The deranged stepmom who allegedly tortured, starved and held her stepson captive in a room in their Connecticut home for more than two decades was released from jail Thursday.
Alleged sicko Kimberly Sullivan posted a $300,000 bond after sitting behind bars for less than one day, court records show.
As conditions of her release, Sullivan will undergo daily evaluations — and is prohibited from contacting her victim “in any manner.”
Sullivan’s disturbing scheme was uncovered Wednesday when she was arrested, about a month after her stepson set their home on fire in a desperate plot to flee — though she was on locals’ radars well before she held her victim captive.
The unnamed 32-year-old man weighed a shocking 68 pounds when he was rescued from the blaze. (According to CDC statistics, an “average” 32-year-old American male weighs just under 200 pounds.)
The man — who officials said was “akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp” — told police he had spent most of his life padlocked inside an 8-by-9-foot room in the Waterbury house.
He was only allowed two sandwiches and a snack a day, and was rarely allowed outside.
On Feb. 17, the victim risked his life to escape the torture by using hand sanitizer, paper, a stack of games and a lighter close to the locked door, making sure the flames were severe enough that Sullivan couldn’t put them out herself and would be forced to call the fire department, court records state.
Sullivan allegedly tried to clean up her stepson’s face in an attempt to hide his severely malnourished appearance — and ordered the man’s sister and her boyfriend to “get a screwdriver to get the locks off of the door,” according to officials.
The victim, however, planted himself on the floor and waited for his only hope for freedom.
“[The victim] fell to the ground again with Sullivan yelling at him to get up,” the complaint said. “He stayed on the ground and he purposefully didn’t get up so the fire department would be forced to get him.”
Sullivan’s alleged abuse started when the man was just 5 years old.
The victim was frighteningly skinny and was frequently caught eating out of trash bins, said Tom Pannone, who was the boy’s principal at Barnard Elementary School two decades ago.
The boy told staffers that he sometimes wasn’t allowed to eat at home, prompting teachers to bring him meals and call child protective services at least 20 times.
The calls did nothing but scare off Sullivan, Pannone said. She yanked the boy out of school at 10 years old, and he was not seen again.
“You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said.
“We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing.”
The victim’s stepmom, who insisted she is innocent, faces charges of assault, kidnapping, unlawful restraint, cruelty and reckless endangerment.