Police have released video footage of a man allegedly held captive by his stepmom at their Waterbury home for two decades.
The footage, from February, shows the man carried out by first responders following a fire that officials say he set in an attempt to escape.
Footage taken on the night of Feb. 17 shows a first responder approaching 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan as emergency vehicles are parked outside the Blake Street home.
“My stepson is in here,” Sullivan tells responders in the video, while holding a dog in her hands. As the first responder urges her to move away from the house, a man, whose face is unclear, is carried out.
“All right, here he is,” Sullivan says. “My dog is shaking.”
Footage shows the emaciated man as he is carried and loaded by first responders into an ambulance. The video then stops.
Police allege Sullivan kept her 32-year-old stepson, whose identity has not yet been released, captive in a small room that locked from the outside from the time he was around 11 years old.
“It was worse than the conditions of a jail cell,” Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said last week. Police said the victim, who stands 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighed just 68 pounds when rescued.
“[In] 33 years in law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity that I've ever witnessed,” Spagnolo said. “Honestly, when we first started talking about it, we just really couldn't believe it.”
Sullivan, who was arrested Wednesday, faces several charges, including assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons. Her attorney said his client was “stunned to hear the allegations” and denies them.
Medical personnel said the man was near starvation and had wasting syndrome, a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration, Sullivan’s arrest warrant says.
He was hospitalized and treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Spagnolo said the man faces a long road of physical and mental treatment. He said police are supporting him, including taking up a collection to buy him clothes and other items.
Sullivan posted $300,000 bail Thursday and was released from custody after appearing in Waterbury Superior Court. Her next court date is March 26.
Connecticut Public’s Chris Polansky, Patrick Skahill and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
