Connecticut mom allegedly held gaunt stepson captive for decades before he lit fire to escape ‘inhumane’ conditions: ‘Something out of a horror movie’
A Connecticut mother allegedly held her severely emaciated stepson in captivity for decades in “something out of a horror movie” before he set a fire in their home to escape the “inhumane” and hellish conditions, authorities said.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arrested Wednesday and charged in the unthinkable crime about a month after the shocking living arrangement was uncovered when the blaze erupted at the family’s Waterbury house, according to police.
Sullivan fled the home and her 32-year-old stepson was later pulled out by firefighters on Feb. 17, when he weighed just 68 pounds, according to court documents.
As he received treatment for smoke inhalation and exposure to flames, he told first responders he set the fire intentionally in a cramped storage space where he was forced to sleep.
“I wanted my freedom,” he said, explaining that he was held captive since he was about 11 years old, cops said.
The explosive claims launched a probe by police and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office, which found the victim was imprisoned for more than 20 years and was starved, abused, neglected and faced “inhumane treatment” during that time, police alleged.
The victim was emaciated and hadn’t received any medical checkups or dental care in years, cops said.
He told authorities that when he was a little boy living with Sullivan, his father and siblings, he even drank out of a toilet bowl at times because he only got two cups of water per day, according to a warrant affidavit obtained by WFSB.
He also claimed to steal food from others and even ate out of the garbage due to his hunger in elementary school before he was pulled out, the docs state.
As a teenager and into adulthood, the victim said, he was forced to use bottles and newspapers when he wanted to go to the bathroom, according to the affidavit.
“The facts of this case, quite frankly, the facts are something out of a horror movie,” Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildsen said, according to CT Insider. “That’s without exaggeration.”
He added that the victim lit the fire “knowing he very well could have died.”
Follow The Post’s coverage on Kimberly Sullivan and her “CT House of Horrors”
- Moment Connecticut house of horrors victim is rescued after lighting fire to escape stepmom Kimberly Sullivan who held him captive for decades
- Deranged Connecticut mom who allegedly kept stepson captive for decades posts $300K bond just day after arrest
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To start the blaze, the stepson used hand sanitizer, printer paper and a lighter that he discovered in the pocket of one of his late father’s jackets a year prior, the warrant states.
As the pair fled from the flames, the man fell to the ground and stayed there so firefighters would be forced to retrieve him, believing “this was his only way out of his situation,” the documents state.
However, an attorney for Sullivan denied the charges during an interview on Wednesday night.
“The allegations are horrific, but they are simply that: allegations,” attorney Ioannis Kaloidis said. “They’re allegations made by one person that are largely uncorroborated by any independent evidence.”
Waterbury police released a photo of Sullivan in handcuffs, wearing a cross necklace, and sandwiched between two investigators Wednesday following her arrest.
She’s charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and first-degree reckless endangerment.
“The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a statement.
But Sullivan’s lawyer said that when he read the list of accusations to his client, “she was blown away, she was stunned by what is being said.”
“She is innocent and she has every intention of defending this case and we are confident she will be vindicated,” Kaloidis added.
He said there was food in the house and the stepson was not locked in a room, he argued.
“Does he have health issues? I’m sure he does. But she’s the stepmom, there was a biological father that was responsible for his care, who dictated his care,” the lawyer said, noting the father died last year.
A couple who lives next door told The Post that Sullivan and her family mostly kept to themselves and they never saw the stepson outside the house on Blake Street.
But Zeffery Guarnera and Suzette Baker said their daughter, now 25, spotted a boy in the window of the room where the fire erupted when she was growing up more than a decade ago.
“He waved at her, she waved at him, she didn’t think nothing of it,” Guarnera said. “And hasn’t seen him since.”
“He was probably around the same age as my daughter,” he added.
“Maybe actually a little bit older … but I guess if he looked emaciated, he might have looked younger because that’s why even the investigators said to me, ‘Did you see a man who may look like a child?’
“So that’s why my daughter might look and think he was much younger than he may have been.”
Guarnera also said they might have seen the victim doing yard work over the years without realizing it was Sullivan’s stepson.
Baker said when she saw Sullivan and her two daughters on the block, they would only talk about their mutual love of animals.
“They just seem to be nice and that’s all we talked about,” she said. “Nothing personal.”
A judge set Sullivan’s bond at $300,000, which Kaloidis said would likely be posted as soon as Thursday.
Additional reporting by Doug Healey
