Newly released bodycam footage captures the harrowing moment a Connecticut man was pulled from his burning home — a blaze he later admitted to setting in a desperate effort to escape 20 years of captivity allegedly imposed on him by his stepmother.
The clip, obtained by WFSB, begins with first responders approaching a fiery residence in Waterbury the night of Feb. 17. Kimberly Sullivan, who can be seen standing on the snow-covered sidewalk, is holding a dog in her arms and shouting as emergency crews race to respond.
“Come down! We have to get stuff out! Come down,” she calls out.
When asked who else is inside, Sullivan tells emergency crews that two cats live in the home as does her stepson.
“My stepson is in here,” she explains. “I’m trying to have him help him out.”
A firefighter can then be seen carrying a man — who police said was 5-foot-9 and just 68 lbs. — from the home while another tries to guide Sullivan across the street.
“My dog is shaking,” she says before calling out to the firefighter bringing her stepson toward an ambulance.
“Stop! What are you doing?” she shouts.
The clip ends shortly thereafter.
According to an arrest warrant, the victim told law enforcement he set fire to his bedroom with a lighter, hand sanitizer and paper in a bid to regain his “freedom.” He said he was just 11 years old when Sullivan began holding him captive inside the Waterbury residence, shortly after he was pulled from school in the fourth grade.
Now 32, the unnamed victim claims he spent 22 hours a day confined to a 9-by-8-foot room on the home’s second floor, which did not have access to a bathroom.
He was also given meager rations of food and water, which led to his “severely emaciated condition,” according to Waterbury Police. The minimal food he did get would often cause his teeth to break off due to lack of dental care.
The victim said his treatment only got worse after the death of his father last year.
When he got to the hospital, medical personnel said the man was near starvation and had wasting syndrome, a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration, per the arrest warrant. He was also treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Sullivan, who was arrested on Wednesday, has denied any wrongdoing. The 56-year-old told police her late husband was in charge of all decisions regarding the care of his biological son.
“Ultimately it was the father which dictated the manner in which his son was raised and my client was only carrying out his orders,” her attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said in a phone interview.
“My client encouraged him to bathe but she is not going to force a 32-year-old man to take care of himself,” he continued. “He could have just walked away then if he wanted to leave.”
Sullivan was being held on charges of assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment before she was released on Thursday after posting $300,000 bail. She’s due back in court on March 26.