a very religious family so it’s possible, during the production, she didn’t do it without their permission or she refused to do because she didn’t want to dig up old wounds.

But in the latest six episodes also titled Natalia Speaks, she tells her side of the story. And still, I don’t know who to believe, even though I believe Natalia more than anyone else in this case. Not only was Natalia born with dwarfism but a rare form called Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. She has deformed hands and feet. She has to use mobility assistance like strollers. She’s only about three feet in height but can’t even stand up straight because of her condition.

Yet, Michael and Kristine Barnett claim that she was a very violent and malevolent person who often appeared in their rooms with sharp kitchen butcher knives. They claim that Natalia poured Pledge cleaner into Kristine’s coffee. They claimed that she would steal toys from her adoptive brothers and toss them out in the road so cars would run over them to torment them. However, Kristine refused to be interviewed and Michael is so overly dramatic, you know he’s full of it. Even in a scene where he’s breaking down while talking to his son, Jacob, you can see his son not knowing what to do as his father leans in for a tender moment hug.

It’s all for show for Michael. He wants to play the victim. Even Jacob and Michael are caught on a hot mic they let it slip that Kristine allegedly kicked Natalia down the stairs. The whole first six episodes are gut-wrenching and hard to sit through as just about everyone interviewed seems to have it out for Natalia. It’s obvious Michael is trying to get the attention he thinks he deserves so hearing and seeing him throughout the first six episodes is pure boredom. Even worse, his trial lawyer, Terrance Kinnard, would make Ghandi himself want to throat punch him. But the less said to that publicity hound, the better.

In 2012, Natalia through only two biased testimony from “professionals” was declared legally an adult born in 1989. She was then put in an apartment complex in Westfield, Ind., where she had to live by herself while only a child. Her neighbors don’t speak highly of her. But playing devil’s advocate, it’s because they thought she was an adult. However, despite all the “issues,” they never contacted authorities but just the building manager who is heard saying she felt Natalia was just a child by the way she acted.

Her behavior at the Westfield apartment is similar to that of a child as she was constantly seeking attention from her neighbors. It’s apparent she wanted to find some type of bond but since they thought she was an adult, they avoided her. They would even say she would go into people’s apartments and rummage through things. Who does that? A child does that. After living in the Westfield apartment for a year, the management didn’t renew her lease and then she was moved to an apartment building in a rough neighborhood in LaFayette, Ind.

It’s obvious at this point, the Barnetts were trying very cold-heartedly and despicably to cut her loose as they moved to Canada as Jacob was going to attending college there. Jacob was reportedly a physicist child prodigy. But in the latest episodes, we learn there might have been some questions about that. Michael claims that Kristine home-schooled Michael through the Barnett Academy but aced him on all classes even saying he was a piano virtuoso. It was all to make herself look good.

Kristine Barnett was in talks to have a biopic made about her life and what she did with Jacob as Rosamund Pike was in talks to play her. And that’s where some people argue Kristine saw Natalia has an investment rather than a child. She had touted Jacob as a child prodigy genius and was working on a book The Spark that was published in 2013 about herself and Jacob. However, Jacob says that he never saw $5 of residuals from the book sales. And the series has Jacob living in the basement of Michael’s home. But you don’t know who to believe.

And that’s the problem with this docuseries. Who is telling the truth and who is doing it all for attention? The producers seem to want to show the story in an objective way but they also want to sensationalize it. Thankfully, less of Michael is in the latest installment, but his theatrics are still there. Worse, the criminal trial against him ended in an acquittal because the prosecution was prevented from discussing how the courts has ruled Natalia was an adult. So, Michael was tried as someone neglecting an adult, an adult who has a medical handicap but an adult nonetheless. Therefore, we expect adults to take more care of themselves than a child. I think it was just a case of the judicial community covering its own foul-up. And since Natalia was legally an adult on paper, then it was hard to say she was a child being neglected and abused.

It makes no sense. Any damned fool looking at pictures and video of Natalia can see that she was a child when the Barnetts adopted her. A family dentist showing X-rays of her teeth indicate it’s similar to someone between 6-9 years of age. Pictures of her with a foster family show indications she had her “baby teeth.” Michael’s retelling of how the adoption was conducted is also disputed as it’s revealed the Barnetts had conversed with Natalia’s previous adoptive parents. The man’s a narcissist and so is Kristine, who still didn’t do an interview but her text messages are shown.

The tragedy is that Natalia’s life almost from the start was horrible from being in a Ukrainian orphanage where she was mostly abused (physically, mentally and possibly sexually) and then she was taken to Little People conventions and seminars by Gary and Dyan Ciccone (who aren’t interviewed) trying to “sell” her off. One couple with dwarfism said they got a funny feeling when they were asked to pay for expenses. Another family who fostered her and had a dwarf child of their own came close but a complaint made of the Ciccones stopped that.

Natalia was the victim as she was bounced around from one area to another, from one family to another. There’s even implications that Natalia might have been used in human sex trafficking. It’s all sickening. And for that, you really don’t like people like the Ciccones, the Barnetts and especially Kinnard. I would even say the people of the Westfield apartment need to shamed for the way they went overboard.

It’s suggested that Kristine only adopted Natalia because she wanted to parade her around as another child prodigy. Natalia echoes this as she says Kristine would often require her to do mathematics too advanced. Looking at her handwritings, you can see she was a child. Michael says that they had intended to adopt a child from Haiti but the 2010 earthquake halted that. In my opinion, I think the Barnetts saw themselves as “white saviors” rescuing a child from a “third world.” You need only to listen to other parents who have done the same thing, for instance one of them sits on the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is one of the worst cases of child abuse and exploitation I’ve seen. Even worse is that it was done to a person who was suffering from a serious medical condition as she had to live on the second floor in the LaFayette apartment. As one of Natalia’s neighbors say, her inabilities could’ve put everyone in the building at risk. And the case might night even be over. It ends with Natalia being adopted by Antwon and Cynthia Mans, who initially helped her in LaFayette before she started living with them. I’m not too certain the Mans are looking out for Natalia with their best interest. Antwon is way too religious and there’s nothing that scares me worse than a religious person who thinks they are doing the right thing.

Are the Mans after Natalia’s money and federal assistance? I don’t know. It’s mentioned that Natalia may be planning a civil suit against the Barnetts. All I do know is that someone in Indiana or any were else comes in and gets this young woman away from these people. I don’t believe Natalia is a violent person. She doesn’t have the physical capabilities of harming many people. But with her trauma, I can understand if she might lash out and get upset over something. And maybe Antwon and Cynthia are overreacting or overacting.

Reports have indicated that Natalia has moved out of the Mans house and everyone has said things are fine. Natalia said she signed an agreement with the production not to disclose anything. She has launched a GoFundMe campaign. While the series isn’t the best, I do hope it opens a few eyes to what people like Natalia are going through every day.

What do you think? Please comment.