A HOSTAGE stepson who was held captive by his stepmom for 20 years survived a “horror movie” and “looked like an Auschwitz survivor”.
The unthinkable ordeal started when the boy was locked away at age 11 and kept under strict “inhumane” conditions until his escape – despite teachers alerting authorities of his worrying appearance.
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Evil stepmom Kimberley Sullivan, 56, was arrested after the man’s escape and accused of holding her adult stepson captive until his escape at age 32.
Police discovered the emaciated man in Waterbury, Connecticut, after he set fire to his small upstairs storage space he was forced to sleep in.
He intentionally started the fire even after acknowledging the risk of his own death in the blaze.
They said the man “had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment”.
Cops added that the man told them he was forced to drink out of a toilet because he only received two cups of water per day.
He also claimed to steal food from others in school and even ate out of the garbage because he was so hungry.
The victim also said he was forced to use bottles and newspapers to urinate and dedicate in.
He was also subject to complete social isolation, was taken out of school when he was in fourth grade, and last stepped outside the house premises with his dad when he was about 14 years old.
The horrific story has been compared to that of Josef Fritzl, who shocked the world when his terrible crimes against his daughter were uncovered.
Who was Josef Fritzl
Josef Fritzl shocked the world when his horror crimes against his daughter come to light.
The twisted dad asked his daughter Elisabeth to help him install a door in his cellar in 1984.
She agreed and moments later she is drugged with an ether-soaked towel, tied up and chained to a bed.
She would spend the next 24 years locked up in the hellish prison in Amstetten.
Evil Fritzl went on to rape her over 3,000 times in rat-infested bunker.
He would beat and kick her and force her into degrading acts – including re-enacting scenes from violent porn films.
Elisabeth gave birth to seven babies in the cellar with no medical care.
Kerstin, born 1988, Stefan (1990) and Felix (2002) were left to live with their mum in the underground hellhole.
But Lisa, (born 1992) Monica (1994) and Alexander (1996) – were raised upstairs, by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie after he convinced her they were left on the doorstep by Elisabeth.
Alexander’s twin Michael died shortly after birth with cruel Fritzl tossing his body in an incinerator.
The family’s nightmare sees Fritzl threatening them if they dare to escape and punishing them by switching off the electricity.
Their nightmare comes to an end when Kerstin fell critically ill in 2008.
Fritzl allowed Elisabeth to take her to the hospital where she revealed the shocking horrors she had suffered.
Despite trying to argue he was trying to be a protective father, Fritzl was sentenced to life in prison in 2009.
The stepson said that only his stepmom, now dead dad, two half sisters and his dead grandma knew about the alleged horror he faced for decades.
The man’s former teacher, at the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, said the school previously alerted authorities about their fears for him.
Tom Pannone said: “Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong.
The teacher added: “We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done.”
Pannone said school staff noticed the boy was thin and when asked about his appearance he told teachers he sometimes wasn’t allowed food at home.
The last two recorded well being checks at the home were during April 2005.
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Don Therkildse told the CT Post: “The facts are something out of a horror movie. That’s without exaggeration.”
The man weighed a mere 68 lbs when he was pulled out by firefighters.
To start the blaze, the victim used hand sanitiser, printer paper and a lighter that he found in the pocket of one of his late father’s jackets a year prior, according to the warrant.
Prosecutors said: “He was, without exaggeration, akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.”
The son told responders he set the fire deliberately in order to escape the room he was held in.
He said: “I want my freedom.”
Vile Sullivan was arrested and charged on Wednesday while a prosecutor in court revealed horrifying details from their investigation.
She was arraigned in court on Wednesday and her bond was set at $300,000.
The prosecutor said: “He 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.”
The nightmare mom was charged with 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.
