Newly released bodycam footage revealed the moment a Connecticut man escaped his stepmother after she allegedly imprisoned him for 20 years.
Law enforcement responded to a house fire on Feb. 17 that led to an investigation into Kimberly Sullivan. She was accused by her 32-year-old stepson of holding him hostage in an 8-by-9-foot storage room for decades, CT Insider reported.
Investigators later determined the emaciated man, who weighed 68 pounds when he was rescued from the home, had intentionally started the blaze to gain freedom.
The footage, obtained by CT Insider, showed Sullivan informing a firefighter that her stepson was still inside the house. While the firefighter escorted her away from the home, another first responder passed by carrying the body of a "victim" later identified as Sullivan's stepson.
Following an investigation set off by the house fire, Sullivan was arrested and charged with second-degree kidnapping and intentional cruelty to a person.
The victim alleged he had been kept a "secret" since he was taken out of school in the fourth grade for stealing classmates' foods and sifting through trash for scraps. He also told investigators his two half-sisters, his deceased grandmother and other family members knew he was being held.
Sullivan was released on $300,000 bail on Thursday. She will return to court later this month on felony charges.
