Former Waterbury principal says he raised many concerns about malnourished boy

A Waterbury woman allegedly held her stepson captive for 20 years, providing little food and water, and a former school principal is speaking out and said the school reported concerns.

"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 the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, said.

The victim, who is now 32, weighed only 68 pounds when he escaped by setting fire to the house, officials said.

He told police that his stepmom, 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, held him captive since he was around 11 years old. A state prosecutor called the case “something out of a horror movie.”

Pannone hasn't seen the alleged victim since he was in fourth grade in the early 2000s, but said he always knew something was wrong.

Police revealed that the boy had “endured prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect and inhumane treatment.”

Pannone said he and his staff noticed that the child was extremely small and thin. He said when they asked him questions, the boy told them he wasn’t allowed food at times at home.

"Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was 5 years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said.

He said teachers would even bring food in for the student after noticing him stealing food and eating out of the garbage, saying he was constantly hungry.

Pannone told NBC Connecticut he and his team made multiple calls to the boy's stepmom, Kimberly Sullivan, and called the Department of Children and Families (DCF) at least 20 times.

The arrest warrant said the student was told to lie and say everything was fine. By fifth grade, he never came back to school.

You don't disappear off the face of the Earth at 10 years old.

Tom Pannone

Pannone was told the student enrolled in Wolcott Public Schools, but he couldn’t find any record of that. He was also told at one point that the boy was homeschooled.

According to prosecutors, Sullivan is accused of keeping her stepson locked in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning.

An arrest warrant states there was a slide bolt lock on the outside of the door frame, and it was used to lock the door from the outside.

Paulina Depina said she lived next door to the Sullivan home from 2003 to 2009.

"We probably saw that guy three times outside,” Depina said.

She said she would see Kimberly, the late husband, and two daughters, but wouldn't see the stepson as often. When she did catch a glimpse, she said what she saw was deeply troubling.

"I’m trembling right now just thinking about it because I can remember his face,” Depina said.

As for neighbors now, many told us they barely saw the stepson, or had no idea he even existed.

"Never seen a stepson, never,” neighbor Marvin McCullough said.

"It's shocking not knowing what’s going around you,” Samuel Rivera, another neighbor, said.

Pannone said he feels anger hearing that his former student allegedly was pushed so hard he had to set fire to his own home to escape.

"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."

NBC Connecticut reached out to DCF who say they're unable to provide any details due to confidentiality laws.

Police obtained a warrant for Sullivan on Tuesday and she was taken into custody on Wednesday.

She faces charges including assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

Officials are expected to give another update on this situation Thursday morning.