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The truth is an absolute defense against defamation.
In the fall of 2019, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, a couple was charged with felony neglect of a dependent. It is alleged that in July of 2013, Michael and Kristine Barnett rented their adopted disabled 9 1/2 year old daughter an apartment in a seedy part of town then moved the rest of their family to Canada, never to see Natalia again.
Michael and Kristine Barnett went on a media tour with the unreal story claiming that the girl they adopted in 2010, Natalia Grace, was actually a 30 year old sociopath masquerading as a child and a career con artist from Ukraine who tried to kill them several times. (age progression photos here https://imgur.com/a/xc6v09p )
Among the bizarre, wild, ripped-from-a-movie-script accusations they've made against Natalia (who was 6-7 years old at the time):
- Kristine said Natalia put bleach in Kristine's coffee.
- Kristine said Natalia put Windex in Kristine's coffee.
- Michael said Natalia put Pine-Sol in Kristine's coffee.
- Kristine said she saw Natalia attack a baby boy on a baby monitor.
- Kristine said Natalia was jumping out of moving cars.
- Kristine said Natalia dragged Kristine into an electric fence.
- Kristine said Natalia came after Kristine with a butcher knife.
- Kristine said Natalia was diagnosed as a psychopath and sociopath.
- Kristine said Natalia was hearing voices.
- Michael and Kristine said Natalia had schizophrenia.
- Kristine said Natalia was smearing bodily fluids on the walls.
- Michael and Kristine said Natalia stood over them holding sharp objects while they were sleeping.
- Michael said Natalia told them she was trying to kill them.
- Michael and Kristine said Natalia would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard.
- Michael said Natalia put clear thumb tacks on their stairs.
- Michael said Natalia smeared blood on their mirrors.
- Michael said Natalia threw their sons toys/homework into the highway to make them run out and get hit by a car.
- Michael and Kristine said Natalia had pubic hair.
- Michael and Kristine said Natalia had a menstrual cycle and hid the clothing in her closet and/or trash (did they bother to get an estradiol test (E2) or a progesterone hormonal profile done that would prove this claim?)
- Michael and Kristine claimed that they had a person speak Ukrainian to Natalia, and she did not understand the language.
ZERO evidence has been provided to the public that supports the Barnett's outrageous claims.
Did they report this "adult masquerading as a child" to the police?
Did they file police reports?
Did they press charges against her?
Did they file a restraining order against her?
Did they file a lawsuit against the adoption agency for fraud?
Did they have her deported for coming to the USA as an adult pretending to be a minor?
The answer is a resounding NO. In all of the media interviews the Barnett's have given, neither one has shown one single police report or restraining order to help support their claims.
After doing some investigating, we came across a special that aired in 1999 titled “48 Hours” The Perfect Child” about another child by the name of Caralee (now known as Sabrina Caldwell).
In July 1997, Crystal and Jesse, a couple from Georgia, USA, traveled to a Russian orphanage in the small town of Borovichi. They came across a Russian adoption agency's website and saw a photo of a blonde, blue-eyed, 9-year-old girl. The couple also adopted a 3-year-old boy they named Joshua.
As the adoption was finalized, Crystal and Jesse claim they noticed certain things about Caralee's behavior.
,
It was the day after Christmas in 1998 when Crystal says Caralee tried to kill her 4-year-old brother by throwing him off of a balcony. They also accused her of trying to strangle the family dog.
The adoptive parents say she had homicidal tendencies, schizophrenia, sociopathic disorder, bipolar, disorder, was hearing voices and hallucinating and claims she told them she wanted to kill them and Joshua.
Caralee says, "I went to psychiatrist after psychiatrist. And I remember Crystal saying, “Just remember, you wanted to kill Joshua.” I said, “OK. I — I will tell ’em.”
The couple admitted Caralee to a psychiatric hospital for almost four months. After treating Caralee during her stay at the psychiatric hospital, this doctor wrote, “Caralee’s behavior…was impeccable,” and that his staff perceived Crystal and Jesse as “too often cool and distant towards their daughter."
Starting to sound familiar?
The couple also accused the adoption agency of failing to disclose mental illness.
But a year-and-a-half later, the couple came to believe Caralee was so dangerous, even capable of murder, with Crystal stating, "She has so many psychological problems. … She is a danger to society."
By the winter of 1999, almost a year after the alleged incident on the deck, Crystal and Jesse decided to bring Caralee back to Russia, dropped her off inside a locked psychiatric hospital and left her there. Crystal and Jesse never went back to get her. And shortly after they left, the couple annulled the adoption in early 2000.
She was eventually rescued by a case worker and brought back to the United States. Then in 2002, Sabrina was adopted by a new family in North Carolina, where she remained until she graduated from high school.
In 2008, Sabrina volunteered for the nonprofit Mercy Ships and spent two years providing medical care to underprivileged people in Africa.
When she returned home in 2010, she got a job in a hospital and, at church, she met math teacher Phil Caldwell.
The two got married in 2014 and now have three lovely daughters, and a son.
Today, Caralee, now known as Sabrina, is happily married with 4 children, living in North Carolina. Caralee AKA Sabrina Caldwell says she is not on any medication and does not suffer from any mental illness.
Some have questioned if the Barnett's may have seen that 48 Hours episode and got a few ideas of their own.
However, as more information has come to light, it has become evident that there is a lot more to this story that the Barnett's aren't sharing. From what has surfaced, it is unmistakable that this already-been-told Hollywood movie/tabloid headliner is a complex case of deceit by the Barnett's to maintain a public image and to avoid criminal charges. The Barnett's public image is seemingly nothing more than an illusion to gain money, attention and fame.
It seems the Barnett's first tried getting rid of her by trying to discredit Natalia's mental stability.
When that didn't work, it's alleged they came up with the plan to change her age so they could leave her ‘because she was an adult’.
The Barnett’s allegedly crafted a way to ‘dispose’ of her that wouldn’t hurt their image and public notoriety gained from being the "amazing parents" to their child prodigy son Jacob. Natalia wasn’t a daughter to them. Natalia was an inconvenience to them. They didn't need her anymore.
Spectators are asking if it's possible Kristine Barnett suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy with psychiatric features since she claims 2 of her children and her ex husband are autistic, her claims that Natalia has schizophrenia and was diagnosed as a psychopath/sociopath and her other son and her nephew were deathly ill as infants. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/munchhausen-syndrome-by-proxy-with-psychiatric-features-2375-4494.1000151.php?aid=29984
The Barnett's extinguished Natalia's "Spark"
Indiana Court Records https://public.courts.in.gov
Massachusetts Court Records https://www.masscourts.org/eservices/home.page.4
New Hampshire Court Records https://www.courts.state.nh.us/caseinfo/
