Crowdfunding campaign raises over $100,000 for Connecticut man held captive in home for 20 years
A woman was charged for allegedly holding her “severely emaciated” stepson in captivity for over 20 years, since he was 11 years old, and forcing him to endure “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” police said. Facebook / Waterbury Police Department
(WATERBURY, Conn.) — A crowdfunding effort has raised over $100,000 for a Connecticut man who was held captive for over 20 years in his home.
His stepmother was arrested last week for allegedly holding her “severely emaciated” stepson in captivity since he was 11 years old.
The now-32-year-old man suffered prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect and inhumane treatment, according to police. He had not received basic medical and dental care and an education.
The man is 5-foot-9 and weighed just 68 pounds when he was found, according to officials.
The crowdsourced effort, organized by Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, will be used to pay for medical and dental care, counseling and therapy for physical and emotional recovery, housing and daily living expenses and support for legal fees, the nonprofit said.
Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury said it is in the process of setting up a trust for the man. The crowdfunding effort has gathered donations from over 300 people as of Wednesday morning.
The man was discovered on Feb. 17, when Waterbury Police Department officers, along with personnel from the Waterbury Fire Department, responded to a house fire.
The fire was quickly extinguished and two occupants were found inside the home at the time. The first person was identified as 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, the owner of the property who called authorities for help, and the second person was identified as a 32-year-old man who was later determined to be Sullivan’s stepson.
Sullivan was evacuated to safety following the fire but the male occupant, who had suffered smoke inhalation and exposure to the fire, had to be assisted from the home by Waterbury Fire Department personnel and was placed in the care of emergency medical services, police said.
Investigators quickly realized there was a room in the house that appeared to have exterior locks on the door and, as they began speaking to the male victim, he disclosed he had been held captive in the house for approximately 20 years.
The victim then told police he had started the fire, telling first responders, “I wanted my freedom,” officials said.
Sullivan’s lawyer defended his client and said it was the victim’s late father who was responsible.
“He was not locked in the room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food. She provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations,” her lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, told New Haven ABC affiliate WTNH last week.
Kaloidis said the stepson’s late biological father “dictated how the boy would be raised.”
(SHILOH, Ala.) — At a recent church service in Cleveland, a group of visitors from a rural Alabama community nearly 900 miles away, including pastor and business owner Timothy Williams, joined congregants in singing the spiritual “I Don’t Mind Waiting.”
Williams has grown used to waiting.
After six years of frequent flooding, two presidential administrations and numerous reassurances from top officials, homeowners like Williams who live in the majority-Black Shiloh community say they are still waiting for state and federal agencies to make them whole.
Now, with the Biden administration ending Monday, they feel they are running out of time.
“The longer they put us on hold, things are getting worse and worse,” said Williams, who has been advocating for Shiloh since 2018, after community members say a project by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) to widen an adjacent highway led to flooding on their properties.
When the state denied responsibility for the flooding, community leaders turned to the federal government for help. In September 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration opened an investigation into their concerns.
The administration says it aims to complete investigations within six months, but after a year with no resolution, Shiloh residents focused their efforts on reaching the top transportation official in America: U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Shiloh residents became hopeful last spring when Buttigieg traveled to their community to see how runoff from the expanded highway drained onto their properties. He toured the historic community, listening to residents and telling them Washington would make things right.
The people of Shiloh say they were optimistic about what was to come, but when the federal investigation came to a close in October — more than two years after it began — the resulting Voluntary Resolution Agreement with ALDOT fell short of their expectations.
The deal required the state to mitigate future flooding in Shiloh, but it did not address existing property damage. It also did not assign blame for the flooding, raising questions as to whether any government entity is liable for compensating the residents for their losses.
“We are closely coordinating with the Federal Highway Administration on our efforts to follow through with the terms of the Voluntary Resolution Agreement,” ALDOT spokesperson Tony Harris told ABC News.
On the brink of yet another administration change, Williams wants Buttigieg to commit more resources to Shiloh in his final days in office.
“We want him to give us a binding written agreement that will cover the damages of the people’s homes and their properties and make the people whole,” Williams said. “That’s all we’re asking him to do and he can do that.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation, however, said the secretary cannot meet this demand.
“Congress has not authorized any programs or funding for DOT that can provide emergency relief directly to communities experiencing hardship, so this whole-of-government approach is critical to help the Shiloh community access federal assistance that is not available through DOT alone,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
The flooding in Shiloh has consequences ranging from transportation to housing to environment, spanning the jurisdictions of a web of federal agencies. Some of these departments are involved in a task force led by the U.S. Transportation Department to identify resources available for Shiloh, an Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson told ABC News.
“EPA shared all funding opportunities and technical assistance available to the community,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that Shiloh community members applied for an EPA grant program in November.
Since the Voluntary Resolution Agreement did not assign liability for the flooding – the responsibility for finding government funds to fix the flood damage has largely fallen to the Shiloh community members. They now say they’ve been wading through red tape while their homes fill with water.
With the clock ticking toward another Trump administration, Shiloh community leaders are worried they’ll be left behind. They aren’t waiting for federal agencies to come to them anymore.
In December, Williams and his daughters traveled from Alabama to Ohio, where Buttigieg was scheduled to speak before the City Club of Cleveland.
In his address, Buttigieg discussed the accomplishments of his administration, including tackling infrastructure inequities in vulnerable communities.
“Many communities had transportation projects done to them rather than with them, often because they lacked the wealth or political power to resist or reshape them,” Buttigieg said.
Listening closely alongside the Williams family were some of their supporters: Shiloh-area native Dr. Robert Bullard, known as the “father of environmental justice” for his pioneering research, and representatives from the Sierra Club.
“The point of transportation is to connect, and yet there were so many places where transportation functioned to divide, sometimes contributing to racial and economic divisions,” Buttigieg told the audience. “We can do something about it, and we are.” In the case of Shiloh, however, what exactly can be done and who should do it remains unclear. All the while, the flooding continues.
When asked by ABC News if he would meet with the Shiloh families who’d come to Cleveland, Buttigieg said he “would want to take that up directly with them.”
“We’ll continue to do everything we can, both within and beyond any kind of formal and official steps, to try to support that community because I’ll never forget what they’re going through,” Buttigieg said.
After they were denied another meeting with the secretary, Williams and Bullard put together a petition with roughly 5,000 signatures demanding a binding agreement to cover damage to residents’ properties.
On Tuesday, the group traveled another 900 miles, heading to Washington to deliver their petition directly to the U.S. Transportation Department before Buttigieg’s term ends.
“We want to see a victory,” Bullard said. “How this community overcame all odds and got the resources from the federal government to make them whole.”
Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous joined the group to call for justice in Shiloh.
“Their community’s been turned into a drainage ditch by the Alabama Department of Transportation with U.S. Department of Transportation dollars,” Jealous said.
After relentless flooding and tireless advocacy, Shiloh’s 150-year legacy still hangs in the balance. While Washington politics churn on, their homes continue to sink and runoff drowns their generational wealth. Bullard stressed that there is still time for Washington to act.
“It’s already been two administrations that have allowed this to happen,” Bullard said. “This should not — and must not — bleed into a third administration.”
ABC News Senior National Correspondent Steve Osunsami contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A major cross-country storm is moving east, bringing severe thunderstorms to the South on Mardi Gras Day before heading to the East Coast on Wednesday.
More than 400,000 customers lost power in Texas on Tuesday morning.
Damage was reported in Irving, Texas, near Dallas, and winds gusted to 62 mph near Abilene, Texas, as the storm blew through in the morning.
In Oklahoma, residents woke up to a tornado, wind gusts over 80 mph and flash flooding.
Now, the storm moves east, with a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma until 11 a.m. local time. A tornado watch extends south through Arkansas, northern Louisiana and eastern Texas though 3 p.m. local time.
On Tuesday afternoon, the severe thunderstorms will reach Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans as Mardi Gras celebrations culminate in a final day of festivities on Fat Tuesday. Parades in the area have been canceled or moved earlier due to the weather.
Tornadoes and damaging winds will be the biggest threat, but flash flooding is also possible.
The thunderstorms will hit Alabama after 8 p.m. and then Atlanta overnight.
By Wednesday, the storm system will move to the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds from Georgia to New York.
Tornadoes are possible in the Carolinas and southern Virginia.
Meanwhile, a blizzard warning is in effect for six states from Colorado to Minnesota, where a combination of snow and gusty winds could create dangerous whiteout conditions on the roads.
A winter storm warning was issued for Wisconsin and Michigan, where some areas could see up to 1 to 2 feet of snow from Tuesday through Wednesday evening.
(MINNESOTA) — A statue of famed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald was stolen from outside a Minnesota building where he once attended school, police said.
The statue, which had been located outside the Academy Professional Building in Saint Paul, depicted a young Fitzgerald seated with a couple of books in his lap.
Now all that remains of the statue of “The Great Gatsby” author is part of his right hand.
Police said the statue is believed to have been cut free. Its owner, Ed Conley, told ABC Twin Cities affiliate KSTP a cutting torch is believed to have been used to free the statue. The bolts were also cut, he said.
“Disappointed for sure,” Conley, the founder of the real estate company CCI Properties, told the station.
The statue, which was located on the steps to the Academy Professional Building, was last known to be there on Feb. 3 and was reported missing four days later, police said.
The building was once home to the St. Paul Academy, which Fitzgerald attended from 1908 to 1911 as a teen. Conley said Fitzgerald wrote for the school paper and participated in plays while he attended the school.
He commissioned local artist Aaron Dysart to make the statue of the author nearly 20 years ago when he bought the building, which now houses office spaces.
“It was really fun to just highlight that history,” Conley told KSTP.
The statue of the author has been a fixture on various tours in the city, Conley said.
It would cost around $40,000 to replace the bronze statue, Conley told KSTP, estimating the metal could fetch several hundred dollars at a scrap yard.
Conley told KSTP he hopes to “resurrect” the statue and “bring it back to the community and have people enjoy it again.”
The investigation into the theft remains ongoing and there are no updates on any suspects or arrests, a Saint Paul Police Department spokesperson told ABC News on Wednesday.
Police asked anyone with information or who “recalls seeing suspicious activity” outside the building between Feb. 3 and 7 to call 651-291-1111.
