National Post (National Edition)
Mother says abandoned girl was actually adult sociopath
Couple charged with neglect of adopted child
She had travelled from Ukraine to the rolling hills and cornfields of Indiana, only to wind up on her own in a strange city. When police checked in with the girl in September 2014, it had been more than a year since she had seen or heard from her adoptive parents, who had changed her age from 11 to 22 on official documents and rented her an apartment before moving to Canada and leaving her behind.
That was only the start of the bizarre criminal case enveloping Michael and Kristine Barnett, who last week were charged with felony neglect.
According to local media outlets, the couple, who have since divorced, haven’t denied abandoning the girl just a little more than two years after they adopted her.
But they disagree about whether she actually was a child — or an adult pretending to be one.
Authorities have said that the girl suffers from a rare bone-growth disorder that results in dwarfism. But Kristine Barnett, 45, told WISH-TV that even using the term “girl” to describe her was inaccurate. She told the station that the adoption was a “scam” and that the girl was a diagnosed psychopath and sociopath, who had been an adult the entire time they knew her.
Her former husband, 43-year-old Michael Barnett, told a different story when interviewed by police earlier this month. As far as he was concerned, police said, the girl was a minor when they switched her age and left her behind in Lafayette, Indiana. He also told detectives that his wife had counselled the girl to tell people that she was 22 if questioned, and to explain that she just looked young.
Before the criminal charges were filed last week, the pair were best known as the parents of “boy genius” Jake Barnett, who was diagnosed with autism at age two.
Warned that he might never speak or have normal social interactions, Kristine began tutoring him at home. By the age of 12, when he was profiled in the Indianapolis Star, Jake was taking college math classes and was being courted for research positions. National news outlets soon came calling, drawn to the feel-good tale of a child prodigy who emphasized that an autism diagnosis shouldn’t be considered a bad thing.
Unmentioned in the articles was the fact that the family had also adopted a disabled girl from Ukraine, who in 2010 came to live with them. The girl would later tell detectives that a different adoptive family had initially brought her to the United States in 2008.
Though no details are provided in the police affidavit, there were apparently complications, because the Barnetts adopted her two years later. Court records show that the Barnetts repeatedly tried to determine the girl’s exact age. In June 2010, the year that she was adopted, one doctor estimated that she was eight. In 2012, another doctor conducted a skeletal survey and determined that she was likely 11.
That same year, authorities say, the couple went to an Indiana probate court and legally changed their daughter’s age to 22.
Officials haven’t yet explained how they were able to do so, but Kristine Barnett gave WISH-TV a copy of a letter that purportedly came from another doctor who said that the date on the girl’s birth certificate was “clearly inaccurate,” since she had both the teeth and the secondary sex characteristics of a grown adult.
The station wasn’t able to confirm the authenticity of the letter, which alleges that the girl “has made a career of perpetuating her age facade,” since hospital officials declined to comment.
Amid this backdrop, the Barnetts became advocates for children with autism. Early in 2012, CBS’ 60 Minutes devoted a segment to 13-year-old Jake Barnett, whom they described as a “a math and science prodigy.” Not long after his 15th birthday, Jacob began taking classes at the prestigious Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. His parents said that they moved the whole family to Canada in the summer of 2013.
Around that same time, the Barnett’s adopted daughter told police, her parents rented her an apartment in downtown Lafayette.
What happened next is unclear, though an anonymous law enforcement source told WLFI News that the girl’s neighbours “took her under their wing.” Court documents obtained by WISH-TV show she was evicted for not paying rent in May 2014.
That same year, the Barnetts filed for divorce, according to the station. Though Jake still lives in Canada, where he is pursuing a PhD, both Michael and Kristine have moved back to Indianapolis.
In September 2014, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff ’s Office tracked down their adoptive daughter at the behest of a school principal who had raised concerns, WLFI reported.
Based on the medical records cited in the affidavit, she would have been 12 or 13 at the time. Legally, however, she was well into her twenties. Authorities haven’t said what came of the meeting, and another five years would pass before the Barnetts were charged with neglect.
What happened in the intervening years, too, is a mystery.
Though charges were filed on Wednesday, neither of the Barnetts have been booked or arraigned. Court records don’t indicate if either has an attorney. And authorities have hinted that there could be even more strange details to come.
(SHE) MADE A CAREER OF PERPETUATING HER AGE FACADE.