Kimberly Sullivan is facing charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons after her stepson was rescued from the family’s Connecticut home
Now 33, the stepson weighed just 68 lbs. when he was rescued and claimed he had been locked inside his room for over 20 years
Sullivan’s daughter, the victim’s sister, told police a few weeks after his rescue that she was sexually assaulted, according to a court filing; it is unclear who she accuses of assault
The sister of the 33-year-old man rescued from a Connecticut “House of Horrors” after 20 years in captivity alleged to police that she was a victim of sexual assault.
This was revealed after a lawyer for Kimberly Sullivan — the woman’s mother — filed a motion with the court seeking to review privileged counseling records related to this admission.
Sullivan is set to stand trial next year after being accused of keeping her son locked in a room for 22 hours a day inside the family’s Waterbury home.
Ahead of her trial, Sullivan is seeking to review the claims being made by her daughter, who the motion states is a material witness in the case against her mother.
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“I want to explain that I have recently started to see a Psychiatrist. I have been through a lot of trauma in my life and I wanted to talk about it with a professional. I have brain fog from the trauma and I’m realizing that I have a hard time remembering many things from my past,” Sullivan’s daughter said in a written statement provided to the Waterbury Police Department a little over two weeks after her brother’s rescue. “For the first time today, and I haven’t even spoken to my attorney about it, I disclosed that I had been sexually assaulted for a large portion of my life.”
She also wrote that she had difficulty “remembering things while I was young,” but, a copy of Sullivan’s motion obtained by PEOPLE alleges “she then goes on to reference distinct memories, claims to have been controlled and conditioned by her mother, and her remembrances of interactions with her brother.”
The court document does not identify who sexually assaulted the young woman or provide a timeline for when the alleged assaults began or ended.
Sullivan argues in the filing that she should be able to review these privileged records for “relevant discoverable, exculpatory and impeachment material.”
Prosecutors have charged her with kidnapping, assault, unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons after her stepson was rescued from the residence last year.
The young man made his escape in March 2025 after starting a fire in his bedroom using a lighter, some hand sanitizer and paper.
An arrest warrant obtained by PEOPLE states that the victim told detectives that his stepmother began locking him in the room for 22 hours a day or more after pulling him out of school at the age of 11.
He arrived at the hospital weighing just 68 lbs. , and later told authorities that he had not showered in close to two years. He also said he had been subsisting on just two sandwiches a day for a decade, according to the warrant.
Sullivan, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, continues to maintain her innocence.
“We would urge the public not to rush to judgment in this case, to please keep in mind that she is presumed innocent unless and until if ever, the state can prove otherwise at trial,” her lawyer Ioannis Kaloidis previously said in a statement to PEOPLE. “These allegations are horrific and she intends to defend them vigorously. She is innocent. And we intend to follow this case through until she’s vindicated.”
Her trial is expected to begin in February; if convicted on all charges, she could face up to 45 years in prison.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org . All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.