A school principal in Connecticut says he suspected that a woman who allegedly kept her adult stepson captive in her home for two decades had been mistreating the boy, but no one heeded his warnings.
Last month, the stepson, a 32-year-old man, escaped from the house where he'd been held against his will for 20 years by starting a fire inside his room. Once in police custody, the man — who weighed only 68 pounds — told police that his stepmother, 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, had kept him captive since he was 11 years old, authorities said.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildsen described the situation to the CT Post as something "out of a horror movie," and one former school principal said it was a tragedy that his school had tried to get the state to stop.
“We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing,” Tom Pannone, the former principal of Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, told NBC Connecticut.
Pannone said the victim was in fourth grade the last time he saw him, but he'd always suspected that something was wrong, noting that the child was extremely thin and frail. The former principal said when he asked the boy about his condition, the child told him he wasn't always given food at home.
He wasn't the only one who noticed. Teachers at the school brought in meals for the student after they noticed him stealing food and digging around in the garbage.
"Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was 5 years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said.
The former principal said he and his staff called not only Sullivan — the stepmother — but also the state's Department of Children and Families at least 20 times.
At some point during the boy's fifth grade year, he disappeared entirely.
Pannone was told that the boy had been transferred to Wolcott Public Schools, but he tried to look for a record of the move and found no evidence of the boy's attendance. Later, he was told the boy was being homeschooled.
In reality, the boy was being kept in an 8 foot by 9 foot room without heat or air conditioning, according to prosecutors.
Police noted in Sullivan's arrest warrant that the room where the boy had been kept was outfitted with a sliding bolt lock on the outside.
During his 20 years in captivity, few people ever saw the victim. One neighbor, Paulina Depina, told NBC Connecticut that she saw "that guy three times outside."
On February 17, the victim fought back and set fire to his home in hopes that it would provide a means of escape. A Waterbury police report detailing the evening of the fire notes that the victim told "first responders that he had intentionally set the fire in his upstairs room, stating 'I wanted my freedom.'"
Sullivan was arrested on Wednesday, and is being charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, and first degree counts of cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment.
“[The victim] 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,” prosecutors said during Sullivan's arraignment on Wednesday, according to WFSB-TV 3.
Sullivan's attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said the charges against his client were "outlandish."
“She was blown away when she heard these allegations,” the lawyer told reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “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.”
Her bond was set at $300,000, and she was then turned over to the Connecticut Department of Corrections.
Reporters from NBC Connecticut questioned the DCF about the school's multiple warnings, but the agency said it could not provide details about the situation due to confidentiality laws.
Pannone said he was angry when he learned about the mistreatment the victim had to endure for two decades, and forlorn that despite the school's best efforts, they ultimately couldn't stop what happened to him.
"I hope the student remembers the staff at Barnard School and how much they really loved him,” Pannone said. “Sorry we couldn't do more. Because you went through more than any of us ever will go through with our lives."
