Police have explained why the ‘house of horrors’ victim never told anyone what was happening to him while his stepmum allegedly kept him captive.
The 32-year-old finally escaped the tiny room in Waterbury, Connecticut, he had been locked away in for over 20 years after setting the house on fire in February.
When responders arrived at the scene, he was found in a ‘severely emaciated condition and had not received medical or dental care during this time’. With Kimberly Sullivan evacuating the blaze safely, the man revealed he had started the fire, adding: “I wanted my freedom.”
He went on to accuse the 56-year-old of holding him captive since he was around 11 years old.
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Sullivan was arrested earlier this week, facing a number of charges including assault, kidnapping, and unlawful restraint.
Authorities have since revealed more harrowing details of the allegations against her, which she denies.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in an interview that it’s ‘probably one of the worst acts of inhumanity’ he’s ever seen.
According to the affidavit, when a detective asked the man why he never told anyone what was happening to him, he said he wanted to, but feared ‘the constant threat of longer lock downs and further diminishment of food’.
He recalled how his father used to let him out of the 8-by-9-foot room on weekends and he’d occasionally be allowed to work in the garden.
And after his dad died, Sullivan’s captivity of him allegedly worsened, giving him two sandwiches and the equivalent of two small bottles of water a day.
The affidavit says the man ‘describes a life of being mentally conditioned by the woman'.
“He stated that the threat was that he would 'not see the light of day' if he told anyone and, knowing that he had little time out of his room to that point, it was not something he could risk,” it added.
With state officials in 2005 finding a home-schooling plan adequate for the victim, Spagnolo said there wasn’t any contact with law enforcement or other officials in the intervening years.
The chief added that a uncle grew concerned at one point after visiting at Christmas and seeing the stepson looking ‘skinny, meek, and mild-mannered’, with Sullivan intervening when he tried to talk to him.
"The family pushed him [the uncle] away," Spagnolo said. "He'd ask questions, he tried to reach out over time, but he never received any response."
He added: “There was a lot of inaction by the people closest to the victim. That's really hard to judge. We all have families. We all understand how domestic situations work. It seems like this went on for quite a long time and Kimberly was very successful hiding this from the public eye and even her family's eyes.”
Jess Battison