Stepmother faces life imprisonment Locked up for 20 years - man escapes from horror room with fire
It's a story straight out of a horror movie: a 32-year-old man was held captive in a small room by his father and stepmother for 20 years. He saved himself with the help of a fire.
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- A 32-year-old man in Connecticut (USA) was held captive in a small room by his father and stepmother for 20 years.
- He finally set fire to his room in order to be rescued. When the fire department found him, he weighed just 31 kilos.
- The father died in early 2024 and the stepmother is now facing a life sentence. She pleaded not guilty.
No one saw him for almost 20 years. No school friend, no neighbor, no doctor. Only a fire brought to light what had been going on behind the doors of an inconspicuous house in Waterbury, Connecticut (USA): a now 32-year-old man had been locked in a small room since the age of twelve - by his father and his father's wife. The "New York Times" now reports this with new details.
When a firefighter entered the kitchen on February 17, he discovered an emaciated figure on the floor. He took her in his arms - and was shocked: "It was as if I wasn't holding anything," he said later.
In the ambulance, the man spoke to outsiders for the first time in years. He told them how he had been trapped in a small room. Day after day. For 23 hours. He wasn't allowed to go to school. Not to the doctor. No friends visited him. Going to the toilet? On newspaper. He had to dispose of his urine through the window into the garden.
He was 1.75 meters tall and weighed only 31 kilos. His teeth were so rotten that they often broke off when he ate. The last time he had showered was over a year ago. Books and an old radio were his only companions. Most of the time he stood at the window and counted the cars that drove past the house.
How a lighter and printer paper led to his escape
His escape began with a spark. Literally. He found a forgotten lighter in an old jacket that his stepmother had given him. Together with a disinfectant, which he had stolen from his room during one of his brief excursions and accidentally recognized as flammable, he set fire to a pile of printer paper. If he didn't die, he thought to himself, maybe someone would save him. And that's what happened.
He immediately confessed that he had set the fire himself. The police believed him. Investigations revealed that he had actually lived in the sealed room in the house for over two decades. The door was secured from the outside with a sliding lock and later reinforced with wooden panels. According to the police, it was clear: "This door was meant to keep someone in."
It had long been clear to many that something was wrong with the boy. Teachers, neighbors and even his primary school principal at the time had repeatedly alerted the youth welfare office and the police over the years. The boy was so hungry that he was stealing food and eating from the garbage. But official authorities always came to the conclusion that everything was in order.
In 2005, he was finally taken out of school - allegedly for home schooling. He then disappeared from public life.
Stepmother pleads not guilty: she faces life imprisonment
It was only after the fire that the police found out what had happened to him. His 57-year-old stepmother was arrested at the end of March. She is on trial for kidnapping, assault and deprivation of liberty, among other things. If she is convicted, she faces life imprisonment. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer says: "She insists she has done nothing wrong." Responsibility lies with her father, who died in early 2024. "She was not his mother," says the lawyer. She did not decide whether he went to school, what he ate or whether he saw a doctor. He also questions the veracity of the man's statements: "Where are the shackles? Where are the chains?"
While the family's two daughters apparently led a normal life, many neighbors did not even suspect that there was a third boy in the house. "I never knew there was another child living there," said one resident, according to the New York Times.
The man's half-sister had also spent decades searching for her brother - to no avail. "You can't find someone who doesn't officially exist," she said. She met him once - when she was three. "He never saw a concert, never saw a movie, never fell in love. That tears me apart."
"Why is she walking around outside while I've been locked up for 20 years?"
The man is currently undergoing medical and psychological treatment. According to the court, he suffers from muscle loss and deformed knees. In addition, a special diet is necessary to prevent a life-threatening metabolic disorder. The non-profit organization "Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury" is coordinating his care. A fundraising campaign has raised over 200,000 dollars. The man has not yet spoken publicly.
His biological mother has not been able to speak to him either. She gave him into the care of his father shortly after his birth. She thought it was for the best at the time. "I just cried, screamed and shook. It's a nightmare," she said now, having only seen her son again on the footage of his rescue after all this time. But she wants to make one thing clear: "I am so proud of him. Infinitely proud."
At a hearing where a judge ordered the accused stepmother to wear an ankle bracelet while on bail, the prosecutor explained that the man's first words when he met him were, "Why is she walking around outside while I've been locked up for 20 years?"
