A Connecticut woman accused of imprisoning her stepson for nearly two decades and subjecting him to starvation and relentless abuse pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges including assault, kidnapping and cruelty.
Superior Court Judge Joseph Schwartz denied the state prosecutor’s request to place Kimberly Sullivan, 56, under house arrest, but has ordered Sullivan to wear an electronic GPS monitoring device while she is released on bail.
Sullivan was arrested on March 12 after a 32-year-old man – who told police he had been held captive for over 20 years – last month set fire to the Waterbury, Connecticut, home he shared with Sullivan in what authorities described as a desperate bid for freedom.
The alleged victim is afraid and living “in fear,” Supervisory Assistant State Attorney Don Therkildsen argued in court on Friday as Sullivan, wearing a black floral outfit, stood next to her attorney.
Sullivan’s stepson’s “first question in this fear is, ‘Why is she out walking around when I was locked up in a room for 20 years?‘” Therkildsen told the court.
The judge defended his decision, citing the fact that Sullivan has no permanent residence, has been admitted to a hospital since her arrest for mental health reasons, has no prior criminal record and has not failed to appear in court as reasons why house arrest is not necessary.
“On the other hand, I can see the argument someone could show again, just according to the allegations, someone that can show such an extreme indifference to human life have such a lack of empathy,” Judge Schwartz said. “If that person could commit that type of crime, they’re certainly likely to commit another thing.”
“The allegations are arguably the most troubling that I’ve seen during my tenure as a judge and show really an unthinkable amount of lack of empathy, and I do stress that they are just allegations.”
The alleged victim told police he intentionally started a fire with a lighter, hand sanitizer, and printer paper in his upstairs room, explaining, “I wanted my freedom.” An arrest warrant, obtained by CNN affiliate WFSB, detailed years of what the man described as “captivity, abuse and starvation.”
When police arrived, they found the man severely emaciated, weighing just 70 pounds at 5-foot-9. His hair was matted, his teeth were decaying, and he appeared dirty and disheveled.
Therkildsen had requested Sullivan’s bail conditions to be modified, including adding house arrest and GPS monitoring, and for her passport to be surrendered.
Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, argued in court on Friday against the proposed conditions and said the only change between Sullivan’s previous court appearances and Friday’s hearing “is a two-week track record of compliance.”
Sullivan received a number of threats online and restricting her movement will only cause more safety concerns, according to Kaloidis.
“I understand that the whole world wants to convict Miss Sullivan, and the whole world already has, but this is the only place, the only room in this country, where we have an opportunity to protect her rights,” Kaloidis said. “And as unpopular as that may seem, that’s what’s at issue here, her rights, no one else’s.”
Additional witnesses have come forward, including a friend of Sullivan’s who said in the 21 years she’s known Sullivan, Sullivan has never spoken of a stepson or allowed in the friend in her home, Therkildsen said on Friday.
Sullivan was “disappointed” by the judge’s decision, which exacerbated “an already complicated situation,” Kaloidis said in a CNN interview Friday.
“She has security concerns, employment concerns, housing concerns. She’s public enemy number one, so what do you tell her in that situation?” Kaloidis said. Sullivan has received explicit threats from individuals on social media expressing a desire “to do her harm,” with some attempting to figure out where she lives and works, according to Kaloidis.
“What can you tell someone that’s hated internationally by everyone when they know nothing about her, they know nothing about who she is as a person, or what she’s gone through or what she’s dealing with, they just assume, because this person has made these allegations, that they must be true?”
Until the allegations are proven in court with evidence and corroboration, Kaloidis said, “they mean nothing.”
“As horrible as the allegations are, and as much as people don’t want to hear it, she is not guilty in the eyes of the law, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, no matter how many millions of people hate her,” Kaloidis said.
Since her arrest, Sullivan has denied the allegations through Kaloidis. Sullivan was released on a US$300,000 bond.
A grim existence
The man’s account outlined in the arrest warrant paints a harrowing picture of life inside the home. He said his confinement began when he was around 11 years old. He said he was locked in a storage room with additional locks added over time, surviving each day on just two sandwiches – egg salad, tuna, or peanut butter – and a small amount of water.
By his teenage years, he said, he was constrained to his room 22 to 24 hours a day. To relieve himself, he devised a makeshift funnel to direct urine out the window using straws, according to an affidavit included with the warrant.
The man’s allegations trace back to his early childhood. He said that by fourth grade, he was scavenging for food at night, prompting Sullivan to lock him in his room. Eventually, he was removed from school entirely and was only allowed out to complete chores.
The man stated it got to a point where “the only time he would ever be out of the house once his father died was to let the family dog out in the back of the property” and only for about one minute a day, according to the affidavit.
Despite two wellness checks by the state’s Department of Children and Families and police visits in 2004, the alleged mistreatment went undetected. Authorities reported finding a home that appeared clean and “lived-in,” according to Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo, and no further action was taken.
In January 2024, the man’s father died, leaving Sullivan as his sole caretaker. According to the man, Sullivan’s control over him grew even more restrictive.
Search warrants later revealed plywood and locks on the door to his room, corroborating his account of confinement.
Now recovering at a medical facility, the man faces a long journey of physical and emotional healing. “There’s a lot of physical therapy that he’ll have to go through,” Spagnolo said. “There’s a lot of healing that he’ll have to go through mentally.”
Waterbury officials have pledged support for the man as he begins his recovery. “We’re committed to supporting him in every way possible as he begins to heal from this unimaginable trauma,” said Waterbury Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski.
By Alaa Elassar, Yon Pomrenze and Brynn Gingras, CNN
