WATERBURY, Conn. (Court TV) — A Connecticut woman accused of holding her son captive inside her home for decades appeared in court on Thursday after prosecutors filed new charges against her.
Kimberly Sullivan appears in court for a pretrial hearing on March 12, 2026. (Court TV)
Kimberly Sullivan now faces two charges of first-degree kidnapping, along with charges of assault, unlawful restraint and intentional cruelty to persons, according to records reviewed by Court TV. The charges mirror those she initially faced when she was charged last year, but were updated to reflect new information, prosecutors said. The new information wasn’t immediately made available to the public.
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The victim, now 32 years old, has asked to be called “S” since his rescue in February 2025. “S” was rescued by firefighters after the alleged victim intentionally set a fire in the house where he told investigators he had been locked for more than 20 years. Sullivan has denied any wrongdoing.
“This wasn’t true then, it isn’t true now,” Sullivan’s attorney, Ionnis Kalodis, told reporters following her brief appearance in court on Thursday. When asked why “S” weighed only 68 pounds when he was rescued from the home, Kalodis shrugged and responded, “We’ll see.”
Kalodis said the new charges don’t change anything for his client, who maintained her innocence and is free on a $300,000 bond. “As you can imagine, any time your face is plastered all over the news and you become public enemy number one, it does make it difficult to go out and resume a normal life.”
