Original subtitles

foreign

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yes

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um

I honestly don't know what to do or what

to say you could either wait for that

pick you up they'll end up taking you to

a local Indianapolis or you can just go

and turn yourself in in Lafayette

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my name is Bob Cooper

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oh I handled everything from juvenile

cases to homicides

when I was on the Lafayette Police

Department I I think I had a reputation

not being a very good investigator

you know I could say I care about

Justice that's a cliche

what I enjoyed most about being a police

detective is the puzzles

I think one of the reasons that I'm so

intrigued by the Barnett case is this is

one of the most difficult ones I've had

it's like a Rubik's Cube it just

continues to change just when you think

you have it solved you find out you

don't

thank you

I think the barnetts when they adopted

Natalya they bought a pig in a poke they

didn't know what they were getting it

was more than they they thought that

they bargained for they bought a pig in

the pub and they got rid of her

they put her in apartment Westfield

Indiana

Michael and Christine they would almost

be a household word in the social

services area in Westfield Indiana

because Natalia created more problems

than they were expecting obviously they

were trying to get around to that

environment

to an environment where she was not

known and so they finally moved her to

Lafayette Indiana

let's get her out of our life

they did

they moved her an hour away to another

County

there are more nice areas in Lafayette

than there are run down neighborhoods

where tally was placed in that apartment

by herself there's crime in the area

I think their goal was outside out of

mind

oh go away but that didn't happen

because Lafayette was wrong down for

them to bring her to I

did

2013. the perimeter Institute in

Waterloo Ontario Canada why Jacob who's

to go there to get his master's degree

so we're moving to Canada go get those

six combinations Natalia she had an

apartment for a year on her own in

Westfield Indiana Italia's current lease

is up

another apartment needs to be found

Christine and her go out and they find

for an apartment in Lafayette Indiana

this is the best place possible

I would happily casually stroll around

that neighborhood it was a nice part of

town

this apartment

of an adult GED Center

signed up for to get her GED

who blocks of the bus from

suicide prevention center the Salvation

Army a local grocery store that takes

her food stamp card you couldn't

draw on map and centralize for better

to a place that could care for any one

of her possible needs

the barnetts thought that this was it

probably song they've washed their hands

of this well then of course their

nightmare heads

the nightmare being being charged with

child neglect it actually became the

beginning of the end

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Natalia's neighbor

has nine cats

two dogs

five kids

yeah I have all my kids tattooed on me

if we adopt him you'll be the sixth I

ran out of Limbs so I had to start

putting one on another limb

augh

I've lived in Lafayette my whole life

born and raised here the first time I

saw Natalia was when Michael and and

Christine were moving Natalia into her

apartment and I just assumed that they

were the ones moving into the apartment

but I never did see them again

the first time I met Natalia if she had

come over to my house knocked on the

door I was a little startled because I

thought it was a little kid at my door

and then she explains to me that she's

22 or she thought

she thought I thought that was a little

bit strange that she thought she was 22

and Natalia said that she didn't have

any food over there in her home in her

apartment and that she needed to call

her parents so that she could get some

money when I handed the telephone she

didn't know what to do with it it was

like a

you know like one of those reactions

then I said well do you have the phone

number

um no I don't know it so then that the

phone just kind of just got put aside

and it was

um I'm really hungry could I have a

sandwich

I also thought it was strange that the

barnetts would put her in her second

floor apartment

to have to climb 16 steps plus the three

or four on the outside that's a lot of

steps for someone that small she was

struggling to climb those steps I was

kind of stunned and even if she was 22

she has those disabilities she has

special needs why would you get her

apartment that she can't navigate going

down the steps is extremely dangerous so

she could have fell at any point

and nobody would have known she'd felt

nobody would have known it I mean

there's so many things that could happen

I mean what if she had brought the house

down it would not only would she have

died even all those people below her in

those apartments that could have died

I just I felt like she was kind of left

to the wolves

we lived a block away from the Village

Pantry and there was vagrants outside of

that place and there was a homeless

shelter there's a lot of crime happening

and at any point someone could have

gotten her to go home with them or could

have just straight up picked her up and

snatched her

definitely not an area town that I would

let my kids walk around unattended it's

gotten to the point where not only do I

carry a weapon in my home on my body I

carry a weapon outside of my home

Audi at all times it's a necessity

Natalya knows that if I had

realized in during that moment

what was really going on I would have

took action

I would have done something

about her

I just hope she's having a good life

and I hope she suggests as she deserves

she deserves for

um Christine and Michael tit

to go to court and they need to see

their day

um

and she just she just deserves to have

circle around her to make her feel safe

I can't even imagine how scared she was

if she was 22

I'm sure she'd still be scared I mean

look how small she was how um

how much she was

so regardless of her age

she was very scared

and alone

in that situation should have never ever

happened

the truth is that if I saw the barnetts

I probably wouldn't say really anything

if I just start swinging

thank you

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so let's recap here the barnetts took a

three-foot Tong

disabled little person

put her in an apartment on the second

floor where she's got a skill stairs

that are dangerous given her disability

it's in a high crime neighborhood

she's in an apartment with no

accommodations for her disability

couldn't reach the stove couldn't reach

the washing machine dial first they took

her cell phone

there's no landline in the apartment

there's absolutely no way for her to

call for help if she needs it

that gets them in trouble and so they

give her back her cell phone

the big wiped all her contact

information off her cell phone and at

times

there was no electricity or food so what

in their barnetts doing here are they

trying to keep her silent are they

trying to get rid of her for good

I spoke to Antonio one time that was it

I never seen her with parents you know

every time I seen her she was nine

percent time she was by herself

been in neighborhood since 67. I've seen

it go from bad to worse

and I've been in trouble

people you know I messed up a lot

just like I tell anybody I got a sex

pants

I messed up in life I might get my Time

come back

out I watch everything because that's

what prison taught

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your surroundings because you're gonna

get caught up in that moment again

and have something else happen to you so

you know she's a little kid

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foreign

about a month after she started going to

the Lafayette adult reading Academy I

just didn't see her come home anymore

she just disappeared

if you're underage child and by yourself

and that kind of surrounding you don't

know what to look for or what to stay

away from

nobody there to protect her nobody there

to make sure that nobody even hurt her I

it just really Disturbed me Natalia

could have knocked on any door and it

could have been the last door she

knocked on

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we got a phone call

Center that she had been signed up for

and she was going to for classes

if we had heard from her seen Natalia

we don't know what to do we start making

phone calls we start trying to figure

things out we can't figure anything out

when Natalia went missing and Lafayette

suddenly Michael and Christine are

worried about her they weren't worried

enough about her safety to put her in a

first floor apartment in a safe

neighborhood with a telephone

what are they really worried about

maybe that she's talking to a social

worker or even the police

a couple days later we get a phone call

healthy Center don't worry about it

we've found her

he is with this lady Cynthia man

okay well that's concerning

because anytime Christine would hear

about Natalya had spoken to a neighbor

or had interacted with a stranger

Christine would find out who that was

and she would do what it takes to stop

it that's her that's her Steam Shades be

in control

so we try to call Cynthia we have a

conversation with her she lets us know

she's living with us everything's fine

she's moved in

she's moved in

a matter of three days ago

Christine and I called

Lafayette Police Department we call

Adult Protective Services

Protective Services goes out

and they report back to

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they found out that she had a food stamp

card

500 on it and they've spent all the

money and all the foods at their house

this if you like this give us a thumbs

up if you don't give us a Savage yeah

so they just took all the talia's food

money

a week later

I get notified by mail

Italian Social Security payments which

was going to me I was paying ourselves

back for the rent and I was paying her

gas bill and her electric bill

that they're no longer going to me

within two weeks of meeting her

Cynthia took Natalia to the Social

Security office and Natalia signed over

her Social Security money to her

for subletting the apartment against the

lease's rules

yes we're making money off of an Italian

for in advance

it did

there's nothing we could do

between 2014 and 2019 a number of law

enforcement agencies actively

investigated Natalia Barnett's case

culminated in 2019 when Brandon

Davenport enters the picture once

detective Davenport starts looking into

how Natalya came to Tippecanoe County

things start falling apart for Michael

and Christine Burnett

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how many detected the Indiana State

Police and I'm assuming that you may

know why I'm

going to get a hold of you

so

have you guys tried or looked into

adopting Natalya

trying to do legal guardianship

denied it she's lived with you forever

now

114 sometimes

all right so if she moves in

you fall in love with her you treat her

like your own kid and then she's living

with you oh yeah

and I told her I said you're not stay

there no more so

your way home

Christine has already called her phone

so many times she was terribly scared

Christine

and I told her I said well if you it'll

make you feel better put the phone on

speaker so she put the phone on speaker

and Christina's just yelling at her you

should be at your house you shouldn't be

any protective not fear mode

the an iPhone Christine I said you

shouldn't be talking to her like this

you brought this door here you dropped

off but she didn't know us

she just rambled in watching our

daughter and you have nothing to say do

you need to take her to decide more

because she hears voices she tried sex

before it's just poisoned me

in Italian

I feel like it was a dangerous home like

yes she would she would have found an

evaluation she was her Italian

so that means until I finally had to

hang up on her

what I want to do is I'm not looking at

you guys I want to find these

individuals

I'm going to Phillips paperwork to get

the search forms of Venus to find out

exactly why they have done this

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2014.

after years and years and years of pain

and abuse

courage to leave Christine her and the

boys stayed in Canada I came back to

Indiana

and it was a very rough divorce it was

not amicable we lost the most important

thing a marriage can have and that's

Trust

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me yeah

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thank you

this is not arresting you today okay can

we eliminate the word today we're not

arrested

I came in here

um because I have speculations

I think that you're a good guy I'm more

concerned about Christians

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manipulator she will do whatever it

takes so she gets everything

do you know why she picked Lafayette she

said to me

to me Lafayette is a white trash town

No One's Gonna care No One's Gonna

notice so I'm gonna put her there and

because those people are she's like

trash I believe is the exact phrase

then Natalia's not gonna con or

manipulate anyone

backwards well I think

Christina took her over there and

abandoned the child

think in your heart you know what was

that it was wrong

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put some money on it

2022.

follow me here that

six years earlier when she was living in

Westfield she was 16.

Michael's calculation that means she's

still a minor

good afternoon sir hey Mike

um I just had a friend send me

a link to a story that says I'm charged

with two counts of child neglect is that

correct

yes

what uh what can I expect from here

um

Mike is what you can expect

um you you obviously know that

Natalia was not old enough Natalia I

don't believe is 30 years old I honestly

don't know

you or what just say

ing okay

to be charged with something like this

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it's embarrassing it's appalling it's

disgusting it's degrading

filed

my attorney and I when we pull up to the

tippecan county jail the next day to

turn myself in first tonight the man

accused of leaving his adopted child

alone in an apartment in Lafayette and

turned himself into authorities today

the case being built by prosecutors

confident enough to file charges of

neglect

put into a holding cell by myself

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I was fingerprinted

okay

that's time for my mug shot

sounds strange I wasn't nervous

not that camera I'm not thinking about

that camera

you think about the ones that are

waiting for me outside Michael Barnett

bonded out of Tippecanoe County Jail

about an hour after turning himself in

certain things

Christine Burnett turns herself into the

authorities a day after Michael turned

himself in

for the first time

you hear that jail cell close behind you

that has to be one of the most

humiliating experiences any individual

could could go through prior to this the

barnetts were on the cover magazines and

newspapers

and now after being arrested and charged

being photographed for a whole different

reason

s the next day

I have employees pulling that off on

their computer

is this you

I have employees sending the link to my

HR department

saying did you guys know this monster

works for us

suddenly I am the bad guy of the unit

but my ex-wife's team was the one in the

power

I had no control over any of this

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going on it becomes Barnett versus

Barnett it is war and Natalia is no

longer Michael's Target it's Christine

he's

gonna take the Fall For This by himself

okay

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dictionary definition of a guy that had

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it the car itself is dead

hasn't run for about a year

it's not gonna run anytime soon

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lately my life has been all trial we was

coming up

in a couple of months

if I felt like I was ever doing wrong

I would have hit it

knowing what I know now

I think it will see how I

whipulated and being able to see how my

sons have been manipulated after divorce

question is do I think Christine could

have manipulated Natalia

Natalia that's an easy question the

answer is yes Christine could have

manipulated Natalya

there was so much mental engineering

done on me

built up and I blew up

and it's so negatively so poorly

she and I are truly unable to even

exchange an email

her nickname is evil and she's on to

every letter

she has Twisted convoluted lied publicly

privately

repeatedly over and over and over again

so she can maintain power money control

over everything and everyone

the middle son and my youngest son I've

not seen them in over eight years

and

they want nothing to do with seeing me

we all were abused in that household

and Christine was the purveyor of abuse

you're gonna get the truth

pre-warn you

you might not like the truth

but you'll get the truth

Christine blamed everything on Natalia

it's a dynamic between Natalia and the

rest of the family seemed to shift

relatively early on my mom would get

into arguments and like try to figure

out who Natalia really was

their relationship was definitely

hostile

okay so you told me some things that

were not true

things would

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quickly and escalate quickly Christine

and Natalia were an imminent danger

my children were just one step

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I promise you

within five years someone's dead

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Natalia look at me look at me

how long have you been on this walk

two minutes

okay so it's hurting you that bad in two

minutes

all right well you still need to be on

your wall

my mom firmly

is it like

a hostile agent you know that she

definitely is not who she said she is in

an intense harm

every day Christine and Natalia would

have

third degree Spotlight tell me

everything about you

work

say hello and is standing in the

breakfast nook knows against the wall

is what I was told

in Italian this morning is not

cooperating with Christine

very adversarial very butting heads and

honestly God bless her that ties

probably the first person to ever stand

up to Christine

well right your sentences but since

you're being a big stinker pot and

you're just fighting fighting fighting

you're gonna need to have time on the

wall

10 a.m splits a nose in the water

you will stay there until you get to

this table and write down names of

people you have been with

that girl stands there knows the wall

10 a.m to noon

Christine makes everybody lunch

it's an Italian's food puts it right

next to her you can eat this when boys

and girls what

what sit your ass at the table and you

write down the names of every person

you've lived with and you tell me who

you really are

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Idaho

says that yeah

she's been standing

still

nose on the wall for eight hours and she

ain't getting out of there until she

writes down names Michael don't you say

a word to her don't you help her I've

been dealing with this all day long so

don't you do anything except back up

your wife do you understand me

yeah

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so at this point in time it's been eight

hours an Italian soiled herself

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Natalia according to Christine soiled

herself

words ago

and poor Christine on purpose just to

spite me and make me upset

I sit on the couch in a living room

Natalia's behind me in the kitchen

Christine

we're gonna enjoy our evening we're

gonna watch TV we're enjoying our

evening you can join us you can watch TV

true in the morning comes

she has now defecated on herself

she hasn't moved

every day I would come home and Best

Taste scenario is Christina sitting on

the couch

angry and Natalia's in our room that is

the best

Chase scenario for the next two years

it's the worst case scenario

I told the police this when they came to

me three years ago

to talk to me about Natalia

so if I'm

if I'm willing enough to

tell police officers this

I can do this

there are multiple times

three that I bore witness to and I'm

certain far more than that

Christine beat the holy yeah

so one day I come home from work

and this is

maybe early 2011.

feel the tension in the air

walking into the house

see I see my wife

I'll try to be as accurate as I can okay

when

you get one camera at the floor

I need I need right here rich

the beatings

similar to

this

thank you

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ow

how bad how bad did you see that's how I

did

I'm stunned

Italia's body did not break in a

thousand pieces

machine

all these not open hand because this is

elbows

I'm afraid I am

afraid as it's going I am freaking out I

don't know what to do

everything you say me sounds real

do you think that

manipulated

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detective Davenport was using a common

interrogation tactic where he leads the

target of the investigation to believe

that he's on his side to gain

information

Michael really has changed his tune and

after hearing about how Natalia was

treated and the beatings if she really

was hiding knives under her bed it makes

me wonder if she was doing it in

self-defense

as the beatings

stand there not knowing what the hell to

do

the only thing I can think

turn the camera on

turn the reporter on and I pulled my

phone

hide it and start recording

what could you betray my trust

how could you do that right in front of

me right now you erase everything

reset phone hit okay

don't you ever do anything like that

again

I never got rid of the phone

I specifically kept it my entire life

just in case someone was ever able to do

a data recovery off of it

and pull the video back

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this exchange between Michael and

Christine is really an explosive

Revelation Michael accuses Christine of

beating Natalya and she doesn't deny it

so that's sort of a tacit admission that

she did

foreign

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the time came Michael offered up

Christine to the police on a silver

platter

this is something where

I can

provide as much information about

Christina as possible and

I suppose

I might get full of consideration but I

can't make any promises and I can't make

any deals with you because you know

that's not my that's not my position

that would be the prosecutor's decision

decision okay

obviously this is something you might

not be willing or able to answer

when when you spoke with Natalia did she

state that I never harmed her and tried

to keep Christine from beating her

well Mike did you ever harm her

no

then you'd never harm her then she

shouldn't have ever said that right

correct okay

so you know I'm not going to say either

way I'm just saying that if you told me

the truth right

second okay and you told me the truth

about Christina right yes I did all

right well then

I think we're we're on the same page

you could help make a difference and

right or wrong here

from my mom's perspective Natalia

infiltrated her family and wanted to

harm us and so I'm denied possibly doing

anything wrong and if anything she was

just operating under the uh

advice of therapists

and I can't assure you that no therapist

would

advise

like a therapist did they would lose

their license

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breathing in

it's truly the best right

we would always have together as a

family

sitting down having problems

it it brings it brings a level of

comfort that like there's a level of

maybe it's happiness maybe it's Purity

maybe it's it's just remembrance of a

good moment here and there

this was this was part of our lives this

is we were moving people it was

what we did two three nights a week

Jake smells popcorn Jake arrives

[Laughter]

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you and me standing here eating pot

together

you know I just

I never thought I'd get this again

I've never in a million years dreamed

that this would ever happen again 2019 I

haven't seen you

and a half years

and I sent you a couple messages on

Facebook

just to let you know hey if you have any

questions about Dad why'd you leave

of the three boys

you're the one that responded you

invited me to come see you in New

Orleans

I know anyone to expect no clue

and I walk up and the first thing you

say to everybody was

this is my dad

I didn't hurt you say the word dad in

almost six years

I didn't have hope

for a very very long time

100 convinced I'd never seen you again

I'm still convinced I'll never see your

brothers again

sorry

it's clear that

it's easy to go around and categorizing

people into

clusters of good people and bad people

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who aim to be

obviously assigned

my mom and I are kind of going through

it at the moment

recently I had a bunch of questions

relating to childhood

and just concerns

called her

like I was just expecting her to maybe

acknowledge some of the things I was

saying

like I wasn't necessarily looking for an

apology or anything but I I didn't even

get that

Natalia that it's not okay you're trying

to pick on people

I did ask her about some

relating to Natalya that

I don't think I'm comfortable sharing

with here

partially I'm protecting my mom by not

being explicit here

you're rocking a hard place really

I don't want to hurt anyone

and uh I recognize that that

possible

[Music]

and you set the record straight one of

my favorite sayings from Martin Luther

King Jr just as the latest Justice

denied

yeah I I need to sleep on some things

you tell us what it is that you know

that your mother's gonna go to prison

yeah I don't know if I wish to talk

about this further

[Music]

because there are so many questions

could possibly the barnetts just be

making this up to cover their tails and

to cover their tracks there's something

really deeply wrong here it doesn't

smell right there's something wrong oh

it smells like

somebody's hiding something someplace

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[Music]

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two rounds downstairs

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foreign

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