True Crime with Kimbyr - 20 Years of Captivity: The Chilling House of Horrors in Waterbury! Part 2

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

In part two of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha continues uncovering the chilling details behind Kimberly Sullivan’s alleged decades-long captivity of her stepson. This episode dives deeper into court records, disturbing witness statements, and hidden family dynamics that reveal how control and fear were maintained for so many years. With careful analysis, Kimbyrleigha explores the psychological toll on victims of long-term imprisonment and raises critical questions about the warning signs that were missed. This part intensifies the mystery—how did a secret of this magnitude stay buried in plain sight for over 20 years? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And we'll get to the other residents who had been there for a while. But the rescue operation and the victim's immediate statements set off a full-scale investigation. Law enforcement secured the home and they photographed and they started collecting evidence. They saw the bolted door, the makeshift toilet apparatus and anything else inside that room. A detective later remarked how the rescuers themselves were so shaken by what they saw that some of the officers needed to process the horror of the scene afterward. Like they had to do their job and then later it kind of hit that. what they had just witnessed.

The Waterbury Police Chief publicly commended this entire team for their humanity because once they got the man to safety, the officers actually chipped in with their own money to buy him clean clothes, books, and comfort items when they realized that he basically owned nothing but the rags on his back that were nearly falling apart and were filthy.

Even seasoned first responders had tears in their eyes at the thought of what this man had endured. And the fire ironically became the light that exposed two decades of darkness. Had this victim not taken that drastic step, many wonder how long he would have remained in imprisonment and also how long he would have lived. Let's get into that in a moment. But he was so brave setting that fire. Now it was time for the legal system to take over. So in the days immediately following the fire and the rescue, Waterbury police and state authorities moved to quickly validate the victim's account of what happened to him and build a

a criminal case against Kimberly Sullivan. The investigators, accompanied by the state's attorney's office, combed through the Sullivan home, and they conducted interviews with anyone who had knowledge of this family. Now, I have pictures that I am going to be putting up on the screen. When you open the front door of this house to the left, you can see a very filthy, dingy, dirty staircase. And the stairs are carpeted, and I don't even know what color they used to be. They just look black and brown.

They're covered with dirt. The walls are covered with dirt leading upstairs. I don't know what kind of chores. This monster made him do, but it was completely filthy. I mean, no matter how much you cleaned, I don't think you could have gotten it looking spotless in there.

In the room straight ahead, you can see a small Christmas tree, and when I read the affidavit at the end, which I will be doing in full, we're going to be talking about that Christmas tree, but it's still sitting on a tiny table, and this almost looks like a bedroom. There's a TV in there.

Looks like it could be a bed, but it is significantly cleaner than the area near the staircase. In the backyard, there is just a pile of garbage. I can see the next door neighbor's house from this area, and I'm sitting here thinking, even though it's not illegal to have this huge pile of trash in your backyard, I was thinking, wow,

but then I realized this looks like debris from inside of that room that the victim was in. If you look closely, there's actually debris that's right outside of one of the windows upstairs, that's probably his window, and then more debris on the outside, and it's charred, it looks like it has been burned, there is a burned mattress. I can see a bunch of books and items. So I'm really thinking that this was the aftermath of what was inside the house after the fire. And what they found inside and heard from the victim was staggering. On March 12th, 2025, so just a few days before I launched this video and less than a month after the escape, police felt they had enough evidence to formally charge Kimberly Sullivan. I have the affidavit recounting everything, and I'm not going to read a word forward.

right now, but I am going to point out the most high-level details that you're going to want to know. Now, if you do like when people read these things, these legal documents in their entirety, let me know, because I've heard a lot of you do like that. So at the end of the video, I will go in depth. And there is a lot in this document. That's why I left the chapters in case you want to jump around. Let's start with telling you about the high-level evidence from the warrant. Details from this arrest warrant bolster the victim story.

photographs and forensics confirmed that the door to the upstairs room had been barricaded with plywood with an external lock. They found the interior of the room barren, consistent with a makeshift cell, and the hand sanitizer bottle and the charred papers were found. That was evidence of how the fire was started. The victim's own statements, which were recorded in the warrant affidavit, described how he was locked in for 22 to 24 hours a day and let out only for short, chore periods. He described the punishment for trying to get food, being locked in longer, being restricted even more, and the dire measures he took to survive like drinking out of the toilet. Importantly, the warrant

also noted that the victim's account is partially corroborated by outside observations from years past. For instance, school officials noted his constant hunger, and a neighbor recalled only ever seeing him a few times and always looking thin. This helped show a pattern consistent with his claims. And at a March 13 press conference, the chief revealed a very chilling detail. The victim said the last time he left the property was around 14 or 15 on a brief trip with his father to dump yard waste. After that, he was never taken outside again until the night of the fire. The chief also noted that other family members, the sisters and the father while he was alive, seemed to have been intimidated into silence, living under the control of Kimberly

Sullivan. And they were too afraid to help the boy. I call BS on that. I really truly do, and I'm really curious to get your thoughts. But all of the pieces have painted a damning picture of Kimberly as a kidnapper and a jailer. Now Kimberly's response to all this was through her attorney Ionis Colotis and he said she venomally denies all of the allegations. Upon her arraignment, her attorney spoke out to the media calling the claims outlandish and insisting that his client is completely innocent and maintains her innocence. I saw that she was wearing a cross when she was arrested, and I just have to roll my eyes at that one.

She's so well put together, earrings, clean clothing, her hair is lightened. I mean, it's beyond me how someone could live like this upstanding citizen, but have such a dark secret in their house of horrors. The defense attorney asserted that the victim is lying or mistaken. He was not locked in a room, She did not restrain him in any way, he said. She provided him food and she provided him shelter.

He also said that Kimberly Sullivan was shocked by these allegations. She was shocked. Let's play a clip for you. Yeah, so she completely maintains their innocence. From our perspective, these allegations are not true. They are outlandish. I mean, she was blown away when she heard these allegations. She's adamant.

They are not true. This did not have. happen and we look forward to being able to vindicate her and show that she's done nothing wrong. She's never locked him in a room. That is absolutely not true. He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food. She provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations. It is shocking. And what's more shocking to me is someone can be falsely accused of such a thing. He suggested that Kimberly's late husband, the victim's father,

had been the one in charge of parenting decisions, implying that any strict or unusual treatment might have been at the father's hands, not Kimberly. And I think that's really convenient that now she's blaming a dead man. The biological father? Well, I mean, he was the biological father. He's the one that dictated how his son would be raised. We think as the evidence comes out, you will see that she's not She's not the villain she's being made out to me. Absolutely not.

You have a 32-year-old man who's telling you what happened. You could have just let him out. If the father died and he was the one in control, why was a stepson still captive for another year? I know the father was wheelchair bound at one point, which is worth noting, and he was reportedly in declining health for quite some time and using that wheelchair in his final years.

So that would indicate Kimberly had been the primary caretaker for the son for a while. Now, her defense attorney also argued that the case rests solely on the word of the stepson. Well, yeah, I mean, he's the one that was mistreated. But he said that the allegations seem to be based on the words of one individual and one individual alone. He said he did not see anything in the warrant to indicate any independent evidence to corroborate these allegations. Really? Well, the allegations seem to be based on the words of one individual and one individual alone.

I did not see anything in the warrant to indicate any independent evidence to corroborate these allegations. So we'll see how they stand up at trial. That's interesting because even from the ashes outside, I'm looking. I know it's burned and it's charred, but if those are the contents of his bedroom, I have a lot of questions. She's kind of insinuating that he wanted to be in this room locked up like that and not eating. The defense will likely. challenge the prosecution to provide proof beyond the victim's testimony, though. And as I've outlined, there's indeed a lot of corroborating evidence, physical conditions of the room, the victim's medical

state, past reports, but still legally, Kimberly Sullivan is presumed innocent until she's proven guilty, and her attorney has emphasized that repeatedly. He indicated that they look forward to fighting the charges at trial and clearing her name. As of now, investigators are continuing together evidence they're looking into old records from the boys brief time in school and any DCF files that might shed some light although I noted those were most likely expunged and erased. They also will interview sisters, neighbors, anyone who interacted with this family over the years, and I can't wait to hear what other family members have to say. Now we will hear from one family member at the end of this video after I'm done reading the affidavit if you want to skip to that part,

But this case has moved swiftly due to the gravity of these allegations, and prosecutors have indicated they will pursue maximum charges given the severity of harm. The chief prosecutor called the mistreatment systematic and said it unfolded over so long that it defies comprehension. Kimberly Sullivan is facing a slew of serious felony charges under Connecticut law, which include kidnapping in the second degree for unlawfully restraining the victim with the intent to inflict physical injury or to terrorize him. unlawful restraint in the first degree, and assault in the first degree, likely tied to the extreme physical harm caused by prolonged starvation and neglect, cruelty to persons, often involving starvation or severe neglect, reckless endangerment in the first degree for recklessly engaging in conduct

that created a grave risk of death to another person. And these charges reflect the multifaceted nature of her mistreatment. This wasn't one act, but a continuous course of conduct that included physical harm, confinement, and depriving the victim of life necessities. She was arrested and they set her bond at $300,000. And today, the day I'm doing this, March 13th, she was actually led out of jail because she posted that $300,000 bond. Yep, and I was shocked. And get this. She is not on house arrest. She's not wearing an ankle monitor. She was just required to check in and come back to court on March 26th. Given the severity of the charges, if convicted, on even some of them, Kimberly Sullivan could face decades in prison, which I believe she deserves, if she is indeed guilty,

which it looks like she is. But here is the official press conference about the case. The mother has not been involved in the victim's life from the beginning, pretty much, from all accounts, around two years old. The suspect is denying the allegations through her attorney has she said anything about how her steps on the 68 pounds for example Kimberly Sullivan refused to talk to us immediately do you a picture of the door lock that was taken as evidence I'm a hundred percent certain that we do I'd have to confer with the state's attorney if we were going to release any information like that at this time does Kimberly South through a sub Sullivan I'm sorry

have any prior criminal conditions no no prior criminal history with us here at the police department. Neighbors were telling us that if he had knocked on the window they would have hoped and were there any other attempts besides his fire trying to get him some help? No, again, I don't, you know, from what we've put together so far, no, and that's because of a fear of retaliation. I mean, he, in his room to relieve himself, right, had this elaborate mechanism that he created where he would urinate in a bottle and he had straws connected to the bottom of the bottle and he found a hole in the in the

storm window frame that he was able to put these straws through and he did that because the storm window itself wouldn't open up and he was fearful that if that he broke that storm window or tried to open it up that there would be some retaliation so you know I'm certainly not a psychologist or psychiatrist but there's there's a lot of nuances to people that are victims and held captive and I think that you know there's a lot of work that needs to be done with this this particular gentleman in that area to really determine all the impact and all the effects that this long-term condition has

has really brought on him I take it you haven't had a case like this before 33 years of law enforcement this is the worst treatment of humanity that I've ever witnessed. I mean, honestly, when we first started talking about it, we just, we really couldn't believe it. It took, it took a lot of convincing amongst ourselves to just really accept what was going on. And it's really hard to talk about still. I mean, it's shuddering to think that someone would treat any person, let alone a family member or someone that was entrusted as a guardian or a parental figure in this way. I want to share the community and the officials' reactions to what happened.

It's not surprising that the revelation of this long-term captivity brought out very strong reactions from both the community and law enforcement, ranging from shock and horror to anger and calls for accountability. The mayor of Waterbury actually said that they were committed to supporting the law enforcement in any way they possibly could, and they hope that the victim begins to heal from this unimaginable trauma. The mayor said that he promised to give resources to the victim's recovery, and this public commitment indicated the local authorities were rallying around the survivor to ensure that he's not forgotten now that he's finally free. Because sometimes these stories come and go.

They're in the media, everybody talks about it, and then two weeks later, everybody forgets. But this person's going to need a lot of support. The neighbors and community members were in total shock. I'm trembling right now, just thinking about it. You know what I mean? I've never seen them. Stop said.

Never. It's shocking, you know, like not knowing what's going on around you. The residents, they could not believe that such an atrocity was occurring right next door. And many of the neighbors have expressed their disbelief, but also their guilt. Some say they didn't even know he existed, and others had seen Kimberly a number of times and couldn't believe what she was hiding. And some of the residents who do recall the boy being around a long time ago were haunted by the memory of the memory of the time. that. Now neighbors are even questioning themselves. Were there signs they missed? Could they have done something? And I understand that. And you know, we always say if you see something, say something,

but you don't really know what to do in some of these situations. But that's a really unsettling realization because now you know just behind the curtains, just inside the walls of that house on the suburban street, there was this kind of mistreatment happening right under everybody's nose. School officials have a lot of anger. The principal of his own. elementary school has now retired, but he was the one that tried to get him help 20 years ago. It validated him, but it infuriated him that these claims were real, that he wasn't just going out of his way for nothing. But what could he have done? I feel like he did so much more than a lot of people did. He spoke out to the media. He expressed a mix of anger, sadness, and a little bit of I told you so.

We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done. That's the tragedy of the whole. thing. Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong. Knowing that his concerns were spot on and that the boy suffered for two decades is devastating for all of those educators. And he said that he hopes that the student, the victim, remembers the staff at Bernard School and how much they really loved him. And they're so sorry they couldn't do more. Sorry we couldn't do more because you went through more than any of us ever will go through. their lives. There's a real sense that the agency is meant to protect children, DCF, we've heard this many times,

fell short, and that's fueling calls for investigations into what really went wrong back in the early 2000s. I do think we need to hold these agencies responsible, but I do also understand there is a process, and as long as everything was followed, the officers went out there, then a report and a complaint was filed. So I think there was a lot of frustration and back and forth. But the DCF actually issued a public statement saying that our hearts go out to the victim and praising his incredible strength and resilience.

They explained, as noted earlier, that they found no records of his case due to expungement rules, essentially saying, we didn't respond back then, but nothing was substantiated. And those were gone now. And of course, as you're probably thinking yourself, this statement was scrutinized by the public. Many are really unsatisfied with, like, we have no records as an answer. There's another thing I want to point out, and this is so, so important. We have recently seen YouTubers, like vloggers, get in trouble with the law. There are so many of these cases coming up right now, and there's a really big one with

Ruby Frankie, and that's the one I'm kind of referring to when you homeschool children, or you take them out of a system that could protect them more because they're protecting them from people that are harming them in their household. But Connecticut has taken notice of that. Some have called for hearings on DCF processes and better oversight of children who are pulled out of schools for supposed homeschooling. Kimberly claimed to be homeschooling this boy, which can sometimes be a loophole to, you know, not let anybody know what's going on and not be scrutinized. The media coverage has been so intense so far, both locally and nationally. News outlets are comparing this case to famous captivity stories, some of which I'm going to discuss in a moment because, wow.

I was shocked and saddened. I mean, I've heard them before, but I didn't really look into them like I did now. There are other cases like this, and it raises a lot of questions of how this could be happening in modern America. Judging by the comments on social media that I saw, there is a mixture of sorrow for the victim and anger at the accused and rightfully so. Many people are calling Kimberly Sullivan a monster and demanding justice in the harshest terms. But I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't actually include the what-if discussions as well. And I like hearing both sides. I like thinking critically.

I've seen things like, what if the boy had been removed from the home in 2005? Like this would have never happened. What if a neighbor had called the police? What would cause a stepmother to do this? What was the catalyst? Was he ornery as a child? Did he misbehave?

Or was she just pure evil? And I wanted to know that. Did she just not want him? These are valid questions. Why didn't the dad step in? Why didn't they give him up for adoption? If they didn't want him, and the list of questions goes on and on.

These hypotheticals won't change what happened, but they do reflect that there is a searching for answers in the community, and people are also praising the victim because he was so brave. The prosecution has also greatly reminded the public that the victim's identity is protected, and he asked the media to respect his privacy because he needs to heal in so far, from what I've seen, his name has not been leaked,

which is a testament to the community's respect for his privacy and rightfully so far. so. Let's not traumatize this man even more. The interesting thing is, I still see him as a boy. I know he's 32 years old, but since this happened when he was a boy, I can't help but just see this helpless child when I think of this victim. I also wanted to point out similar cases of long-term captivity in case you were wondering about these or you wanted to look below. I will put the case names there as well. As extreme as this case is, it sadly echoes several historical cases where individuals were held captive for years or even decades.

When we compare these cases, it can provide even more context and insight into how such prolonged mistreatment can happen and what the outcomes have been for other survivors and their perpetrators. So here are some notable examples of long-term captivity that have been recorded in recent history. There's J.C. Lee Duggard, 18 years in captivity from 1991 to 2009, one of the most famous cases. She was only 11 years old when she was a boyfriend.

by Philip and Nancy Garado while walking to her school bus in California. These people kept her in concealment in a backyard compound for 18 years, during which she was repeatedly forced into terrible things and even gave birth to two daughters by her captor. She was finally rescued in 2009 where her and her children were brought to a parole meeting, and officers became suspicious, and they uncovered her identity. Jacey's case showed how a determined captor can hide someone, in a suburban setting for a very long time. When parole officers visited the home multiple times,

they never discovered J.C. in the backyard shed. She eventually wrote memoirs about reclaiming her life and even highlighting both the deep trauma and her incredible resilience. Like the Waterbury victim that we're talking about today, she had been just a child when she was taken and had to relearn how to live a normal life at the age of 29.

Her captors were sent to prison for life. The next case were the victims of aerial Castro's kidnapping, the House of Horrors in Cleveland. 9 to 11 years from 2002 to 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio, Ariel Castro kidnapped three young women between 2002 and 2004. Michelle Knight, who was 21, Amanda Berry, 16, and Gina de Jesus, who was 14. He chained, forced them into intercourse, and physically mistreated them in his home on Seymour Avenue for roughly a decade.

The captivity only ended in May of 2013, when Amanda Berry managed to break open part of the door and scream for help, alerting a neighbor who helped her and her six-year-old daughter fathered by her captor Castro escape and call 911. Police arrived and freed the other two women the same day and arrested Castro. Now, this case garnered enormous media attention. Three missing people.

Solved at once, Castro had systematically kept these women locked in upstairs rooms, much like Sullivan's stepson. He starved them, he hurt them. Michelle Knight suffered hearing loss from untreated infections and beatings, and Castro pleaded guilty to hundreds of charges and was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison where he died by his own hands just months into his sentence. The Cleveland survivors have since spoken out about their trauma. Two of them co-authored books, and one became an advocate for this type of mistreatment.

Their story, just like the Waterbury case, involved neighbors that were shocked that such horror was happening right under their noses. Neighbors had noticed really odd things. They had even called the police reporting a unclothed woman crawling in the backyard, but police never really followed up. And then there was the case of Elizabeth Fritzel. This was 24 years in captivity from 1984 to 2008, and this is perhaps the most horrifying interfamilial captivity case.

Elizabeth Fritzel was imprisoned by her own father, Joseph Retzel in Austria. It started in 1984 when Elizabeth was 18. He locked her in a hidden cellar beneath their family home and kept her there for 24 years. And during that time, he essayed her repeatedly fathering seven children. That is disgusting. And he forced Elizabeth to live in a filthy environment with the three children who remained captive with her from birth, never seeing daylight until the case broke in 2008. I mean, these stories, they just, They get worse and worse when you sit there and think about them. You let it sink in.

It's unbelievable. This mistreatment came to light when one of the captive-born children became gravely ill, and Joseph had to take her to the hospital, and it raised suspicions about, like, who is this child? She doesn't have a birth record. Elizabeth and the remaining children were then freed, and Joseph was arrested and later sentenced to life in a psychiatric prison. Now, this case does parallel the case at hand because it was a family member that was the captor, even though it was a stepmother, in this case, the inhumane treatment, the lasted decades, and it was all hidden by lies.

Britsle even told his wife and the authorities that Elizabeth had run away to join a cult and even pretended that three babies that he fathered were foundlings that were left on his doorstep, which he and his wife had raised upstairs in their house. Meanwhile, three other children and Elizabeth were below the ground in a basement and it's just sick. The psychological torment in the Fritzel case is extreme and it has been widely studied. Elizabeth and her children, when freed, lived under new identities since they were rescued, and they were healing in privacy.