By Karina Tsui and Lauren Mascarenhas

(CNN) — Newly released photos of a Connecticut house and body camera footage from the night it was set on fire bring to life an astonishing tale of captivity and abuse that remained hidden for decades.

A 32-year-old man set the fire in February using printer paper and hand sanitizer to escape the house where his stepmother allegedly kept him locked up and nearly starving for 20 years, Waterbury Police said.

His stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and felony assault charges and was released on a $300,000 bond last week.

On February 17, firefighters responded to a frantic 911 call from Sullivan reporting a fire at the Waterbury house. She claimed her stepson was still inside the house and injured.

“He’s kind of passed out. He’s out of it,” she told the 911 operator.

But when first responders arrived and rescued the 5-foot-9, 68-pound man from the burning home, they found him responsive — and what he told officers was deeply concerning.

Blue and red lights from a fire truck, ambulance and police cars reflected off the snow lining the usually quiet suburban street as the chaotic scene played out, captured in body camera footage from Waterbury Police.

Sullivan, dressed in pajama pants and boots, clutched a small dog as she spoke to officers outside the house.

She told a police officer the door to her stepson’s room was not locked at the time of the fire, that it is not normally locked and that he had the freedom to leave his room, the footage shows.

In the back of the ambulance, her stepson told responders a very different story.

“He says he hasn’t had a shower in over a year,” one of the first responders said, standing outside the ambulance.

The body camera footage captured another exchange between two officers at the scene.

“I just don’t want her to f**king go anywhere,” one officer said, referring to Sullivan. “We don’t have enough to really detain her.”

That soon changed after detectives searched the house where the man claimed he was held captive in an 8-foot by 9-foot storage space, secured with plywood and a lock.

More than 100 photos from Waterbury Police reveal dire conditions inside the home.

Some rooms are visibly charred from the fire, while others appear cluttered and decrepit due to a lack of maintenance over the years.

Mold is visible throughout the house, which is paved with broken floorboards and carpeted areas covered in dirt and trash. The ceiling appears damaged, with exposed beams, and the windows are now boarded up with plywood.

A hot pink room is cluttered with belongings, including a printer, loose plastic drawers and a leopard print cat tower.

Police captured several close-ups of charred door frames and locks in the house, where the man told officers he was allowed to leave his room only to perform chores.

The images bring to life a harrowing tale of abuse that has gripped the nation.

Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, called the timing of the photos’ release “suspect,” raising concerns about potential bias against his client.

“It was shocking, to say the least,” he told reporters during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. “The only thing we could think of is that it’s clearly being done to sway public opinion.”

“(The photos) don’t prove anything,” he added. “Where are the handcuffs? Where are the chains? Where are the signs of restraint? Those pictures raise a lot of questions if you look at them objectively.”

New records found

Concerns about the man’s well-being reportedly arose when he was still a child. Former Barnard Elementary School Principal Tom Pannone and his team contacted the Connecticut Department of Children and Families at least 20 times years ago with concerns about their then-student, he told NBC Connecticut.

The department recently said it found archived records related to the family.

“The Department is currently reviewing them for purposes of assessing our work with the family over 20 years ago and to inform any need for current statutory or practice reforms,” DCF told CNN in a statement.

The department previously told CNN it had no records related to the family, citing its policy is to expunge records five years after completing an investigation, “provided there are no other substantiated reports.”

Before his stepmother pulled him out of school, the man told police he met with DCF officials twice when he was in the fourth grade.

He told police his stepmother instructed him at the time to tell the department everything was fine. Police conducting the welfare checks also reported finding nothing suspicious.

The last time he left the property was with his father, when he was about 14 or 15, he told police. After his father died in 2024, he said his captivity became even more restrictive.

“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,” he told police, according to an affidavit.

Those outings were “only about 1 minute a day” as he “essentially, was locked in his room between 22 to 24 hours a day,” the sworn statement said.

A year ago, he found a lighter in a jacket that belonged to his late father, he told police. That’s when he started devising an escape plan.

Working to move on

“There’s a lot of physical therapy that he’ll have to go through,” Waterbury Police Chief Fred Spagnolo said. “There’s a lot of healing that he’ll have to go through mentally.”

Waterbury detectives, themselves shaken by the inhumanity they say they’ve been investigating, took up a collection to buy the man clothes, books and other items that might make him more comfortable.

As for the newly freed man, Waterbury Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski said, “We’re committed to supporting him in every way possible as he begins to heal from this unimaginable trauma.”

The-CNN-Wire
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