Days after Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arrested and charged with assault throughout the first diploma, kidnapping throughout the second diploma, unlawful restraint throughout the first diploma, cruelty to people and reckless endangerment throughout the first diploma, authorities have launched footage of her stepson’s rescue.

Inside the video, Sullivan will probably be seen outside her dwelling, as first responders ask her who else is throughout the dwelling.

“My stepson is in proper right here. I’m attempting to have them help him out. That’s it. I’ve two cats,” she tells the individual.

“All individuals’s out?” the officer asks, as she says, “Positive.” He then asks, “Nevertheless your stepson’s nonetheless inside?”

As she says “he’s correct there,” a firefighter will probably be seen coming out the doorway door, carrying one different particular person. As she shares concern for her “shaking” canine, authorities usher her away from the scene — sooner than the stepson is positioned into an ambulance.

Authorities turned involved after an emergency title for an brisk fireplace at roughly 8:42 p.m. on February 17. That call bought right here from Sullivan, the proprietor of the property that was aflame.

Whereas the fireside was quickly extinguished and Sullivan was able to evacuate of her private will, the other resident throughout the dwelling, a 32-year-old man, needed assist from Waterbury Fireside Division’s Fireside personnel.

He was subsequently dealt with by emergency medical responders. It was solely when police began chatting with the individual that they uncovered that it was he who had started the fireside — and why.

“Whereas receiving medical care [for smoke inhalation], the male sufferer disclosed to first responders that he had intentionally set the fireside in his upstairs room,” officers talked about in a assertion regarding the case.

As for why he started the fireside, they talked about he knowledgeable them merely, “I wanted my freedom.”

“He extra alleged that he had been held captive by Sullivan since he was roughly 11 years outdated,” the assertion continued. In response to CBS affiliate WFSB, which shared the entire arrest affidavit, the individual allegedly spent these years locked inside an 8-foot by 9-foot room.

The alleged sufferer “lit a fire with some hand sanitizer, some paper from a printer, and he lit that hearth whereas he was locked in that room from the floor,” talked about a prosecutor in courtroom, per WFSB.

“He lit that hearth very correctly determining he could die,” the prosecutor continued, “nonetheless he had been locked throughout the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been attempting to get out of that room.”

The individual’s preliminary suggestions triggered an investigation as he was found to be in a “severely emaciated scenario,” weighing merely 68 kilos, in step with WFSB.

“Investigators extra discovered that he had been provided with solely minimal portions of meals and water which led to his terribly malnourished scenario,” the police assertion added.

The individual purportedly knowledgeable authorities he was given solely two cups of water per day and was sometimes pressured to drink out of the toilet. It was moreover determined he “had not obtained medical or dental care” all through his a few years inside the home.

The affidavit extra particulars the individual’s allegations that he was pulled from school throughout the fourth grade and solely allowed out of his room to do chores or to let the canine out, spending roughly 22 hours locked throughout the room.

He extra knowledgeable police he’d had no contact with anyone outside the home, and that the ultimate time he’d left the house was alongside together with his now-deceased father when he was 14 or 15 years outdated. He added that solely his two half-sisters and a deceased grandmother knew of his situation.

He talked about that his concern of dropping the minimal meals and water he was given, and that he’s maybe locked in even longer, saved him from attempting to interrupt out.

Due to the individual’s assertion, investigators concluded that the sufferer had been pressured to endure “prolonged abuse, starvation, excessive neglect, and inhumane remedy,” leading to an arrest warrant being issued for Sullivan.

Lawyer Ioannis A. Kaloidis talked about the suspect’s late husband Kregg Sullivan — who died in 2024 — “was in administration” of the situation and was the one who decided to limit his son to a 8-foot by 9-foot room starting on the age of 11.

“Lastly it was the daddy which dictated the model via which his son was raised and my shopper was solely ending up his orders,” Kaloidis knowledgeable PEOPLE, sooner than moreover denying the stepson’s claims that he wasn’t allowed to wash. “My shopper impressed him to clean nonetheless she shouldn’t be going to energy a 32-year-old man to cope with himself,” Kaloidis talked about.

The authorized skilled moreover claimed the individual was in no way locked in his room and left the house every day for chores, like taking the trash. Per Kaloidis, “He could have merely walked away then if he wished to go away.”

“This is just one side of the story and people shouldn’t rush to judgment. These allegations are horrific nonetheless there are two sides to every story, and my shopper plans to defend herself in direction of these allegations,” Kaloidis concluded.

Whereas Sullivan’s lawyer is shifting blame to her late husband, the stepson spoke additional favorably about him when chatting with police regarding the alleged abuse.

In response to Sullivan’s arrest affidavit, the individual mentioned that he would “be let free of his room for longer durations of time by his father” and claimed “that whereas Sullivan took his sisters to events and to see associates, his father would allow him to return out and watch television with him.”

“When discussing his father dying, he mentioned that his captivity and restraint purchased even worse,” talked about police. “[He] mentioned that it purchased to some extent the place the one time he would ever be out of the house as quickly as since his father died was to let the family canine out behind the property.”

Sullivan was launched Thursday after posting $300,000 bail; she’s due once more in courtroom on March 26.

In case you’re experiencing or witness baby abuse, title the Childhelp Nationwide Teen Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Teen or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. When you think about a toddler is in fast hazard, title 911.