POISON DWARF?
Or a staggeringly bizarre case of child neglect involving an adopted orphan?
Kristine and Michael Barnett, an American couple who adopted a daughter in 2010, were charged earlier in 2019 with child neglect. Their adoptee was a Ukrainian orphan, Natalia, said at the time to be six years old, and who suffers from a form of dwarfism, spondyloepiphyseal. Natalia, who had previously lived with several other foster families, is 3ft (1m) tall and has difficulty walking.
The Barnetts claim they gradually became aware Natalia was several years older than she claimed, and further, that she was trying to murder them. They have described her as a “sociopath” and a “con artist”. They say their suspicions were initially aroused upon observing how Natalia behaved, more like a teenager than a young girl, not wanting to play with toys, and preferring to spend time with older girls. Kristine Barnett described her shock while bathing Natalia and seeing full pubic hair, and claims Natalia had periods and adult teeth. The Barnetts further allege that Natalia was unable to converse with a Ukrainian friend, casting doubt on her backstory, and that a bone density test suggested she was several years older than she claimed. In 2012 they filed a motion with Marion County Superior Court to have the date on Natalia’s birth certificate changed from 2003 to 1989.
The child neglect charge dates back to 2014, when Natalia, who had been living alone for one year in an Indiana apartment paid for by the Barnetts (who had by then moved to Canada), complained to police that she had been abandoned by her fosterparents. Natalia insists on the veracity of her stated age, and says the murder threats were a misunderstanding, that she had lived on canned food during her year alone in the apartment when just nine years old, and that the Barnetts had enrolled her in an adult school during this time, telling her to state her age as 22. Michael Barnett is said to have confessed to police that he knew Natalia to be a child at the time he left her in the apartment.
The Barnetts argue that they had been forced to place Natalia there after she had tried to poison Kristine’s coffee and push her into an electric fence, and had threatened to stab the entire family in their sleep (they have three biological sons). They also say that Natalia had previously been a resident in a long-stay psychiatric ward, during which time she admitted to lying about her age. A trial date of 28 January 2020 has been set, and the Barnetts issued with a gagging order after speaking to several news outlets, including US chat shows Dr Phil and Dr Oz.
One intriguing aspect of the case is its close similarity to the 2009 horror film The Orphan, in which a couple adopt a child who turns out to be a Russian woman with stunted physical growth. In the film, the woman murders several people, including her adopted father. D.Telegraph, 24+25 Sept, 9 Nov; Sun, 25 Sept; BBC News, 8 Nov 2019.