Bodycam footage shows the dramatic moment a man was freed after allegedly being held captive in a single room for 20 years by his stepmother.
The 32-year-old Connecticut native was rescued after he intentionally started a fire in the room he was locked in at his family’s Waterbury home, police said. The man’s identity has been kept anonymous after he was found in an “extremely malnourished conditioning” stemming from his “inhumane treatment” by his captor, authorities said.
The victim told police that his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, 57, had allegedly held him captive since he was 11 years old. Sullivan was identified as a suspect and arrested by officers from the Waterbury Police Department on Wednesday.
The defendant faces assault, kidnapping, unlawful restrain, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment charges. Her attorney has denied the allegations. She was arraigned and held at the Connecticut Department of Corrections before posting a $300,000 bond Thursday, jail records show.
Newly released bodycam footage reveals the moment emergency personnel arrived at the property just before 8:50 p.m. on February 17.
“Come down,” Sullivan can be heard screaming from outside the house with a do under her arm. “My stepson is in here… I’m trying to have them help him out. I have two cats.”
The woman tells police her “dog is shaking” as she is chaperoned away from the home.
“My dog,” she said again referring to the pet as her stepson’s limp body is recorded being carried out by a firefighter before being put in the back of an ambulance.
When probed about lighting the fire, police said the victim replied: “I wanted my freedom.”
“Detectives determined that the victim had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” the Waterbury Police Department said in a recent statement.
Investigators found the victim severely emaciated after he had only been provided minimal amounts of food and water. He had not received medical or dental care during his time in captivity, police said.
Proseuctors at Sullivan’s arraignment said the victim had been contained in an eight-by-nine-foot room since he was in fourth grade and let out between 15 and 120 minutes a day to do chores.
They added that he was 5ft 9 and weighed just 68lbs at the time of rescue. He was allegedly given two sandwiches and the equivalent of two bottles of water per day while in captivity.
Some of his daily water ration was withheld and used to bathe with and pieces of his teeth would snap off when he did eat, prosecutors said.
With no access to a bathroom, the victim is said to have used a series of straws that led to a hole in a window to dispose of his waste.
The victim’s estranged biological mother has called for Sullivan and her family to “spend the rest of her life in solitary confinement,” she told NBC Connecticut. The victim’s biological father died last year, authorities said.
“I’m heartbroken. I still just can’t fathom it. How can anybody treat somebody like that?,” the mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, 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,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said.
“Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.”
The Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, a domestic abuse treatment center, set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to support the victim’s medical costs and integration into normal life. It had raised more than $93,000 of its $100,000 target by Tuesday morning.
