The Fire That Freed Him: Kimberly Sullivan’s House of Horror

Crime Salad

BLACKCAT | Realm

True Crime

4.4 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the night of February 17, 2025, a desperate 32-year-old man risked everything to escape the nightmare he had been trapped in for years. His prison? A locked room in an unassuming house in Waterbury, Connecticut—a place that had become his personal dungeon. Starved, abused, and neglected for years, he weighed a mere 68 pounds—less than the average 10-year-old child.
With no way out and no hope left, he made a decision that could either free him or kill him—he set the house on fire. Using only a lighter, hand sanitizer, and paper, he ignited the flames that would determine his fate. His life-or-death gamble set off a terrifying race between the Waterbury Fire Department and the raging fire trapping him inside.
When firefighters arrived at 8:40 PM, they fought to control the flames and rescue the man still inside. But when they finally entered the house, they found something even more horrifying than the fire—a skeletal, barely alive man, covered in filth, with rotting teeth and matted hair. He had survived not just the fire but years of unimaginable cruelty at the hands of his captor—his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan.
While Kimberly had managed to flee the burning house, her stepson had been left behind, just as he had been for years. But on this night, he finally escaped—not just the flames, but the horrors of his captivity.
The fire had nearly killed him, but in the end, it was what set him free.

If you're worried a child may be experiencing abuse, help is available. Contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline by calling or texting 800-422-4453, or visit childhelphotline.org to chat with a live crisis counselor. They're available 24/7 to listen, offer support, and guide you on the next steps. You don't have to face this alone — someone is always ready to help.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, move those routers there.
0:04.0	Oh, hey, it's me, your data center.
0:06.0	And as you can hear, I'm making some big changes in here,
0:09.0	because AI is making some bigger ones everywhere.
0:12.0	So I took a little trip to Nokia.
0:14.0	Super fast routers, optical interconnect, fully automated,
0:18.0	the whole data center networking portfolio, and they deliver. That's them.
0:23.4	Hey, Nokia, right on time. Get your data center AI ready. Someday is here with Nokia.
0:34.7	About 10 years ago, after participating in an after-school program at Chase Park House, Tom Pinone drove across the street to observe the house where one of his former students lived.
0:46.7	He vented his frustrations about the troubling situation to his wife, as he had done many times before.
0:53.1	Despite his efforts, he couldn't determine what
0:55.8	had happened to the boy or secure the help that educators at Barnard Elementary School believed
1:02.3	he needed. Tom warned his wife, I don't know where this kid is, but I'm telling you right now,
1:10.0	we're going to see this story on Dateline
1:12.6	sometime. When listening to Tom discussed the ominous signs he was haunted by back then,
1:19.3	his frustration over the Connecticut Department of Children and Families' refusal to step in,
1:25.4	to save this young student. He was so clearly suffering remains a powerful
1:29.6	force that hasn't dimmed a bit since the boy was pulled out of school over a decade ago,
1:36.4	effectively ending Tom's interactions with him. In an interview for NBC, Connecticut,
1:43.1	Tom Pannon, the former principal of Barnard Elementary School, insisted everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old.
1:54.6	You knew something was wrong.
1:56.4	It was grossly wrong.
	...

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