A Connecticut woman was arrested this week after she and her stepson were rescued from a housefire — and the stepson told investigators he had set the fire to escape being held prisoner in the home for more than two decades.
The now 32-year-old man weighed just 68 pounds when firefighters took him out of the 8 foot by 9 foot room where he lived after the February fire, WFSB reported. He told investigators Kimberly Sullivan, 56, had kept him locked away except to do chores for her since he was about 11 years old.
Sullivan was arrested on Wednesday and charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons, and reckless endangerment.
Waterbury authorities responded to the fire on February 17. Sullivan safely evacuated while firefighters had to help her stepson, who suffered from smoke inhalation and exposure to the fire, from the house.
Warrant Affidavit Kimberly Sullivan Redacted by kc wildmoon on Scribd
He told the first responders that he had set the fire. “I wanted my freedom,” he said.
At Sullivan’s court hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors said that the man — whose identity has not been revealed — “lit a fire with some hand sanitizer, some paper from a printer, and he lit that fire while he was locked in that room from the outside.”
“He lit that fire very well knowing he could die, but he had been locked in that room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room,” the prosecutor said.
Sullivan’s attorney argued that the allegations were “absolutely not true” and that she had “provided food and she provided shelter.” The attorney did not offer an explanation as to why a 32-year-old man weighed just
“He was, without exaggeration, akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp,” the prosecutor said.
An affidavit for Sullivan’s arrest says that the man endured “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhuman treatment”with no “medical or ental care during this time.”
He was given minima amounts of food and water — he told investigators he was given two cups of water and day and sometimes had to drink out of the toilet.
The affidavit says that he was taken out of school in 4th grade and had no contact with anyone outside the house. The last time he left the house, he said, was with his father when he was 14 or 15.
He told police that he feared losing the miniscule amounts of food he was given, which kept him from trying to get free.
He also said that in addition to his stepmother, his now-dead father, two half sisters, and now-dead grandmother knew he was kept prisoner.
The former principal of the man’s former school told WVIT that school officials “knew it” and “reported it.”
“Not a damn thing was done,” said Tom Pannone, principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School. “That’s the tragedy of the whole thing.”
Pannone said he had not seen the victim since he was in the 4th grade, when he and staff noticed that he was small and very thin. When asked about it, he told them he wasn’t given food sometimes. The boy didn’t return for 5th grade
“Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was 5 years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said.
Pannone said teachers would bring him food after they found him stealing food and eating out of the garbage. He said school staff called the state Department of Children and Families at least 20 times.
Sullivan’s arrest warrant says he was told to tell anyone he asked that everything was fine.
Sullivan was arraigned on Wednesday and given a $300,000 bond. The victim is still receiving treatment at a medical facility, WFSB said.
