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A Connecticut woman accused of confining her stepson in a “house of horrors” for two decades is seeking a court order to compel him to disclose the new identity he assumed upon escaping, as per a recent report.
Kimberly Sullivan, 57, is alleged to have kept her stepson confined in a storage closet for at least 22 hours daily, starting when he was just 11 in March 1996, according to court documents. The stepson is now 32 years old.
Sullivan contends that she has a constitutional right to face her accuser, who is referred to as “S” in the legal filings, as detailed in a motion obtained by the New York Post.
“The state’s stance, when stripped of its appeal to ‘victim’ protection, essentially allows the accuser to adopt a new identity and move to an undisclosed location, leaving the defendant, who faces serious felony charges from their prolonged relationship, in the dark,” Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, stated in the court documents.
Kimberly Sullivan was taken into custody following accusations of abusing her stepson at their home in Waterbury, Connecticut. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
Kimberly Sullivan was arrested after allegedly abusing her stepson in their Waterbury, Connecticut, home. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
Kimberly Sullivan allegedly imprisoned her stepson in this home. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
According to a police affidavit, S told investigators he had been living on two sandwiches and a bottle of water a day. He said he was given a second water bottle “for bathing.”
To escape his ordeal, he lit Sullivan’s house in Waterbury on fire in February, Fox News Digital reported previously. When police and firefighters rescued him from the burning building, he weighed just 68 pounds.
Kimberly Sullivan is taken into custody by the Waterbury Police Department on March 12. (Waterbury Police Department)
The defense motion reportedly has S’s biological mother fuming — demanding in a new interview that the court keep “that thing” Sullivan away from him.
This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother had held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
“If you look at any domestic violence situation, you’re not going to let the person who is being the evil person around the one who needs to be protected,” the victim’s biological mother, Tracy Vallerand, told the Post.
“It’s appalling that they even had the audacity to request that.”
Tracy Vallerand, biological mother of the Waterbury man allegedly held captive by his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, for more than two decades, addresses the media outside state Superior Court in Waterbury following an appearance by Sullivan Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Waterbury, Conn. (Associated Press)
Vallerand reportedly gave up custody of the child decades ago, leaving him with her ex, who died last year, and Sullivan.
Sullivan is out on $300,000 bond.
She has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty and reckless endangerment.
