A day after police arrested a woman in Waterbury, Connecticut, who is accused of holding her stepson captive for 20 years and depriving him of food, investigators are revealing more information about a case that the police chief called the “worst treatment in humanity" that he has seen in his decades of law enforcement.
The victim, who is now 32 years old, weighs only 68 pounds and has a lot of healing to do, officials said.
The investigation started when police and firefighters responded to a fire at home on Blake Street in Waterbury in February.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said firefighters and police officers who responded to the fire “immediately realized there were some grave concerns about some of the conditions in the house.”
Inside, they found a small room in the house with locks on the outside and the victim disclosed that he had been held captive in the house for around 20 years, Spagnolo said.
Officials said he used hand sanitizer and printer paper to start the fire in an attempt to escape and told first responders that he had been locked in the house his entire life and set the fire because he wanted his freedom.
Upon hearing the allegations, police started their investigation and got the state’s attorney’s office involved.
“Because, frankly, what was being reported was unfathomable to us at that point in time,” Spagnolo said.
Police have since arrested the victim’s stepmother, 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, and police said she immediately refused to speak with investigators.
She has been charged with assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment in the first degree.
Spagnolo called the conditions the victim was living in “worse than the conditions of a jail cell” and investigators learned that the victim lived in fear of retaliation.
“Thirty-three years of law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I’ve ever witnessed,” Spagnolo said on Thursday morning.
“Honestly, when we first started talking about it, we really couldn’t believe it,” Spagnolo said. “It took a lot of convincing amongst ourselves to just really accept what was going on. It’s really hard to talk about still.”
He said it’s “shuddering” to think that someone would treat any person, let alone a family member, this way.
The investigators who worked on the case took up a collection to buy the victim clothing and books to make him more comfortable as he heals, Spagnolo said, and added that the man is going to need a lot of support.
Tom Pannone, the former principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, said he and his staff noticed that the child was extremely small and thin when he was in school more than 20 years ago and they made multiple calls to the boy's stepmom and called the Department of Children and Families at least 20 times.
Spagnolo said on Thursday morning that they are doing some background investigating and they have records of only two incidents in the system from 2005 about that address and the family.
One call was a request from the state Department of Children and Families to do a welfare check because children who knew the victim were concerned because they had not seen him.
“Officers went to the house,” Spagnolo said. “The house was clean, it was lived in. They spoke to the victim at that point in time and there were no cause for any alarm or any conditions that existed that would have led officers to believe anything other than a normal childhood and a normal family existence was occurring. That was reported back to DCF and that was the last that we were involved in that particular investigation.”
Then, in April 2005, police went to the house because the family wanted to file a harassment complaint against members of the school district, saying they were continuously reporting them to DCF, but there was no proof that there was harassment occurring.
The state Department of Children and Families issued a statement on Thursday.
"We are shocked and saddened for the victim and at the unspeakable conditions he endured. The now adult victim has shown incredible strength and resilience during this time of healing and our hearts go out to him," the statement says.
"As a result, the Department of Children and Families has looked extensively at our current and historical databases and, to date, have been unable to locate any records pertaining to this family nor any records connected to the names of others who have indicated they made reports to our Department. In accordance with state regulation, it should also be noted that reports of neglect and abuse that have been investigated and not substantiated are expunged 5 years after completion of the investigation provided there are no other substantiated reports," the department said.
"We will continue our search and ask anyone with additional information to contact the Waterbury Police Department," they added.
Police are continuing to investigate and Spagnolo said police are looking at school records and DCF records as part of that investigation.
Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said his client is innocent and denies allegations.
“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 said. “We look forward to being able to vindicate her and show that she’s done nothing wrong.”
Kaloidis said his client never locked her stepson in a room.
“That is absolutely not true," Kaloidis said. "He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food, she provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations. It is shocking and what's more shocking to me? It's how somebody can (be) falsely accused of such a thing."
He said Sullivan’s husband dictated how his son would be raised. Kaloidis said the husband has since passed away.
Police said the victim’s biological father died in January 2024 and, prior to his death, he was in a wheelchair because of medical conditions and two siblings were in and out of the home and have since moved out.
Waterbury mayor Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski Jr. is calling on people to honor his privacy as he begins a journey to recover an ordeal, he went through from the time he was 11 years old.
Bond for Sullivan was set at $300,000.
The bond hearing was held on Thursday and Sullivan is planning to post bond today.
Prosecutors asked for home confinement and around-the-clock lockdown and her attorney asked for GPS.
The judge denied the requests and set the conditions of release as intense supervision with regular check-ins with probation, and compliance with counseling if needed.
Her next court date is March 26.
