- You can only wonder what drives someone to do something like this.
Now and then, you come across a story displaying such depraved depths of human cruelty that you don’t really know what to think about it. This is one of those.
In mid-February, fire crews rushed to a house in Connecticut after reports of a fire. And indeed, it was — because one of the residents had set it ablaze.
He wasn’t a voluntary resident, however. The emergency personnel discovered a horrifying imprisonment scenario.
The home’s owner, identified by the police as Kimberly Sullivan, had reportedly kept his stepson captive in his rooms for 20 years. He wasn’t allowed outside, and he was barely fed.
After all those long years, he finally managed to secure the keys to his escape. The now 32-year-old captive man, simply identified as Male Victim #1 (MV1), successfully acquired a piece of printer paper, hand sanitizer, and a lighter.
With a flick of the lighter, he set the fire that finally ended his imprisonment.
Now, Sullivan is facing possible jail time and MV1 is in a hospital, receiving much-needed medical care. Although his health is stable, he’s now left to face a long and undoubtedly difficult recovery process.
A Hungry Childhood
MV1’s misery started at a very young age. Recalling his childhood in Waterbury, Connecticut, to the police after his rescue, he mainly remembers being hungry.
He told the police he would sneak out of his room at night to find something to eat. It didn’t matter if he had to pull it out of the trash can.
Unfortunately, his desperate expeditions for food backfired. Sullivan discovered food wrappings she hadn’t given to the boy, and the locks came in.
She pulled the boy out of school and locked him in his room, MV1 stated. He was only allowed to come out when it was time to do some chores — and then back in he went.
He had two half-sisters at the house, who were allowed more freedom. For instance, they were allowed to have friends, but not bring them to the house.
Who knows, they might find out about the boy.
Falling Through the Cracks
After MV1 stopped showing up at school, state social workers dropped by for a visit, twice. Both times, the man said Sullivan told him to say everything was OK. That’s what he did.
In 2004, police also visited the house, as no one had seen MV1 in ages at that point. However, Sullivan allegedly put up a well-constructed façade.
“The house was clean, it was lived in,” Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo told CNN.
When the cops visited for the second time, Sullivan reportedly filed a harassment suit against the local school authority. That case never went anywhere, but official visits stopped.
“After that, it just sort of fell through the cracks or fell out of anyone’s notice at that point and continued on,” Waterbury Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski said.
‘No One Was to See Me’
With MV1 off the cops’ radar, his misery only deepened. The last time he left the family property was when he was around 15, to take yard trash out with his father.
That said, he was allowed out of his room every day — for anywhere between 15 minutes to a couple of hours. He was to use that time to do chores, and only that.
To go to the bathroom, MV1 devised a system of straws that snaked out through his window. He would relieve himself in a bottle and carefully pour the contents out through the straws.
He didn’t dare open the window, lest someone might see him, and he’d have to face Sullivan’s wrath. “Under pain of death, no one was to see me,” he told the police.
There were other family members who were concerned. The boy’s uncle was worried for him, but Sullivan wouldn’t have that, so he was promptly cut off by 2005.
MV1’s only link to the outside world was a radio Sullivan kept outside his bedroom. By listening to news reports, he was able to keep track of years and listen to news and sports broadcasts.
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So, the years went on, and the captive, emaciated boy grew into a captive, emaciated man. That’s a small surprise, as he was fed only two sandwiches a day, along with a cup of water.
As he grew, Sullivan must have gotten worried that he might break out of the room. So, she added more locks on the door and reinforced it with plywood inside and out.
In 2024, MV1’s ailing father died. With that, his living hell only got worse.
“[He] 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,” a court affidavit reads.
However, Sullivan got careless. After bringing some of her deceased husband’s clothes into MV1’s room, he discovered a lighter in a jacket’s pocket.
He decided this would be the thing to earn him his freedom. In the short windows when he was out of his room, he swiped a piece of printer paper and a bottle of hand sanitizer.
The paper worked as kindling; the sanitizer as fuel. On February 17, MV1 set his room on fire.
As the rescuers pulled him out, he was suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. Sullivan, meanwhile, had safely walked out of the house and left him inside.
But at least MV1 was free now.
‘She Did Not Restrain Him’
After his rescue, police officers who saw him described MV1 as “extremely emaciated,” standing at 5 feet, 9 inches and weighing only 70 pounds. He was caked in filth and his teeth were rotten.
Now, he is recovering in an undisclosed hospital. According to reports, he is in a stable condition, but he now faces the daunting prospect of adjusting to life outside his room.
Sullivan, for her part, was arrested following her stepson’s discovery. She has been released on a $300,000 bond, and is scheduled to appear in court.
According to her lawyers, Sullivan maintains her innocence, saying it’s “absolutely not true” that she held MV1 as a prisoner.
“He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way,” said Sullivan’s attorney Ioannis Kaloidis.
“She provided food. She provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations.”
Although she maintains her innocence, the police who were present saw what they saw.
“Thirty-three years of law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I’ve ever witnessed,” said Spangolo.