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She had travelled from Ukraine to the rolling hills and cornfields of Indiana, only to wind up on her own in a strange city. When police checked in with the girl in September 2014, it had been more than a year since she had seen or heard from her adoptive parents, who had changed her age from 11 to 22 on official documents and rented her an apartment before moving to Canada and leaving her behind.

That was only the start of the bizarre criminal case enveloping Michael and Kristine Barnett, who last week were charged with felony neglect.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Police say she abandoned her adopted child and headed to Canada. She says the girl was actually an adult sociopath Back to video

According to local media outlets, the couple, who have since divorced, haven’t denied abandoning the girl just a little more than two years after they adopted her. But they disagree about whether she actually was a child — or an adult pretending to be one.

Authorities have said that the girl suffers from a rare bone growth disorder that results in dwarfism. But Kristine Barnett, 45, told WISH-TV that even using the term “girl” to describe her was inaccurate. She told the station that the adoption was a “scam” and that the girl was a diagnosed psychopath and sociopath, who had been an adult the entire time they knew her.