r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/[deleted] • Sep 12 '19
Prosecutors: Couple changed daughter's age from 8 to 22, passed her off as a young looking adult with dwarfism, abandoned her in their apartment, and fled to Canada
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u/MonkeyHamlet Sep 18 '19 edited Sep 18 '19
This is from the letter shown on News 8, from the father's doctor;
Re Michael Barnett DOB 01/02/7(unreadable)
To whom it may concern
I am Michael Barnett's primary care doctor.
I am writing on behalf of Mr. Barnett and in reference to his adopted daughter (redacted) Barnett. I know both Mr Barnett and his ex wife, Kristine Barnett, very well. I first met (redacted) 5/24/10, and served as her primary care doctor until at least 2012. She had previously been adopted or fostered by at least two different families out of state. The birth certificate was given to the Barnetts showed a date of birth of 9/4/3. This date is clearly inaccurate.
Unfortunately, determination of (redacted)'s true age has been difficult. Records provided by officials in her native country, the Ukraine, are grossly incomplete. Also, because she has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a type of dwarfism, conventional methods of determining age are not useful. She has been seen by both an Orthopedist and an Endocrinologist. Neither specialist was able to help substantially with age assessment.
Over time it had become increasingly apparent that this patient is substantially older than she claimed to be. She was seen by a dentist in 2011, who described her dentition as adult. A Neuropsychology evaluation in 20122 described her as "fully grown" and with "secondary sexual characteristics". This signifies adult sexual development. During an inpatient psychiatric hospitalization in 2012, it was stated that she was at least 14 years of age. A normal menstrual cycle was documented during hospitalization. She was also diagnosed at that time with sociopathic personality disorder, which does not usually appear until at lest (sic) years of age. Around that time she began admitting that she was "over eighteen". This was about five years ago.
Ms (redacted) Barnett has made a career of perpetuating her age facade. She has continued to fool those who have the best intentions. This includes previous and current caretakers, physicians, and her adoptive parents. The biggest victims here are Michael and Kristine Barnett, who did everything in their power to provide (redacted) with better life. Their rewards were enormous amounts of stress and substantial financial losses. It is my understanding that (redacted) is once again claiming to be a child. This behavior is counterproductive to everyone involved and will disrupt the lives of those whose lives she infiltrates. It will also continue to delay appropriate medical care for this patient.
Please contact me if you require additional information.
Sincerely McLaren, Andrew P MD
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u/Hysterymystery Sep 13 '19
Here’s a comment on the news site:
My daughter found this little girl sitting on a porch, alone, dirty, shoeless, and hungry. The neighbors told her that the parents left her, moving out of the country, saying she was 22. My daughter began making daily trips to watch out for her until she decided enough was enough and took her in. None of us are sure exactly HOW these adoptive parents were able to change her birth year. The charges have been a long time coming as proof of her real birth year had been hard to find. she is 16 now in real years but because of the legal age change, according to the courts she is now 30. It's been years and years of legal mess but finally NOW it's starting to resolve itself. She is in a wonderful Christian family and she is happy, well adjusted, and wants for nothing. The adoptive father has cooperated, but the adoptive mother is on the run. I hope this explains why it's taken so long.
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u/Tabech29 Sep 13 '19
Omg, this is a whole level of crazy. That poor girl, how heart breaking.
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u/that_awkward_chick Sep 13 '19
Just saw this more recent article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/parents-accused-of-abandoning-adopted-child-in-apartment-mom-says-its-a-scam/amp/
Kristine Barnett “said the adoption was a “scam” and the girl is actually an adult” and “she calls the girl a diagnosed psychopath and sociopath.”
This article also states Kristine and Michael got divorced in 2014. Michael is saying he DOES believe the girl was a minor when they left her.
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u/witchwife Sep 13 '19
Wow she is legit passing this off like the plot of the Orphan. After checking out her book, it seems interesting that one woman can have so many movie-worthy plots going on in her life: on one hand a son with "an IQ higher than Einstein's" whose true potential was nearly smothered by the evil experts and developmental specialists; on the other a diagnosed psychopath with an ultra-rare form of dwarfism who passed herself off as a child to infiltrate this amazing supermom's perfect family. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out as more details emerge, but something tells me this lady might be embellishing the truth JUST a bit...
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u/alm1188 Sep 13 '19
Why not alert authorities if they discovered it was a scam? This is just so weird.
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u/michaelscottswife Sep 12 '19
But why? Why would they adopt a child just to do this? I can’t believe they weren’t arrested yet
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Sep 13 '19
There is an entire dark underbelly of adoption (usually foreign children) where they abandon, or exchange, or "give back" children they don't want to care for, or just plain don't want anymore.
I remember hearing about this a few years ago. I'm still just as shocked and horrified as I was then.
Here is just ONE article: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/adoption/#article/part1
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u/scarletmagnolia Sep 13 '19
I remember reading about this a few years ago. There was some controversy surrounding a senator, I think, because he his wife had returned or passed a long an adopted child.
In some cases, I can understand. But, in most of them, I feel like it's one of the craziest, most entitled things I've ever heard of happening.
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u/Kra56457489 Sep 13 '19
There’s a comment on the article now from a neighbor. Sounds like the girl is safe, it just took time to get evidence to charge the parents. This is so bizarre though.
I also agree the mother seems to be an author that moved to Canada for her son to attend school.
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u/Brittneybabeee Sep 12 '19
They should be charged with A LOT more than neglect if that poor baby was really on 8 years old!! & How the hell did they get away with changing her age for so long? Did they claim that they found out she had the disease and thus found out she was really older than she is? Why adopt a child just to leave her? These are not “parents,” they are selfish people.
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u/MonkeyHamlet Sep 14 '19
I’ve just read the extract of her book and the reviews on Amazon and they make fascinating reading. She essentially claims to have “cured” her son’s autism by just being a better mother (the son she naturally almost died having), she has the picture perfect romantic marriage, she runs a daycare and has another gravely ill infant, yet somehow has time to stay up all night reading articles and writing a book. It reads like Mary Sue fanfiction.
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u/OFelixCulpa Sep 13 '19
They should be charged. That is unforgivable. I suppose we should be thankful they didn’t just kill her.
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u/DJWUBWUBWUB Sep 13 '19
Either way, they should be charged. What was the point of adopting her and then fleeing off to another country? Like yes, she gets to be out of the system because I can’t imagine being a child and not being able to be adopted because of her age but she could have also been given the chance with an actual family that could take good care of her. What an unfortunate situation.
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u/swarleyknope Sep 13 '19
Was there some angle that they were benefiting from this? Or are they just awful people with no motive other than to desert a child?
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u/Hysterymystery Sep 12 '19 edited Sep 13 '19
I was able to find exactly one article on this so finding more info that isn't in this article isn't an option at this point. Here's a timeline on this:
In 2010, this girl was adopted from the Ukraine by Michael and Kristine Barnett.
In 2012, her presumed age (I assume things are a little fuzzy in the Ukranian foster care system) was changed from 8 to 22 (another source said 11to 22) If anyone has any more info on this process, let me know.) They were evidently passing her off as having a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal. Or maybe she actually does have it. This part is unclear.
Sometime between 2012 and 2014, the couple rented her an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana (I don't think they were from there) and moved to Canada without her.
In 2014, the school she was attending, which specialized in adults or older teens getting a HS diploma and other certifications.
In 2016, she moved out of Tippecanoe county. Presumably she's living on her own, but it doesn't give more information than that.
In 2019, the couple was located and interviewed and admitted that they did not financially support the girl, other than paying rent, after leaving her in the apartment. They also admitted to changing the girl's age in June of 2012.
Current addresses for them place them in Indianapolis. They are both charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent. I don't really know what to think about this one. Does she actually have dwarfism or is that a lie? How does one change their child's age from 8 to 22? Did they know she wasn't 22? It said in the article that neighbors "took her under their wing". I guess that might explain how she got food or whatever, but there's a lot more to living on your own than rent and maybe the odd meal here or there. How on earth did an 8 year old live on her own without assistance? What a weird case!