A Connecticut woman allegedly held her stepson captive for more than 20 years, subjecting him to abuse and starvation until he intentionally started a fire in a bid to escape, police said.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons, the Waterbury Police Department said in a statement.
“Thirty-three years in law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I have ever witnessed,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a news conference on Thursday.
Firefighters found the stepson inside the Waterbury home on Feb. 17 when responding to the fire. The 32-year-old was “found in a severely emaciated condition” and detectives determined he had endured “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhuman treatment,” the police said.
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The man, who is 5 feet 9, weighed just 68 pounds when authorities found him, according to an affidavit shared by CBS’s local affiliate WFSB and confirmed by the Waterbury state’s attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District. He told officers that he had been held captive by Sullivan since he was 11 years old, and started the fire in his second-floor room by using a lighter, hand sanitizer and paper, because “I wanted my freedom,” the affidavit added.
An attorney for Sullivan, Ioannis Kaloidis, said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that his client “maintains her innocence and looks forward to the opportunity to clear her name.”
“Kimberly Sullivan is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. While the allegations are serious, they are just that, allegations,” the statement added.
The affidavit from the Waterbury Police Department, which contains several disturbing details, said the stepson was found in an extremely poor condition, with his hair “very dirty” and matted, and all his teeth appearing to be rotten. The police say they are not identifying the stepson because he is an alleged victim of abuse, including child abuse.
The stepson told officers that he began being locked in his room at the age of 3, when his family caught him sneaking out of his room at night for food and water because he was hungry, the affidavit said. He recalled having to drink water from the toilet because he was only getting about two cups of water a day, the affidavit said.
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At that point, he was locked in his room only during the evenings, but he was pulled out of school during fourth grade, when the school contacted the Department of Children and Families, after noticing he appeared to be always hungry, asking others for food, stealing food and sometimes eating out of the garbage, he said, according to the affidavit. DCF visited his home twice, the affidavit states, during which Sullivan instructed him to say everything was fine.
After Sullivan pulled him out of school, “his weekday routine and captivity became brutally consistent for the rest of his life,” the affidavit states. He said he was initially locked in a room, and later, in an 8-by-9-foot space where the authorities found him, and was only let out for brief moments to carry out chores, the affidavit said. Police officers examining the house found a lock, and signs of previous locks, on the door that were consistent with the stepson’s descriptions. Investigators described the room where he was held as more of a “back storage space” that had no heat in the winter and no air conditioning in the summer.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons, the Waterbury Police Department said in a statement.
“Thirty-three years in law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I have ever witnessed,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a news conference on Thursday.
Firefighters found the stepson inside the Waterbury home on Feb. 17 when responding to the fire. The 32-year-old was “found in a severely emaciated condition” and detectives determined he had endured “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhuman treatment,” the police said.
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The man, who is 5 feet 9, weighed just 68 pounds when authorities found him, according to an affidavit shared by CBS’s local affiliate WFSB and confirmed by the Waterbury state’s attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District. He told officers that he had been held captive by Sullivan since he was 11 years old, and started the fire in his second-floor room by using a lighter, hand sanitizer and paper, because “I wanted my freedom,” the affidavit added.
An attorney for Sullivan, Ioannis Kaloidis, said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post that his client “maintains her innocence and looks forward to the opportunity to clear her name.”
“Kimberly Sullivan is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. While the allegations are serious, they are just that, allegations,” the statement added.
The affidavit from the Waterbury Police Department, which contains several disturbing details, said the stepson was found in an extremely poor condition, with his hair “very dirty” and matted, and all his teeth appearing to be rotten. The police say they are not identifying the stepson because he is an alleged victim of abuse, including child abuse.
The stepson told officers that he began being locked in his room at the age of 3, when his family caught him sneaking out of his room at night for food and water because he was hungry, the affidavit said. He recalled having to drink water from the toilet because he was only getting about two cups of water a day, the affidavit said.
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At that point, he was locked in his room only during the evenings, but he was pulled out of school during fourth grade, when the school contacted the Department of Children and Families, after noticing he appeared to be always hungry, asking others for food, stealing food and sometimes eating out of the garbage, he said, according to the affidavit. DCF visited his home twice, the affidavit states, during which Sullivan instructed him to say everything was fine.
After Sullivan pulled him out of school, “his weekday routine and captivity became brutally consistent for the rest of his life,” the affidavit states. He said he was initially locked in a room, and later, in an 8-by-9-foot space where the authorities found him, and was only let out for brief moments to carry out chores, the affidavit said. Police officers examining the house found a lock, and signs of previous locks, on the door that were consistent with the stepson’s descriptions. Investigators described the room where he was held as more of a “back storage space” that had no heat in the winter and no air conditioning in the summer.
