Distressing six phrases of man ‘held captive by depraved stepmother for 20 years

The man who accused his stepmother of holding him hostage for 20 years asked ‘why is she out walking around?’ as she appeared in court on Friday. 

Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty and reckless endangerment after her 32-year-old stepson claimed he was held captive in his Connecticut home since he was 11 years old. 

As Sullivan pled not guilty to the charges in Waterbury Superior Court on Friday, supervisory assistant state’s attorney Donald Therkildsen said her stepson ‘lives in fear.’ 

‘This victim is afraid. This victim lives in fear,’ Therkildsen said in court, NBC Connecticut reported. ‘I introduced myself to the victim, explained who I was. His first question in this fear is, “Why is she out walking around when I was locked up in a room for 20 years?”‘ 

Sullivan was accused by her stepson, who has not been named, of having locked him in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning for 22 hours a day, the police affidavit stated. 

Sullivan’s latest court appearance comes following a brief appearance of just under a minute on Wednesday. 

After her Wednesday appearance, the state filed a motion to request a modification on the conditions of her release to include electronic monitoring with house arrest or GPS monitoring, according to the outlet. 

Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, filed an objection to the conditions and said the original conditions had been appropriate.

‘My client has been complying with the conditions and has done what has been asked of her,’ he said. ‘And it would send a dangerous message to change them.’ 

According to Kaloidis, Sullivan had already received several threats. She was advised to leave the state for her own safety. 

‘She had appeared in court despite the difficulty in getting here. There are serious safety concerns for her. Putting her in a specific area where she cannot leave will only create additional safety concerns,’ he added. 

‘There are numerous threats against her. Numerous people have made threats. They’re posting them online, talking about not wanting to be able to see her out in public. She needs to be able to have freedom of movement.’ 

Judge Joseph Schwartz ordered GPS monitoring, but not house arrest, and said: ‘The allegations are arguably the most troubling that I’ve seen during my tenure as a judge and show really unthinkable amount of lack of empathy.’ 

The next court date had been scheduled for April 22, NBC reported.  

Therkildsen told the court that a friend of Sullivan’s came forward and said she had never been allowed inside the house and did not know she had a stepson. 

‘A friend of the defendant of 21 years has come forward and provided a written statement to the state, to the police, that in the 21 years she’s known the defendant, she’s never spoken of a stepson,’ he said. 

‘She was shocked to learn she had a stepson, and that that friend was never allowed in this house.’

The victim claimed that he was only allowed out to complete household chores and was only allowed outside for ‘about 1 minute a day’ to ‘let the family dog out in the back of the property,’ the affidavit said. 

The emaciated 68lb, 5’9″ man said he remembered his food and water being restricted from the age of three, and claimed he was once so thirsty he ‘drank from the toilet bowl,’ the affidavit said. 

He would steal food from classmates at school and even rummaged through the school garbage bins for food prompting an investigation from child protective services. 

The victim alleged the CPS investigation prompted Sullivan to pull him out of school. 

He finally found his freedom from the alleged abuse after intentionally setting his tiny, second-floor bedroom on fire on February 17. 

First responders arrived to extinguish the blaze only to discover the victim who confided in the rescue crews. 

‘I wanted my freedom,’ the man allegedly told police. 

Prosecutors said he was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’ at the time of his rescue. 

An investigation led authorities to believe he had been ‘held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment.’ 

During that time, he received no medical or dental care, according to the police affidavit. 

Doctors told investigators that when the victim attempted to eat ‘pieces of his teeth would break off,’ and alleged that he has ‘severe tooth decay.’ 

Investigators noted that there was ‘clearly an issue with his hygiene,’ after the victim had allegedly ‘not bathed in a year or two.’ 

The police affidavit includes that he said he would attempt to bath in his room using a bottle he kept in the space. Each day, the man would allegedly save a portion of his drinking water in this bottle and once it was full, use it to clean himself.

The man also revealed that was forced to urinate in bottles and go to the toilet on newspapers because he did not have access to proper facilities.

He told authorities he would urinate in a bottle, then funnel the fluid into a tube he created using straws, the affidavit states. He would then guide the straws through a hole in his window to empty the bottle.

He also stated that he would squat over newspaper he on the ground to relieve himself, then roll it up and tie it with string he unraveled from old t-shirts. He disposed of his waste in the kitchen trash can when he was let out of the room to do chores.

Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said: ‘The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable.

‘This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office.

‘Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.’

To escape his horrific conditions, the victim had lit the fire ‘with some hand sanitizer [and] some paper from a printer,’ while he was still locked inside the room, according to the prosecution, WFSB reported. 

‘He lit that fire very well knowing he could die, but he had been locked in the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room.’ 

Weeks following the fire, Sullivan was arrested and released on $300,000 bond. 

According to her attorney, Sullivan maintains her innocence, he said: ‘Those allegations are made by one person. I understand the whole world has jumped on those allegations and has already convinced my client, but the good thing about America is that is not how we work.’ 

The victim’s biological mother, Tracy Vallerand, was in court on both Wednesday and Friday, the outlet reported. 

Vallerand said the last time she had seen her son was when he was six months old. 

She told NBC CT that she gave up custody of the victim shortly after he was born after she was struggling following the loss of custody of her daughter, the victim’s half-sister, three years earlier.  

Her daughter had been taken to the hospital by the state Department of Children and Families after she was said to have shaken baby syndrome. 

Vallerand said her daughter’s father was charged with the crime, but both parents lost custody of her. 

She said she thought, ‘that I was giving my son a better chance at a full life.’ 

Vallerand told the outlet she had been searching for her son for years, and his appearance in the news led her to him. 

‘When he is healthier and he’s stronger, if he wants a relationship with me, I am right here. I’m not going anywhere,’ she told the outlet.