Couple who abandoned 8-year-old adopted child with dwarfism claims girl was actually 22 and tried to kill them
The parents of an adopted Ukrainian girl who abandoned her in an apartment for three years have claimed that she was, in fact, a 22-year-old "sociopath" with dwarfism who was hellbent on killing their family.
The claim, quite similar to the plot of the 2009 thriller 'Orphan', saw 45-year-old Kristine Barnett and her 43-year-old ex-husband Michael Barnett, get arrested and charged last week with two counts of neglect of a dependent.
The arrest took place following a five-year investigation concerning the 2013 abandonment of their then-11-year-old adopted daughter Natalia Grace.
The pair rented an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, in July 2013, legally changed her age to 22, and left her alone there before moving to Canada with their two biological sons.
She was found by police a year later, with an affidavit stating that she told investigators she "had not seen the Barnetts since they moved to Canada".
In an interview with DailyMailTV, Kristine insisted that while a doctor had determined Natalia's age to be around eight when they adopted her in 2010, she was supposedly much older and had regularly threatened to kill her and Michael.
"She 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 revealed.
"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 claimed.
The mother also said that she saw Natalia putting bleach or Windex in her coffee one morning and confronted her about it, only for the girl to admit to her straight up that she was trying to poison her.
Kristine said she first started getting suspicious about Natalia's age when she realized that she had already started her period and was trying to hide it. She claimed the girl had adult teeth and full pubic hair.
She also revealed that doctors had diagnosed her with a severe psychological illness that only adults were capable of having, and that the illness had caused her to display a series of disturbing behaviors that included jumping from moving cars and smearing blood over mirrors.
She said a subsequent bone density test had determined Natalia was at least 14, and her behavior deteriorated to a point where the girl tried to drag her onto an electric fence during a 2012 birthday outing.
Natalia was then placed into a state-run psychiatric facility, where she allegedly admitted to being 18. In a letter dated March 2012, the Barnetts' doctor Andrew McLaren MD wrote that Natalia's 2003 birth date was inaccurate and that she had made a career out of pretending to be a young child.
But following the couple's arrest, charging documents cite doctors' reports where they say the girl's age was about eight in 2010 and 11 in 2012. Michael also reportedly admitted to changing Natalia's age despite doctors determining that she was actually a minor.