WATERBURY, Conn. (AP/Court TV) — A woman accused of holding her stepson captive in a Connecticut home was briefly in court Wednesday, where her arraignment was pushed to Friday.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, is charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty and reckless endangerment. Sullivan was arrested on Feb. 17 after the man, identified as “Male Victim 1,” set fire to their home to escape. She was released after posting a $300,000 bail.
Kimberly Sullivan appears in court Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Court TV)
At the beginning of Wednesday’s proceedings, prosecutors said they intend to file a motion to modify the conditions of release. The defense requested that the proceedings be moved to Friday so they have time to respond to the state’s motion. Sullivan’s defense also revealed their intention to plead not guilty to the charges.
The man, now 32, told authorities his confinement began when he was about 11 years old. He said he was locked in a room without heat or air conditioning nearly all day and night and given limited food and water.
With no access to a bathroom, he devised ways to dispose of his waste, including using a series of straws that led to a hole in a window. Because of a lack of dental care, pieces of his teeth would break off when he did eat. He saved some of his daily ration of two small water bottles to bathe without soap and cut his own hair.
The years of cruelty ended Feb. 17, when he set fire to the house in Waterbury in a deliberate effort to save himself and told his story to responding police and firefighters, according to the arrest warrant.
The man’s father died last year, while his biological mother has not been a part of his life, authorities said. He and Sullivan lived in the home that he set on fire.
Medical personnel said the man was near starvation and had wasting syndrome, a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration, when he got to a hospital, the warrant says. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall (1.75 meters tall), he weighed only 69 pounds (31 kilograms).
He was treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said the man faces a long road of physical and mental treatment. 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. 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 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.
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.
