A Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades. Photo: Supplied/Waterbury Police Department
By Brianna Morris-Grant, ABC
It was a freezing February night, when police and firefighters arrived on scene at a burning home in Waterbury, Connecticut.
The frantic woman who called 911 to report the blaze had managed to escape the house, clutching her dog in the snow outside.
"My stepson is in here," she told officers.
As they escorted her away, firefighters went back for her stepson and quickly noticed something seemed wrong - the 32-year-old weighed just 31kg. His hair was long and matted, his body dirty, his teeth rotten.
In the back of an ambulance - struggling to speak due to smoke inhalation - he admitted to starting the fire deliberately, using hand sanitiser and printer paper.
"I have been kept a secret my entire life," he told police.
Now authorities have released dozens of photos from inside the home, as they prepare for the case to return to court in coming weeks.
Community 'knew something was wrong' decades ago
There had allegedly been red flags about what was going on inside the suburban Connecticut home for decades.
The man, now known only as 'Male Victim 1' or MV1 in court documents, allegedly told police his earliest memories of captivity were at about three years old.
"[He] recalled being hungry, which led him to sneak out of his room at night to get food and fluids to drink," an arrest warrant said.
"He stated that, when the wrappings to the food he ate were eventually discovered, he began to be locked in his room."
At that time, he told authorities he was only locked in at night, adding he remembered he was only allowed two cups of water a day and "drinking water from the toilet".
After he started school, he would allegedly "ask others for their food, steal others' food, and sometimes eat food out of the garbage".
His former primary school principal told NBC staff had reported the family to welfare authorities at least 20 times.
"We knew it, we reported it," Tom Pannone said. "Not a damn thing was done, that's the tragedy of the whole thing.
"Everyone really was concerned with this child, since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong."
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) said it was reviewing archived reports related to the family, despite initially telling media it was unable to locate any record of them.
In 2004, the boy was unenrolled from the school district.
Police visited the home in April of that year, a police spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
Fire investigators entered the home shortly after the blaze was extinguished. Photo: Waterbury Police Department
They said the home was "clean" and "lived in", and nothing made them suspect "anything other than a normal childhood" was unfolding.
Following a second visit later that same month, Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo said officers again reported "everything was okay".
From there, he added, "it just sort of fell through the cracks".
"You don't disappear off the face of the Earth at 10 years old," Pannone said.
An alleged life of hunger, confinement and secrecy in suburban Connecticut
Once he was removed from school, MV1 told authorities, life became "brutally consistent".
He had been moved from a bedroom to a smaller room, described by officers as a "back storage space", measuring just 2m by 2.7m.
"The space also had angled ceilings making [it] that much smaller," the affidavit said. "The MV1 stated that the space had no heat in the winter and no air conditioning in the summer."
The man said he originally stayed in an upstairs bedroom before moving to a smaller space. Photo: Waterbury Police Department
At 8am, he said he would be let out for a limited time to complete chores, before being locked in for the remainder of the day. His diet allegedly consisted of "up to two sandwiches a day" and two small bottles of water.
Asked if he was hungry, he said: "All day, every day, my entire life."
Police photos documented multiple doors and windows which had been damaged upstairs. (AP: Waterbury Police Department)
He said sometimes he would be let out briefly in the evening or that his father would let him out "for longer periods of time" on weekends.
While his stepmother took his sisters to events and to see friends, MV1 said his father would let him out to watch television or work in the yard.
The last time he was allowed to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, he was 12 years old - his last costume was a firefighter.
"He stated that his sisters were allowed to have friends, but the friends were not allowed over [to] the house, stating he 'was their secret'," the affidavit said.
"Regarding other potential visitors to the house, MV1 stated that there was hardly anyone who came to the house and if someone did come, he was told not to make a sound."
The floors were covered in clutter and debris from the fire. (AP: Waterbury Police Department)
His treatment allegedly deteriorated more and more with each passing year. The last time he left the property, he said, he was "around 14 or 15 years old".
By 2025, he claimed he had not bathed in more than a year, had not had a haircut in three years and had not received medical attention in decades.
Using 3-4 new books a year and a dictionary, he had "ultimately educated" himself.
A radio outside the bedroom and a calendar was allegedly his only method of keeping track of time. He said his days were spent reading and watching cars pass by his window.
He grew angrier. He had trouble sleeping and thought about what he had missed out on for 20 years.
Sometime last year, his father passed away and his captivity became even more restrictive, allegedly spending just a minute a day outside to let the dog out.
He told police, a year ago, he looked in the pocket of a jacket that had belonged to his father and found a lighter.
Starting the fire 'the only way out of the situation'
The 911 call came in at about 8.40pm on February 17.
"Please hurry… there's a fire, oh my God, there's a fire," a frantic woman told the operator.
"My stepson was in his room, he did something with the TV, I fell asleep… we need an ambulance, please."
The woman was 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, MV1's stepmother.
The Waterbury Fire Department quickly extinguished the blaze, which had caused major damage to the second floor. According to court documents, fire investigators determined the fire had been set on the floor of a second floor bedroom.
MV1 told police it had been a largely normal day.
Ms Sullivan's lawyers have said multiple doors in the home had locks on them. (AP: Waterbury Police Department)
"He added [he didn't] remember what time, but did remember making the choice to set the fire… noting there wasn't a plan to do so earlier in the day," the affidavit said.
"He stated that he also knew that when he set the fire, he would have to let it get to a point where Sullivan would not be able to put it out and that the fire department would have to come."
Using hand sanitiser, printer paper and the lighter he said he had been holding onto for a year, MV1 started the fire on the floor. He said he then yelled for help, until Ms Sullivan came to let him out of the locked room.
The man said he had not left the property in more than a decade. Photo: Waterbury Police Department
"He stated, at this point, he was out of it and had collapsed at the top of the stairs," the affidavit said.
"He stated that [Ms Sullivan] made him get up and go to the downstairs bathroom, and wash his face, [because] she did not want the fire department to know about his appearance."
He also alleged Ms Sullivan told his sister to "get a screwdriver to get the locks off the door".
"He stated that he stayed on the ground and he purposefully didn't get up, so the fire department would be forced to get him," the affidavit said.
"MV1 believed this was the only way out of his situation."
Neighbours past and present told local media they were either unaware of or rarely saw any stepson at the home.
An uncle told police he had not seen the "skinny, meek and mild mannered" boy, since the family pushed he and his wife away sometime in 2004 or 2005.
The man said he had not left the property in more than a decade. (AP: Waterbury Police Department)
About a decade ago, he said he spoke to a private investigator, who suggested he look for a death certificate.
Police chief Fred Spagnolo said it was "hard to talk about" what officers had learned in the weeks since they first responded to the fire.
He said other family members also feared "retaliation", if they told anyone what was going on or attempted to help MV1.
"IN 33 years of law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I've ever witnessed," he said.
'Where are the handcuffs?': Stepmother denies all allegations
Kimberly Sullivan has been charged with offences including assault, kidnapping, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment.
She was taken into custody on 12 March and has since been released on a $US300,000 (NZ$530,00) bond, after pleading not guilty.
Her lawyer has denied all allegations.
Attorney Ioannis Kaloidis told media, while there was "troubling behaviour" reported, several doors in the home had locks on them.
"Ask yourself, is that the restraint that's going to keep someone captive for 20 years?" he said. "Where are the handcuffs?
"Where are the chains? Where are the signs of restraint?"
He added there could be "a lot of reasons" for MV1's weight and overall condition.
"Now's not the time for me to guess why he was 68 pounds," Kaloidis said.
Ms Sullivan was scheduled to return to court later this month.
Meanwhile, a fundraiser established for MV1 has raised almost $US208,000 (NZ$367,000) to pay for his medical care, counselling, legal fees and living expenses.
Police officers involved in the investigation also took up a collection to buy him clothes, books and other items.
"There's a lot of physical therapy that he'll have to go through," Chief Spagnolo said. "There's a lot of healing that he'll have to go through mentally."
- ABC
