LAFAYETTE, INDIANA: Neighbors of Natalia Grace, the Ukrainian orphan adopted by an American family who later discovered she may have been an adult woman posing as a child, recalled she was a nightmare to live near and suggested she had sinister intentions. ID's new docuseries, 'The Curious Case of Natalia Grace', sheds light on the unsettling experiences and behaviors witnessed by residents after Natalia's adoptive parents arranged for her to live independently in her own apartment, following a legal change in her age from 6 to 22.
The story began when Michael and Kristina Barnett adopted Natalia in 2010, believing her to be a young child. However, doubts surrounding her age emerged, leading to a legal alteration of her birth record in Marion County Superior Court, stating that she was born in 1989 instead of 2003. The Barnetts then facilitated her move to an apartment in Westfield, Indiana, covering the initial three months' rent, providing furniture, and supplying groceries.
Natalia Grace's unsettling behavior raised concerns
Natalia, who was either around 10 or in her early 20s, left a lasting impression on the neighbors. Melanie and Toby Miles, a married couple living across the street, initially perceived Natalia as "just a little kid." However, after interacting with her, they became skeptical of her age. Toby claimed, "It was always in the back of your mind, is she gonna be around, is she watching?" adding how Natalia would incessantly call their home so much so that his wife had to "enforce boundaries a little bit more."
The well-being of Natalia, regardless of her actual age, became a concern, as neighbors noticed her adoptive family's infrequent visits. Kristina would leave groceries for Natalia on the sidewalk for her to collect. Sue McCallum expressed surprise upon learning that Natalia was receiving food stamps, considering her adoptive parents' possession of nice cars. While initially tolerable, living near Natalia became increasingly unsettling as her unpredictable behavior escalated. Many neighbors actively avoided her, never knowing when she might appear.
'I took a knife to them one night'
However, over time, Natalia's presence became increasingly unsettling to her neighbors. "I think people were creeped out by her. She was the talk of the town," added the building manager, who admitted she "may have been a child" due to some of her "child-like" behavior. Another neighbor claimed Natalia "was scary" and "you could just tell she was an adult person ... she wasn't a little 11-year-old girl they left there," reported Toofab.
Furthermore, she reportedly corroborated certain alarming allegations made by her adoptive parents regarding their fears of her intentions to harm them. "One day we got to talking and I said, 'Why aren't you living with your mom and dad?' She goes, 'Oh, they're afraid of me ... because I took a knife to them one night,'" said McCallum. "She had this strange look in her eye like it's a normal thing."
"I stood over them with a knife so they took all the knives away. I tried to poison them, so I had to live in the garage for a while," she told Toby, who recalled her demeanor was "like a serial killer or something, how casually they put attempted murder into a conversation." The interaction left him wondering, "If I break up with you, are you gonna go crazy? Are you gonna be standing over my bed at the end of the night, with a knife?" Concerns were also raised by neighbors regarding her behavior towards men and young boys.
'Everybody was happy to see her go'
"She would want to know when our son would be home. Not our daughter, our son. That's when things went from uncomfortable to weird and almost borderline inappropriate," said Toby. "It just got to a point where we felt uncomfortable as parents." According to McCallum, her grandson shared that Natalia made him feel "uncomfortable" while they were playing video games, prompting him to ask her to leave the apartment. McCallum expressed her strong reaction, saying, "I thought, how dare you try to do anything to my grandson. I just wanted to go after her."
Another unnamed neighbor alleged witnessing Natalia playing with a young boy before she "started undoing his pants." Residents also shared accounts of Natalia engaging in sexual conversations with older men. "She seemed to hang around all the older, real old guys a lot and she was talking sexual things to them," said McCallum. However, in a pre-trial interview video from 2022, Natalia asserted that she never caused any harm to the children of her neighbors. Nevertheless, following multiple complaints, the building manager opted not to renew her lease.
"They got her out. Everybody was so relieved. Everybody was really happy to see her go. I think she's a little possessed. She presents herself like a nice person but she's really evil and devious," said McCallum. "People think she's small, she's deformed, she can't possibly do all this stuff everyone's saying. But they're wrong and she did do it. It is scary Natalia could still be doing this. I don't think she stopped, she's always finding another person to manipulate." Subsequently, Natalia was relocated by her mother to a different apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, while her adoptive family made the decision to move to Canada.
