The man who adopted a "child" who turned out to be a 22-year-old woman walked out of a new interview following an explosive confrontation.
As previously reported, a 22-year-old woman named Natalia Grace's story became a media sensation after it was spotlighted in a docuseries called The Curious Case of Natalia Grace by Investigation Discovery.
The documentary followed a couple named Michael and Kristine Barnett who adopted what they believed to be a six-year-old girl from Ukraine back in 2010. However, they soon became suspicious of the girl, accusing her of trying to physically harm them and their biological children.
The couple soon came to the unbelievable conclusion that Natalia was not a young child, but actually a grown woman with a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal, according to PEOPLE.
The publication reported that in 2012 - two years after Natalia was adopted by the Barnetts - the couple petitioned Marion County Probate Court to change her age legally to 22, which would then alter her birth year from 2003 to 1989.
The following year, Michael and Kristine moved with their three sons to Canada without the alleged grown woman and left her alone in an apartment in Lafayette.
However, the Barnetts - who later divorced - were charged with neglect of a dependent before Michael was found not guilty of three counts of neglect and conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent in 2022, while charges against Kristine were dropped in March 2023, per ET Online.
Now, Natalia is sharing her side of the story and addressing the claims in Investigation Discovery's new docuseries, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.
Watch the Natalia Speaks trailer below:The forthcoming special features previously unseen evidence and footage, as well as new views and depositions from a range of professionals, including the retired FBI agents who originally investigated the case, genetic experts who helped determine Natalia's true age, and the Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck who prosecuted Michael in his October 2022 trial.
Entertainment Tonight shared a preview which reveals a showdown between Natalia and her former adoptive father Michael. The pair sit face-to-face for the first time, with Natalia's now-adopted father serving as a mediator.
Michael seems agitated by Natalia's line of questioning and claims that at one point she was "going to kill everybody," after Natalia said: "I was never in [you and ex-wife Kristine's] room with a knife".
Things seemed to get tumultuous at one point as Michael is seen tearing off his mic, and telling the producers: "I tried," before storming out of the house in tears, exclaiming: "Leave me alone!"
Towards the end of the docuseries, Natalia looks at the camera and says: "I want to know the answers to these questions. And I want people to pay for what they have done."
Natalia Speaks will premiere on January 1, 2024, on Investigation Discovery.
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