All language subtitles for The.Curious.Case.of.Natalia.Grace.S01E04.720p.WEB.h264-EDITH

[line ringing]

[theme music playing]

My name's Bob Cooper.

I'm a former
Lafayette police detective.

Oh, I handle everything
from juvenile cases
to homicides.

When I was on
the Lafayette
Police Department,

I... I think I had a...
a reputation,

um, for being
a very good investigator.

You know, I could say I...
I care about justice.

That's a cliche.

What I enjoyed most
about being a...
a police detective

is the puzzles.

I think one of the reasons
that I'm so intrigued

by the... the Barnett case

is this is one of
the most difficult ones
I've had.

It's like a Rubik's Cube.

It... It just continues
to change.

Just when you think
you have it solved,

you find out you don't.

I think the Barnetts,
when they adopted Natalia,

they bought a pig in a poke.

They didn't know
what they were getting.

It was more than they...
they thought,

that... that
they bargained for.

They bought a pig in a poke
and they got rid of her.

They put her in a apartment,
Westfield, Indiana.

Michael and... and Kristine,

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 her out
of that environment

to an environment
where she was not known.

And so they finally move her
to Lafayette, Indiana.

"Let's get her out
of our life," and they did.

They move her an hour away
to another county.

There are more nice areas
in Lafayette

than there are
run down neighborhoods.

Where Natalia was placed
in that apartment

by herself,
there's crime in the area.

I think their goal was,
"Out of sight, out of mind."

This thing will go away.

But that didn't happen

because Lafayette was
a wrong town for them
to bring her to.

I just...
I don't like bull [bleep].

It's just me.

[Michael] 2013.

The Perimeter Institute

in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,

wants Jacob, who's 14,

to go there
to get his master's degree.

So we're moving to Canada.

You'll get
those six combinations.

Natalia, she had an apartment
for a year

on her own
in Westfield, Indiana.

Natalia's current lease is up.

Another apartment
needs to be found.

Kristine and her go out

and they find her an apartment
in Lafayette, Indiana.

This is
the best place possible.

I would happily, casually,
stroll around
that neighborhood.

It is a nice part of town.

This apartment
is within two blocks

of an adult GED center

that she signed up for
to get her GED.

It's within two blocks
of the bus route...

a suicide prevention center,

The Salvation Army,

a local grocery store
that takes her
food stamp card.

You couldn't draw a map

and centralize her better

to a place that could care for

any one of her possible needs.

[man] The Barnetts thought
that this was it,

problems are solved.

They've washed
their hands with this.

Well, then of course,
their nightmare ends.

The nightmare being...
being charged
with child neglect.

It actually became
the beginning of the end.

[girl shouting] Get off!

-No, you are not getting
that cheese.
-No, no, no, no.

You can't have that.

My name is Kyna.

I was Natalia's neighbor.

-I have nine cats...
-[cats meowing]

...two dogs...

five kids...

[speaking indistinctly]

Yeah, I have all my kids
tattooed on me. [chuckles]

If we adopt him
he'll be the sixth.

[chuckles] I ran outta...

out of limbs,
so I had to start

put on one on another limb.
[chuckling]

[girl] Cheeto!

-[cat meowing]
-[dog barking]

[girl] ...don't touch me,
Cheeto.

[sighs] Sorry, my house
is so noisy.

Uh, check my dogs either.

I need to... I need
to check them...

...don't lose it.

I've lived in Lafayette
my whole life,

born and raised here.

The first time I saw Natalia

was when Michael and Kristine

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,

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 is 22

or she thought she was 22.

And 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, uh...

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 kinda,
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 a 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 kinda stunned.

And even if she was 22,

she has these disabilities,

she has special needs.

Why would you
get her a apartment

that she can't navigate?

Going down the steps
is extremely dangerous,

so, she could've fell
at any point...

and nobody would have known
she'd fell.

Nobody would've known it.

I mean, there's so many things
that could've happened.

I mean, what if
she had burnt the house down?

Uh, it would...

Not only would she have died,

you got
all those people below her

in those apartments
that could've died.

I just... I felt like
she was kinda left
to the wolves.

We lived a block away
from a village pantry

and there was vagrants

uh, 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've just
straight up picked her up
and snatched her.

Definitely not an area of 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

on my body at all times.

It's a necessity to be armed.

I hope Natalia knows
that if I had...

realized in...
during that moment

what was really going on,

I would've took action.

I would've done something
to help her.

I just hope she's having a...
a good life.

[sniffles]

And I... I hope she gets
the justice she deserves.

She deserves for,

um, Kristine and Michael to...

to go to court. They need
to see their day.

Um...

And she just...
She just deserves to have...

um, a circle around her

to make her feel safe.

I can't even imagine
how scared she was.

[sniffles]

If she was 22,

she, I'm sure,
she'd still be scared.

I mean,
look how small she was.

How, um, helpless she was.

So, regardless of her age,

she was very scared...

and alone.

[sniffles]

And that situation should have
never ever happened.

The truth is,
if I saw the Barnetts

I probably
wouldn't say really anything,

I'd just start swinging.

So let's recap here.

The Barnetts took

a three foot tall,

disabled little person,

put her in an apartment

on the second floor,

where she's gotta
scale 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 cellphone,

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 cellphone

but they wiped
all her contact information

off her cellphone

and at times...

there was
no electricity or food.

So what are
the Barnetts doing here?

Are they trying
to keep her silent?

Are they trying
to get rid of her for good?

[Eddy] I spoke
to Natalia one time,
that was it.

I never seen her with parents.

You know, every time
I seen her she was...

...90% of the time,
she was by herself.

Been in the neighborhood
since '67.

I've seen it go
from bad to worse.

And I've been
in trouble before.

You know, I messed up in life.

-I've been to prison.
-[man] Mmm-hmm.

Just like I tell anybody,
I got a sex offence.

I messed up in life.

-I went, did my time,
come back out, you know?
-[man] Mmm-hmm.

So I... I watch everything.

-That's what prison taught me,
-[man] All right.

...to be very observant
of people,

your surroundings,

-'cause you don't wanna
get caught up
-[man] Yeah.

-in that moment again
-[man] Mmm-hmm.

...and have something else
happen to you.

So, you know,
she's a little kid,

you know, I've to...

kinda stay away from that.

[Kyna] 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 an underage child

living by yourself
in that kinda 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 mean, it...
it just really disturbed me.

Natalia could have knocked
on any door

and it could have been
the last door she knocked on.

One day,
when we moved to Canada,

we got a phone call
from the adult GED center

that she had been
signed up for

and she was going to
for classes

asking us if we had heard from
or 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.

[Beth] When Natalia
went missing in Lafayette,

suddenly, Michael and Kristine

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 is talking
to a social worker?

Or even the police?

[Michael] Couple days later,
we get a phone call

from the GED center,
"Don't worry about it.

We've found her."

She is
with this lady Cynthia Mans.

Okay, well, that's concerning.

Because anytime
Kristine would hear

about Natalia had spoken
to a neighbor

or had interacted
with a stranger,

Kristine would find out
who that was

and she would do
what it takes to stop it.

That's her. That's Kristine.

She needs to 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?

You met her three days ago!

Kristine and I call
Lafayette Police Department.

We call
Adult Protective Services.

Adult Protective Services
goes out and evaluates
the situation

and they report back to us.

They found out that she had
a food stamp card

that had $500 on it

and they had spent
all the money

on all the foods
at their house.

-This.
-[Natalia chuckling]

If you like this
give us a thumbs up

-if you don't,
give us a sad face.
-[Natalia] Yeah.

So they just took
all of Natalia's food money.

What's up?

[chuckles] What's up, people?

[Michael] A week later,

I get notified by mail

that Natalia's
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.

They're subletting
the apartment

against the lease's rules.

The Mans were making money

off of Natalia's apartment
that we paid for in advance.

She was evicted.

There was nothing we could do.

[Beth] Between 2014 and 2019,

a number of
law enforcement agencies

actively investigated
Natalia Barnett's case.

It culminated in 2019,

when Brandon Davenport
enters the picture.

Once Detective Davenport

starts looking into
how Natalia came

to Tippecanoe County,

things start falling apart
for Michael
and Kristine Barnett.

[Cynthia] Oh, yeah.

[Michael] 2014.

After years and years
and years of... pain
and abuse...

and I finally got
the courage to leave Kristine.

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.

[knocking on door]

[Michael] There we go.

[Det. Davenport] All right.

[Beth] Follow me here,

that means
that six years earlier

when she was living
in Westfield she was 16...

by Michael's calculation.

That means
she's still a minor.

He admitted it.

[line ringing]

[Det. Davenport] Um...

To be charged with
something like this...

[sighs]

It's embarrassing,
it's appalling,

It's disgusting,
it's degrading.

Once the charges got filed,

my attorney and I, we pull up
to the Tippecanoe County Jail

the next day
to turn myself in.

First denied, the man accused

of leaving his adopted child

alone in an apartment
in Lafayette

turned himself
into authorities today.

[male reporter] The case
being built by prosecutors,

confident enough to file
charges of neglect.

[Michael] I get put into
a holding cell by myself.

I was booked.

I was fingerprinted.

And then it's time
for my mug shot.

It's gonna sound strange.

-[camera shutter clicking]
-I wasn't nervous.

Not that camera.
I'm not thinking
about that camera.

I'm thinking about
the ones that are
waiting for me outside.

[female reporter]
Michael Barnett bonded out
of Tippecanoe County Jail

about an hour
after turning himself in.

[man] Kristine, is there
anything you want to say?

No comment.

Kristine Barnett turns
herself into the authorities

a day after Michael
turned himself in.

[Bob Cooper]
Especially for the first time

to hear that jail cell
close behind you.

[door closes]

[Bob] That has to be
one of the most

humiliating experiences

any individual
could go through.

-[camera shutter clicks]
-Prior to this,

the Barnetts were on
the cover of magazines

and newspapers.

And now, after being
arrested and charged,

being photographed
for a whole different reason.

The next day,

I have employees pulling
that up 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 universe.

But my ex-wife, Kristine,
was the one in power.

I had no control
over any of this.

[camera shutter clicks]

From that point on, it becomes
Barnett versus Barnett.

It is war.

And Natalia is no longer
Michael's target.

It's Kristine.

[camera shutter clicks]

[Beth] He's not going to take
the fall for this by himself.

[Michael]
I'm the dictionary definition

of a guy that had it all
and lost it all.

The car itself is dead.

Hasn't run for about a year.

It's not gonna run
anytime soon.

Lately, my life has been
all about the trial,

which is coming up
just in a couple of months.

If I felt like I was
ever doing wrong...

I would've hid it.

Knowing what I know now,

knowing...
and being able to see
how I was manipulated,

and being able to see
how my sons

have been manipulated
after divorce,

the question is,

do I think Kristine could have
manipulated Natalia?

That's an easy question.

The answer is yes,

Kristine could have
manipulated Natalia.

There was so much
mental engineering done on me

that built up and I blew up,

and things ended
so negatively, so poorly.

She and I are truly unable

to even exchange an email.

Her nickname is "Evil"
and she's earned 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.

My 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 Kristine was
the purveyor of abuse.

You're going to get the truth.

I will pre-warn you,

you might not like the truth,

but you'll get the truth.

Kristine blamed
everything on Natalia.

[Jacob]
The 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.

[Kristine speaking]

Things would

spiral quickly
and escalate quickly.

Kristine and Natalia
were an imminent danger.

My children were
just one step below it.

I promise you,

within five years
someone's dead.

[Kristine speaking]

[Natalia speaking]

[Kristine speaking]

My mom firmly believed

that, like, uh,

Natalia is a hostile agent.

You know, that she definitely
is not who she says she is

and intends harm.

Every day,
Kristine and Natalia

would have the
third-degree spotlight,

tell me everything about you.

One time I come
home from work,

open the door,

say hello.

Natalia is standing
in the breakfast nook,

nose against the wall.

What'd she do?

This is what I was told.

Natalia this morning is not
cooperating with Kristine.

Very adversarial,
very butting heads

and honestly, God bless her,

Natalia is probably
the first person ever

to stand up to Kristine.

[Kristine speaking]

10:00 a.m. she puts
her nose on the wall.

"You will stay there

until you get to this table
and write down

names of people
you have been with.

That girl stands there,
nose on the wall

from 10:00 a.m. to noon.

Kristine makes
everybody lunch,

gets Natalia's food,

puts it right next to her.

"You can eat this,
when, boys and girls?

When you 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.

When I got home,

Kristine 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 have been dealing
with this all day long.

Don't you do anything
except back up your wife.

Do you understand me?"

Yeah.

So,

at this point in time,
it's been eight hours.

Natalia soiled herself.

Natalia,
according to Kristine,

soiled herself hours ago.

And per Kristine,

"On purpose just to spite me
and make me upset."

So, I sit on the couch
in the living room,

Natalia's behind me
in the kitchen,

Kristine's on the couch,

and we're going
to enjoy our evening.

We're going to watch TV.

We're enjoying our evening!

You can join us.
You can watch TV

when you tell us who you are.

Two in the morning comes.

She has now
defecated on herself.

She hasn't moved.

Every day I would come home,

and best-case scenario

is Kristine is sitting
on the couch angry

and Natalia's in her room.

That is the best-case scenario
for the next two years.

[producer speaking]

[bleep] I told
the cops this anyway.

[exhales]

I told the police this

when they came to me
three years ago

to talk to me about Natalia.

So, if I'm open and honest
and 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.

That Kristine beat
the holy hell out of her.

So one day I come home
from work. [exhales]

[sniffles] And this is...

maybe early 2011.

I can feel
the tension in the air.

Walking into the house.

I see... I see my wife.

[stutters] I'll be...

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

Get one of the guys point
the camera at the floor.

[sighs]

I need right here-ish...

to get you to understand.

[exhales]

The beatings

were similar to this.

[groans]

-[thudding]
-[grunting]

[grunting continues]

Ow.

[Davenport speaking]

[Michael speaking]

[bleep]

[Davenport speaking]

[Beth]
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 his trust
and elicit more 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.

[Michael]
As the beatings happen,

I stand there not knowing
what the hell to do.

The only thing I can think,

turn a camera on,

turn a recorder on
and I palm my phone

and hide it
and I start recording.

"How could you
betray my trust?

How could you do that?

Right in front
of me right now,

you erase everything
on the [bleep] phone.

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.

This exchange between
Michael and Kristine

is really an
explosive revelation.

Michael accuses Kristine
of beating Natalia

and she doesn't deny it.

So that's sort of a tacit
admission that she did.

[Beth] When the time came,

Michael offered up Kristine

to the police
on a silver platter.

[Michael on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

[Michael on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

[Michael on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

-[Michael on phone]
-[Davenport on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

[Michael on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

[Michael on phone]

[Davenport on phone]

[Michael sighs]

[Davenport on phone]

[Jacob]
From my mom's perspective,
when Natalia infiltrated

our family and wanted
to harm us.

And so, my mom denied
possibly doing anything wrong

and if anything,
she was just operating

under the, uh,
advice of therapists.

And I can assure you that

no therapist would advise

uh, this particular action,

which I'm not going
to go into detail, but I...

like if a therapist did,
they would lose their license.

[Michael] Breathe it in.

It's truly the best
regular moment

we would always have
together as a family.

Sitting down having popcorn.

[stutters] It brings
a level of comfort,

like, there's a level
of... [exhales]

maybe it's happiness,
maybe it's purity,

maybe it's just remembrance
of a good moment

here and there.

This was... this was
part of our lives.

This is...
We were movie people.

It was what we did two,
three nights a week.

[chuckles]

Jake smells the popcorn,
Jake arrives.

Like, I'm already,
like, mmm tasty.

You and me standing here
eating popcorn together.

You know,
I just... [exhales]

I never thought
I'd get this again.

I'd never in a million years

dreamed that this would
ever happen again.

2019, I haven't seen you
in five 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?"

Just ask.

Of the three boys,

you're the one that responded.

You invited me to come
see you in New Orleans.

I had no idea
what to expect.

No clue.

And I walk up and

the first thing you say
to everybody was,

"This is my dad."

[sobbing]

I hadn't heard you
say the word "dad"

in almost six years.

It gave me hope.

[sniffles] I...

I didn't have hope

for a very, very,
very long time.

I was 100% convinced
I'd never see you again.

I'm still convinced I'll never
see your brothers again.

Sorry. [sniffles]

[Jacob]
It's clear that someone
wronged someone else.

It's easy to go around
and categorizing people

into, uh, clusters of
good people and bad people.

But good people do bad things,
bad people do good things.

I just don't want blame
to be falsely 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.

Uh, so I 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 didn't even get that.

[Jacob] I did ask her
about some stuff

relating to Natalia

that I don't think
I'm comfortable

sharing with here.

Partially I'm
protecting my mom

by not being explicit here.

I mean my mom is definitely
not 100% innocent,

so I'm kind of stuck between,
like, a rock and a hard place

where like I, uh,
don't want to hurt anyone.

And, uh,

I recognize that
that might not be possible.

Yeah, I need to sleep
on some things.

Yeah, I don't know if I wish
to talk about this further.

I'm done.

[Bob]
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 [bleep]

Somebody's hiding
something someplace.

[Jacob speaking]

[Michael speaking]

[Jacob speaking]

-[Michael speaking]
-[Jacob speaking]

[Michael speaking]

[Jacob speaking]

[Michael speaking]

-[bleep]
-[Jacob speaking]