Connecticut woman accused of holding stepson captive for 20 years pleads not guilty

Kimberly Sullivan, a Connecticut woman who is accused of locking her emaciated stepson in a room in their home and starving him for decades, appeared in Waterbury Superior Court on Friday, where she entered a not guilty plea and the judge ordered that she be under GPS monitoring.

Judge Joseph Schwartz said he decided that GPS monitoring was appropriate given her mental health conditions and the lack of a permanent residence since she is living with her children.

This appearance came after Sullivan made a brief court appearance on Wednesday morning that lasted only 50 seconds.

After that court appearance, the state filed a motion to request a modification on the conditions of her release to include electronic monitoring with house arrest or GPS monitoring.

“This victim is afraid. This victim lives in fear,” Donald Therkildsen, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney, said in court on Friday morning. "I introduced myself to the victim, explained who I was. His first question in this fear is, 'Why is she out walking around when I was locked up in a room for 20 years?”

Therkildsen also told the court that one of Sullivan's friends came forward and said she was never allowed in the house and did not know Sullivan had a stepson.

"A friend of the defendant of 21 years has come forward and provided a written statement to the state, to the police, that in the 21 years she's known as defendant, she's never spoken of a stepson, she was shocked to learn she had a stepson, and that that friend was never allowed in this house," he said.

Sullivan's attorneys filed an objection to the conditions.

Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said the conditions that were put in place initially were appropriate.

“My client has been complying with the conditions and has done what has been asked of her,” he said. "And it would send a dangerous message to change them."

He said several threats have been made against his client and he had advised that she leave the state for her own safety.

“She has appeared in court despite the difficulty in getting here. There are serious safety concerns for her. Putting her in a specific area where she cannot leave will only create additional safety concerns. There are numerous threats against her." Kaloidis said. "Numerous people have made threats. They're posting them online, talking about not waiting to be able to see her out in public. She needs to be able to have freedom of movement.”

Schwartz called the allegations against Sullivan troubling.

“The allegations are arguably the most troubling that I've seen during my tenure as a judge and show really unthinkable amount of lack of empathy," he said.

He decided to order GPS monitoring, but not house arrest.

After making his argument against changing the conditions, Sullivan's attorney asked about entering a not guilty plea.

The next court date has been set for April 22.

Police have not identified the victim to protect his privacy. They said he has a conservator and continues to receive treatment at a medical facility.

Firefighters found him on the night of Feb. 17 when they responded to the two-story Colonial home at 2 Blake St. in Waterbury, when they were dispatched to put out a fire.

Video from that call showed Sullivan outside the home.

Firefighters said they found her stepson in the fetal position on the floor in the kitchen.

At first, they thought he was a child.

The victim, who is 32 years old, weighs only 68 pounds, police said.

Firefighters picked him up, brought him outside and put him in an ambulance.

What the man told the first responders shocked them, police said when they held a news conference about the arrest of his stepmother.

He told first responders that he had been locked in the house for his entire life and set the fire because he wanted his freedom, according to the arrest warrant.

Weeks after the fire, police charged 56-year-old Sullivan 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. She was released on $300,000 bond and has not been ordered to be on GPS monitoring.

She has denied the allegations.

Kaloidis has said his client maintains her innocence and the allegations are serious, they are not true and the state has to prove them in court.

“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 said.

The victim’s biological mother, Tracy Vallerand, was in the courtroom on Wednesday to show support for her son as his stepmother’s case goes before the court. And she was there on Friday as well.

Vallerand said the last time she saw her son was when he was 6 months old.

During an exclusive sit-down interview with NBC Connecticut, Vallerand said she gave up custody of her son shortly after his birth in 1993 because she was struggling after losing custody of her daughter, the victim’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 said. "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 said her daughter's father was charged with the crime, both of them lost custody and Tessman grew up with foster parents.

Vallerand said she was thinking, “that I was giving my son a better chance at a full life.”

He went on to live with his father and Kimberly Sullivan.

The father died in January 2024 and the victim told police that the abuse, which started when he was 3, got worse after his father’s death, according to the arrest warrant for Sullivan.

Vallerand said she made many attempts to get back into her son's life and she and her daughter had been looking for him for years.

She only found out where he was when her sister called her to tell her that she saw news of him being rescued on television, she said.

Vallerand and Tessman have not yet spoken with the victim and said they don’t know where he is now, but they will continue to show up to support him.

She said on Friday that she does not anticipate being able to speak with her son as long as there is an ongoing investigation.

"When he is healthier and he's stronger, if he wants a relationship with me, I am right here. I'm not going anywhere," Vallerand said in an interview with NBC Connecticut.

Watch "Waterbury Man Held Captive," an NBC Connecticut special report