The first episode of The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter takes viewers behind the scenes of Natalia Grace’s rocky relationship with the Mans family, who adopted her, as well as her dramatic attempt to get away from them.
In the premiere episode, viewers meet the DePaul family, little people who are longtime friends of Natalia’s and previously tried to adopt her before she was taken in by Michael and Kristine Barnett and later Cynthia and Antwon Mans.
Nicole DePaul shares how she began communicating with Natalia’s boyfriend, a man named Neil from the U.K. Nicole claims that Natalia has expressed to Neil her desire to leave the Mans family, which adopted her in 2023. Although it does not appear she has any first-hand knowledge, Nicole says she suspects the Manses may be taking advantage of her while collecting government funds for Natalia’s care.
In recent years, tensions have developed between Natalia, now 21, and the Manses over her independence and romantic life.
The producers of the show received a troubling phone call from Antwon in 2023 — and an audio recording of that call served as the cliff-hanging coda of the last episode of the docuseries’ previous season.
“Something ain’t right with Natalia,” Antwon says on the call. “This girl is tweaking. I feel like she’s the enemy in the house,” he added.
The Manses are worried that Neil has tried to sour the relationship between them and Natalia and convince Natalia to move out of the home — a concern that the Manses and Natalia confront head-on in the new season’s first episode.
Natalia tells producers she was wrong to consider leaving the Mans family to live with Neil in the U.K.; she claims that she has stopped talking to him and that she has since deleted Facebook messages between the two of them. The Manses had been upset about Natalia’s communications with Neil, which were often in secret, with Antwon saying he believed she’d been “possessed by the devil.”
Terrence Kinnard, an attorney for Natalia’s previous adoptive father Michael Barnett, who along with his now ex-wife Kristine has a tense relationship with the Manses, likens the Manses — who have 10 adoptive children — to a controlling “cult.”
“Their whole financial situation is based on the government funding that those people get. Antwon and Cynthia’s job is to grow their flock,” Kinnard contends in the episode. “And the most insidious part is, he isolates them.”
The Mans family did not respond to the allegations made against them, the producers say in the episode.
As the documentary proceeds, it’s revealed that Natalia hasn’t stopped communicating with Neil after all — and she still expresses feelings to him about wanting to leave the Mans family.
“I said I want to go and they said I was being mental,” reads a message from Natalia to Neil shown onscreen.
With the help of Neil, Natalia contacts Nicole, and the two of them create complex arrangements for her to leave the Manses. Nicole, who lives in Upstate New York, travels to Tennessee with her daughter Mackenzie to pick up Natalia: The plan is for Natalia to leave with the DePauls in the middle of a church service days before Christmas in 2023.
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The family waits for Natalia, but there’s no sign of her — leaving open the question of Natalia’s ultimate decision.
The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter premieres January 6 and January 7 on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max.
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