We’re learning new details in the case of a man who said he was held captive in a Waterbury home for more than two decades.
We’re learning new details in the case of a man who said he was held captive in a Waterbury home for more than two decades.
The Department of Children and Families insists they have no records connected to the case, but one family member said concerns were raised years ago.
“It’s so devastating the way he’s been treated,” said William Flanagan, great uncle to the victim.
Flanagan, who moved from Connecticut to Florida, said his late wife, Arlene, and her sister, who are aunts to the victim’s father, knew something was wrong when they visited years ago.
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“My sister-in-law and wife went up there. They tried to see [their nephew], and they found out that the boy was being locked in a closet,” Flanagan said. “When they left, she called [child protective services], and they said 'oh they’ll take care of it.' They called her back and told her they’d knocked on the door, she wouldn’t let them in, so it was dropped from that point. That is what I was told.”
The now-32-year-old victim said he was held captive by his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, for 20 years. Authorities said he set a fire last month to escape the home on Blake Street in Waterbury.
He was just 68 pounds when rescued, police said, emaciated and on the verge of death.
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Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families said in a statement Thursday that they "…looked extensively at our current and historical databases and, to date, have been unable to locate any records pertaining to this family” but acknowledged that they expunge records five years after an investigation has closed, per state regulations.
Waterbury police said they made one welfare check at the request of DCF in 2005, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
“It’s very disturbing because my sister-in-law tried to get it handled then,” he said.
Sullivan is now facing charges including kidnapping and assault.
Police said two other siblings lived at the home at one time.
NBC Connecticut obtained a Probate Court document for the estate of Sullivan’s late husband that shows him signing off as having only two heirs, and not mentioning the victim.
“She did not restrain him in any way, she provided food, she provided shelter -- she is blown away by these allegations,” Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis said on Wednesday.
We reached out to her attorneys and to DCF for comment on these new allegations but haven’t heard back.
