The rescue of an emaciated man from inside the burning home where he had allegedly been locked up by his stepmom for 20 years was captured in a harrowing video.
The footage shows the moment the 32-year-old was carried to safety from the flaming building in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Police said the man deliberately started the fire on February 17 as a means of escape from the 8-foot-by-9-foot room he had allegedly been shut in since he was in the fourth grade.
His stepmom Kimberly Sullivan, 56, has been accused of inflicting ‘prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment’ on the man, who weighed just 69 pounds, while standing at 5 feet, 9 inches, according to authorities.
Prosecutors said he was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’ at the time he was rescued.
The clip shows the heartbreaking moment he was rescued from the flames as Sullivan looked on.
‘Who else is in the house?’ a first responder can be heard asking her.
‘My stepson is in here, I’m trying to have them help him out,’ she replies. ‘I have two cats.’
Harrowing footage shows the moment an emaciated son was rescued from a burning house where he had allegedly been locked up by his stepmom
He weighed just 69 pounds, while standing at 5 feet, 9 inches, when rescued according to the authorities
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, posted $300,000 bail on Thursday and was released from custody after appearing in Waterbury Superior Court, Connecticut
The officer then ushers her down the road out of harms way as she yells back towards the house.
‘My dog is shaking,’ she says while stumbling down the street. ‘My dog, my dog…’
‘I know, I know,’ the first responder interjects as he keeps trying to get her out of the way.
At that moment a firefighter appears carrying the limp body of her stepson into a waiting ambulance where he is bundled inside.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said at a press conference on Thursday that the man faces a long road of physical and mental treatment.
He told authorities he was given two cups of water a day, but was sometimes forced to drink out of the toilet.
He said police are supporting him, including taking up a collection to buy him clothes and other items.
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.
Sullivan subjected the man to ‘prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment’ officials said
Authorities say the man, who is now 32, was held captive for over 20 years inside this home
According to medical personnel the man was near starvation and had wasting syndrome a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration. The inside of the home is seen here
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 warrant also adds that the victim’s living conditions deteriorated when his father died last year.
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.
Sullivan’s lawyer Ioannis Kaloidis said she denies any wrongdoing.
‘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, 56, posted $300,000 bail on Thursday and was released from custody after appearing in Waterbury Superior Court. Her next court date is March 26.
