Father who adopted 'child' that turned out to be 22-year-old feared she would stab them after 'finding knives under her bed'

The family who adopted a young woman they thought was a child said they feared she wanted to stab them.

When Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace back in 2010, they believed she was a young girl who had a rare bone condition.

However, it eventually turned out that the 'six-year-old Ukrainian orphan' was in fact a 22-year-old woman.

And while the couple thought they were growing their family, it turned into a nightmare they say left them fearing for their lives.

In an upcoming documentary about their ordeal, titled The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, Michael opens up about the trauma they endured.

"We were all abused," he says in the trailer. "I hate this. She tried to poison and kill my wife.

"[And] one night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand."

Michael had previously spoken about finding knives in the house, which he believed Natalia planned on using against him and his wife.

ITV

Speaking on This Morning, he said: "She would put thumbtacks face up on our stairs so when we'd walk up and down stairs, we'd be stepping on thumbtacks.

"Certain things would start to become missing in the home, we'd find knives under her bed.

"There was a moment when I woke up in the middle of the night and Natalia was standing over my bed with a knife in her hand, a very blank look on her face, and she's just standing there with a knife."

However, while these harrowing accounts have made headlines the world over, speaking back in 2019, Natalia denied that any of it was true.

When asked if she ever went into their bedroom with a knife, she told Dr Phil: "No, never."

CBS/Dr Phil

Pressed on whether she wanted to stab them or had planned to do them harm, Natalia again denied it, saying: "No. If I ever went in their room, it was to wake them up because I was either scared of a nightmare or something like that.

"But I never went in their room, I didn't... "

Natalia claimed that she felt loved by the family and thought she had found the right mum and dad.

"I actually thought I had found the right family after bouncing around from a lot of families. I thought I had found the right family for me," she said.