How a man used printer paper and hand sanitizer to escape an alleged 20 years of captivity by his stepmother

By Travis Caldwell and Asher Moskowitz, CNN

(CNN) — Both sides of his door had been secured with plywood and a lock, the man would later say, to stop him from getting out.

For years, he’d only been given two sandwiches a day and two cups of water, he’d recall, in the storage space where he was locked.

But now, he had a plan.

Printer paper for kindling. Hand sanitizer for fuel. And a lighter.

Emergency personnel responded February 17 to reports of a burning home in Waterbury, Connecticut, said city police, who plan to give an update Thursday on all they’ve learned since then about the house and who lived there.

At the fire site, they found a woman – and her 32-year-old stepson.

The stepmother, identified by police as Kimberly Sullivan, had managed to get out safely, police said.

The man – affected by smoke inhalation and exposure to the flames – had needed help.

He soon would admit to police he had set the fire.

And he would tell them why, the last chapter of a hellish tale laid out in a police affidavit and a state superior court arrest warrant obtained by CNN affiliate WFSB.

It had begun, the records indicate, some two decades ago.

‘Locked in … 22 to 24 hours a day’

The man, now officially called “Male Victim 1,” remembered in his early years sneaking out of his room at night for food and drink due to hunger, according to the affidavit.

By fourth grade, he explained, he was asking other people for food. Stealing it. Picking it out of the garbage.

After his food wrappings were found, he started getting locked in his room. His school repeatedly notified authorities, the document says, and while he was in fourth grade, state social workers twice did wellness checks.

Sullivan told him to claim he was OK, he said.

Eventually, the stepmother permanently pulled him out of school and only let him leave his room for chores, according to police interviews.

“When asked how often this routine was, he stated ‘nearly every day,’” the affidavit says.

When he was around 14 or 15, he went with his father to dispose of yard waste, the affidavit reads. It was the last time he left the property.

Then his father died, and the alleged captivity got even more restrictive, he told police.

“[The man] stated that 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. Stating it was only about 1 minute a day. Essentially, [he] was locked in his room between 22 to 24 hours a day,” according to the affidavit.

After the fire, Sullivan was arrested. She faces charges, including for assault, kidnapping and cruelty, police said.

Her take on what happened is different.

‘Ms. Sullivan is presumed innocent’

All that’s been alleged, her lawyer told reporters Wednesday outside court, is “absolutely not true.”

“He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way,” attorney Ioannis Kaloidis said. “She provided food. She provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations.”

She is being held on $300,000 bond, state Correction Department records show.

“Ms. Sullivan is presumed innocent,” Kaloidis told CNN in a statement. “The warrant details allegations that must be proven at trial. My client maintains her innocence and looks forward to clearing her name.”

After the fire, an officer who saw the man described him as “extremely emaciated.”

He stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 70 pounds. All his teeth looked rotten. But he could talk. And according to the affidavit, he told first responders:

“I wanted my freedom.”

Waterbury’s police chief called the man’s 20 years of suffering “heartbreaking and unimaginable.”

“This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office,” Chief Fernando Spagnolo said in a statement.

While performing search warrants, the affidavit says, police found plywood and a lock on the door to the man’s room.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.