Orphan: First Kill – The True Story That Inspired The Film About The Girl-Faced Killer

The film Orphan: First Kill shows the origin of Esther Coleman, played by actress Isabelle Fuhrman and how she came to be adopted by an innocent family. The first film from 2009 told the story of the Coleman family and how they adopted a 9-year-old girl, who was a 30-year-old serial killer. In Orphan: First Kill, it will be shown how Leena Klammer becomes ‘Esther’ after escaping from an Estonian psychiatric center, traveling to the United States and posing as the missing daughter of a wealthy family. But as incredible as it may seem, this creepy story is inspired by a real case.

The True Story That Inspired Orphan: First Kill 

Events resembling the plot of ‘The Orphan’ came to light when 33-year-old Barbora Skrlová posed as an underage girl named Anicka in a children’s home in the Czech Republic in 2007. Skrlová escaped from the children’s center and came to live with sisters Klara and Katerina Mauerova. Klara suffered from mental illness, she had separated from her husband and oversaw her two children.

Klara’s condition caused Skrlová to manipulate the family and accuse the children Ondrej (8) and Yakub (10) of misbehaving, being rebellious, and breaking things. Skrlová’s manipulation was so great that the adults violently punished the minors. Skrlová convinced the sisters that she was part of a religious sect and that she was a future “goddess” of her cult, so they had to do as she told them.

Children were locked in the basement, chained and placed in dog boxes, in addition to being deprived of food; however, when a neighbor discovered what was happening, she called the police and the sisters were apprehended. But Skrlová pretended to be a girl also a victim of physical abuse and avoided arrest. She went on the run and eventually learned that a 13-year-old boy had disappeared in Norway and she posed as him.

After four months of hiding as the child Adam, she tried to escape again, but in January 2008 she was arrested and her true identity as Barbora Skrlová was discovered. As the Radio Prague International site reported on September 5, 2008, in the end, the sisters were sentenced to 9 years in prison for the abuse of minors, while Barbora Skrlová received a 5-year sentence.

However, in 2011 she was placed on probation for 5 years because it was ruled that she was not mentally stable and in prison, her condition did not improve. Since then, her whereabouts have been unknown. Orphan: First Kill stars Julia Stiles, Isabelle Fuhrman and Matthew Finlan, is directed by William Brent Bell, with a screenplay by David Coggeshall (Prey) and opens in August 2022. Barbora Skrlová is on her way to a hearing on May 9, 2008, in Norway.