Creepy News Story: The Orphan

I found a rather unnervinging news story on which I'd love to hear your opinion (although I'm not sure anything will bring me any closer to a conclusion on the matter). A adoptive mother and father were recently charged with abandoning their 9 year old disabled, adopted daughter by paying for her rent in Indiana and then moving out of the country. Sounds pretty bad, right?

However, the story told by the adoptive parents is far worse! They claim the girl, 9, was actually a 22 year old sociopath masquerading as a child. In their claims, they indicate that the girl, Natalia, had an adult set of teeth and had a very mature vocabulary and speech mannerisms.
They agreed to an emergency adoption when the girl's previous adoptive parents gave her up (they did not say why).
Additionally,

‘Natalia was extremely nervous. You could see she was going to need a lot of support and care. We did notice immediately in the parking lot that she couldn't walk. There was nothing in the paperwork stating that.’

Over the next few days the couple showered Natalia with attention, taking her to Disney World, enjoying ice creams, treats and playful pillow fights with her three brothers to slowly bring her out of her shell.When they took Natalia to a beach for the first time, she did something that would leave the couple speechless.

‘The boys rushed into the water and Natalia wanted to be carried into the ocean. Michael and myself were physically exhausted so we asked her to wait just a few minutes,’ she said. ‘With that she just got up and ran into the ocean. I remember looking at Mike and thinking, what’s going on? She couldn’t walk a second ago and now she just got up and ran.’

Barnett grew more alarmed when she saw the little girl naked for the first time. ‘I was giving her a bath and I noticed that she had full pubic hair. I was so shocked. I had just been told she was a six year old and it was very apparent she wasn't,’ she added.

The adoptive mother claims the girl threatened to kill the family, roll them up in blankets, and put them in the backyard. She ran a day care and claims she watched Natalia attack a child on a moniter. She also claims Natalia told her "these children are exhausting-- I don't know how you do it."

The couple sought out the help of professionals. According to this DailyMail (apologize for the source-- looks like it was DM that reached out to the mother so this is the primary source) article:

Barnett presented DailyMailTV with a trove of paperwork that appears to confirm her version of events – and that health care professionals shared her grave concerns.

One clinical therapist in January 2012 said Natalia claimed to them that she was 18.

Then, at Larue Carter Hospital in Indianapolis, in June 2012, staff said she had described how she had tried to kill family members and had no remorse about it, with Natalia going as far as to describe it as fun to staff.

Michael Barnett's primary physician, Dr Andrew McLaren said in March 2012 that Natalia's 2003 Ukrainian birth date was inaccurate and she had made a career out of pretending to be a young child. He said Natalia fooled him, her parents and other physicians. +22
Michael Barnett's primary physician, Dr Andrew McLaren said in March 2012 that Natalia's 2003 Ukrainian birth date was inaccurate and she had made a career out of pretending to be a young child. He said Natalia fooled him, her parents and other physicians.

Most revealing of all is perhaps a letter from the Barnetts' primary care physician Andrew McLaren MD, dated March 2012, in which he says Natalia's 2003 birth date was clearly inaccurate and that Natalia had made a career out of pretending to be a young child. He said Natalia fooled him, her parents and other physicians.

www.dailymail.co.uk...

I truly don't know what to make of this story, except that somebody is a lying sociopath, and a very bad person! So who is the perpetrator here, who is the victim?


I hate to place the blame on the disabled, adopted child, but there is a very knowing look in this girl's eyes. According to the girl's original paperwork, she is 7 in this photo. Do you see an adult or child's set of teeth (I really can't tell--)? How can the doctors have such a varied opinion of her approximate age?

What do you think, friends?

a reply to: zosimov

There is a movie titled "Orphan" with this exact same premise that came out in 2009. It's probably based on this story. Very creepy.

She doesn't look 7 in that photo to me though...

ETA: I just realized they mentioned that in the article.

I see classic dwarfism features in the face. kinda subtle.. Its possible I guess.

a reply to: zosimov

a reply to: sine.nomine

She doesn't look 7 in that picture to me either.

It's crazy how similar this story is to that movie though... either the adoptive mother or the girl may have seen this movie and gotten ideas, or this could just be a case of life imitating art.

Good movie and creepy story though!

a reply to: zosimov

This case actually intrigues me, I'm going to be keeping my eye on it for awhile, I'm very curious to see how it ends. If Natalia really is as old as they claim(which I believe), she's like a real life version of Baby Doll.

That is a bizarre story. I’m not sure what to think about it. Looking at her pic the first thing that popped in my head was the ending of The Omen.

a reply to: mtnshredder

That clip and the one in the post above yours are so perfect for this thread.

a reply to: zosimov

The two front teeth look like permanent teeth, but the others look like baby teeth, but who knows? Tooth size can vary a lot.

a reply to: zosimov

a full face 2010 and 2019 comparison image would be useful

wonder why the reportage does not have one ??

In the photo, from the eyes down, she looks like an older person, but from eyes up, to me she does look like an innocent little 7 year old. Indeed creepy.

a reply to: zosimov

The victims are the parents

The sociopath is the adopted female

The idiots are the doctors

The confused are the courts

They are confused because the medical community can not get together on a conclusive age for a human being because of their different areas of expertise. The Keystone cops in medical garb.

The idiots are the police because they're basing their conclusions on her appearance only.

It's 2019. How hard can it be to determine someone's age?

C'mon Indiana, quit acting like Florida and get your sh*t together.


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