Woman Imprisoned and Starved Stepson for 20 Years, Police Say

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pinch workers responding to a discharge in Waterbury, Conn., found the adult male, 32, who weighed only if 68 pounds and had been held captive in a tiny room.

By Liam Stack

Emergency workers in Waterbury, Conn., who responded to a house fire last month said they discovered a shocking scene: After they rescued a woman, they discovered her emaciated adult stepson, who said he had started the fire in a desperate bid to break free of the tiny room where she had imprisoned him for two decades.

“I want my freedom,” the man told firefighters after they found him, coughing from smoke inhalation and suffering from other injuries, according to a statement from the Waterbury Police Department.

The police did not publicly identify the man, but said he was 32 and weighed 68 pounds.

On Wednesday, almost one month after the fire, the police arrested the man’s stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, 56, who owned the home and had been the one to call 911 to report the fire. The police said her stepson had been severely abused since the age of 11.

“The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable,” Fernando Spagnolo, the Waterbury police chief, said in the statement.

“This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury state’s attorney’s office,” he added.

Ms. Sullivan was arraigned on Wednesday on a range of charges, including assault, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, and was placed in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Correction, the police said in the statement.

During the investigation, the police said, they determined that Ms. Sullivan’s stepson had been held captive in the home where he lived with Ms. Sullivan and that he had endured “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect and inhumane treatment.”

“He was found in a severely emaciated condition and had not received medical or dental care” during the two decades of his captivity, the police statement said. “Investigators further discovered that he had been provided with only minimal amounts of food and water, which led to his extremely malnourished condition.”

Ms. Sullivan’s lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, did not respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday, but in an interview with a local television station in Connecticut, he called the allegations against her “outlandish.” He said she had never imprisoned her stepson.

“That is absolutely not true,” Mr. Kaloidis told the local NBC News affiliate. “He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food, she provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations.”

Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region. More about Liam Stack

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