A STEPSON held in captivity for 20 years set fire to his home to escape the “inhumane” condition his stepmother allegedly kept him in.
Kimberly Sullivan, 56, was arrested and accused of holding her 32-year-old stepson captive since he was 11 at their home.
APKimberly Sullivan, 56, was accused of holding her 32-year-old stepson captive since he was 11[/caption]
APShe was taken into custody on Wednesday[/caption]
NBC NEWSPolice uncovered an ‘inhumane’ situation when a fire made them rush to the home[/caption]
Cops uncovered the horrific living conditions when they rushed to the family home in Waterbury, Connecticut, after a blaze erupted.
Sullivan fled after her unnamed stepson set fire to a small upstairs bedroom on February 17.
Police discovered the emaciated man, who weighed just 68 pounds, and had to be pulled out by firefighters.
Prosecutors said: “He was, without exaggeration, akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.”
The 32-year-old told first responders he intentionally lit the fire in the eight by nine foot room he was allegedly forced to stay in, as a desperate plea for help.
The son said: “I wanted my freedom.”
He suffered smoke inhalation and injuries from the blaze.
Sullivan was arrested and charged on Wednesday while a prosecutor in court revealed horrifying details from their investigation.
The official said: “He lit a fire with some hand sanitizer, some paper from a printer, and he lit that fire while he was locked in that room from the outside.
“He lit that fire very well knowing he could die, but he had been locked in the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been trying to get out of that room.”
A shocking police probe, by the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office, said the man “had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment”.
The son said the apparent threat of losing the little food he was given kept him from trying to escape earlier.
He allegedly received no medical or dental care in that time.
He told cops that he was sometimes forced to drink out of a toilet because he was only given two cups of water a day.
The son was allegedly also deprived of social interaction, was pulled from school in the fourth grade, and last left the home with his dad when he was either 14 or 15 years old.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildse told the CT Post: “The facts are something out of a horror movie. That’s without exaggeration.”
Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said: “She was blown away when she heard these allegations.
“She’s adamant they are not true. This did not happen and we look forward to being able to vindicate her and show that she’s done nothing wrong.”
Who was Josef Fritzl
Josef Fritzl shocked the world when his horror crimes against his daughter come to light.
The twisted dad asked his daughter Elisabeth to help him install a door in his cellar in 1984.
She agreed and moments later she is drugged with an ether-soaked towel, tied up and chained to a bed.
She would spend the next 24 years locked up in the hellish prison in Amstetten.
Evil Fritzl went on to rape her over 3,000 times in rat-infested bunker.
He would beat and kick her and force her into degrading acts – including re-enacting scenes from violent porn films.
Elisabeth gave birth to seven babies in the cellar with no medical care.
Kerstin, born 1988, Stefan (1990) and Felix (2002) were left to live with their mum in the underground hellhole.
But Lisa, (born 1992) Monica (1994) and Alexander (1996) – were raised upstairs, by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he convinced her they were left on the doorstep by Elisabeth.
Alexander’s twin Michael died shortly after birth with cruel Fritzl tossing his body in an incinerator.
The family’s nightmare sees Fritzl threatening them if they dare to escape and punishing them by switching off the electricity.
Their nightmare comes to an end when Kerstin fell critically ill in 2008.
Fritzl allowed Elisabeth to take her to the hospital where she revealed the shocking horrors she had suffered.
Despite trying to argue he was trying to be a protective father, Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.
Sullivan was charged with assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons, and reckless endangerment in the first degree.
She was arraigned in court on Wednesday and her bond was set at $300,000.
The stepson said that only his stepmom, now dead dad, two half sisters and his dead grandma knew about the alleged horror he faced for decades.
The warrant showed the last two well being checks at the home were from April 2005.
The man’s former teacher, at the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, claimed the school previously alerted the authorities about their fears for him, according to NBC Connecticut.
Tom Pannone said: “Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong.
He added: “We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done.”
Pannone said staff noticed the boy was thin and when probed he told teachers he sometimes wasn’t allowed food at home.
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