1 00:00:00,793 --> 00:00:02,033 [Michael sighs, inhales] 2 00:00:02,896 --> 00:00:03,965 [exhales] 3 00:00:05,896 --> 00:00:07,103 You wanna give me a word? 4 00:00:07,103 --> 00:00:08,172 You want, you want, 5 00:00:08,172 --> 00:00:09,275 you wanna have me 6 00:00:09,275 --> 00:00:10,724 give you one word 7 00:00:10,724 --> 00:00:12,965 that describes Natalia to me? 8 00:00:13,517 --> 00:00:14,689 Enigma. 9 00:00:16,379 --> 00:00:18,241 She won't tell us the truth in who she is. 10 00:00:19,068 --> 00:00:22,896 We are living with a con artist sociopath. 11 00:00:22,896 --> 00:00:25,896 [female reporter] Now a story making headlines around the world. 12 00:00:25,896 --> 00:00:29,206 Is this a child or a grown woman? 13 00:00:29,206 --> 00:00:32,103 [male reporter] The Barnetts believe the adoption was a scam all along. 14 00:00:32,103 --> 00:00:33,724 They claim they were tricked 15 00:00:33,724 --> 00:00:35,379 into adopting an adult. 16 00:00:35,896 --> 00:00:37,000 She's evil. 17 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,896 I promise you, 18 00:00:39,896 --> 00:00:42,379 within five years, someone's dead. 19 00:00:42,379 --> 00:00:43,689 [Kristine] What is it? 20 00:00:44,517 --> 00:00:45,655 [Kristine] Why? 21 00:00:48,724 --> 00:00:50,000 She threatened to stab my sons, 22 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,206 drag their bodies outside 23 00:00:52,206 --> 00:00:54,379 and bury them under the deck. 24 00:00:54,379 --> 00:00:56,413 She tried to poison and kill my wife. 25 00:00:56,413 --> 00:00:59,103 Bye-bye! 26 00:00:59,103 --> 00:01:01,724 She said, "I pulled a knife on my parents. Big deal." 27 00:01:01,724 --> 00:01:03,896 It's like a serial killer or something. 28 00:01:03,896 --> 00:01:06,103 It's how casually they put attempted murder 29 00:01:06,103 --> 00:01:07,482 into a conversation. 30 00:01:07,482 --> 00:01:09,068 She was gonna kill everybody. 31 00:01:10,482 --> 00:01:12,724 You've adopted a kid and now they're trying to kill you. 32 00:01:12,724 --> 00:01:14,793 I mean, it's the stuff of a horror movie, right? 33 00:01:15,275 --> 00:01:16,620 If you watch the Orphan, 34 00:01:16,620 --> 00:01:17,965 it's just like the Orphan. 35 00:01:19,206 --> 00:01:20,448 [woman speaking] 36 00:01:22,724 --> 00:01:25,689 She was an adult. You could tell by looking at her. 37 00:01:33,103 --> 00:01:34,378 [woman] Natalia was a victim. 38 00:01:34,378 --> 00:01:36,206 The Barnetts are the predators. 39 00:01:36,206 --> 00:01:38,103 They just literally left her to the wolves. 40 00:01:38,103 --> 00:01:40,896 I don't know that there's 100% one villain here. 41 00:01:40,896 --> 00:01:44,482 Kristine basically said that Natalia destroyed their lives. 42 00:01:46,723 --> 00:01:48,620 Irregardless of her age, she was left 43 00:01:48,620 --> 00:01:52,103 feeling abandoned and neglected, alone. 44 00:01:52,103 --> 00:01:53,482 [woman 1] Natalia was a child. 45 00:01:53,482 --> 00:01:55,172 I know that for sure 46 00:01:55,172 --> 00:01:57,758 because I'm a little person. 47 00:01:58,482 --> 00:02:00,379 [woman 2] I think Kristine Barnett 48 00:02:00,379 --> 00:02:02,448 is a sorry excuse for a mother. 49 00:02:06,482 --> 00:02:08,723 [woman crying] When I found out what happened to her, 50 00:02:08,723 --> 00:02:11,103 that was what broke my heart the most. 51 00:02:11,103 --> 00:02:13,965 There were a lot of secrets in that house. 52 00:02:14,517 --> 00:02:15,586 [crying] 53 00:02:15,586 --> 00:02:17,000 [man] His minimum sentence 54 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,379 is three to 16 years. 55 00:02:18,379 --> 00:02:19,413 [crying] 56 00:02:19,413 --> 00:02:20,896 It doesn't smell right. 57 00:02:20,896 --> 00:02:22,275 There's something wrong. 58 00:02:22,275 --> 00:02:23,586 It smells like [bleep]. 59 00:02:29,896 --> 00:02:32,793 Do you know the difference between the truth and a lie? 60 00:02:32,793 --> 00:02:35,310 -I didn't at the time, no. -Oh, you didn't know. 61 00:02:35,310 --> 00:02:37,517 I was just listening to what Kristine told me to tell them. 62 00:02:37,517 --> 00:02:39,482 [woman 1] You just don't know the true Barnetts. 63 00:02:39,482 --> 00:02:41,103 [woman 2] There was domestic violence. 64 00:02:41,103 --> 00:02:42,896 [Michael grunting] 65 00:02:42,896 --> 00:02:44,793 [woman 1] They'll do anything to get what they want. 66 00:02:44,793 --> 00:02:47,000 [woman 3] There were all these pieces to a puzzle 67 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:48,517 that we couldn't quite put together. 68 00:02:48,517 --> 00:02:50,206 You're saying you lie 69 00:02:50,206 --> 00:02:52,379 -because she told you to lie. -Yes. 70 00:02:52,379 --> 00:02:54,724 Michael and Kristine not only lied 71 00:02:54,724 --> 00:02:57,067 to get her into their family, 72 00:02:57,067 --> 00:02:59,310 but they also lied to get rid of her. 73 00:02:59,310 --> 00:03:02,206 This is one of the most twisted cases ever. 74 00:03:02,206 --> 00:03:04,000 [man] I know he's not the kinda guy 75 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,103 that could do well if he had to go to prison. 76 00:03:06,103 --> 00:03:08,103 You got a seatbelt? Buckle up. 77 00:03:08,103 --> 00:03:10,275 [woman] I don't think anyone will ever get 78 00:03:10,275 --> 00:03:13,172 the complete truth. 79 00:03:13,172 --> 00:03:15,517 [Kathy] So much of this is a mystery. 80 00:03:15,517 --> 00:03:18,000 [man 1] I still don't have concrete answers. 81 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,206 [man 2] Somebody's not telling the truth. 82 00:03:20,206 --> 00:03:22,103 [Michael] It is a web of lies. 83 00:03:22,103 --> 00:03:24,586 [man] I'm not sure you can trust anybody in this case. 84 00:03:26,068 --> 00:03:28,000 We were all [bleep] abused! 85 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,862 [shouts] We were all abused! 86 00:03:32,896 --> 00:03:34,586 [crying] I'm so scared. 87 00:03:36,379 --> 00:03:38,551 [inhales] This will never stop. 88 00:03:39,103 --> 00:03:40,241 [theme music playing] 89 00:04:05,620 --> 00:04:07,310 [Michael] I hope I don't overstate this 90 00:04:07,310 --> 00:04:10,103 and make it seem a little bit too Normal Rockwell, 91 00:04:10,103 --> 00:04:12,172 American, uh, life, 92 00:04:12,172 --> 00:04:14,172 but life was fantastic. 93 00:04:14,172 --> 00:04:15,793 It really was. 94 00:04:16,793 --> 00:04:18,447 This was summer 2010. 95 00:04:18,896 --> 00:04:20,620 Life's great. 96 00:04:20,620 --> 00:04:22,448 We'd been married for about 15 years. 97 00:04:23,172 --> 00:04:24,517 We have three sons, 98 00:04:24,517 --> 00:04:26,275 Jacob, Wesley and Ethan. 99 00:04:26,275 --> 00:04:27,689 Financially, we're doing great. 100 00:04:27,689 --> 00:04:30,862 We've got a literal brand new McMansion, 101 00:04:32,517 --> 00:04:35,655 5,000-square-foot home in a prestigious town 102 00:04:36,793 --> 00:04:39,275 and a driveway loaded with cars in it. 103 00:04:39,275 --> 00:04:42,482 There's a Lamborghini in my driveway, for God's sakes. 104 00:04:42,482 --> 00:04:45,000 We have 13 TVs. We've got 14 couches. 105 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,310 There was hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank account. 106 00:04:49,310 --> 00:04:52,172 More importantly, we were a very tight-knit family. 107 00:04:53,379 --> 00:04:54,793 It really was 108 00:04:55,482 --> 00:04:57,275 the pinnacle of life. 109 00:04:58,517 --> 00:05:00,172 [Kathy] Michael loved Kristine dearly. 110 00:05:00,172 --> 00:05:02,586 When the flowers came for their anniversary, 111 00:05:02,586 --> 00:05:04,068 it was a dozen roses for 112 00:05:04,068 --> 00:05:05,896 every year they were married. 113 00:05:05,896 --> 00:05:08,689 So, for their 10th anniversary, 114 00:05:08,689 --> 00:05:10,172 10 dozen roses. 115 00:05:10,620 --> 00:05:11,896 [Michael] Kristine and I, 116 00:05:11,896 --> 00:05:14,103 we could do anything together. 117 00:05:14,103 --> 00:05:17,517 And when we realized our oldest son Jacob 118 00:05:17,517 --> 00:05:19,275 has Asperger's, or autism, 119 00:05:19,275 --> 00:05:21,068 we fought those fights. 120 00:05:21,068 --> 00:05:22,724 We were downright amazing 121 00:05:22,724 --> 00:05:24,206 at the things we could accomplish. 122 00:05:24,206 --> 00:05:25,724 I'm Jacob Barnett 123 00:05:25,724 --> 00:05:28,172 here with an introduction to scientific notation. 124 00:05:28,172 --> 00:05:29,896 I figured that, since I was teaching it 125 00:05:29,896 --> 00:05:31,724 to my two brothers, Wesley and Ethan, 126 00:05:31,724 --> 00:05:33,724 I would be able to post it onto YouTube. 127 00:05:33,724 --> 00:05:37,000 Okay, so I'm going to finish this integral. 128 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:38,689 D by DX. 129 00:05:38,689 --> 00:05:40,413 [Michelle] Their oldest son is a genius 130 00:05:40,413 --> 00:05:42,586 and was moving through schooling 131 00:05:42,586 --> 00:05:44,655 faster than I move through a pair of shoes. 132 00:05:46,517 --> 00:05:48,000 I did not come here 133 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,724 to frighten you all with quantum mechanics. 134 00:05:49,724 --> 00:05:50,793 [audience chuckling] 135 00:05:50,793 --> 00:05:52,379 Not yet. [chuckles] 136 00:05:54,206 --> 00:05:57,172 [Michelle] We would get a message from Michael saying, 137 00:05:57,172 --> 00:05:58,724 "Hey, did you see the paper? 138 00:05:58,724 --> 00:06:00,275 Jake's on the front page," 139 00:06:00,275 --> 00:06:02,724 to, "Kristine's writing a book. 140 00:06:02,724 --> 00:06:04,965 It's been picked up by a publisher." 141 00:06:05,413 --> 00:06:06,689 [clock ticking] 142 00:06:06,689 --> 00:06:08,068 ...cubed, divided by... 143 00:06:08,068 --> 00:06:09,793 [reporter] He has a full scholarship 144 00:06:09,793 --> 00:06:12,482 at the joint Indiana University-Purdue campus. 145 00:06:12,482 --> 00:06:15,896 For Jake, fun is reciting from memory 146 00:06:15,896 --> 00:06:19,103 the infinite series of numbers known as pi. 147 00:06:19,103 --> 00:06:24,689 3.1415926535897932384626433... 148 00:06:24,689 --> 00:06:28,724 Jacob's one of the smartest people I've ever heard of. 149 00:06:28,724 --> 00:06:30,551 They're travelling the world. 150 00:06:31,724 --> 00:06:33,379 [man] Jacob, when he was 15, 151 00:06:33,379 --> 00:06:34,793 got an award from the Vatican. 152 00:06:38,413 --> 00:06:40,793 This was where the Barnett's lived. 153 00:06:40,793 --> 00:06:43,379 The garage was, um, 154 00:06:43,379 --> 00:06:46,896 where Kristine Barnett had her daycare. 155 00:06:46,896 --> 00:06:49,103 They were all special-needs kids. 156 00:06:49,103 --> 00:06:52,103 [Angelo] The Barnett family opened up a foundation 157 00:06:52,103 --> 00:06:55,793 a place where parents and kids with autism 158 00:06:55,793 --> 00:06:58,482 could go be with other parents and kids with autism 159 00:06:58,482 --> 00:06:59,586 and feel normal. 160 00:07:00,482 --> 00:07:02,000 [Michelle] We were proud of them 161 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,551 and they just seemed so happy together. 162 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,448 The Barnetts had the picture-perfect life 163 00:07:11,379 --> 00:07:12,551 it seemed. 164 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,310 So, we went from early 2010 165 00:07:17,310 --> 00:07:19,793 were blessed with many things. 166 00:07:19,793 --> 00:07:21,896 By the time 2014 came around, 167 00:07:21,896 --> 00:07:24,172 I have 37 cents in my bank account, 168 00:07:25,379 --> 00:07:26,551 I have no wife, 169 00:07:27,068 --> 00:07:28,517 I have no children, 170 00:07:28,517 --> 00:07:29,689 I have no home, 171 00:07:30,206 --> 00:07:32,000 I have no job. 172 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 My possessions, at that moment, 173 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,068 was my car and a backpack of clothing. 174 00:07:38,896 --> 00:07:41,034 If Natalia never entered our lives, 175 00:07:42,103 --> 00:07:43,482 I never get divorced. 176 00:07:49,482 --> 00:07:51,896 [Kristine] They, they're... They interviewed me three times 177 00:07:51,896 --> 00:07:54,482 with a detective in a bulletproof vest. 178 00:07:54,482 --> 00:07:56,862 [Michael] What? What are they gonna charge you with? 179 00:08:02,896 --> 00:08:04,275 [Michael] Kristine, listen-- 180 00:08:05,172 --> 00:08:06,689 [Michael sighs] I'm... Kristine... 181 00:08:06,689 --> 00:08:08,379 Kristine, listen. Listen to my voice. 182 00:08:08,379 --> 00:08:09,551 I'm done... 183 00:08:10,896 --> 00:08:12,068 [Michael sighs] 184 00:08:17,103 --> 00:08:18,724 We had no idea what we were dealing with. 185 00:08:18,724 --> 00:08:21,241 And tensions were so incredibly high. 186 00:08:22,793 --> 00:08:25,448 It was a very rough time, 187 00:08:26,724 --> 00:08:28,241 especially for the children. 188 00:08:30,586 --> 00:08:31,965 [pinball machine cranking] 189 00:08:35,275 --> 00:08:36,551 [Jacob] I'm Jake Barnett. 190 00:08:37,275 --> 00:08:40,688 Since I've last been seen publicly, 191 00:08:40,688 --> 00:08:43,241 in some ways, I think I've regressed. 192 00:08:44,620 --> 00:08:47,103 I'm, uh, in my dad's basement right now. 193 00:08:47,103 --> 00:08:48,344 It's in Indiana. 194 00:08:52,103 --> 00:08:54,724 Usually, I say Natalia's my adopted sister, 195 00:08:54,724 --> 00:08:56,620 so then, uh, I guess I would say, 196 00:08:56,620 --> 00:08:58,896 "I'm Jacob. I'm Natalia's adopted brother," 197 00:08:58,896 --> 00:09:01,793 but that particular, um, 198 00:09:01,793 --> 00:09:03,896 way of introducing myself is kind of irrelevant 199 00:09:03,896 --> 00:09:06,689 because I haven't seen Natalia in, like, a decade. 200 00:09:08,103 --> 00:09:11,793 I find the situation incredibly confusing. 201 00:09:13,310 --> 00:09:15,620 It's like I wanna know what happened 202 00:09:15,620 --> 00:09:17,896 and I wanna know the actual, like, truth 203 00:09:17,896 --> 00:09:20,000 and everyone's motives, 204 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,206 but at the same time, um, 205 00:09:23,206 --> 00:09:25,068 I don't wanna remember that 206 00:09:25,068 --> 00:09:28,793 and I don't want to, um, 207 00:09:28,793 --> 00:09:31,965 have to revisit, um, 208 00:09:32,896 --> 00:09:35,448 a lot of trauma from my childhood. 209 00:09:37,724 --> 00:09:40,724 It's, uh, difficult for me to piece together 210 00:09:40,724 --> 00:09:42,862 what happened with adopting Natalia. 211 00:09:49,482 --> 00:09:52,034 Before Natalia, we had been married for about 15 years. 212 00:09:52,689 --> 00:09:55,517 It's easily the best moment in time 213 00:09:55,517 --> 00:09:56,896 that our marriage ever had. 214 00:09:56,896 --> 00:09:59,275 We were so happy and comfortable 215 00:09:59,275 --> 00:10:02,000 that we had gotten to the point that, you know, 216 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,275 we started talking about, "Maybe, 217 00:10:04,275 --> 00:10:06,275 maybe there's room here for somebody else." 218 00:10:06,275 --> 00:10:09,620 We were gonna adopt a little girl out of Haiti named Gilberta, 219 00:10:09,620 --> 00:10:12,482 and right before that April, 220 00:10:12,482 --> 00:10:14,586 uh, the earthquake hit Haiti, 221 00:10:14,586 --> 00:10:17,172 and suddenly our hopes were dashed 222 00:10:17,172 --> 00:10:20,724 because Haiti shut down all adoptions out of the country. 223 00:10:20,724 --> 00:10:23,793 So we were ready to adopt, but we missed our window. 224 00:10:24,724 --> 00:10:27,172 And then we get this phone call out of nowhere 225 00:10:27,172 --> 00:10:29,103 from this adoption agency in Florida 226 00:10:29,103 --> 00:10:30,758 called Adoption by Shepherd Care. 227 00:10:32,275 --> 00:10:34,482 They say, "Hey, we know you. 228 00:10:34,482 --> 00:10:36,586 We've seen your home study. 229 00:10:36,586 --> 00:10:39,103 We know that you have a charity for special-needs children, 230 00:10:39,103 --> 00:10:41,000 you've been doing that for a decade. 231 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,896 We think you'd be perfect for this little girl 232 00:10:43,896 --> 00:10:46,103 that's gonna be coming to us. 233 00:10:46,103 --> 00:10:48,482 She's a little person. She has dwarfism. 234 00:10:48,482 --> 00:10:50,068 Now, here's the problem. 235 00:10:50,620 --> 00:10:52,482 You got 24 hours to decide, 236 00:10:53,379 --> 00:10:55,000 and if you don't come get her on Monday, 237 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,482 she's going directly to foster care." 238 00:10:57,482 --> 00:10:59,551 Kristine and I almost took it as a sign from above. 239 00:11:00,103 --> 00:11:01,586 [engine roars] 240 00:11:04,275 --> 00:11:06,689 Now we're jumped on a plane, flying to Florida. 241 00:11:07,103 --> 00:11:08,448 It's exciting. 242 00:11:11,517 --> 00:11:14,034 [Jacob] When I found out I was gonna have a sister, 243 00:11:14,586 --> 00:11:15,862 I was really excited. 244 00:11:16,896 --> 00:11:19,517 We had some white T-shirts 245 00:11:19,517 --> 00:11:22,689 that we painted on saying, "Welcome home, Natalia." 246 00:11:28,517 --> 00:11:30,000 [Michael] We pull up in the town, 247 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,379 and, you know, I'll be honest, 248 00:11:31,379 --> 00:11:33,689 I was a little taken aback by 249 00:11:33,689 --> 00:11:36,000 the adoption agency location. 250 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,793 It was in a rundown strip mall, 251 00:11:41,068 --> 00:11:42,586 maybe on the wrong side of tracks, 252 00:11:43,586 --> 00:11:47,793 little house that's been converted into offices. 253 00:11:47,793 --> 00:11:50,000 It didn't look like an adoption agency at all. 254 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,620 First thing I'm saying to my wife is, "Check the address. 255 00:11:53,620 --> 00:11:55,172 This just doesn't look right. 256 00:11:55,172 --> 00:11:56,862 We're gonna get a child here?" 257 00:11:57,620 --> 00:11:58,896 Uh, so we start coming in 258 00:11:58,896 --> 00:12:00,896 and they sit us into a little room 259 00:12:00,896 --> 00:12:03,310 no bigger than the size of this room we're in right now, 260 00:12:03,310 --> 00:12:05,241 and they tell us, "Just wait here." 261 00:12:05,896 --> 00:12:07,896 Natalia's coming soon." 262 00:12:07,896 --> 00:12:09,103 And you've gotta understand, 263 00:12:09,103 --> 00:12:10,586 with it being a closed adoption, 264 00:12:10,586 --> 00:12:12,172 the adoption agency was not willing 265 00:12:12,172 --> 00:12:14,103 to share any details of her 266 00:12:14,103 --> 00:12:15,413 before we came down. 267 00:12:15,413 --> 00:12:17,689 They gave us two pictures of her. 268 00:12:17,689 --> 00:12:20,793 They gave us a Ukrainian-language birth certificate. 269 00:12:21,482 --> 00:12:23,448 Birth certificate supported six. 270 00:12:23,896 --> 00:12:25,793 Uh, September, 4th, 2003. 271 00:12:25,793 --> 00:12:27,413 We were all excited about that. 272 00:12:27,413 --> 00:12:29,413 My youngest son was six. 273 00:12:29,413 --> 00:12:31,724 He was also born in the summer of 2003. 274 00:12:31,724 --> 00:12:34,172 We thought this was gonna be a situation 275 00:12:34,172 --> 00:12:36,965 where they're going to grow and develop and be twins. 276 00:12:39,689 --> 00:12:41,793 We're in there for about an hour by ourselves. 277 00:12:42,482 --> 00:12:44,482 We sign paperwork pretty quick. 278 00:12:44,482 --> 00:12:46,172 "Sign here, sign here, sign here." 279 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:48,482 We hear the front door open. 280 00:12:48,482 --> 00:12:50,000 [door opens] 281 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:51,620 [Michael] "That's gotta be her." 282 00:12:51,620 --> 00:12:53,379 We start peeking through the keyhole. 283 00:12:53,379 --> 00:12:55,310 There's a little itty-bitty keyhole. It's a solid door. 284 00:12:55,310 --> 00:12:57,517 And we're looking and we're looking. 285 00:12:57,517 --> 00:13:00,068 [Jacob] Like, "Oh, can I see her?" 286 00:13:00,068 --> 00:13:02,344 I was really excited for her to come home. 287 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:05,413 About 20, 30 minutes go by, 288 00:13:05,413 --> 00:13:07,172 and we can see the door open 289 00:13:07,172 --> 00:13:10,206 and we can see the other family leave. 290 00:13:10,206 --> 00:13:12,000 She was adopted before. 291 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:13,965 This was her family that adopted her the first time. 292 00:13:14,689 --> 00:13:15,896 Natalia's left behind. 293 00:13:15,896 --> 00:13:17,068 They had flown in, 294 00:13:17,586 --> 00:13:19,689 dropped her off, flew out. 295 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,482 We never spoke to them 296 00:13:22,482 --> 00:13:24,103 and we are just thinking, 297 00:13:24,103 --> 00:13:28,241 "How dare these other people give up on her?" 298 00:13:29,068 --> 00:13:31,172 And we'd been worried 299 00:13:31,172 --> 00:13:34,000 for the last couple of days, worried sick 300 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,068 that our new daughter's not gonna like us. 301 00:13:36,068 --> 00:13:38,172 And the next thing you know, the door opens, 302 00:13:38,896 --> 00:13:40,000 Natalia's right there, 303 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:41,517 she comes running in, 304 00:13:41,517 --> 00:13:43,482 she's got this big smile on her face, 305 00:13:43,482 --> 00:13:45,482 she's happy as can be, 306 00:13:45,482 --> 00:13:48,448 and she's shouting, "Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy!" 307 00:13:49,793 --> 00:13:51,517 We're overcome with joy and emotion. 308 00:13:51,517 --> 00:13:52,586 Oh, my gosh. 309 00:13:52,586 --> 00:13:54,172 That day in and of itself, 310 00:13:54,172 --> 00:13:56,206 without context, 311 00:13:56,206 --> 00:13:58,034 is one of the five greatest days of my life. 312 00:14:00,275 --> 00:14:02,172 [Jacob] She was very small. 313 00:14:04,103 --> 00:14:06,689 She had long, curly brown hair. 314 00:14:08,379 --> 00:14:10,482 She had brown eyes and pronounced cheeks 315 00:14:10,482 --> 00:14:13,241 that really stood out when she smiled. 316 00:14:15,275 --> 00:14:16,724 I remember the way that 317 00:14:16,724 --> 00:14:19,586 her hands are jointed 318 00:14:19,586 --> 00:14:22,517 as not the same as ours 319 00:14:22,517 --> 00:14:23,896 because of her dwarfism. 320 00:14:23,896 --> 00:14:25,103 Like, her fingers, like, 321 00:14:25,103 --> 00:14:27,448 sort of bent in a bit like this. 322 00:14:28,413 --> 00:14:31,172 But I was overjoyed the day that I met her. 323 00:14:33,103 --> 00:14:35,103 The fun times I can remember with Natalia 324 00:14:35,103 --> 00:14:37,689 are pretty much from that first week where we were in Florida. 325 00:14:39,517 --> 00:14:41,965 We went with Natalia to Disney World. 326 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,517 We were all excited to have her in the family 327 00:14:45,517 --> 00:14:49,344 and Natalia seemed happy to join our family. 328 00:14:50,413 --> 00:14:53,586 [Rachel] If I was a little girl needing to be adopted 329 00:14:54,103 --> 00:14:56,413 and they came for me, 330 00:14:56,413 --> 00:14:58,793 heck yeah, jackpot. 331 00:15:01,586 --> 00:15:03,517 [Michael] So, we get to the hotel that night, 332 00:15:03,517 --> 00:15:07,344 and Kristine's going to give our brand-new daughter a bath 333 00:15:08,275 --> 00:15:10,448 and I hear a shout from the bathroom. 334 00:15:13,172 --> 00:15:15,724 This was a, "I'm not playing around. 335 00:15:15,724 --> 00:15:18,206 Come here right now, Michael," shout. 336 00:15:18,206 --> 00:15:21,103 I get up, I go flying to the bathroom, 337 00:15:21,103 --> 00:15:24,241 and the color's almost gone from her face. 338 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,793 It's almost like she's seen a ghost. 339 00:15:26,793 --> 00:15:28,896 She's, she's truly frightened 340 00:15:28,896 --> 00:15:30,896 and she just doesn't know what she's seeing 341 00:15:30,896 --> 00:15:32,172 and what's going on. 342 00:15:32,172 --> 00:15:34,793 She says, "Michael, Michael, look. 343 00:15:35,793 --> 00:15:37,000 Look down." 344 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:38,793 And Natalia had full pubic hair. 345 00:15:39,793 --> 00:15:43,137 And I don't know what to think. 346 00:15:44,793 --> 00:15:47,586 "Is that possible? Is that even possible?" 347 00:15:50,379 --> 00:15:51,758 "Who the [bleep] is this person?" 348 00:15:56,689 --> 00:15:59,172 "Can a 6-year-old have full pubic hair? I don't know." 349 00:15:59,172 --> 00:16:02,172 Google's telling us, "Well, earliest possible time, 350 00:16:02,172 --> 00:16:04,241 lowest common denominator, eight." 351 00:16:05,275 --> 00:16:07,275 So we just go, "Okay, look, our mission, 352 00:16:07,275 --> 00:16:09,103 we were going to show love and compassion 353 00:16:09,103 --> 00:16:10,793 to somebody that never had it before. 354 00:16:10,793 --> 00:16:12,448 That doesn't make a difference." 355 00:16:18,379 --> 00:16:19,931 [Kathy] I'm Kathy Barnett. 356 00:16:19,931 --> 00:16:21,758 I'm Michael Barnett's mother. 357 00:16:23,482 --> 00:16:26,068 I found out that Natalia was coming. 358 00:16:27,172 --> 00:16:29,103 I was so excited 359 00:16:29,103 --> 00:16:32,172 to treat this child special. 360 00:16:32,172 --> 00:16:33,758 When they brought her home, 361 00:16:33,758 --> 00:16:37,379 they had a very large party to welcome her. 362 00:16:37,379 --> 00:16:39,758 She was dressed up in a dress. 363 00:16:39,758 --> 00:16:42,482 She had beautiful, curly, dark hair. 364 00:16:42,482 --> 00:16:44,586 And Michael was euphoric that day. 365 00:16:44,586 --> 00:16:47,103 He was almost as euphoric as the day Jacob was born 366 00:16:47,103 --> 00:16:49,172 and Michael came out of the delivery room. 367 00:16:49,172 --> 00:16:50,655 He was a happy man. 368 00:16:52,103 --> 00:16:54,344 You want that? There you go. Go sit and chew. 369 00:16:54,862 --> 00:16:56,068 Go show him. 370 00:16:56,862 --> 00:16:58,689 My name's Kimberly Franklin. 371 00:16:58,689 --> 00:17:01,344 I am Michael Barnett's little sister. 372 00:17:01,931 --> 00:17:03,482 When I first met Natalia, 373 00:17:03,482 --> 00:17:05,172 I was, you know, totally prepared. 374 00:17:05,172 --> 00:17:07,378 I knew that she was a little person. 375 00:17:07,378 --> 00:17:09,378 And what really struck me, though, 376 00:17:09,378 --> 00:17:11,758 was that she almost looked like one of us. 377 00:17:11,758 --> 00:17:13,000 She had the dark hair. 378 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,482 She really looked like 379 00:17:14,482 --> 00:17:16,172 she could've been my brother's daughter. 380 00:17:21,689 --> 00:17:23,172 [Rachel] My name's Rachel 381 00:17:23,172 --> 00:17:26,378 and I live two doors down from the Barnetts, 382 00:17:26,378 --> 00:17:27,758 where they used to live. 383 00:17:28,758 --> 00:17:31,000 Nosy neighbor, that's me. 384 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,068 I like to know what's going on in the neighborhood. 385 00:17:38,758 --> 00:17:40,758 We were friends with Michael and Kristine 386 00:17:42,379 --> 00:17:43,758 and our kids played together. 387 00:17:44,586 --> 00:17:46,275 Everybody knew who Natalia was. 388 00:17:46,275 --> 00:17:48,413 I have goosebumps just thinking about 389 00:17:48,413 --> 00:17:49,931 when they walked in with her. 390 00:17:49,931 --> 00:17:51,551 It was amazing. 391 00:17:52,517 --> 00:17:54,275 It was so uplifting 392 00:17:54,275 --> 00:17:56,000 to know that this little girl needed a home 393 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:57,793 and they opened theirs up to her. 394 00:17:57,793 --> 00:17:59,931 -[Kristine] Hi, Natalia. -[Natalia] Hi! 395 00:17:59,931 --> 00:18:03,482 And Kristine was smiling, you know, ear-to-ear. 396 00:18:03,482 --> 00:18:06,241 They were so excited. They have three boys, and they got a girl. 397 00:18:09,931 --> 00:18:11,931 [Jacob] I was looking forward to seeing how 398 00:18:11,931 --> 00:18:14,103 she'd react to the park we had across the street. 399 00:18:14,103 --> 00:18:15,551 [children laughing, screaming] 400 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,172 [Rachel sighs] 401 00:18:19,172 --> 00:18:20,827 Here's their yearbook. 402 00:18:22,758 --> 00:18:24,482 So, there's Ethan 403 00:18:24,482 --> 00:18:26,275 and there's Grace. 404 00:18:26,275 --> 00:18:27,689 Natalia came to our house a lot 405 00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:29,000 to play with my daughter Grace 406 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,275 because they were both six. 407 00:18:33,275 --> 00:18:34,655 First grade. 408 00:18:35,482 --> 00:18:36,827 Here's Natalia. 409 00:18:39,517 --> 00:18:40,827 It's crazy. 410 00:18:41,517 --> 00:18:43,000 She's so cute in that picture. 411 00:18:43,758 --> 00:18:45,551 She looks like a sweet little girl. 412 00:18:46,931 --> 00:18:49,172 [Michael] Once we got back to Indiana, 413 00:18:49,172 --> 00:18:51,620 at first, there was a lot of acceptance 414 00:18:51,620 --> 00:18:56,103 of the situation with Natalia and the pubic hair. 415 00:18:56,103 --> 00:18:59,655 All that mattered was there's a little girl... 416 00:19:00,758 --> 00:19:03,000 [Michael] ...that needs love and needs a home. 417 00:19:05,689 --> 00:19:07,000 But, uh, eventually, 418 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,000 we had a lot of escalation going on 419 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,965 in the first few months that we had her. 420 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,241 There was a day I came home from work. 421 00:19:15,172 --> 00:19:17,000 Kristine's got a pair of Natalia's underwear. 422 00:19:18,172 --> 00:19:20,931 Kristine asked Natalia to tell me what's going on. 423 00:19:25,275 --> 00:19:26,344 [Kristine] Okay. 424 00:19:27,482 --> 00:19:30,931 And I can remember her physicalness at the time. 425 00:19:30,931 --> 00:19:32,931 Her hands were just out in front of her like this. 426 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,482 She said, "Well..." 427 00:19:37,172 --> 00:19:39,379 [clicks tongue] "...I have a period..." 428 00:19:39,379 --> 00:19:42,689 [clicks tongue] "...and I've been hiding it." 429 00:19:48,931 --> 00:19:50,448 And I... 430 00:19:51,862 --> 00:19:53,965 I just don't know what's going on right now. 431 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,482 [woman on phone] Kris found some socks 432 00:20:00,482 --> 00:20:02,482 that she had used in her underwear 433 00:20:02,482 --> 00:20:04,000 and threw them out the window. 434 00:20:04,758 --> 00:20:07,620 Kris was just mortified. 435 00:20:07,620 --> 00:20:11,275 She said, "This isn't normal. What have I gotten myself into?" 436 00:20:11,275 --> 00:20:14,172 And so I said, "You need to start finding out how old she is." 437 00:20:15,620 --> 00:20:18,862 I heard she had pubic hair when they first got her 438 00:20:18,862 --> 00:20:21,586 and that they found, like, period underwear 439 00:20:21,586 --> 00:20:23,172 hidden in her room. 440 00:20:23,172 --> 00:20:24,793 So that would be the thing that, 441 00:20:24,793 --> 00:20:27,000 as, you know, not a doctor, as a layman, 442 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,551 I'd be like, "Yeah, that's definitely not a 6-year-old." 443 00:20:31,482 --> 00:20:33,172 -[Kristine] Stand up. -Okay. 444 00:20:33,172 --> 00:20:34,862 [Michael] After we'd first gotten Natalia 445 00:20:34,862 --> 00:20:36,275 and we started taking her to doctors, 446 00:20:36,275 --> 00:20:38,172 within two months of getting her, 447 00:20:38,172 --> 00:20:41,482 Natalia needed foot surgery because of her condition. 448 00:20:41,482 --> 00:20:43,103 Natalia has a very rare form of dwarfism, 449 00:20:43,103 --> 00:20:45,000 spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. 450 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,275 There's only about 3,400 people like that on this planet, 451 00:20:48,275 --> 00:20:50,896 -we were explained by doctors. -[woman] Mmm-hmm. 452 00:20:50,896 --> 00:20:53,344 It just so happened, miraculously, 453 00:20:54,275 --> 00:20:56,000 that a doctor knew 454 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,482 another 6-year-old girl with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia 455 00:20:59,482 --> 00:21:00,758 living in Indiana. 456 00:21:01,931 --> 00:21:03,172 We were stunned. 457 00:21:04,103 --> 00:21:05,931 We're gonna have her meet and interact 458 00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:07,931 with somebody just like her. 459 00:21:08,275 --> 00:21:10,000 How great is that? 460 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:11,758 The other girl comes in 461 00:21:13,482 --> 00:21:16,172 and, for lack of a better term, 462 00:21:16,172 --> 00:21:17,931 Natalia is gigantic 463 00:21:17,931 --> 00:21:19,758 compared to this other girl. 464 00:21:24,172 --> 00:21:26,068 Their cranial structures are different. 465 00:21:27,275 --> 00:21:29,758 Natalia, she's got the full forehead of an adult, 466 00:21:29,758 --> 00:21:31,965 she's got the fine cheekbones of an adult. 467 00:21:33,758 --> 00:21:36,689 The other girl, her head is not developed at all. 468 00:21:37,689 --> 00:21:39,413 There's no way anybody could look at this picture 469 00:21:39,413 --> 00:21:41,827 and say, "Those two are the same age." 470 00:21:42,931 --> 00:21:45,620 So, when Natalia sees this person 471 00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:47,758 that should be close to the mirror image of her 472 00:21:48,275 --> 00:21:51,896 and realizes we see it, 473 00:21:51,896 --> 00:21:54,448 suddenly, she fills her cheeks with air, 474 00:21:55,275 --> 00:21:56,758 blows them out a little bit 475 00:21:56,758 --> 00:21:59,379 so the definition in her cheekbones disappears, 476 00:21:59,379 --> 00:22:03,172 so that starts to happen. 477 00:22:04,103 --> 00:22:07,689 We literally see her head change. 478 00:22:10,931 --> 00:22:13,586 It's almost like, "You got me." 479 00:22:22,586 --> 00:22:24,896 [Elva] My name is Elva Reyes. 480 00:22:24,896 --> 00:22:26,379 My daughter's name is Therese. 481 00:22:26,379 --> 00:22:28,689 Uh, she has diastrophic dysplasia, 482 00:22:28,689 --> 00:22:30,379 the same as Natalia. 483 00:22:30,379 --> 00:22:32,931 I was hoping, you know, that, uh, 484 00:22:32,931 --> 00:22:35,275 a long friendship, you know, 485 00:22:35,275 --> 00:22:37,172 where they can grow up and, 486 00:22:37,172 --> 00:22:38,482 you know, she has somebody 487 00:22:38,482 --> 00:22:40,862 to be able to talk about things. 488 00:22:40,862 --> 00:22:42,275 That mean it's not, you know, 489 00:22:42,275 --> 00:22:44,862 something that she has to feel like 490 00:22:44,862 --> 00:22:46,758 she's the only one in the world. 491 00:22:46,758 --> 00:22:49,931 Uh, but, later on, when we met for the playday, 492 00:22:49,931 --> 00:22:51,758 immediately, Natalia looks... 493 00:22:51,758 --> 00:22:53,379 Physically, was really well developed. 494 00:22:53,379 --> 00:22:55,896 My first impression was like, 495 00:22:55,896 --> 00:22:58,896 "Your face doesn't look like a little kid." 496 00:22:58,896 --> 00:23:00,758 Can't really say an adult, 497 00:23:00,758 --> 00:23:02,344 but at least a teenager. 498 00:23:04,896 --> 00:23:07,689 And I say, "Huh, so..." 499 00:23:07,689 --> 00:23:10,172 Yes, but... And she was very vocal, talking, 500 00:23:10,172 --> 00:23:11,344 you know, like, 501 00:23:12,586 --> 00:23:14,379 she can carry a conversation very well, 502 00:23:14,379 --> 00:23:16,103 like, didn't have no issue. 503 00:23:16,103 --> 00:23:18,931 I was like, "Wow, they teach her very good English." 504 00:23:18,931 --> 00:23:21,379 [laughs] A very smart kid for a 6-year-old. 505 00:23:21,379 --> 00:23:22,758 [keyboard playing] 506 00:23:26,896 --> 00:23:28,586 [Therese] I am Therese 507 00:23:28,586 --> 00:23:30,448 and I am 14 years old. 508 00:23:32,275 --> 00:23:35,241 I was six years old when I met Natalia. 509 00:23:36,586 --> 00:23:38,482 It's pretty rare to see someone 510 00:23:38,482 --> 00:23:40,172 who has a disability like me 511 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,482 and I wanted to be friends. 512 00:23:53,862 --> 00:23:55,862 -[producer] I have a picture of you guys. -Mmm-hmm. 513 00:23:58,413 --> 00:23:59,655 Sure. 514 00:24:04,103 --> 00:24:07,482 Definitely, I don't think she looked the same age as me. 515 00:24:07,482 --> 00:24:10,413 I definitely had that baby look to my face and, 516 00:24:10,413 --> 00:24:13,586 as she kinda gave me, like, 517 00:24:13,586 --> 00:24:16,758 an older kinda face look to it, 518 00:24:16,758 --> 00:24:17,931 but, yeah. 519 00:24:22,896 --> 00:24:24,482 I think she definitely looks like 520 00:24:24,482 --> 00:24:28,965 she's at least 18, 20-ish. 521 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,931 It definitely looks weird to think that 522 00:24:33,931 --> 00:24:36,758 I was playing with, actually, an adult, 523 00:24:36,758 --> 00:24:38,689 not a kid my age 524 00:24:38,689 --> 00:24:40,655 that I would feel comfortable with. 525 00:24:41,862 --> 00:24:44,103 If she faked her age, 526 00:24:44,103 --> 00:24:46,379 I feel like that's weird to think that 527 00:24:46,379 --> 00:24:48,586 I was around someone who did that. 528 00:24:51,931 --> 00:24:53,172 [Michael] She's not six. 529 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,068 We had no idea what we were dealing with. 530 00:24:57,172 --> 00:24:59,379 To them, it would've looked like 531 00:24:59,379 --> 00:25:01,000 they brought their little girl 532 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:02,827 to a playdate with a grownup. 533 00:25:04,758 --> 00:25:07,689 And they never reached back out again. 534 00:25:18,241 --> 00:25:21,000 [Jacob] Natalia told us very little about her time 535 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:22,655 growing up in the Ukraine, 536 00:25:23,172 --> 00:25:25,310 her time in the orphanage. 537 00:25:26,862 --> 00:25:29,586 I don't recall her having 538 00:25:29,586 --> 00:25:31,379 any belongings from the orphanage. 539 00:25:31,379 --> 00:25:35,482 Like, uh, I don't recall her having any Ukrainian toys. 540 00:25:35,482 --> 00:25:37,965 She didn't seem to know very much about Ukraine. 541 00:25:37,965 --> 00:25:40,965 Like, uh, at one point, early, we asked her, like, 542 00:25:40,965 --> 00:25:42,965 "Oh, what's it like in Ukraine?" 543 00:25:42,965 --> 00:25:45,103 And she said, "Oh, it's always summer there." And I'm like... 544 00:25:45,103 --> 00:25:46,586 [European folk music playing] 545 00:25:46,586 --> 00:25:48,241 "Hmm, okay, uh..." 546 00:25:48,241 --> 00:25:49,551 [Jake chuckling] 547 00:25:54,482 --> 00:25:57,448 I forget the part that you guys never hear. 548 00:26:00,586 --> 00:26:02,034 Yeah. Heard. 549 00:26:06,034 --> 00:26:07,482 [Michael] We adopted Natalia 550 00:26:07,482 --> 00:26:09,965 because we wanted to help somebody 551 00:26:09,965 --> 00:26:13,655 who was in danger of never being loved. 552 00:26:15,275 --> 00:26:18,275 But every time we ever spoke to Natalia about, 553 00:26:18,275 --> 00:26:20,482 "Hey, tell us about the orphanage, 554 00:26:20,482 --> 00:26:22,206 tell us about people you've known," 555 00:26:24,379 --> 00:26:25,620 nothing. 556 00:26:26,965 --> 00:26:29,137 So we had asked her about the Ukrainian language before. 557 00:26:29,137 --> 00:26:31,000 As a matter of fact, at the rec center 558 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,896 where we had our sports league for the autistic kids, 559 00:26:33,896 --> 00:26:35,482 one of the neighboring tenants 560 00:26:35,482 --> 00:26:36,896 happens to know somebody 561 00:26:36,896 --> 00:26:39,448 who was born and raised in the Ukraine. 562 00:26:40,862 --> 00:26:43,137 We thought, "How wonderful would it be 563 00:26:43,137 --> 00:26:45,689 for you to hear your native language, your native tongue 564 00:26:45,689 --> 00:26:48,586 for the first time in a couple of years?" 565 00:26:48,586 --> 00:26:50,103 The woman from the Ukraine comes in 566 00:26:51,137 --> 00:26:54,206 and just immediately starts speaking Ukrainian. 567 00:26:56,344 --> 00:26:58,000 I swear on all things holy, 568 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,931 Natalia's never heard a word of Ukrainian in her life. 569 00:27:01,586 --> 00:27:03,965 But you were there until almost five 570 00:27:05,275 --> 00:27:07,862 and we've got you at six. 571 00:27:09,241 --> 00:27:12,827 There was like a set of things that didn't add up. 572 00:27:14,137 --> 00:27:18,103 We starter... Started early in the morning. 573 00:27:18,103 --> 00:27:20,793 Natalia had no accent. 574 00:27:20,793 --> 00:27:24,379 Were going close. 575 00:27:24,379 --> 00:27:26,551 [Jacob] She didn't know the Cyrillic alphabet. 576 00:27:27,137 --> 00:27:29,034 She knew no Ukrainian. 577 00:27:31,241 --> 00:27:33,758 [Michael] Ukrainian lady starts speaking Ukrainian to Natalia. 578 00:27:34,379 --> 00:27:35,551 Not a word. 579 00:27:36,689 --> 00:27:38,965 I think she knew, if she spoke immediately, 580 00:27:39,586 --> 00:27:41,034 that we'd put two and two together 581 00:27:41,034 --> 00:27:44,034 and hear there's no accent. 582 00:27:44,034 --> 00:27:46,103 She doesn't know this. 583 00:27:46,103 --> 00:27:47,827 Didn't speak a word for four days. 584 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,034 It's almost like the jig is up, 585 00:27:52,034 --> 00:27:54,965 the little playful kid face goes away 586 00:27:55,586 --> 00:27:56,827 and now we've got... 587 00:28:01,793 --> 00:28:03,310 We don't know who she is. 588 00:28:04,379 --> 00:28:06,379 We don't know where she's really from. 589 00:28:06,379 --> 00:28:08,586 For all I know, she had been living in the Ukraine for 20 years 590 00:28:08,586 --> 00:28:10,000 and found a way out. 591 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,896 For all I know, she's an American citizen 592 00:28:11,896 --> 00:28:14,137 that somehow got this to happen. 593 00:28:14,137 --> 00:28:17,448 I truly, truly don't know. 594 00:28:26,586 --> 00:28:30,689 The dynamic between Natalia and the rest of the family seemed to shift. 595 00:28:30,689 --> 00:28:33,862 Pretty early, there was a lack of trust. 596 00:28:34,482 --> 00:28:35,655 Uh... 597 00:28:36,793 --> 00:28:39,206 So that, you know, compounded. 598 00:28:48,275 --> 00:28:51,965 Natalia did have behavioral issues which... 599 00:28:53,482 --> 00:28:56,551 Certainly, the adoption process, um, 600 00:28:57,379 --> 00:28:58,965 it must be traumatic. 601 00:28:58,965 --> 00:29:00,586 I mean, abandonment issues are a thing 602 00:29:00,586 --> 00:29:05,103 and Natalia was abandoned multiple times. 603 00:29:05,103 --> 00:29:08,241 She was with another family in America 604 00:29:08,241 --> 00:29:09,551 before she came with us. 605 00:29:11,241 --> 00:29:13,241 [Michael] Natalia was with us four months, 606 00:29:14,689 --> 00:29:18,655 and that's when we start to witness her dark side. 607 00:29:20,482 --> 00:29:22,862 We had a 2007 Jeep Commander. 608 00:29:22,862 --> 00:29:24,103 It has three rows of seats. 609 00:29:24,103 --> 00:29:25,689 But Natalia always tried 610 00:29:25,689 --> 00:29:27,689 to sit next to my youngest, the smallest, 611 00:29:27,689 --> 00:29:29,586 my 6-year-old, Ethan. 612 00:29:29,586 --> 00:29:33,793 And she would do whatever she could to upset him. 613 00:29:33,793 --> 00:29:37,689 She would purposely wait until she was next to him in the car 614 00:29:37,689 --> 00:29:40,413 and then she would do her best to urinate on him. 615 00:29:41,103 --> 00:29:42,689 She would defecate in the car 616 00:29:42,689 --> 00:29:44,103 and put her hand into it 617 00:29:44,103 --> 00:29:45,793 and try to smear it on Ethan. 618 00:29:45,793 --> 00:29:48,793 Yeah, it was a frequent occurrence 619 00:29:48,793 --> 00:29:52,103 for Natalia to soil surfaces 620 00:29:52,103 --> 00:29:53,758 that she wasn't supposed to. 621 00:30:00,379 --> 00:30:03,034 That was the life my 6-year-old son had. 622 00:30:03,034 --> 00:30:07,000 To get into the car was like going through the haunted house. 623 00:30:09,689 --> 00:30:11,034 And, you know, another thing, 624 00:30:11,034 --> 00:30:12,482 if we went someplace in public 625 00:30:12,482 --> 00:30:14,482 and she made eye contact with somebody 626 00:30:14,482 --> 00:30:16,103 we'd climb into the car, 627 00:30:16,103 --> 00:30:18,379 she would get into the car, she'd get in her seat, 628 00:30:18,379 --> 00:30:20,241 she'd close the door. 629 00:30:20,241 --> 00:30:22,793 As soon as I would start to get into my seat 630 00:30:22,793 --> 00:30:24,689 and the car would get into gear, 631 00:30:24,689 --> 00:30:27,482 doors open and she's throwing herself out of the vehicle 632 00:30:27,482 --> 00:30:29,448 so people around her can see. 633 00:30:33,689 --> 00:30:36,379 The idea, "Look, a poor, helpless little girl." 634 00:30:36,379 --> 00:30:38,241 And she was trying to get back 635 00:30:38,241 --> 00:30:40,551 to poor, helpless little girl status. 636 00:30:43,379 --> 00:30:45,689 She was doing as many things as possible 637 00:30:45,689 --> 00:30:48,034 to cause hurt of harm 638 00:30:48,034 --> 00:30:50,482 or mental distress to the entire family. 639 00:30:50,482 --> 00:30:53,689 She's been with us for about five or six months at this point, 640 00:30:53,689 --> 00:30:56,655 and at this time, my boys are six, nine and 11. 641 00:30:57,793 --> 00:31:01,793 Natalia would find things that were important to them, 642 00:31:01,793 --> 00:31:03,482 like a Hot Wheel car, 643 00:31:03,482 --> 00:31:06,896 she'd hide them, she'd wait to be crossing the street, 644 00:31:06,896 --> 00:31:09,448 she would throw 'em into the street and make sure the boys saw it. 645 00:31:09,896 --> 00:31:12,034 She was baiting my kids 646 00:31:12,034 --> 00:31:14,275 to run into traffic so they'd get run over. 647 00:31:14,275 --> 00:31:15,655 [horn blares] 648 00:31:16,586 --> 00:31:18,000 I can't put into words 649 00:31:18,482 --> 00:31:21,586 the everyday abject horror 650 00:31:21,586 --> 00:31:23,206 that we had to go through and live with. 651 00:31:26,034 --> 00:31:28,241 [Jacob] And there certainly was, like, a lot of fear. 652 00:31:30,241 --> 00:31:34,551 Like, "What if Natalia actually harms one of us?" 653 00:31:37,793 --> 00:31:41,655 [Michael] Couple of weeks after that, I came home from work. 654 00:31:42,965 --> 00:31:44,586 She had been taking knives out of the kitchen 655 00:31:44,586 --> 00:31:46,827 and hiding them in her room under her bed. 656 00:31:49,172 --> 00:31:50,862 I go upstairs. 657 00:31:50,862 --> 00:31:52,482 Kristine has the knife. 658 00:31:52,482 --> 00:31:54,551 It was a big butcher knife. 659 00:31:56,862 --> 00:31:59,896 [Jacob] Natalia was hoarding knives in her room 660 00:31:59,896 --> 00:32:02,034 and had, like, intentions to attack us. 661 00:32:05,482 --> 00:32:07,413 [Michael] I asked Natalia, "Natalia, 662 00:32:08,482 --> 00:32:10,000 did you have this under your bed?" 663 00:32:10,482 --> 00:32:11,655 "Yes." 664 00:32:14,172 --> 00:32:15,758 "What were you gonna do with it?" 665 00:32:17,034 --> 00:32:19,827 "I'm going to kill you in your sleep." 666 00:32:25,275 --> 00:32:26,551 [birds tweeting] 667 00:32:28,689 --> 00:32:29,862 [dog barking] 668 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,896 [Rachel] Michael and Kristine weren't very vocal 669 00:32:33,896 --> 00:32:37,034 about this stuff at first with Natalia 670 00:32:37,793 --> 00:32:40,620 until it got overwhelming, 671 00:32:41,379 --> 00:32:44,896 and that's when Kristine came and told me 672 00:32:44,896 --> 00:32:46,655 and sat down on my front porch 673 00:32:47,586 --> 00:32:48,965 with Wesley and Ethan 674 00:32:49,586 --> 00:32:51,758 and shared what was going on. 675 00:32:53,379 --> 00:32:54,793 Kristine was crying. 676 00:32:54,793 --> 00:32:56,172 She was very upset, 677 00:32:56,172 --> 00:32:58,965 saying that Natalia wasn't 678 00:33:00,068 --> 00:33:02,344 who they thought she was. 679 00:33:02,344 --> 00:33:05,551 And I said, "Well, what do you mean?" 680 00:33:05,551 --> 00:33:06,793 And she said... 681 00:33:06,793 --> 00:33:08,034 [inhales] 682 00:33:09,344 --> 00:33:10,758 ..."Knives." 683 00:33:11,896 --> 00:33:13,241 She had knives in her room. 684 00:33:15,689 --> 00:33:17,068 The boys were like, "Yeah. Yeah. 685 00:33:17,068 --> 00:33:19,482 This is really happening. Yeah. 686 00:33:19,482 --> 00:33:21,344 This is... Natalia's really doing that," 687 00:33:21,344 --> 00:33:24,758 This is the time when I backed away from them 688 00:33:25,379 --> 00:33:28,793 because I was just in so much shock 689 00:33:28,793 --> 00:33:30,448 from hearing this story. 690 00:33:30,448 --> 00:33:33,551 I went to Grace and said, 691 00:33:33,551 --> 00:33:36,000 "You know what? We need to find some new friends to play with," 692 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,413 'cause I didn't wanna have anything to do with that little girl. 693 00:33:39,896 --> 00:33:41,655 I didn't wanna have anything to do with her. 694 00:33:42,275 --> 00:33:44,344 She wasn't welcome in our house. 695 00:33:44,344 --> 00:33:46,344 I didn't want her to try killing my daughter or me. 696 00:33:49,068 --> 00:33:50,344 [birds tweeting] 697 00:33:56,482 --> 00:33:58,344 [Kimberly] Michael really only told me 698 00:33:58,344 --> 00:34:00,793 by the time they'd gone through all these things 699 00:34:00,793 --> 00:34:02,758 that he was afraid. 700 00:34:03,793 --> 00:34:05,137 Whether that meant he was 701 00:34:05,137 --> 00:34:08,447 afraid of what she would do or could do, 702 00:34:08,447 --> 00:34:09,896 or any of that, 703 00:34:09,896 --> 00:34:12,034 I knew that there was fear. 704 00:34:14,172 --> 00:34:17,000 [Michael] Absolutely, we reached out to the adoption agency 705 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,137 as we were noticing all of these issues and irregularities. 706 00:34:21,172 --> 00:34:22,413 They were unhelpful. 707 00:34:23,896 --> 00:34:25,379 I was lost. 708 00:34:25,379 --> 00:34:27,688 I was getting no help from anybody anywhere. 709 00:34:27,688 --> 00:34:30,068 So we went through a few therapists, 710 00:34:30,068 --> 00:34:31,688 trying to find guidance, 711 00:34:31,688 --> 00:34:33,413 trying to figure out the right diagnosis. 712 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,413 [Kristine] Go inside. 713 00:34:37,275 --> 00:34:39,896 [Michael] It was really the third or fourth therapist we got to 714 00:34:39,896 --> 00:34:44,068 that seemed to understand what we were telling them 715 00:34:44,068 --> 00:34:45,585 and seemed to have Natalia's number. 716 00:34:45,585 --> 00:34:47,757 She pulled Kristine and I aside and said, 717 00:34:49,275 --> 00:34:51,516 "You're all in extreme danger." 718 00:34:52,482 --> 00:34:55,137 At that point in time, we already knew that. 719 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:57,448 We had been living that. 720 00:34:58,586 --> 00:35:02,034 So we were not stunned at the danger, 721 00:35:02,034 --> 00:35:03,655 but we were stunned at the diagnosis. 722 00:35:04,689 --> 00:35:07,344 We were expecting a severe mental disorder 723 00:35:07,344 --> 00:35:08,793 that was out of her control. 724 00:35:08,793 --> 00:35:10,344 We were expecting schizophrenia. 725 00:35:10,896 --> 00:35:12,448 We were expecting something. 726 00:35:12,448 --> 00:35:14,482 We were expecting her to say, "She hears voices. 727 00:35:14,482 --> 00:35:17,241 She's hearing commands telling her to do this stuff." 728 00:35:18,551 --> 00:35:20,758 So she tells us, "She's a sociopath. 729 00:35:25,793 --> 00:35:28,517 She does things that you and I would consider crazy. 730 00:35:29,379 --> 00:35:30,793 But it's a plan. 731 00:35:30,793 --> 00:35:32,034 She knows what she's doing. 732 00:35:32,034 --> 00:35:33,965 She's in control of doing it. 733 00:35:34,793 --> 00:35:37,689 It's not a diagnosis where she's out of control 734 00:35:37,689 --> 00:35:39,034 and she can really be helped. 735 00:35:39,034 --> 00:35:41,344 She's a sociopath." 736 00:35:43,172 --> 00:35:45,620 That was the first moment from a clinician that we heard, 737 00:35:46,793 --> 00:35:48,793 "You can't help here." 738 00:35:48,793 --> 00:35:51,068 You're 12 years old and you're... 739 00:35:51,068 --> 00:35:52,793 You know, just down the hallway is, 740 00:35:52,793 --> 00:35:54,241 is someone who's living with you 741 00:35:54,241 --> 00:35:55,896 who actively wants to harm you. That's very, 742 00:35:55,896 --> 00:35:59,068 That's a very scary feeling. 743 00:35:59,068 --> 00:36:01,206 And I definitely didn't feel safe around Natalia. 744 00:36:01,689 --> 00:36:04,413 I just was scared. 745 00:36:11,068 --> 00:36:12,517 [Michael] There was one night, 746 00:36:13,689 --> 00:36:15,206 about two o'clock in the morning, 747 00:36:15,689 --> 00:36:16,965 we hear a noise. 748 00:36:18,448 --> 00:36:21,241 Kristine nudges me and wakes me up. 749 00:36:21,241 --> 00:36:23,482 And I jump up, I go looking for the noise, 750 00:36:23,482 --> 00:36:26,000 can't find it here, I can't find it there, 751 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,517 I go down the hall to Natalia's room, open the door. 752 00:36:31,275 --> 00:36:32,517 It's dark. 753 00:36:34,068 --> 00:36:36,551 She's standing dead-center in the middle of the room 754 00:36:37,793 --> 00:36:40,000 with a blank look on her face. 755 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:42,862 "Natalia, what are you doing?" 756 00:36:45,241 --> 00:36:46,517 "I'm waiting." 757 00:36:49,896 --> 00:36:51,413 "Waiting for what?" 758 00:36:53,482 --> 00:36:54,862 "For you to go to sleep." 759 00:37:00,586 --> 00:37:01,896 It was absolutely shocking 760 00:37:01,896 --> 00:37:06,448 to hear that an adopted child 761 00:37:06,448 --> 00:37:10,586 was threatening the lives of her siblings and her parents. 762 00:37:10,586 --> 00:37:12,862 I mean, it was really disturbing to hear. 763 00:37:16,379 --> 00:37:19,896 [Michael] One night, asleep in bed, everything's fine, 764 00:37:19,896 --> 00:37:22,275 I hear a little noise, I open my eyes, 765 00:37:22,275 --> 00:37:24,517 and Natalia's standing at the foot of the bed 766 00:37:25,172 --> 00:37:26,620 with a knife in her hand. 767 00:37:29,344 --> 00:37:30,965 What's going on? 768 00:37:31,793 --> 00:37:34,448 How much danger are we really in here? 769 00:37:35,689 --> 00:37:38,344 Was I about to die? What Kristine about to die? 770 00:37:38,344 --> 00:37:39,103 Were my kids about to die? 771 00:37:44,586 --> 00:37:46,103 I open my eyes, 772 00:37:46,103 --> 00:37:48,827 and Natalia's standing at the foot of the bed 773 00:37:49,379 --> 00:37:50,620 with a knife in her hand. 774 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,000 No idea what she's thinking. 775 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,965 No idea what's going through her head. 776 00:37:58,000 --> 00:37:59,448 I'm frozen. 777 00:38:00,275 --> 00:38:03,413 "Natalia, what are you doing?" 778 00:38:04,586 --> 00:38:05,724 "Nothing." 779 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:09,344 "Why are you in here?" 780 00:38:10,655 --> 00:38:11,862 "I don't know." 781 00:38:11,862 --> 00:38:14,517 There's just this blank look. 782 00:38:15,103 --> 00:38:16,655 There's no emotion. 783 00:38:16,655 --> 00:38:19,000 [stutters] There's no feeling going through her. 784 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:20,448 It's just this blankness. 785 00:38:21,344 --> 00:38:22,931 "I don't know what I'm doing here." 786 00:38:23,655 --> 00:38:25,448 "Natalia, put that down right now." 787 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:27,241 And she did. 788 00:38:28,172 --> 00:38:29,896 "Natalia, go to your room right now." 789 00:38:29,896 --> 00:38:31,310 And she did. 790 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:37,344 But, obviously, I sat outside her door for the rest of the night 791 00:38:38,068 --> 00:38:40,275 to make sure she didn't come out, 792 00:38:40,275 --> 00:38:41,965 she didn't emerge, something didn't happen. 793 00:38:45,758 --> 00:38:46,827 [birds tweeting] 794 00:38:48,655 --> 00:38:49,965 [Rachel] Knowing that, 795 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,068 that somebody like Natalia 796 00:38:54,068 --> 00:38:56,379 was living two doors down from me 797 00:38:56,379 --> 00:38:59,827 and has, supposedly, 798 00:39:00,448 --> 00:39:02,172 tried to kill her family, 799 00:39:03,689 --> 00:39:06,379 thinking that there's a killer in my neighborhood 800 00:39:06,379 --> 00:39:08,448 is mind-blowing, 801 00:39:09,172 --> 00:39:10,517 just mind-blowing. 802 00:39:11,241 --> 00:39:12,827 You think you know everybody. 803 00:39:13,896 --> 00:39:16,172 You've lived here for so long. 804 00:39:16,172 --> 00:39:19,344 You don't know everybody. You don't know anybody. You don't know anything. 805 00:39:20,758 --> 00:39:21,896 [Rachel sighs] 806 00:39:21,896 --> 00:39:24,344 But it's scary. It's very scary. 807 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,310 [Michael] So, we start going through lots of therapy. 808 00:39:30,862 --> 00:39:33,551 The cat was so heavy, 809 00:39:33,551 --> 00:39:36,689 I couldn't even lift it. 810 00:39:36,689 --> 00:39:38,965 [Michael] You start going through plausible deniability. 811 00:39:39,655 --> 00:39:41,551 You start to try to convince yourself 812 00:39:42,482 --> 00:39:44,344 she wasn't meaning to harm us. 813 00:39:45,241 --> 00:39:46,896 This might seem strange. 814 00:39:46,896 --> 00:39:49,689 We never, ever 815 00:39:49,689 --> 00:39:51,103 said, "Let's take her back." 816 00:39:51,103 --> 00:39:52,758 We thought we could help things. 817 00:39:52,758 --> 00:39:54,310 We thought we could improve things. 818 00:39:57,172 --> 00:39:58,551 [children chattering] 819 00:40:00,172 --> 00:40:01,862 [bell rings] 820 00:40:01,862 --> 00:40:05,344 We wake up one morning and Natalia is suddenly in happy, 821 00:40:05,344 --> 00:40:07,862 "I wanna be part of the family" mode again. 822 00:40:07,862 --> 00:40:11,000 And she asks Kristine, "Is there anything I can do to help? 823 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,172 You're doing the dishes. Can I help do the dishes?" 824 00:40:14,172 --> 00:40:17,103 So Kristine says, "Sure. I'd really appreciate that. 825 00:40:17,103 --> 00:40:18,344 Thank you, Natalia." 826 00:40:18,896 --> 00:40:20,551 So Natalia gets on a stool 827 00:40:20,551 --> 00:40:23,379 and starts rinsing the dishes off in the sink. 828 00:40:23,379 --> 00:40:25,172 Kristine goes to the other room for a moment 829 00:40:25,172 --> 00:40:28,068 and she's got a coffee cup sitting on the counter. 830 00:40:28,896 --> 00:40:30,448 Kristine comes back in. 831 00:40:32,241 --> 00:40:34,068 Kristine screams. 832 00:40:35,448 --> 00:40:37,137 I come racing downstairs. 833 00:40:38,241 --> 00:40:39,896 I see a bottle of Pledge. 834 00:40:39,896 --> 00:40:41,551 I see Kristine's coffee cup, 835 00:40:41,551 --> 00:40:43,103 and Kristine tried to drink it 836 00:40:43,103 --> 00:40:45,137 and instantly tasted Pledge. 837 00:40:47,275 --> 00:40:50,137 Cleaning supplies had been poured into Kristine's coffee cup. 838 00:40:50,896 --> 00:40:53,379 Kristine is screaming at her, 839 00:40:53,379 --> 00:40:55,413 "Natalia, why did you do this?" 840 00:40:58,275 --> 00:41:00,896 And she just says, plain old, straight out, 841 00:41:00,896 --> 00:41:02,931 "I'm trying to kill you. I'm trying to poison you." 842 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,931 Yeah, I certainly have that, uh, instinct now, like, uh, 843 00:41:10,448 --> 00:41:12,862 I can't really share a drink with someone 844 00:41:12,862 --> 00:41:15,241 unless I've, you know, 845 00:41:16,103 --> 00:41:19,241 seen the surface of it the entire time. 846 00:41:19,241 --> 00:41:22,758 Well, it's probably rooted in this fear 847 00:41:22,758 --> 00:41:26,068 that Natalia's coming to, 848 00:41:28,448 --> 00:41:30,034 like, poison us. 849 00:41:31,862 --> 00:41:34,655 I guess I haven't really figured out a way to reconcile it, 850 00:41:34,655 --> 00:41:36,482 if I'm being honest. 851 00:41:36,482 --> 00:41:37,931 I'm still working through it. 852 00:41:41,448 --> 00:41:43,413 I think I might need a minute. I'm sorry. 853 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:53,758 [Kristine] Natalia, what are you doing? 854 00:41:55,482 --> 00:41:56,724 [Kristine] What is it? 855 00:41:59,482 --> 00:42:00,620 [Kristine] Why? 856 00:42:02,862 --> 00:42:04,172 [Kristine] Like what thoughts? 857 00:42:08,689 --> 00:42:10,379 [Kristine] What happens when you have them?