VIDEO: ‘The Curious Case Of’ Series EPs Talk ‘Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter,’ Cat Cults, & More

The Curious Case Of series executive producers reveal whether this is the end of Natalia Grace’s story and how it inspired the ID/MAX spin-off docuseries.

Like a lot of fans, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace executive producers Shannon and Eric Evangelista were hoping for a happy ending for Natalia and her new family, the Manses. But then they received a phone call on Christmas Eve that was anything but merry.

“We’d almost gone three years working nonstop on Natalia,” says Shannon Evangelista, co-founder of Hot Snakes Media with her husband Eric. “When this phone call came in, I have to be honest, we weren’t exactly thrilled. It blew up our Christmas! We went from having this long-awaited break to scrambling into action. But we had to follow it.”

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter follows Natalia escaping from the Manses family to live with the DePauls — only Natalia’s years of abuse have prevented her from fully moving on. And if you’ve watched the other seasons of this docuseries, you know exactly what she’s been through, including being left to live on her own as a child.

“I’m used to hunting Al Qaeda terrorists,” says executive producer Ken Maxwell, whose background includes 30 years of law enforcement and the FBI. “There were a lot of interesting questions that surfaced from the beginning. Shannon and I and some other team members were working on a major project when this new story hit the media. And thus began a long journey, a roller coaster ride if you will, trying to pin down all the facts about Natalia and her life.”

Natalia Grace Inspires The Curious Case Of Series

But Natalia Grace isn’t the only one with an interesting story. The Curious Case Of series dives into other insane stories, like Nicholas Alahverdian who pretended to be a British man named Arthur Knight in order to avoid US rape charges, the Hallfords who ran a funeral home that didn’t dispose of the bodies, and Sheryl Ruthven who developed a cult involving cat adoption (yes, really!).

“We really believe that true crime doesn’t always have to end in a murder,” says Eric Evangelista. “If you look at The Curious Case Of [series], the cat cult! It’s like the weird story where you show up to work the next day and you tell the person sitting next to you at the cubicle, have you heard of this funeral home?”

Watch my full conversation with the Evangelistas and Maxwell below!