The suspected was arrested on Wednesday, per ABC Information, and charged with “assault within the first diploma, kidnapping within the second diploma, illegal restraint within the first diploma, cruelty to individuals and reckless endangerment within the first diploma,” in response to police.

“The struggling this sufferer endured for over 20 years is each heartbreaking and unimaginable,” mentioned Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo.

Authorities turned concerned after an emergency name for an lively hearth at roughly 8:42 p.m. on February 17. That decision got here from Sullivan, the proprietor of the property that was aflame.

Whereas the hearth was shortly extinguished and Sullivan was capable of evacuate of her personal will, the opposite resident within the house, a 32-year-old man, wanted help from Waterbury Fireplace Division Fireplace personnel.

He was subsequently handled by emergency medical responders. It was solely when police started speaking to the person that they uncovered that it was he who had began the hearth — and why.

“Whereas receiving medical care [for smoke inhalation], the male sufferer disclosed to first responders that he had deliberately set the hearth in his upstairs room,” officers mentioned in a assertion relating to the case.

As for why he began the hearth, they mentioned he advised them merely, “I wished my freedom.”

“He additional alleged that he had been held captive by Sullivan since he was roughly 11 years outdated,” the assertion continued. In response to CBS affiliate WFSB, which shared the complete arrest affidavit, the person allegedly spent these years locked inside an 8-foot by 9-foot room.

The alleged sufferer “lit a hearth with some hand sanitizer, some paper from a printer, and he lit that fireplace whereas he was locked in that room from the surface,” mentioned a prosecutor in courtroom on Wednesday, per WFSB.

“He lit that fireplace very effectively figuring out he might die,” the prosecutor continued, “however he had been locked within the room for 20 years, and for 20 years he’d been attempting to get out of that room.”

The person’s preliminary feedback triggered an investigation as the person was examined by medical professionals and located to be in a “severely emaciated situation,” weighing simply 68 kilos, in response to WFSB.

“Investigators additional found that he had been supplied with solely minimal quantities of meals and water which led to his extraordinarily malnourished situation,” the police assertion added.

The person purportedly advised authorities he was given solely two cups of water per day and was typically pressured to drink out of the bathroom. It was additionally decided he “had not acquired medical or dental care” throughout his a long time inside the house.

The affidavit additional particulars the person’s allegations that he was pulled from faculty within the fourth grade and solely allowed out of his room to do chores or to let the canine out, spending roughly 22 hours locked within the room.

He additional advised police he’d had no contact with anybody exterior the house, and that the final time he’d left the home was together with his now-deceased father when he was 14 or 15 years outdated. He added that solely his two half-sisters and a deceased grandmother knew of his scenario.

He mentioned that his concern of dropping the minimal meals and water he was given, and that he may be locked in even longer, saved him from attempting to interrupt out.

On account of the person’s assertion, investigators concluded that the sufferer had been pressured to endure “extended abuse, hunger, extreme neglect, and inhumane remedy,” resulting in an arrest warrant being issued for Sullivan.

“This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Lawyer’s Workplace,” mentioned Spagnolo. “Their unwavering dedication ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held totally accountable for these horrific crimes.”

Talking with The Related Press by cellphone, Sullivan’s lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, mentioned his shopper was “shocked to listen to the allegations” and “that they have been completely not true.”

“Completely not true. He was not locked in a room. She didn’t restrain him in anyway,” Kaloidis insisted, per WFSB. “She offered meals and she or he offered shelter and she or he was blown away by these allegations. Completely not.”

“As we get extra data we intend to place up a vigorous protection,” Kaloidis added to the AP. “However she’s adamant she didn’t do the issues that she’s accused of.”

Many of the neighbors reported that that they had no concept the person even lived in the home, although one recalled seeing him a couple of decade in the past when she was a younger woman.

“Within the yard, I used to be simply on the swing set and I seemed up on the again window, and I simply noticed a bit of boy there, or it seemed like a bit of boy to me, and he simply smiled and waved at me and I waved again, and once I turned my head and seemed again from the window, he was gone,” Shae Baker advised WFSB.

Her stepfather, Zeffery Guarnera, mentioned that he was house when the hearth occurred, however had no concept anybody else had been concerned. “I simply thought it was an accident, after which when the investigator began asking me a couple of man which will appear like a baby, I used to be like, ‘I don’t know what you’re speaking about.’”

Baker mentioned that she’d “sort of satisfied” herself she’d made up seeing him all these years in the past. “I simply hope he will get the assistance that he must heal from every little thing,” she added. “In the event you have been at that window and also you don’t faucet on the window and scream or do one thing to ask for assist that you simply needed to resort to this, I can’t think about how horrible his situations have been.”

Sullivan’s bond has been set at $300,000. She is predicted to be positioned within the custody of the Connecticut Division of Corrections awaiting trial.