The man risks death by setting fire at home to escape 20 years of alleged captivity
A The 32 -year -old man set fire to a Connecticut house last month in the desperate attempt to escape two decades of starving and kept prisoner there by his stepmother, according to the officials.
The police and firefighters arrived at Waterbury’s house on February 17 after the stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, called 911.
“During the reception of medical care, the male victim revealed to the first rescuers that he intentionally set fire in his room on the upper floor, affirming:” I wanted my freedom “, Waterbury Police he said In a declaration on Facebook. “He also claimed to have been held prisoner by Sullivan since he was about 11 years old.”
Sullivan, 56, was arrested on Wednesday and was accused of aggression, kidnapping, illegal moderation, cruelty and reckless danger.
He denied the accusations and was released From prison after publishing a bond of $ 300,000 Thursday.
Here’s what you need to know:
A call 911 discovers “heartbreaking cruelty”
The police said he found Sullivan’s stepson in serious condition, with an official comparison He to a survivor to a Nazi death camp.
“The suffering this victim lasting for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable”, the police chief Fernando Spagnolo he said After the arrest of the man’s stepmother.
The local authorities said that the man who was found had a teenage mental function e weighed 68 pounds.
He showed signs of cachexia, a physical loss syndrome usually associated with the victims of serious tumors.
They said that the man was seriously blooded, close to hunger, and had not obtained adequate food or medical care for years.
Hunger “every day” and serious abandonment
The stepson said that starting as a child, his stepmother kept him closed in a room of eight for nine feet for most of the day, letting him just go to school or do the household chores, According to the documents of the Court obtained from The New York Times.
The rest of the time remained in the room, where presumably was defecated in the newspapers arranged on the floor and urinating in a bottle, while starving, “all day, every day, my whole life”, according to the documents.
To spend time, the boy listened to a radio on the other side of his door or counted the machines that they driven near his window.
At school, he asked the classmates of the food or climbs from garbage bins, according to the newspaper.
The stepson, who was not publicly appointed, told the police that he was too afraid to escape and knew that his stepmother had a gun.
Due to an alleged lack of medical care, the son’s teeth fell regularly as he ate his daily assignment of two sandwich, he claims.
“It completely maintains its innocence, from our point of view. These accusations are not true. They are extravagant. It was swept away when he heard these accusations”, Sullivan’s lawyer said NBC Connecticut. “We can’t wait to be able to claim it and show that he has done nothing wrong.”
The authorities investigated the house three times before the fateful call 911
According to reports, school officials contacted the State Department for children and family members, who visited the house on two occasions.
The Department he said In a declaration on Thursday he was “unable to identify any record relating to this family or to the records connected to the names of others who have indicated that they had submitted reports to our department”, although he has noticed that he explains the registers of abuse and abandonment that have not been studied or proven after five years.
The boy did not return to school after the second visit.
The police also visited the house in 2005 and found no reason for further investigations.
“The house was clean. It was lived”, the chief of the Waterbury Police Fernando Spagnolo said Reporter Thursday. “At that point they spoke with the victim and there were no cause for any alarm or any existing condition that would lead the officers to believe something different from a normal childhood in a normal family existence.”
A sudden plan for freedom
According to reports, the stepson decided to turn on the fire on the spur of the moment, using the disinfectant for the hands, the paper and a lighter he had found while making his chores, notifying the officials of his condition.
He supports his stepmother and a third individual, drawn up in the court documents, rushed to wash his face and try to remove the lock from the door to hide the conditions of his captivity.
The next date of the Sullivan court is March 26.
