CT mom accused of holding son captive for decades set to appear in court
Stepmom who allegedly held son captive for 20 years pleads not guilty
FOX 5 NY's Robert Moses has the disturbing details.
CONNECTICUT - The Connecticut stepmom accused of holding her son captive for 20 years is expected to appear in Waterbury Superior Court Wednesday morning.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, is expected to plead not guilty to multiple charges, including kidnapping, unlawful restraint, and cruelty, after allegedly subjecting her son to what police described as "hell."
Sullivan denies any wrongdoing.
The 32-year-old man, identified as "Male Victim 1," was rescued from the burning home he set on fire to escape his father and stepmother.
The backstory:
The man’s father died last year, while his biological mother had not been a part of his life, authorities said. He and Sullivan lived in the home that he set on fire.
Police describe the conditions of captivity
Kimberly Sullivan attends a bond hearing Thursday, March 13, 2025 at Waterbury Superior Court. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)
For two decades, police say, the man—once a boy—rationed his two daily sandwiches, used small water bottles to bathe without soap, and even cut his own hair. He also rigged straws into a hole in a window to dispose of his own waste.
Police say some of his teeth broke off from poor care whenever he was able to eat.
Man was found weighing just 69 pounds
When he was rescued from the home he had set on fire in order to escape, police said he was 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing only 69 pounds.
Police described the room where he was confined as cramped, with conditions worse than those of a jail cell.
Police say man received two sandwiches a day
Kimberly Sullivan stands next to her attorney Jason Spilka during a bond hearing Thursday, March 13, 2025 at Waterbury Superior Court. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)
The man told police that he was constantly hungry during his time at the home.
When he was in school, he would ask classmates for food, steal food and eat out of the garbage. In his 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.
Timeline:
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.
Police say school staff noticed he was extremely thin, small as a boy
When the man was a child at Waterbury elementary school, staff noticed he was extremely small and thin, prompting multiple calls to his stepmother and the Department of Children and Families, according to Tom Pannone, a former principal at the school, speaking to WVIT-TV.
However, Police Chief Spagnolo said police were not aware of this information when they responded to the man’s house in 2005.
Officers went to the home in 2005 after harassment complaint
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 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.
After years of captivity, police say the man faces a long road of physical and mental treatment.