Natalia Grace · Elizabeth Holmes · Anna Delvey
Plus: Leslie Van Houten's parole chances
the true crime that's worth your time
A long-ago Best Evidence “why hasn’t this been adapted yet” has gotten the ID treatment — but is the docuseries worth your time? The short answer is sort of, as the case remains engrossing and enjoyably twisty, but the (far too long) show gets bogged down in repetitive details.
This publication first picked up on the case in 2019. That’s when a paper in Lafayette, Indiana, published a solid explainer headlined “Did Michael, Kristine Barnett change Natalia Grace's age and abandon her? Here's what we know.” It’s the kind of servicey packaging smart publications do when a local case starts to gain national footing, as this one began to when Michael and Kristine Barnett were charged with child neglect for — as officials said at the time — abandoning their reportedly underaged daughter in an apartment and leaving the country, all the while claiming she was actually an adult with a growth disorder adopted from Ukraine under false records.
We followed the case since, and I even held my nose and set my DVR for the Dr. Phil episode featuring the Barnetts’ adopted daughter — named Natalia Grace — that aired in 2019.