Images from inside the Connecticut house of horrors where a man was allegedly held captive by his stepmother for 20 years have emerged for the first time as further details of the decades-long campaign of abuse are revealed.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arraigned on Wednesday on a host of disturbing charges, including assault and kidnapping related to her alleged treatment of her stepson.
The victim, 32, whose name has not been disclosed, claims he had been held captive since he was about 11 years old, according to an affidavit obtained by MailOnline.
He alleges that Sullivan would lock him in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning for 22 hours a day, only letting him out to complete household chores.
The victim, who was emaciated and weighed only 68lbs – despite being 5’9″, says he was only allowed outside for ‘about 1 minute a day’ to ‘let the family dog out in the back of the property’, the affidavit states.
Sullivan would only allow her stepson to eat two sandwiches a day and provided him with the equivalent of ‘two small bottles of water’, he told police.
The man alleges that he remembers food and water restricted from the time he three years old, recalling how when he once was so thirsty that he drank from the toilet bowl, the affidavit states.
He would also steal food from classmates and eat out of the school garbage bins, prompting investigations from child protective services, which he alleges resulted in Sullivan pulling him out of school.
Images from inside the Connecticut house of horrors where a man was allegedly held captive by his stepmother for 20 years have emerged for the first time
Connecticut woman Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arraigned on Wednesday on a host of disturbing charges, including assault and kidnapping
The victim alleges that Sullivan would lock him in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning for 22 hours a day, only letting him out to complete household chores
The victim finally escaped Sullivan’s alleged reign of abuse after setting fire to his tiny second-floor bedroom of their Waterbury, Connecticut home on February 17.
When first responders arrived to put out the blaze, they discovered the emaciated man. Prosecutors said he was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’ at the time he was rescued.
As he was being treated for smoke inhalation, he confided in rescue crews that he set the blaze intentionally as a means to escape.
‘I wanted my freedom,’ the man allegedly told police.
A thorough investigation has now led authorities to believe the man ‘had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment’.
During that time, he had received no medical treatment or dental care.
The victim, whose doctors allege has ‘severe tooth decay’, told investigators that when he ate, ‘pieces of his teeth would break of’, the affidavit said.
Investigators also noted that there was ‘clearly an issue with his hygiene’, with the victim alleging that he ‘had not bathed in a year or two’.
The victim says he was only allowed outside for ‘about 1 minute a day’ to ‘let the family dog out in the back of the property’, according to an affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com
A thorough investigation has now led authorities to believe the man ‘had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment’. Pictured is the back garden of the family’s Waterbury, Connecticut home
He said he would attempt to bathe his room using a bottle he kept in the space. Each day, the man would allegedly save a portion of his drinking water in this bottle and once it was full, use it to clean himself.
The man also revealed that was forced to urinate in bottles and defecate on newspapers because he did not have access to a proper bathroom.
He told authorities he would pee in a bottle, then funnel the fluid into a tube he created using straws, the affidavit states. He would then guide the straws through a hole in his window to empty the bottle.
He also stated that he would squat over newspaper he on the ground to defecate, then roll it up and tie it with string he unraveled from old t-shirts. He disposed of his waste in the kitchen trash can when he was let out of the room to do chores.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said: ‘The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable.
‘This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office.
‘Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.’
Sullivan is being held with a $300,000 bond after she was arraigned on Wednesday. Her attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, indicated Sullivan intends to vigorously defend the charges.
‘She’s adamant she did not do the things that she’s accused of,’ Kaloidis said.
A woman 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
Sullivan (pictured in court Wednesday with her attorney) is being held with a $300,000 bond after she was arraigned on Wednesday. Her attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, indicated Sullivan intends to vigorously defend the charges
According to a warrant for Sullivan’s arrest, the victim’s living conditions deteriorated when his father died last year.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildsen described the ‘facts of the case’ as, ‘quite frankly, something out of a horror movie’.
‘That’s without exaggeration,’ he added.
According to WFSB, the victim ‘lit a fire with some hand sanitizer [and] some paper from a printer.’
Prosecutors told the court during Sullivan’s arraignment that the man ‘lit that fire very well knowing he could die.
‘But he had been locked in the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room.
‘He was… akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.’
The man’s elementary school principal Tom Pannone told NBC ‘the tragedy of the whole thing’ is that school authorities alerted police when the boy stopped attending classes.
‘We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done,’ he said.
Prosecutors told the court during Sullivan’s arraignment that the victim was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’. Pictured is a photograph taken at the property
Pannone said he and his staff at the since-closed school noticed the boy appeared thin, and when probed he told teachers he wasn’t allowed food at home.
‘Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,’ he said.
Teachers would even bring lunches for the boy after seeing him steal food or eat out of trash cans, Pannone said, revealing he and his team called the Department of Children and Families (DCF) at least 20 times.
Pannone said he hadn’t seen the alleged victim since the early 2000s, when he was in the forth grade.
After the boy stopped attending classes, Pannone was initially told he transferred to Wolcott Public Schools, but later heard he was being homeschooled.
