Episode 305 - Natalia Grace: The Orphan

RedHanded

Wondery | RedHanded

True Crime

4.5 • 18.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2009, the horror film ‘Orphan’ told the tale of a couple who unwittingly adopted a 9-year-old girl, who (spoilers) turned out to be a murderous, adult woman.

Sometimes though, reality is stranger than fiction. A year after the film’s release, the Barnetts, a wealthy picture-perfect American family, adopted 6-year-old Natalia Grace from Ukraine. But within just 3 years, they’d abandoned her and fled to Canada.

Why? According to the Barnetts, Natalia – who had a rare form of dwarfism – wasn’t a little girl at all. She was actually a 22-year-old woman who was trying to murder their whole family. In this bizarre case, everything most definitely isn’t as it seems…

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Prime members, you can listen to Redhanded early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today.
0:06.0	If you love True Crime, the Generation Y Podcast is essential listening. Hosts Aaron and Justin started this podcast over 10 years ago to dissect together some of the craziest and most notable murders, crimes and conspiracy theories.
0:18.0	And with over 450 episodes, there's a little something for every True Crime lover. Follow the Generation Y Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:30.0	I'm Sruti. I'm Hannah. And welcome to Redhanded. Yes. Welcome. Come on in. The water's horrible. It's fucking covered in algae or something equally horrible.
0:50.0	But we are here and we are ready to get started with quite a tale.
0:57.0	The noise you just heard was Mabel's Tale bashing against a metal pole. But now she's gone to bed so it's all going to be fine.
1:05.0	So in 2013, a bizarre story hit headlines across the world. An American family who had adopted a six-year-old girl from Ukraine had suddenly abandoned her in an apartment in Fayetteville, Indiana and run off to Canada.
1:22.0	The couple, Michael and Christine Barnett, claimed the Natalia Grace, a child with diastrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism, was not in fact a little girl.
1:32.0	But a fully grown 22-year-old woman who had been trying to kill their entire family.
1:39.0	There really is no subtle way to start this story with a plotline like that. And with comparisons to the 2009 horror movie, often, they came out just a year before the Barnett's adopted Natalia.
1:50.0	Believe me, this case is as fucking weird as it gets.
1:54.0	I didn't realise that this was after all.
1:57.0	Oh yes, a year after. That's bananas.
2:01.0	So to really understand just how bananas it all is, we're going to have to start the beginning.
2:07.0	Michael and Christine Barnett, plus their three sons, 11-year-old Jake, nine-year-old Wesley, and six-year-old Ethan, with a picture perfect family.
2:16.0	And I can't say the word Wesley without thinking about Wesley's types arms.
2:21.0	Now we're all thinking about it, so you're welcome.
2:25.0	Why would you name your son Wesley's never going to have arms as good as Wesley's name?
2:31.0	Something to aspire to.
2:33.0	True, maybe we all be more Wesley's like...
2:35.0	Every day is Arms Day when your name is Wesley.
2:38.0	Well, I'm going to have to start doing some serious arms days because I've got to wear a bloody strapless bridesmaid dress in September.
	...

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