By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-26 17:57:42 | Updated at 2025-04-05 03:03:06
1 week ago
A 'wicked stepmother' accused of abusing her son while keeping him captive for 20 years in her Connecticut home has turned up to court wearing striking make-up and a low-cut blouse.
Kimberly Sullivan donned large sunglasses, red lipstick, thick eyeliner and a pearl-colored necklace with a pinstripe blouse for her brief hearing at Superior Court in Waterbury on Wednesday.
Dozens of reporters and paparazzi surrounded the 56-year-old, who is charged with assault, kidnapping, and cruelty, as she approached the courthouse beside her attorney Ioannis Kaloidis. She did not respond to their questions.
Kaloidis guided her by the hand towards the entrance as she fixed her gaze straight ahead and they marched through the media scrum.
Sullivan has said she is not guilty of any offenses and was released on a $300,000 bond this month. The victim, her now-32-year-old stepson, has not been named.
She removed her sunglasses while inside the courtroom, revealing thick black eyeliner and rouge cheeks similar to the make-up she wore in her police booking photograph.
Sullivan stood beside her attorney and listened with her eyebrows raised as he requested more time to prepare her defense.
The judge did not allow Sullivan to enter a plea. He gave her defense team two days to respond to a motion to modify her bail.
Kimberly Sullivan donned large sunglasses, red lipstick, thick eyeliner and a pearl-colored necklace with a pinstripe blouse for her brief hearing at Superior Court in Waterbury CT
Sullivan, who is accused of abusing her son while keeping him captive for 20 years in her Connecticut home, turned up to court wearing striking make-up and a low-cut blouse
She removed her sunglasses while inside the courtroom, revealing thick black eyeliner and rouge cheeks similar to the make-up she wore in her police booking photograph (shown above)
'I have yet to see the motion. It is my understanding they wish to add some kind of electronic monitoring or GPS bracelet,' Kaloidis told the court.
Sullivan is accused of subjecting her stepson to a 20-year campaign of cruelty and starvation at their Waterbury, CT home.
The alleged victim has accused her of holding him captive in a room there without heat or air conditioning or proper access to food since he was 11 years old.
He said Sullivan also deprived him of access to a bathroom, so he devised ways to dispose of his waste, including using a series of straws that led to a hole in a window.
The man added that he saved some of his daily ration of two small water bottles to bathe without soap and cut his own hair. Pieces of his teeth would even break off when he did eat because of a lack of dental care.
Neighbor Zeffney Guarnera - whose daughter once mistook the victim for a ghost - previously told DailyMail.com he didn't even realize Sullivan had a son.
He also slammed her striking appearance when asked what she did for work.
‘I have no clue what she did for work, I just know she dressed like a tramp,' he told DailyMail.com.
‘She just dressed very provocatively for an older woman. Like why are you trying to dress like you’re 22?’
Kimberly Sullivan (pictured on the far right) donned large sunglasses, red lipstick, thick eyeliner and a pearl-colored necklace with a pinstripe blouse for her brief hearing at Superior Court in Waterbury on Wednesday
Pictured: Sullivan at a previous court hearing in mid-March. She has said she is not guilty
Sullivan's alleged cruelty ended February 17, when her stepson set fire to the house in a deliberate effort to save himself and told his story to responding police and firefighters, according to the arrest warrant.
Police are now trying to determine how this could have happened without anyone noticing and whether any warning signs were missed.
Investigators want to look at records from city schools and the state child welfare agency, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said at a news conference earlier in March.
Though she is yet to enter an official plea, her lawyer Kaloidis has said that she is not guilty.
'I would encourage people not to rush to judgment,' he said in a phone interview earlier this month. 'This woman is presumed innocent.'
The alleged victim's father died last year, while his biological mother has not been part of his life, authorities said.
Medical personnel said the man was near starvation and had wasting syndrome, a condition of weight loss and muscle deterioration, when he got to a hospital, the warrant says.
At five feet, nine inches tall he weighed only 69 pounds.
Pictured: the Waterbury, Connecticut home where the alleged victim said he was held captive
He was treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Spagnolo said the man faces a long road of physical and mental treatment. He said police are supporting him, including taking up a collection to buy him clothes and other items.
The man told police that he was constantly hungry. When he was in school, he would ask classmates for food, steal food and eat out of the garbage.
In later years when he was out of school and confined to the house, he would get two sandwiches a day and some water while locked in his room.
The police's only interactions with the family were in 2005, the chief said. One was a welfare check after children who attended school with him before he was pulled out expressed concern about him.
Sullivan is set to appear in court again on Friday, when she will enter a formal plea.
