A 56-year-old woman, Kimberly Sullivan, has been arrested and charged with holding her stepson hostage for 20 years.
She was arraigned on Wednesday, March 12, on a host of disturbing charges, including assault and kidnapping.
Her 32-year-old stepson, who has not been named, set fire to a tiny upstairs bedroom of his Waterbury home on February 17.
When first responders arrived to put out the blaze, they found the emaciated man, weighing just 68 pounds. Prosecutors said he was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’ at the time he was rescued.
As he was being treated for smoke inhalation, he confided in rescue crews that he set the blaze intentionally as a means to escape.
‘I wanted my freedom,‘ the man allegedly told police.
He said he had been held captive since he was about 11 years old in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning.
A thorough investigation has now led authorities to believe the man ‘had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment.’
During that time, he received no medical treatment or dental care.
Chief Fernando Spagnolo said: ‘The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable.
This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office.
‘Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.’
Sullivan is being held with a $300,000 bond after being arraigned on Wednesday.
Her attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, indicated Sullivan intends to vigorously defend the charges.
‘She’s adamant she did not do what she’s accused of,’ Kaloidis said.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildsen described the ‘facts of the case’ as, ‘quite frankly, something out of a horror movie’.
‘That’s without exaggeration,’ he added.
According to WFSB, the victim ‘lit a fire with some hand sanitizer [and] some paper from a printer.’
Prosecutors told the court during Sullivan’s arraignment that the man ‘lit that fire very well knowing he could die.
‘But he had been locked in the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room.
‘He was… akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.’
According to a warrant for Sullivan’s arrest, the victim’s living conditions deteriorated when his father died last year.
He told authorities he was given two cups of water a day, but was sometimes forced to drink out of the toilet.
The man’s elementary school principal Tom Pannone told NBC ‘the tragedy of the whole thing’ is that school authorities alerted police when the boy stopped attending classes.
‘We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done,’ he said.
Pannone said he and his staff at the since-closed school noticed the boy appeared thin, and when probed he told teachers he wasn’t allowed food at home.
‘Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,’ he said.