A horrific case in the US is heading to court. A 57-year-old Connecticut woman is accused of keeping her husband's son imprisoned in their home for more than 20 years.
The 34-year-old was found by firefighters after setting fire to his house, claiming it was the only way to escape.
His suffering ended on February 17, 2025. "I wanted my freedom," he told police, indicating that he used printer paper, hand sanitizer, and a lighter to start the fire.
Claiming that his stepmother was holding him captive in the house, he confessed to being locked in his room 22 to 24 hours a day and knowing what year it was thanks to a radio. His room was 6.7 square meters and was covered in dirt when he was found, according to the New York Post.
Standing 1.68 meters tall, “S” weighed just 34 kilograms. According to police, he had been “held captive for more than 20 years, subjected to prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect and inhumane treatment.” He was given food and water and treated for smoke inhalation immediately after being removed from the house.
“S” told police that after the death of his biological father in 2024, he was kept locked in his room for 22 to 24 hours a day and that threats of even longer periods of isolation or food deprivation prevented him from telling anyone how he was living.
Waterbury Police Department Chief Fernando Spagnolo called the case "one of the worst acts of inhumanity" he had ever seen.
“S” told police officers that he spent endless hours in isolation counting cars on the road or listening to radio stations playing songs and basketball games.
He cut his own hair, hadn't washed his hair in years, and had never been to the dentist. He said his teeth sometimes cracked when he ate the meager amount of food he was given, which usually consisted of one or two sandwiches a day.
He removed the feces using newspapers and bottles, after building a makeshift device with a funnel to channel the urine through a hole in the window.
The boy said his father and two half-sisters did not help him get out of isolation. Almost no one ever visited the house, but when someone did, they threatened him to keep quiet. "They kept me hidden my whole life," he told police.
"S" was forced to eat garbage and drink water from the toilet just to survive, according to court documents.
Spagnolo said the family first came under investigation in 2005, when the victim's school reported concerns to the Department of Children and Families (DCF), which visited the home twice.
The victim told detectives that these visits when he was 11 years old prompted his stepfather to pull him out of school permanently.
Prosecutors compared the treatment of the adopted boy to that of Holocaust victims, describing him as "without exaggeration, similar to an Auschwitz survivor," according to the New York Post.
Kimberly Sullivan denies the charges and is not considering a plea deal that would sentence her to 30 years in prison, with 10 years suspended. Her lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, said there will be no plea deal and that he expects the 57-year-old to avoid prison. ©LAPSI.al
