Kimberly Sullivan, a Waterbury lady who’s accused of locking her emaciated stepson in a room of their residence and ravenous him for many years, is due court docket on Friday and she or he is anticipated to enter a plea of not responsible.
Sullivan made a short court docket look on Wednesday morning that lasted solely 50 seconds.
Her protection workforce mentioned the state notified her legal professional that it deliberate on submitting a movement to change the circumstances of launch or request the court docket to take action.
The state did file a movement that day that features a request that the situation of her launch embrace digital monitoring with home arrest or GPS monitoring.
Police haven’t recognized the sufferer to guard his privateness.
Firefighters discovered him on the evening of Feb. 17 once they responded to the two-story Colonial residence at 2 Blake St. in Waterbury once they had been dispatched to place out a hearth.
Video from that decision confirmed Sullivan outdoors the house.
Firefighters mentioned they discovered her stepson within the fetal place on the ground within the kitchen.
At first, they thought he was youngster.
The sufferer, who’s 32 years outdated, weighs solely 68 kilos, police mentioned.
Firefighters picked him up, introduced him outdoors and put him in an ambulance.
He instructed first responders that he had been locked in the home for his whole life and set the hearth as a result of he needed his freedom, in keeping with the arrest warrant.
Weeks after the hearth, police charged 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan with assault within the first diploma, kidnapping within the second diploma, illegal restraint within the first diploma, cruelty to individuals and reckless endangerment within the first diploma. She was launched on $300,000 bond.
She has denied the allegations and has not but entered a plea.
That’s anticipated to occur on Friday.
Sullivan’s legal professional, Ioannis Kaloidis, has mentioned his shopper maintains her innocence and the allegations are severe, they aren’t true and the state has to show them in court docket.
“Those allegations are made by one person. I understand the whole world has jumped on those allegations and has already convinced my client, but the good thing about America is that is not how we work,” he mentioned.
The sufferer’s organic mom, Tracy Vallerand, was within the courtroom on Wednesday to indicate assist for her son as his stepmother’s case goes earlier than the court docket.
“It’s just disgusting that she’s allowed on the streets right now,” Vallerand mentioned outdoors of court docket on Wednesday.
Vallerand mentioned the final time she noticed her son was when he was 6 months outdated.
Throughout an unique sit-down interview with NBC Connecticut, Vallerand mentioned she gave up custody of her son shortly after his delivery in 1993 as a result of she was struggling after shedding custody of her daughter, the sufferer’s half sister, Heather Tessman. three years earlier.
“We should actually start when Heather was born, because that’s pretty much where it all began,” Vallerand mentioned. “One day I was at work. I got called up that Heather was being taken to the hospital. DCF (the state Department of Children & Families) took her, said she had shaken baby syndrome.”
Vallerand mentioned her daughter’s father was charged with the crime, each of them misplaced custody and Tessman grew up with foster mother and father.
Vallerand mentioned she was considering, “that I was giving my son a better chance at a full life.”
He went on to reside along with his father and Kimberly Sullivan.
The daddy died in January 2024 and the sufferer instructed police that the abuse, which began when he was 3, acquired worse after his father’s loss of life, in keeping with the arrest warrant for Sullivan.
Vallerand mentioned she made many makes an attempt to get again into her son’s life and she or he and her daughter had been in search of him for years.
When Vallerand noticed Sullivan in court docket, she was “disgusted,” she mentioned and added that different relations, together with the siblings who had been dwelling in the home, are complicit as properly.
“The two daughters also knew that he was there. They didn’t say anything, they’re complicit. Even the daughter’s boyfriend that knew he was there. They all need to be charged,” Vallerand mentioned.
Vallerand and Tessman haven’t but spoken with the sufferer and mentioned they don’t know the place he’s now, however they’ll proceed to indicate as much as assist him.
“When he is healthier and he’s stronger, if he wants relationship with me, I am right here. I’m not going anywhere,” Vallerand mentioned.
Watch “Waterbury Man Held Captive,” an NBC Connecticut particular report
