Featured Image Credit: Investigation Discovery
Topics: US News, World News, Parenting, News, Crime, Documentaries
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: US News, World News, Parenting, News, Crime, Documentaries
The neighbors of Natalia Grace spoke out about the adopted 'child' in a documentary about the bizarre case.
In 2010, Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace - who they say they believed to be six-year-old child at the time.
However, in iD documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace - the first season released earlier this year - the Barnetts accused Natalia of being an adult with dwarfism who masqueraded as a minor.
The Barnetts claimed Natalia was not only pretending to be a lot younger than she actually was, but had also tried to harm them.
They later moved her out of their home to an apartment in Indiana in 2011 and legally changed her age to 22 years old.
Advert
The family moved to Canada and faced charges of neglect for abandoning a child, but the charges were later dropped.
However, they later addressed the story in documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, claiming they'd all been 'abused' by Natalia - who they branded a 'sociopath - and Natalia's neighbors spoke out too.
In the documentary, which came out in May this year, some of Natalia's neighbors spoke out about her behavior in the community.
Advert
Sue McCallum said: "She was really a pest to everybody. Nobody liked her, nobody. They kind of felt sorry for her, but they were leery about her and really didn't want her around."
McCallum also alleges Natalia made her grandson feel 'uncomfortable' so much so, he asked her to leave their house and McCallum banned her from returning.
She adds: "She seemed to hang around all the older, real old guys a lot and she was talking sexual things to them."
Fellow neighbor Toby Miles echoed: "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. It just got to a point where we felt uncomfortable as parents."
Advert
And the neighbors' accusations only get worse from there.
Miles also accused Natalia of being 'like a serial killer or something'.
Miles' wife, Melanie, added Natalia allegedly said she 'stood over [the Barnetts] with a knife' which led the family to take 'all the knives away'.
Advert
The neighbors also allegedly heard Natalia say she'd 'tried to poison them' and so was forced to 'live in the garage for a while'.
Natalia denies allegations she tried to harm her adoptive parents.
Her real age has since been confirmed in a follow-up documentary The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks set for release in the new year.
And she has accused Kristine of 'training her to lie' about her age, condemning the family for 'ruining' her life.
Advert
THE CURIOUS CASE OF NATALIA GRACE: NATALIA SPEAKS will premiere across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, January 1, airing nightly from 9-11PM ET/PT.