Original subtitles

Everybody in that apartment complex was just like,

"Yeah, you can't be here anymore,"

so I left.

The truth is that everywhere that I would go...

neighbors who knew me saw what was going on,

but... nobody said anything,

especially when I was living with the Barnetts.

Why? I don't know.

I wanna know the answers to these questions.

I was a little girl. I was seven years old.

Oh, my gosh!

Oh!

I'm just looking at the house.

It's just like everything is coming back.

Yeah.

Like, I'm just like, my brain is everywhere right now.

- Yeah? And...

Like, just looking at the house,

like, it just reminds me when Kristine

had me walk all the way around the block...

- Hmm. - ... with no shoes.

And my feet were bleeding

by the time I got to the steps.

Wow.

And she... she was mad about it.

I couldn't even go in the house. Like, she had to clean my feet outside.

But she used this brush...

And it hurt. And I told her it did,

but she didn't listen to me.

There's just... there's just so much...

my brain is like everywhere.

It's, like, replaying everything

over and over again.

Well...

I'm sorry about those experiences.

But it's gonna be all right.

- It's gonna be all right.

Even, like, just looking at the front of the house,

I just remembered what happened in there.

It literally feels like a haunted house.

I'm blessed to even be alive.

The time that Kristine made me walk all the way around that block.

She wouldn't even let me get my shoes.

Neighbors were driving by and nobody stopped and said anything.

And nobody even tried to help me.

From Natalia's perspective,

the abuse was, you know, like, in the open.

And, you know, nobody in the neighborhood came to assist her.

When I was with the Barnetts,

I wanted to tell the neighbors

everything that happened to me,

but they knew Kristine and Michael really well.

Like, they were really good friends, I guess.

And... they wouldn't have believed me.

They would've just thought I was just making up a story.

So it was just like I didn't know what else to do.

And...

I was scared.

I was scared if I did say something what would Kristine do.

Gracie was like my best friend.

Natalia came to our house a lot

to play with my daughter, Grace.

For a long time, I thought they were,

like, connected at the hip, and then...

Kristine, she just...

said that Natalia was trying to kill her

and... I... went to Grace

and said, "You know what, we need to find some new friends to play with."

'Cause I didn't want to have anything to do with that little girl.

If she was trying to kill Kristine, my friend,

she wasn't welcome in our house.

I don't want her try killing my daughter or me.

Gracie's parents, they were so nice.

But with everything that Kristine said about me,

it changed their minds.

I couldn't even see Gracie anymore.

Nobody stood up for me.

I wanna find out why.

Hi. - Hi.

- How are you? - I'm all right.

Good.

- I don't know if you remember me. - I do.

- You look so good. All pretty. Thank you.

Aw! Wanna sit down? - Sure.

All right. You all right? - Yeah, I'm okay.

Okay. I'm just... I'm gonna leave that right here.

Okay. Yeah, that's perfect.

- Do you remember coming over here and playing and stuff? - I do.

- You do? - Yes.

We had lots of fun.

We really did.

- We went in our playroom and when we... - Yeah.

played down here and colored and did all that kind of stuff.

- Feels like forever ago. - I know. It really was.

But yeah, I mean, it's been a while.

So it's like hard for me to remember what we've done,

- but we did a lot of stuff together. - I know. Yeah.

What exactly did Kristine tell you when she came here?

So she came over,

and she was crying when she told me this stuff.

So she was like,

"Um, Natalia was putting thumbtacks on the steps,

so when we walk up the steps, we would step on them."

And I was like, "Okay." And she said,

"Um, hiding knifes in the mattress." I'm like,

"Okay."

And, like, that's what scared me.

And I just sat here in such shock.

So I was like, "What?"

There's so many things that the Barnetts have said

that they've tried to paint me as some crazy person.

And literally I'm a... I'm a kid wanting to play with other kids

and everybody is looking at me as a 22-year-old.

So they're all creeped out...

and thinking I'm trying to be a pedophile to a kid.

I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Gracie.

I... it was just like a... like...

scissors going through a piece of paper. It was just cut off.

I didn't know why.

All I knew was I missed my best friend.

I was a kid.

And you didn't think twice about it,

didn't think twice about, you know, the fact like,

"But she looks like a little girl, how are they saying she's an adult?"

You just took their word for it.

Nobody investigated.

Why didn't you ask about... did you ask?

No, I asked them. I didn't ask you.

Why didn't you come to me?

- I should have. - Like, why...

You... I was around all the time, you said that

you didn't see anything.

So why was that so easy to believe?

I... I didn't wanna believe any of it...

but I felt...

like she pushed me to believe it.

That's what she did with a lot of people.

I mean, they are good talkers.

- Trust me, I feel terrible. - Nobody ever asked me.

Nobody ever thought,

"Hey, like, maybe we should get both sides of the story."

Everybody just went with what Kristine and Michael said.

And the fact is that they...

The fact is...

when I got into my apartment in Westfield,

I was on this medicine.

And...

she'd pretty much overdosed me.

I— - Did I ever try to hurt Gracie?

- Did I ever try to do anything? - No.

And I... I explained that to them.

I said this was all so hard to believe

because you were always so—

Why did you believe it though?

- Do I look like a murderer to you? No.

Honey, if I knew what was really going on.

I... I should've asked, I would've snatched you up in a heartbeat.

Why didn't you?

I'm not gonna lie.

I think I was kind of scared of her...

and what she could do.

Did you ever think of what she was doing to me?

Unfortunately, no.

I'm very ashamed... of it.

I mean, I am. I...

- I had no reason not to believe her.

Like, she... she manipulated me.

- I mean, I— - She manipulated everybody.

I mean, I'm angry as well, trust me.

Like, seeing...

all of this and you and hearing this, like... I...

I mean, she's a horrible, horrible human being.

Hands down.

Hands down.

I don't want to talk to Kristine again.

Never.

I don't wanna see her again. I didn't even wanna see her in the trial.

But Michael...

reached out and said he wanted to talk,

said he wanted to apologize.

Well, he can try again.

I'm, you know, like, "I'll talk to you. I'll listen to what you gotta say,

but I have a lot of questions."

And I am hoping that this time he will be truthful and answer them.

I've never tried to forget Natalia

as much as I wanna forget it.

One of the five best days of my life

was the day that we adopted Natalia.

As much as I want to block that,

put that in the past, put that away...

it's real. It's still there.

I have very little things

that survived from... from my previous life.

This is actually a cross that was given to Natalia

with... with her middle name, "Grace" on it

right after Natalia came home with us.

It was hanging up on... on the wall of her bedroom.

Natalia, I would like to apologize directly to you

and not the world.

If we ever get a moment where... we can

have a conversation

where we can speak, where we can talk...

you'll get that.

But at the same time,

I'm realistic enough to know...

that from other people's points of view...

I'm probably the devil.

My name is Ken Maxwell.

I have over 30 years of law-enforcement experience,

the vast majority of which was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

My last position, I was the assistant special agent in charge

of the counterterrorism branch

in the New York field office.

Following my retirement from the FBI,

with my considerable investigative experience,

the Natalia Grace case...

was more than intriguing to me.

When we first started out, it was a classic whodunnit,

but as we gathered more information,

it has evolved into a how and a why.

Why did all these things take place?

We can't get into Kristine's mind or Michael's mind.

However, based upon...

the evidence we've been able to uncover,

interviews with people, documents,

their own messaging between each other,

it amounts to circumstantial evidence

that gives us a glimpse

into what they were thinking at the time

that helps support

the notion that there was a purposeful plan.

Securing an apartment for Natalia in Lafayette

was the next step of the plan

to get rid of Natalia from the Barnett family...

for good.

Placing Natalia in this apartment in Lafayette

that was totally unsuitable for a disabled person.

Was Kristine exhibiting a depraved indifference for Natalia as a human being?

Or was the hate so strong

that she just didn't care

as to leave somebody in an environment like that

with little or no safety or protection?

Kristine dropped me off at that apartment.

I didn't know how to take care of myself.

I didn't know what to do.

It seems Kristine has one move left...

to try to get rid of Natalia,

but she's not gonna stop there.

She's moving on to Michael next.

A disabled nine-year-old left alone

in a dangerous neighborhood to fend for herself.

This was no accident.

This was intentional.

Natalia was left in harm's way,

in what appears to be Kristine's final move,

to get rid of her for good.

I found out I was moving to Lafayette

once we were already there.

She helped me move in.

And then, once we were done moving in,

I find out that that's where I'm gonna, like,

actually be living...

and they're moving to Canada.

Through the investigation, we find out that she got moved

into the Westfield apartment

and her specialized shoes were taken from her

and her walker.

And here in Lafayette, the same scenario.

She didn't have either one of those things.

She just doesn't have them.

When I show up to this apartment,

I mean... it is not...

catered to a person... that is a little person.

I'm just completely shocked.

There was nobody there to help me get anything from the top shelf

or anything like that.

It was not a easy thing doing it on my own.

But I had to, kind of, adapt to it.

Kristine came maybe twice.

After that, Michael came once.

And, um...

I never saw them again after those three months.

It's okay.

This it? Wow.

Oh, my goodness.

Talk about memories.

For real.

- These stairs were not easy. I know.

Ow!

It's okay.

I would have to climb up there,

and then when I would get to the second step, I would just pull the thing.

I had to stand on that step for five minutes

just to unlock the door.

And once I would get it open,

I'd already be tired from standing, trying to open it.

And then I was like...

Twelve steps after walking up these five plus that step.

- And then... If I remember right... - Plus the actual—

there's like a...

flooring when you first go in

then there's 12 steps going up.

Yes.

I couldn't even reach the mailbox.

Yeah, I probably should sit down though.

- Oh, Jeez, okay. You know what? - I got you.

- You wanna sit? - Yeah.

You know, this was like 17 stairs just right here,

so she had to do all this on her own

when she was so much more smaller and...

- Yeah. - ... and less stable.

- You know, she was—

- Jesus, that scared me. Are you for real?

What was that? - Please, tell me that was a firework.

Oh, Jesus.

Not today, Satan.

- That sounded real close. - It sounded like,

not this block, but the next block.

That sounded really loud.

Yeah.

- I was... eight. - Nine and a half?

I was eight. I turned nine

- when I met you guys. - Okay.

- So nine years old... - Yep.

and she was walking through this area herself.

Anything could have happened.

- I thank God it didn't.

Jesus.

- Oh, okay.

I'm ready to go.

Her family just dropped her off in Lafayette and went to Canada.

Who does that?

It makes me angry. It makes me wanna...

just scream at Kristine.

Because why would you do that to her.

Why did Natalia deserve that?

Because... "Kristine, she didn't fit into your agenda?"

I'm at work, I get a phone call from Kristine.

The exact words are... "Michael...

quit your job, call your boss,

you need to come home right now.

We're moving to Canada."

And she hung up.

So I come rushing home.

Kristine...

rents a car, takes the boys,

leaves the country, goes to Canada

to go find a place to live.

And Kristine tells me that, "You have to sell everything we own."

And then I join my family up in Canada.

The steps that Kristine took

with Michael in Canada

are at least indicative of part of her plan possibly,

that she got rid of Natalia,

"Now it's time to rid myself of my husband, Michael."

It culminates into...

she's even gonna alienate his sons against him.

While we were in Canada,

there were fights every day.

I was driving with the family

and Kristine was just screaming and screaming

and yelling and yelling at me.

"You are not helpful!

You are nothing. You are worthless.

You are replaceable.

The book money, it's all mine.

The Hollywood money, it's all mine."

Mentally...

this was my snaping point...

with Kristine.

I tell her, "I've had it.

I'm leaving you."

Anger builds...

"Shut up or I'll kill you."

"Mine, everything is mine. You're worthless!"

"Shut up or I'll kill you."

"You're nothing... mine..."

"Shut up or I'll kill you."

I shouldn't have said it.

Absolutely shouldn't have said it.

Angel voice comes out...

public persona hits the brakes and comes out.

She spins, turns to the boys in the back seat...

"Boys...

Dad's gonna kill all of us.

It's okay.

I'm gonna protect you."

Every day, Kristine would tell them,

"You're dad's dangerous, he's gonna kill you."

Next thing you know, suddenly, my kids are terrorized.

And they sleep with knives next to their bed

because they're afraid of their dad coming to Canada

to kidnap them and kill them.

Kristine went to

a Canadian therapist, a mental health professional

and told her what had occurred,

that Michael was a danger to Kristine and to the boys.

A physical threat to the family.

At this point in time I had moved back to Indiana.

Later I would come to find out

the moment she stopped shouting

and turned into the angelic protector,

she had palmed the cell phone,

she had hit record on it...

She takes the recording, not long thereafter

to the Ontario police.

And tries to convince them that we are in danger.

So this fight that Michael and Kristine had,

and she pulls out her phone and she,

she video tapes threats that Michael was making

in the heat of the moment,

are now living on forever,

that's parallel to Natalia's experience with the pledge incident.

Where Natalia says, "She pulled out her phone and made me do it."

And then use it as evidence.

That she caught me, you know, poisoning her coffee.

So this is Kristine creating a narrative

to her benefit and perhaps to scare Michael.

Then she calls me up to tell me...

This was, like, you have committed a crime

and we're about to lock you up.

Kristine was masterful at understanding a situation

she could exploit immediately

on camera.

Kristine got him so upset and they were fighting

that she turned a camera on him

as he was saying, you know,

"I'll kill you. I'll kill you."

And she took it to the police

in order to keep him in the United States.

It's terrible, Michael.

Extremely scary.

Kristine... Kris...

Kris, calm down.

After Michael came back from Canada,

he lived with us.

Michael would have his door closed

and he would be talking to Kristine,

trying to talk to the boys, whatever.

And she would just be screaming at him.

Kristine would scream crazy things at him,

calling him a psycho and calling him an abuser.

She used that incident to tell my kids forever

that I was a wanted man in Canada,

that I couldn't enter the country of Canada,

that I had charges waiting for me in Canada.

It seemed Kristine wanted Michael to be in the US

while she's in Canada with Jacob and the boys.

Now, if that's true, why?

Well, maybe because she wanted Michael to be

the sole parent responsible for Natalia

who at this point is their dependent

and maybe a dependent forever

and if something were to happen to Natalia,

she could just claim ignorance,

like, "I'm in Canada. I'm not even in the country.

It's on Michael."

She even engaged in a conversation at one point

where she wanted Michael

to be the trustee of Natalia's affairs.

We know that from Facebook communications.

Kristine was almost leaving him holding the bag to do all this.

You were asked about personal knowledge

about her being neglected or left in this apartment.

So any... If, if you want to respond as to what Natalia

told you or sent you,

I think that would be appropriate.

So, uh, okay. I have a picture of her looking like she has

bruises all over her face,

her hair is chopped off,

she looks miserable

in an apartment that she and the Mans told me were up a flight of stairs.

This is when she was living alone.

Does anybody know what happened?

So, when you drop a little disabled six-year-old off,

what the hell happened?

Oh. It's horrible.

- She has what looks like... Maybe black eyes.

black eyes and her—

A scrape across her nose.

Scrape across the bridge of her nose.

I mean...

I mean, look at the way she walks.

I mean, she, she could've fallen, you know?

- I mean, who knows. She could've fallen down all those stairs

- that they put her in. She could've fallen...

- She was in a second story apartment. - ... down in the apartment.

So at trial, the main points that we had were,

as a dependent she was in a second floor apartment,

they didn't set her up with any doctors,

they didn't set her up with anyone to assist her

as far as hygiene, cooking, cleaning, clothes.

Michael had a duty to care for her

which he failed to do so

when he abandoned her in Lafayette in a situation

that endangered her life or health.

I remember my power actually being shut off

in Lafayette apartment

for, like, a week and it was in the middle of summer.

Like, it was burning hot.

I remember, like, everything in the fridge went bad, like,

and I couldn't go grocery shopping

and I was scared.

I was really scared.

Like, I could've died.

I grew up way too early.

I've had to learn lessons that I should've learned

when, maybe, like, just now turning 20.

I should be learning those life lessons.

If, literally like, I had to grow up overnight.

Michael being left in Indiana

did do some things,

possibly, even unintentionally.

We have communications

where he's questioning Kristine,

"Why did you shut off the electricity?

There was no air conditioner.

Why did you take her phone?"

If Kristine was trying to set up Michael to take responsibility

or take the fall for anything

that happened to Natalia in Lafayette,

these communications contradict that.

They show her direct knowledge of,

"Why did you, Kristine, shut off her phone?

Why did you not pay the electric bill?" You being Kristine.

So it makes her culpable.

In fact, it infers that Michael was not aware

that Kristine did these things.

Michael checked in on Natalia and became a lifeline for her.

He had her electricity turned back on

and air conditioning installed, he got her food

and basically foiled Kristine's plan.

It was almost a victory for the Barnetts,

but in the end, look at Kristine's failures.

She failed to get Natalia locked up criminally,

she failed to get her committed to a psychiatric facility,

she failed to get Michael to take the fall

and finally the authorities get involved.

When the director of the Adult Learning Center

in Lafayette, Indiana

did what every other adult

in Natalia's life had failed to do,

call the police.

Kristine and Michael were really trying to erase Natalia from their lives.

But once the police were involved,

they launched an investigation in 2013

into who Natalia was.

Where she came from,

how she got to the United States,

and to Indiana and an apartment living by herself.

Now that statement she wrote at the Adult Learning Center

was a biographical sketch given to the police

and in it there were

allegations, which if true, show that this child

was abused long before she was in the Barnett household.

You wrote down the story of your life, right?

Natalia is not unscathed.

We know there were things that she came with to this country.

As an investigator, really difficult to really know

what the... the whole story about what happened to her,

as a baby, as a child.

This is September 11th of 2013

and it said, "I was born in Ukraine

but, but I do not remember much.

So I don't know my real parents

and I was in an orphanage

so I only remember the bad stuff.

And then I got a shot, which made me pass out

and then when I woke up, I was in a baby orphanage.

And I saw a guy put something on my face, like, a towel or something..."

Yikes...

I actually forgot I wrote this.

This is when everything started to turn for you.

- Things just kinda changed. - This was— I wrote this

and then they took me to the police station.

And you're now at Lafayette and there's no...

You've been cut off, basically.

Pretty much. Thankfully, I had my parents.

You had this whole new door that opened up.

Mmm. With the Mans family.

I don't know. It's just, like, I felt safe

when I met my parents.

Even though I didn't know who they were,

but I just... I felt safe.

They let me be a kid.

They let me be a nine-year-old, all the way into teenager

all the way to now.

Antwon and Cynthia showed me what

a dad and a mom are supposed to be like.

They taught me what love is.

So, this first one is me.

That's me right there.

Wow! You're so little! That's me. I was...

Aw!

I was, like, two... I think I was, like, two.

That's what it looks like.

Natalia was so cute!

- I was so little. Wow!

- And then that is... - Your mom and dad.

Yeah. That's my biological dad and mom.

Aw!

I don't wanna open

that door of a relationship with Anna.

I get it, you know?

You, you probably do wanna see me and everything like that,

but I have a family here.

I have my parents who raised me.

Like, it's different with Anna

because she only gave birth to me,

but she let me go pretty much that same day.

It started bringing in some hurt emotions

because I haven't been in the Ukraine since I was five.

The things that I remember

from being in the orphanage in Ukraine are not great.

They're scary memories

that I really don't like to think about anymore.

When Natalia was in the orphanage,

most probably because they just didn't have the staff

to support these kids one on one,

and what they would have to do is

en masse scare them into,

you know, getting into their beds

and being quiet

and therefore they use unusual tactics.

One time we were playing,

we heard stomping

and everybody ran to the bedroom...

but I knew I couldn't

and there was a couch behind me

and I hid behind a couch.

There was like, this big, black cloak

and it was, like, this green mask.

To me it was like the monster under the bed.

It heard me crying

and it turned my way and I, literally, panicked.

And I crawled to the very end

where there was, like, a plant,

where it couldn't get me on that side.

And I remember hearing it stomping, coming towards me

and it just peaked behind the couch.

And I was so scared.

Like, I didn't know what was about to happen,

and it just stared at me.

And I'm, like, I don't know what to do.

And it finally left.

And then I remember one of the people that was

in the bedroom with the other kids

came and hugged me and then that was it.

But, like, that was, like,

the scariest moment of my life that I remember from that age.

Like, that was beyond scary

'cause I didn't know what was happening,

I don't know why anybody would want to scare a bunch of kids.

A lot of stuff happened that just should not have happened.

One thing I do remember is

it's very weird,

but I was is a orphanage and I just remember, like,

somebody just coming up and just covering my face

and I blacked out

and then it was, like...

I remember I woke up being carried and I just

remember just seeing a big building,

looked like an apartment building.

I remember being in a doctor's office

and then I remember getting a shot in my arm

and then after that I blacked out again.

And then, next thing I know,

I'm laying on a couch.

This memory has always been, like, a mystery to me.

And... Well...

I can't remember anything about what he looked like.

The next memory that I have after that is me back in a orphanage.

Like, I don't know how I got back there

or anything like that.

When I'm trying to picture it,

it's just, like, an invisible guy with a white T-shirt.

Like, I just don't know what he looked like.

I can't remember.

I can hand it to you

and then I'll take it back.

I don't even know...

Like, how did y'all get this picture?

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my gosh.

Like, honestly, I don't know what to say.

I don't know what to even think.

Because, like, I know, like,

more happened than what I remember,

but it's like, I can't figure it out.

Like, just seeing that, like,

and not being able to remember is frustrating.

But it's also scary because I don't know what he did.

I don't know why I was with him. I...

I don't know.

If Natalia had been traumatized in Ukraine,

she needed a family to help her heal,

but the Barnetts were not that family.

They did the opposite

and then she's re-traumatized again.

The time I was in the Ukraine

in the orphanage, after all that happened,

the only thing I really wanted

was a family who loves me.

A family that protects me

and the Barnetts did none of that.

They just hurt me more.

Kristine and Michael were never my parents!

From day one.

They never acted like my parents.

Even though I'm still legally theirs right now,

they are not my parents.

Antwon and Cynthia Mans are my parents.

So, the only thing that's left connecting me

to the Barnetts is my last name

and that's about to change as well.

I'm Peter Kenny.

I practice law in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Primarily adoptions,

foster care and guardianship issues.

What makes me wanna take this case is,

I think it's about time that

the system looked out for Natalia.

I just want to see why do you want to be in their family forever?

And why do you want to be theirs?

They've actually been a family to me.

They've showed me love.

They've told me that they love me and they've showed it.

This will be my third adoption

and this will be my permanent adoption.

I've been Natasha Gava

and then it was Natalia Ciccone

and then it was Natalia Barnett

and now it'll be Natalia Mans.

With still being connected to the Barnett name

and everything like that and how it, like,

if I have to sign something I have to say Barnett,

and it's like, I don't want that

to be my identity.

'Cause, like, with everything that happened,

it's all connected to the Barnett name.

And I don't want that to be connected to me anymore.

I just want to start new

and not have to look back and...

I don't wanna have to...

Like, someone ask me, like, "What's your name?"

I don't wanna say Natalia Barnett.

I wanna say Natalia Mans because that's who I am.

I'm a Mans. I'm not a Barnett.

Like, me and my family have had to pay the price

for their decisions with pain and suffering

and just a whole bunch of road blocks.

And so now, I feel like they should be the ones to have to pay the price.

Legally, I feel like they got away with it.

Legally they did.

Publicly, they're not. 'Cause people know

and are gonna see as these things get uncovered,

what they have done.

'Cause you don't go through this much stuff

to do something to a person

unless you're hiding something.

As long, as long as I've known them,

all they've done is lied.

What this adoption will do is

kinda pave the way for anything you wanna do

legally in the future

because the evidence will speak for itself.

- They're hiding something. - Yeah.

With this adoption,

I'll be legally a part of the family.

So that way, I'll be protected

while I do civil suits against the Barnetts.

You know, abuse, neglect

and a whole bunch of other stuff

that should not have happened.

Michael and Natalia are meeting again.

Michael on one side and Natalia on the other.

Will Michael reveal any secrets?

Of course, Natalia wants answers,

but she's running a risk here

because Michael has triggers.

I try, I try, I try, I try!

Let me talk to you. Let me talk to you. No, no, no.

Michael? Leave me alone!

Is she running the risk that he's gonna get up and walk out again?

You ain't about to weasel your way out of this.

He's got to come back and man up

and stop being a little whiny baby!

He acted like a coward!

This is round two.

How many other secrets are there?

You have to fight to get to the truth.

I'm not scared anymore.

You deserve to have some answers.