HARTFORD, Conn. — State prosecutors in Connecticut filed a motion Wednesday seeking to put Kimberly Sullivan under electronic or GPS monitoring while she is out on bond for charges alleging that she held her 32-year-old stepson captive for two decades.

Sullivan, 56, appeared briefly at Superior Court in Waterbury, where she and her attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, learned of the motion and were granted a continuance until Friday to prepare to address the proposed conditions.

The hearing also served as the first chance for long-lost family members of the man to see Sullivan in person. Many of them referred to her as a “monster” for what she allegedly did to the 5 feet 9 inch tall man who weighed just 68 pounds when he was rescued by first responders in February.

“How can you not realize that someone is so frail and malnourished and just mistreated in your own home?” said the man’s half-sister, Heather Tessman, outside the courthouse.

“I just know that she’s a monster,” Tessman said of Sullivan, adding that she only met her half-brother once when he was a newborn while she was in foster care. “This is lifelong abuse and it’s sick.”

“You don’t think of this happening to anybody, let alone your own child,” said Tracy Vallerand, the man’s biological mother.

Vallerand said she had not seen her son since he was 6 months old when she gave up custody because she did not feel she could properly provide for him. She told reporters outside the courthouse she and her daughter searched for years to find him, but that there was never any trace of him when she entered his name into online search engines. She said she always assumed he graduated high school and either went off to college or got a job like most people do.

“I was not expecting him to be locked in a room,” Vallerand said.

Immediately following the hearing, Kaloidis said he had not yet seen the motion filed by prosecutors, though he believed it was seeking electronic or GPS monitoring while Sullivan remains free on a $300,000 bond.

The motion will be argued in court on Friday when Sullivan is expected to plead not guilty to charges of second-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, cruelty to persons, first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree unlawful restraint.

Sullivan did not speak during the hearing or respond to questions outside the courthouse before or after the appearance.

The allegations against Sullivan, which have drawn national attention, first came to light when firefighters responded to a structure fire on Feb. 17 at a Waterbury home and found Sullivan outside with her dog. She told firefighters her stepson was still inside.

Firefighters had to carry the man out of the home, where he told first responders that he purposely set the fire using hand sanitizer, paper and an old lighter he had found.

“I wanted my freedom,” the man said, according to the warrant affidavit charging Sullivan.

“It was terrible, but I am proud of him for doing that. It took a lot of strength and courage to do what he did,” Vallerand said.

After being taken to an area hospital for smoke inhalation the man confided in authorities that he had allegedly been subjected to abusive conditions for as long as he could remember — which he said began at a very young age when he would have to sneak out to get food at night, the warrant affidavit said. Once the food wrappers were discovered, the man told police, he began being locked in his bedroom and would have to drink water from a toilet, as he was only allegedly given two sandwiches and two small cups or bottles of water each day.

Once the family moved to another home, the man said he remembered being hungry all the time — allegations that were reportedly substantiated by school officials who allegedly saw him eating from the trash, according to the warrant affidavit. After school officials raised concerns to the Department of Children and Families, police were called to the family home to investigate the report that they were being harassed by DCF, police wrote. After that, the man told police, he was yanked from school in 2005 when he was 11 years old.

From then on the man said he was kept locked in an 8-foot by 9-foot storage room with a storm window that did not open and no heat or air-conditioning, the warrant affidavit said. He alleges that he was only let out between 15 minutes to two hours a day to do chores, but that there were some days when he said he was locked up for 24 hours straight.

Tessman said she believes the abusive conditions got worse after the man’s father died in January 2024, and that the cruelty her brother was allegedly exposed to stemmed from him not being Sullivan’s biological child.

“I think it was because he wasn’t her son,” Tessman said. “I know a lot of stepparents can be incredibly vindictive to children. It’s not right and it’s awful.”

Kaloidis, however, has painted a different picture of the situation and has claimed that the man’s father dictated how he was treated throughout his childhood and into his adult years. Sullivan, Kaloidis contends, did nothing to keep the man locked in the home and never used the latch and lock that police found outside the room where he said he was kept.

When asked by reporters after Wednesday’s hearing to explain how the victim could weigh less than 70 pounds at 32 years old, Kaloidis said the burden to prove the allegations rests strictly on the prosecution.

“The great thing about this system is that we don’t have to explain it,” Kaloidis said. “Those allegations are made by one person.

“I understand the whole world has jumped on those allegations and has already convicted my client, but the good thing about America is that’s not how we work,” he continued. “She’s presumed innocent until proven otherwise in court. I’m sorry that she’s been convicted worldwide and that everyone wants to proceed to a lynching, but we have a system, she has rights, the same rights that everyone else has.”

Vallerand called it “disgusting” that Sullivan is allowed to be out on the streets and questioned why more people have not been charged. She alleged that Sullivan’s two daughters received much better treatment over the years and were aware of what was happening. Vallerand said she also believes the boyfriend of one of the sisters was also aware.

“They all need to be charged,” Vallerand said.

The mother said she had not yet been able to speak with her son and did not even know the treatment facility where he was recovering.

“When he’s healthier, when he’s stronger, if he wants a relationship with me, I am right here,” Vallerand said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

If she could get any message to her son she told reporters she would tell him “I love him.”

Tessman said she would love to have a relationship with her half-brother, as she always knew he was out there but had no way of finding him.

“Always, always,” Tessman said when asked about how much she has dreamed of seeing him. “He’s always been on my mind and I’ve always known about him.”

Tessman said she has a ton of books, movies and video games she would like to share with her half-brother and that she would love to go to a concert or a movie together to get to know each other.

“I would say that I love you and I just want to be here for you,” she said when asked what she would like to tell him.

Since the news of the alleged abusive conditions made national headlines, support has poured in for the victim from far and wide. Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury has offered him ongoing care and has coordinated donations, including a GoFundMe started to raise money for housing, medical, dental, counseling and other needs. As of Wednesday afternoon, the fundraiser had generated about $196,000 of its $210,000 goal.

“I think it’s so awesome that he’s got the whole world on his side,” Tessman said.

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