Man describes cruelty during his two decades of captivity at his family
home in Connecticut
[March 14, 2025]
By DAVE COLLINS
A man rescued from a burning home in Connecticut told a shocking story
of cruelty and constant hunger as he was held captive in a single room
for 20 years by his father and stepmother, according to a newly released
arrest warrant.
The man told authorities his confinement began when he was about 11
years old. He said he was locked in a room without heat or air
conditioning nearly all day and night and given limited food and water.
With no access to a bathroom, he devised ways to dispose of his waste,
including using a series of straws that led to a hole in a window.
Pieces of his teeth would break off when he did eat because of a lack of
dental care. He saved some of his daily ration of two small water
bottles to bathe without soap and cut his own hair.
The years of cruelty ended Feb. 17, when he set fire to the house in
Waterbury in a deliberate effort to save himself and told his story to
responding police and firefighters, according to the arrest warrant
charging his stepmother with kidnapping, cruelty to persons and other
crimes.
Police are now trying to determine how this could have happened without
anyone noticing and whether any warning signs were missed. Investigators
want to look at records from city schools and the state child welfare
agency, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said at a news
conference Thursday.
The man, now 32, is identified as “Male Victim 1” in police records. The
stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, 56, posted $300,000 bail Thursday and was
released from custody after appearing in Waterbury Superior Court, said
her lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis. He said Sullivan, who was arrested on
Wednesday, denies any wrongdoing. Her next court date is March 26.
“I would encourage people not to rush to judgment,” Kaloidis said in a
phone interview. “This woman is presumed innocent.”
The man's father died last year, while his biological mother has not
been a part of his life, authorities said. He and Sullivan lived in the
home that he set on fire.
Medical personnel said the man was near starvation and had wasting
syndrome, a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration, when he
got to a hospital, the warrant says. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall (1.75
meters tall), he weighed only 69 pounds (31 kilograms).
He was treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic
stress disorder and depression. Spagnolo said the man faces a long road
of physical and mental treatment. He said police are supporting him,
including taking up a collection to buy him clothes and other items.
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This photo provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows
Kimberly Sullivan being taken into custody who was charged
Wednesday, March 12, 2025, with kidnapping and cruelty for allegedly
holding her 32-year-old stepson captive for more than 20 years.
(Waterbury Police Department via AP)
The man told police that he was constantly hungry. When he was in
school, he would ask classmates for food, steal food and eat out of
the garbage. In later years when he was out of school and confined
to the house, he would get two sandwiches a day and some water while
locked in his room.
The police's only interactions with the family were in 2005, the
chief said. One was a welfare check after children who attended
school with him before he was pulled out expressed concern about
him.
The second and final time was after the family made a harassment
complaint against school officials for reporting them to state child
welfare officials. Officers who went to the home said that they
spoke to the man, then a child, and reported there was no cause for
concern, Spagnolo said.
Officials with the state Department of Children and Families, which
investigates child abuse, said Thursday that they have not found any
records of agency involvement with the family but were continuing to
look. They added that reports of neglect or abuse deemed
unsubstantiated are erased five years after investigations are
complete.
“We are shocked and saddened for the victim and at the unspeakable
conditions he endured," the department said in a statement. “The now
adult victim has shown incredible strength and resilience during
this time of healing and our hearts go out to him.”
When the man attended a Waterbury elementary school as a child,
staff saw that he was extremely small and thin and made multiple
calls to the stepmother and the Department of Children and Families,
Tom Pannone, a former principal at the school, told WVIT-TV.
Spagnolo said police did not have that information when they
responded to the man's house in 2005.
Waterbury school officials did not immediately return email messages
seeking comment Thursday.
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