Natalia Grace
publication date: Monday, March 24, 2025 (part of March 2025)
category: 
Controversy
clue: Among this Ukrainian orphan's special needs: Not being adopted by an American family who may have just seen the horror movie Orphan.
explanation: Natalia Grace was adopted by Florida couple Kristine and Michael Barnett in 2010, at the age of 6 according to the adoption agency. The couple became suspicious that she was in fact an adult pretending to be a child and plotting to kill them, as in the fictional 2008 horror film Orphan. In 2012, they got a court order to change her legal age to 22 and abandoned her in an apartment in Indiana. Attempts to prosecute the couple have failed in part due to Natalia Grace's legal status as an adult, but her story has attracted attention; she is the focus of the television shows The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and Good American Family. more…
intended difficulty: medium
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, Samir Mehta, Richard Slominsky, and LaVonne Lemler
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