A man used only paper, hand sanitizer, and a lighter to end his 20-year period in captivity after he was allegedly held prisoner by his stepmother, identified by police as Kimberly Sullivan, American media reported in mid-March.
The unnamed 32-year-old man had reportedly been kept locked away in a home in Waterway, Connecticut, where he was fed only two sandwiches a day and given limited water.
The man alleged he was locked in a small space, secured by plywood and a lock - an enclosure he was able to escape after starting a fire using the paper for kindling, the sanitizer for fuel, and the lighter to start the spark.
Police responded to reports of a fire on February 17, where the victim suffering from smoke inhalation and burns confessed to intentionally igniting the home and asked for help, CNN reported. Sullivan also managed to escape the flames.
“Thirty-three years of law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I’ve ever witnessed,” Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo told reporters.
The 56-year-old stepmother has since been arrested and charged with assault, kidnapping, and cruelty. Her lawyer insisted the allegations against Sullivan are “absolutely not true.”
“He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way,” attorney Ioannis Kaloidis said, according to CNN. “She provided food. She provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations.”
Sullivan was released from custody on a $300,000 bond, according to the Waterbury Judicial District clerk’s office, and is next due in court on March 26. She has not yet entered a plea.
An affidavit, seen by CNN affiliate WFSB, detailed how the victim was hungry as a child and would steal food or eat from the trash to satiate the hunger. Once the wrappers were discovered, Sullivan allegedly began locking him in his room.
Eventually, police said, Sullivan withdrew the victim from school and only allowed him out of his bedroom to complete chores - forcing him to urinate in bottles and build a contraption to ensure the liquid could leave the building through the window.
An officer, cited by CNN, claimed the victim was “extremely emaciated” and weighed only 70 lbs. despite his 5’9 stature. His teeth were reportedly rotten, and he was visibly dirty.
Sullivan had told him that “under pain of death, no one was to see me,” he told police, according to the warrant.
He added that the last time he was allowed to leave the house was when he was 15.
The victim’s two half-sisters were reportedly allowed to leave the home and have social lives, although they were forbidden from bringing friends home.
“I have been kept a secret my entire life,” he told police.
Did anyone report the victim missing?
An uncle told the police that when he tried to speak with his “skinny, meek, and mild-mannered” nephew, Sullivan would prevent the communications. He was not allowed to see the family again after 2005. The uncle spoke with private detectives who had only recommended looking for the victim’s death certificate.
In fourth grade, the victim’s school notified the State Department of Children and Families, according to the document. State social workers visited the home twice for wellness checks, where he communicated he was okay, he told the police.
Police also confirmed visiting the home twice in 2004 after people who knew the victim reported not having seen him. The family reportedly prevented further visits with threats of a harassment lawsuit against members of the school district who had contacted the police.
“We sent an officer out to visit the home. He talked to the child and came back and reported that everything was okay,” Waterbury Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski told CNN. “Then after that, it just sort of fell through the cracks or fell out of anyone’s notice at that point and continued on.”
The circumstances of his captivity reportedly only became more restrictive after his wheelchair-using father passed away in 2024.
The defense
“[The man] stated that it got to a point where the only time he would ever be out of the house once his father died was to let the family dog out in the back of the property. Stating it was only about 1 minute a day. Essentially, [he] was locked in his room between 22 to 24 hours a day,” according to the affidavit.
“Ms. Sullivan is presumed innocent,” Kaloidis, her attorney, told CNN in a statement. “The warrant details allegations that must be proven at trial.”
The victim’s biological mother told NBC News that she gave up custody in 1993, shortly after his birth, as local authorities took away her daughter years prior after she was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome. The baby’s father was charged for the crime.
"Things didn’t work out between the two of us, and I was thinking that I was giving my son a better chance at a full life," she explained, adding that she hoped she could be there for him now. "If I had known ... I just can’t fathom ... I have no words."
She explained she tried to get back into his life but couldn’t locate him.