The victim of an alleged wicked stepmother held captive for 20 years tried drinking from a urinal at school and was mistaken for a ghost by a neighbor.
The emaciated 32-year-old man, who has not been publicly identified, was rescued from a Waterbury, Connecticut, home last month after setting it alight to attract attention. His stepmother Kimberly Sullivan, 56, is charged with abuse and kidnapping.
‘Nothing surprised me about the situation… Every year, every teacher had concerns’ Tom Pannone, the former principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School, told DailyMail.com
He says the victim attended the school from when he was in kindergarten to fourth grade, only to vanish when teachers began to raise concern about his wellbeing.
‘I caught him one day in the urinal flushing it to drink water, because I don’t think he could reach the water fountain at the time… It was insane, I’m sick to this day about it… as a human being I feel sick.’
An emotional Pannone recalled the boy used to share horror stories of his home life since he was as young as five, when he already looked way too small for his age.
‘A teacher reported to me that he said the mother bought pizza one night, but he could not have any. It was only for the sisters and the rest of the family,’ Pannone said on Thursday.
‘So this is when he was like five years old, and the red flags were flying at that age and reports were made. I couldn’t tell you how many times reports were made to children and family support agencies.’
Meanwhile, the boy’s neighbor Zeffney Guarnera told of how his daughter once spotted the victim in a window around 14 years ago – and was so stunned by his appearance she mistook him for a ghost.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, has been arrested and charged with holding her stepson captive for 20 years in a situation so dire he set fire to his room in a last-ditch effort to escape
Pannone said officials told him several times that they visited the boy’s home and he was safe
The alleged victim’s elementary school principal Tom Pannone told DailyMail.com he repeatedly contacted officials
Guarnera told DailyMail.com: ‘‘She saw a little boy in the window with a baseball cap on, and he waved at her and she waved at him… and then she never saw him again.
‘She even said, did I see a ghost?’
Pannone, the boy’s former principal, repeatedly contacted authorities about the clearly malnourished boy with rotten teeth, but was always told his reports had been reviewed and the child was found to be safe.
He said called the boy’s stepmother several times to report that he had been stealing food, but the woman would always claim the boy was fine, once saying he had allergies and asking teachers to not give him food.
‘He was like half the size of all the other kids in the in the classroom, and even on the class pictures that I have, you could see even at a kindergartner, he looks like a three-year-old… [and was] constantly hungry, constantly hungry…’ Pannone shared.
‘[She said] he has food allergies, lactose intolerance and something like that. So she literally did not want the school to give him any food. And every one of his teachers gave him food anyway. We knew this kid was hungry… he was ravenous.’
After years of complaints to officials, the boy did not return to the elementary school for fifth grade, according to Pannone, who says he tried contacting public schools to see if he had been enrolled there, and eventually was told the boy was being homeschooled.
‘I don’t know how the Department of Children’s Services and police could have gone to the house and saw him and say everything’s okay… a blind man could look at the kid and know he’s not right.’
Still, Pannone confessed he always knew the boy was not okay and has always felt authorities dropped the ball in the case.
‘I did Google searches on this kid probably every couple of years. Just to see if he shows up somewhere. I honestly thought he was dead. I thought he was dead
Neighbor Zeffney Guarnera, pictured, told DailyMail.com his daughter once saw the victim and mistook him for a ghost
The young man was rescued last month after setting fire to the house in a successful bid to seek help The inside of Sullivan’s home is pictured
The alleged victim showed signs of malnutrition at his elementary school,. A view of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, Connecticut
After hearing news of the boy’s escape and the stepmother’s arrest, the educator cannot help but feel guilty.
‘There’s a lot of guilt for my part. And I’m sure it’s the teacher’s part, but what else could we have done to prevent something like this?’ Pannone added.
‘What the hell else could I do? You know, other than going to the house, knock the door and pulling the kid out by his ears…. I’m sick I did I didn’t do it because I knew… It’s just a tragedy.’
The young man was rescued last month after setting fire to the house in a successful bid to seek help. He weighed just 68 pounds and said he’d been held in captivity from when he was 11.
Sullivan denied assault and kidnapping at her arraignment hearing Wednesday.
Police say Sullivan held her stepson captive since he was in the fourth grade in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning.
Authorities believe the man ‘had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment.’
Sullivan is seen on Wednesday after her arraignment. She is being held on a $300,000 bond
Pannone recalled the boy used to share horror stories of his home life since he was five
Police say Sullivan held her stepson captive since he was in the fourth grade in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning
Neighbor Zeffney Guarnera – whose daughter once mistook the victim for a ghost – said he didn’t even realize Kimberly Sullivan had a son.
Guarnera said he had only met Sullivan ‘in passing’, but always felt that ‘something was off about her.’
‘She would never say hello or nothing. There was something off about her that I didn’t quite get.
‘To know that I’ve been living here all these years… that boy must have been locked in a room without a window.’
Sullivan’s lawyer Ioannis Kaloidis issued a full-throated defense after the 56 year-old appeared before a court in Waterbury, Connecticut, Wednesday on charges of torturing the unnamed 32 year-old man.
‘She completely maintains her innocence, from our perspective. These allegations are not true. They are outlandish. She was blown away when she heard these allegations,’ Kaloidis told NBC Connecticut. ‘We look forward to being able to vindicate her and show that she’s done nothing wrong.’
Sullivan is seen in court. She claims she is innocent and shocked at the charges against her
A neighbor told DailyMail.com they ‘didn’t even know Sullivan had a son’
The lawyer added: ‘He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food, she provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations. It is shocking and what’s more shocking to me? It’s how somebody can (be) falsely accused of such a thing.’
The Department of Children and Families said on Thursday it has no records related to the family, even though police have said they were called to the home repeatedly. They noted that reports found to be unsubstantiated are expunged after five years if there are no more substantiated reports.
The alleged victim reportedly set fire to a tiny upstairs bedroom of her Waterbury home on February 17. According to WFSB, he ‘lit a fire with some hand sanitizer [and] some paper from a printer.’
As he was being treated for smoke inhalation, he reportedly 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 reportedly said he was pulled out of school after teachers called DCF over his constant asking other students for food during lunch time.
Sullivan is being held on a $300,000 bond after she was arraigned on Wednesday
