CT - 32-year-old man held captive by stepmother Kimberly Sullivan since age 11, weighs 68 lbs, sets fire to home to escape, 17 Feb 2025

[Izzylizzy]

My opinion only:

I have a sibling with a history of addiction problems who gave up custody of their toddler to the other parent and agreed to a no-contact order until the child turned 18. The other parent changed the child's name, moved just a couple of counties (less than an hour) away, and later had the child legally adopted by their spouse. Even with the child's new name and a rough idea of where they lived, it took years after they turned 18 for me (their aunt) to find them and let them know that their biological family wanted to know them. Since the child wasn't a missing person and my family had no legal standing to access any information about them, we couldn't just go to the court house and obtain their information, and we didn't want to hire a PI (or anything similar to that) because it felt overly invasive.

It may be a big assumption, but I'm guessing this man's family was in a similar situation, but with the added challenge of the fact that he really didn't have an online presence or attend school. I'm not surprised they were unable to find him, especially if they weren't sure if he wanted to be found.

Thank you for all the information on a similar situation when giving up custody of one's child to their spouse and hopefully it worked out well for all in your family.

IMO:
What I don't understand about this case and looking for the victim after he hit 18 is that HT knew who her mom's ex-husband/victims father was and he lived just a few miles away and said she's been looking for the victim for a decade.
She even knew that the father Sullivan had died in the beginning of 2023.
The victim's father was alive when the victim hit 18
Not being insensitive to Tessman but that is a lot of valuable information to start with when looking for someone.

On the flip side even if she had found the address of her mother's ex-husband and knocked on the door looking for the victim there's no guarantee any info would have been provided to her by either Sullivan on the victim's whereabouts.
Looks like all that's left is knocking on neighbors doors asking if anyone has seen the son/step-son?
Private investigator and they cost $$$.

It's such a tragic and sad situation for HT and her mom and family too and hopefully the force is on their side and the victim will one day want a reunion and go from there.

 

[keek]

Thank you for all the information on a similar situation when giving up custody of one's child to their spouse and hopefully it worked out well for all in your family.

IMO:
What I don't understand about this case and looking for the victim after he hit 18 is that HT knew who her mom's ex-husband/victims father was and he lived just a few miles away and said she's been looking for the victim for a decade.
She even knew that the father Sullivan had died in the beginning of 2023.
The victim's father was alive when the victim hit 18
Not being insensitive to Tessman but that is a lot of valuable information to start with when looking for someone.

On the flip side even if she had found the address of her mother's ex-husband and knocked on the door looking for the victim there's no guarantee any info would have been provided to her by either Sullivan on the victim's whereabouts.
Looks like all that's left is knocking on neighbors doors asking if anyone has seen the son/step-son?
Private investigator and they cost $$$.

It's such a tragic and sad situation for HT and her mom and family too and hopefully the force is on their side and the victim will one day want a reunion and go from there.

It sounds to me that she was lied to, I think she said. That 'family' easily could say that he moved away YEARSSSSSSSSSS ago and last they heard was...Nevada or something. Not that they would let her in or anything close to that. They would just want to make very sure she would NOT come back or send anyone else looking.

 

[Jo in Calif]

Lots of info here.

Mother of emaciated son suggests punishment for cruel stepmom

Tracy Vallerand, the biological mother of a Connecticut man who was allegedly locked up for more than two decades by his stepmother Kimberly Sullivan, 56, is demanding poetic justice.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Izzylizzy]

It sounds to me that she was lied to, I think she said. That 'family' easily could say that he moved away YEARSSSSSSSSSS ago and last they heard was...Nevada or something. Not that they would let her in or anything close to that. They would just want to make very sure she would NOT come back or send anyone else looking.

Exactly, the father and KS would never have let HT near him.
How could they?

IMO:
HT was caught between a rock and a hard place if she did find him.

 

[keek]

Exactly, the father and KS would never have let HT near him.
How could they?

IMO:
HT was caught between a rock and a hard place if she did find him.

They'd never let her lay eyes on him though, because straight to the police she'd be. If she found he was living there, right, she couldn't bust in and go rampaging through the house calling his name and busting down doors, though he would of responded to his name being called. I'm dreaming as none of this happened. They did a great job of putting her off and as she said, no signs of his name on any searches.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Lots of info here.

Mother of emaciated son suggests punishment for cruel stepmom

Tracy Vallerand, the biological mother of a Connecticut man who was allegedly locked up for more than two decades by his stepmother Kimberly Sullivan, 56, is demanding poetic justice.

www.dailymail.co.uk

IMO:
As much as I feel for the biological mother it doesn't work this way when one parent has full custody of the child.
You have court ordered visitation rights or supervised visitation rights or no visitation rights.
It's not left up to the parent who was given full custody whether the other parent can see the child or not, it's court ordered.
We don't even know if the bio mother went through the courts when she gave the father full custody.

 

[Izzylizzy]

They'd never let her lay eyes on him though, because straight to the police she'd be. If she found he was living there, right, she couldn't bust in and go rampaging through the house calling his name and busting down doors, though he would of responded to his name being called. I'm dreaming as none of this happened. They did a great job of putting her off and as she said, no signs of his name on any searches.

Indeed, and hopefully LE is doing a deep-deep dive into those who knew what was going on for those 20 yrs or part of them.

 

[keek]

Indeed, and hopefully LE is doing a deep-deep dive into those who knew what was going on for those 20 yrs or part of them.

Especially her adult daughters. They were born later and into this. They had to ask questions and had seen him as a child, horrible situation in those houses they lived in, a few I read. I know, unfathomable when time has gone by and think again of it, picturing it all happening and for decades by two adults, one his bio father.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Especially her adult daughters. They were born later and into this. They had to ask questions and had seen him as a child, horrible situation in those houses they lived in, a few I read. I know, unfathomable when time has gone by and think again of it, picturing it all happening and for decades by two adults, one his bio father.

In KS's arrest warrant the victim said that the grandmother knew, she's now dead and we don't know if this was his father's mother or KS's mother.

 

[rleigh123]

My opinion only:

I have a sibling with a history of addiction problems who gave up custody of their toddler to the other parent and agreed to a no-contact order until the child turned 18. The other parent changed the child's name, moved just a couple of counties (less than an hour) away, and later had the child legally adopted by their spouse. Even with the child's new name and a rough idea of where they lived, it took years after they turned 18 for me (their aunt) to find them and let them know that their biological family wanted to know them. Since the child wasn't a missing person and my family had no legal standing to access any information about them, we couldn't just go to the court house and obtain their information, and we didn't want to hire a PI (or anything similar to that) because it felt overly invasive.

It may be a big assumption, but I'm guessing this man's family was in a similar situation, but with the added challenge of the fact that he really didn't have an online presence or attend school. I'm not surprised they were unable to find him, especially if they weren't sure if he wanted to be found.

IMO


They lived in the same house for decades, since he was a child. There are public records. From what's known so far, it seems no one changed names, moved, or did anything else to put them off grid.


Maybe we're just missing some info about this part of the story that hasn't come out yet, and/or the media failed to address it in this segment.


Either they don't have the info, or they have the info but failed to add it, or there was an oversight. One little missing piece can cause confusion and curiosity. Par for the course, I suppose.




IMO

 

[Conelrad]

I'm hoping that we get to find out, on some level, what her motive/end game was. What's the deal with the whole limited food/water thing? Sounds like the dad and the mom were severely limiting his food intake since childhood, and that was what put them on social services' radar and caused them to pull him out of school and lock him up.

I can comprehend on some twisted, speculative level someone hating their stepchild, and resenting their husband having a prior marriage and a child from that. We hear about people who are mistreated by their stepparents and thrown out at age 18 all the time. We even know some of the psychology behind why extremely abusive parents sometimes starve and beat their kids to death. But locking a kid up like a parrot in a cage, starving them within an inch of death for 32 years, and robbing them of their life well into adulthood without a whole lot of other abuse (he said she only slapped him once when she discovered he ate some unauthorized food) is almost unprecedented.

I hope she's found guilty, but more importantly, I hope she, or the sisters, or someone is able to shed some light into the pathology of this whole thing. I hope it's not just a case of her maintaining her innocence until she's found guilty, and then she goes off to prison without giving any statements or acknowledging anything.

 

[Izzylizzy]

With abuse cases against a child ,especially ones that went on for years, I don't understand how/why the abuser gets charged with so few criminal counts.
One count here, two counts there, another one count over there.

 

[lonetraveler]

I'm hoping that we get to find out, on some level, what her motive/end game was. What's the deal with the whole limited food/water thing? Sounds like the dad and the mom were severely limiting his food intake since childhood, and that was what put them on social services' radar and caused them to pull him out of school and lock him up.

I can comprehend on some twisted, speculative level someone hating their stepchild, and resenting their husband having a prior marriage and a child from that. We hear about people who are mistreated by their stepparents and thrown out at age 18 all the time. We even know some of the psychology behind why extremely abusive parents sometimes starve and beat their kids to death. But locking a kid up like a parrot in a cage, starving them within an inch of death for 32 years, and robbing them of their life well into adulthood without a whole lot of other abuse (he said she only slapped him once when she discovered he ate some unauthorized food) is almost unprecedented.

I hope she's found guilty, but more importantly, I hope she, or the sisters, or someone is able to shed some light into the pathology of this whole thing. I hope it's not just a case of her maintaining her innocence until she's found guilty, and then she goes off to prison without giving any statements or acknowledging anything.

Let me take a guess here, they were going to "home school" him.

 

[sds71]

Wassell says he worked with Sullivan from 2019 through 2021 at a retail store inside the Westfarms Mall.

He says she didn’t get along with most of her co-workers. She also complained to them about being in debt and having to take care of her husband.

“Her husband was handicapped, he was in a wheelchair. She hated when her shift was over how she had to go home to take care of him,” Wassell said.

Sullivans husband, Kregg Sullivan, died last year.


Wassell says she did talk positively about her two daughters, but she never talked about her stepson.

“Never mentioned him at all... never mentioned him,” Wassell said.

When the news broke of her arrest, Wassell was shocked.

“I was very shocked, but then I was not surprised because of the way she was, the way she acted, the way she lived,” he sai

Former classmate and coworker describe woman who held stepson captive as argumentative and combative

Channel 3 spoke with two people that knew Kimberly Sullivan. She is charged for allegedly imprisoning her stepson for over two decades.

www.wfsb.com

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

This article contains a lot of information. I don't know if it has been posted. https://www.ctinsider.com/waterbury...van-waterbury-ct-stepson-captive-20221808.php

<modsnip: sleuthing family/victims> The only thing that I can think of is they [the sisters] were fed a bunch of lies about this poor brother of theirs, like he is mentally challenged, and he is violent. I guess that they believed whatever they were told throughout the years. I feel certain that the police have spoken to the sisters.

I just can't get over anyone treating a child so cruelly. I hope that he is being helped physically, emotionally and mentally. He needs so much care due to his neglect and treatment. His spirit was not completely broken because he was able to set the fire to escape.

JMO.

 

[AcerPacer]

Wassell says he worked with Sullivan from 2019 through 2021 at a retail store inside the Westfarms Mall.

He says she didn’t get along with most of her co-workers. She also complained to them about being in debt and having to take care of her husband.

“Her husband was handicapped, he was in a wheelchair. She hated when her shift was over how she had to go home to take care of him,” Wassell said.

Sullivans husband, Kregg Sullivan, died last year.


Wassell says she did talk positively about her two daughters, but she never talked about her stepson.

“Never mentioned him at all... never mentioned him,” Wassell said.

When the news broke of her arrest, Wassell was shocked.

“I was very shocked, but then I was not surprised because of the way she was, the way she acted, the way she lived,” he sai

Former classmate and coworker describe woman who held stepson captive as argumentative and combative

Channel 3 spoke with two people that knew Kimberly Sullivan. She is charged for allegedly imprisoning her stepson for over two decades.

www.wfsb.com

This interview with a former co-worker has made me wonder how the 2 daughters were also treated by KS. "The way she was, the way she acted, the way she lived"...I wonder if she treated the daughters badly (obvs no where near as badly as this stepson) and they feared her? Feared crossing her or speaking up about him in case they were caged too?
She sounds like a nasty piece of work from this interview, didn't get along with coworkers, hated her husband and his disability, clearly LOATHED the step son, I do wonder if she treated her daughters with very little contempt too?
In no way am I minimising the daughters knowledge of this abuse and them doing nothing about it, I just can't believe they didn't and allowed it to continue, hence why I'm thinking along these lines of coercion!

OMO MOO JMO

 

[Izzylizzy]

Wassell says he worked with Sullivan from 2019 through 2021 at a retail store inside the Westfarms Mall.

He says she didn’t get along with most of her co-workers. She also complained to them about being in debt and having to take care of her husband.

“Her husband was handicapped, he was in a wheelchair. She hated when her shift was over how she had to go home to take care of him,” Wassell said.

Sullivans husband, Kregg Sullivan, died last year.


Wassell says she did talk positively about her two daughters, but she never talked about her stepson.

“Never mentioned him at all... never mentioned him,” Wassell said.

When the news broke of her arrest, Wassell was shocked.

“I was very shocked, but then I was not surprised because of the way she was, the way she acted, the way she lived,” he sai

Former classmate and coworker describe woman who held stepson captive as argumentative and combative

Channel 3 spoke with two people that knew Kimberly Sullivan. She is charged for allegedly imprisoning her stepson for over two decades.

www.wfsb.com

I applaud both men for not only coming forward but for identifying themselves by name.

IMO:
Due to the deeply embedded character flaws they described KS as having going back for years I'm starting to think that maybe KS and her 2 daughters may not have had/have such a great relationship growing up and as adults

Angry, argumentative,sadistic people cannot just turn it off and fool those closet to them and we're looking at a woman who I would consider evil personified.
There are many kinds of abuse and levels within those abuses.

I admit that I've just assumed that KS and daughters were like 3 peas in a pod but going on what the men said about KS I'm not so sure now.

This is not by any means giving the 2 daughters a pass on anything.

Bottom line?
For me this article just opened up the possibility that they may not be running to their mother's defense.
Time will tell.

 

[Bounceycat]

Wassell says he worked with Sullivan from 2019 through 2021 at a retail store inside the Westfarms Mall.

He says she didn’t get along with most of her co-workers. She also complained to them about being in debt and having to take care of her husband.

“Her husband was handicapped, he was in a wheelchair. She hated when her shift was over how she had to go home to take care of him,” Wassell said.

Sullivans husband, Kregg Sullivan, died last year.


Wassell says she did talk positively about her two daughters, but she never talked about her stepson.

“Never mentioned him at all... never mentioned him,” Wassell said.

When the news broke of her arrest, Wassell was shocked.

“I was very shocked, but then I was not surprised because of the way she was, the way she acted, the way she lived,” he sai

Former classmate and coworker describe woman who held stepson captive as argumentative and combative

Channel 3 spoke with two people that knew Kimberly Sullivan. She is charged for allegedly imprisoning her stepson for over two decades.

www.wfsb.com

Wow...I hope they didn't just rubber stamp her husband's death because he was disabled. Because if she hated taking care of him so much, I wouldn't put it past someone like her to...well, you fill in the blank. JMO.

 

[Bounceycat]

Waterbury Man Held Captive Faces ‘Long Road’ To Recovery

Donations have poured in from around the globe to help the man, according to a nonprofit which organized a GoFundMe campaign.

patch.com

An 11-year-old donated $25 she saved from her allowance, and wrote the message, “I just want you to have a happy life from now on."

A woman who donated $100 offered encouraging words: “You made it, you survived, and now you are free. I wish you nothing but the best in recovery! It's a long road but what the heck is a road compared to the hell you've been through?”

They are among about 2,200 people who have made donations to help a man who police say was held captive for two decades in a Waterbury house.

Nardozzi said this week she can’t disclose the man’s current hospitalization status, but she said anyone in his situation would have a “long road” to recover and rebuild his life.

“It would be a slow feeding process (to recover from lack of nutrition),” she said. “There would be a need for physical therapy, education, housing, and therapy to recover from the trauma.”

Investigators consulted with the man’s medical caregivers after the fire, and he was described as being near starvation, with a body mass index of 11, about half of what it should be. Medical staff advised police they were trying to avoid “refeeding syndrome,” a life-threatening condition in which the introduction of food and fluids in someone who is severely malnourished can have fatal consequences because the body can’t properly process them anymore, police said.

 

[airportwoman]

With abuse cases against a child ,especially ones that went on for years, I don't understand how/why the abuser gets charged with so few criminal counts.
One count here, two counts there, another one count over there.

That's so, if they are found not guilty of this, they can be tried for that, and so on down the line.