Kimberly Sullivan, the Waterbury woman who is accused of holding her stepson captive for 20 years, made a brief court appearance Thursday, with the state filing new charges against her.

Her stepson, who is only known as S, started a fire at his Blake Street home in February 2025 to escape from Sullivan.

While the original second-degree kidnapping charge only alleged that Sullivan held her stepson captive, one of the new first-degree charges alleges she held him captive with the intent to hurt him. The other first-degree charge alleges that Sullivan did it in order to commit another felony.

First-degree kidnapping is a Class A felony and each charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

"It's similar to what's already been already alleged, so I don't think it really changes too much on our end," says Ioannis Kaloidis, Sullivan's attorney.

During the appearance, Kaloidis and the state discussed how Sullvian's team will physically get S's medical records from after the fire.

"The complete records pertaining to any injuries that are claimed. It's really what the state is alleging, we're really trying to see what evidence they have and what evidence they're going to produce at trial. I don't know what's in there, we'll know it when we see it," says Kaloidis.

A pre-trial hearing will be held on April 30, but Sullivan does not need to attend. Thursday was also the one-year anniversary of when Sullivan was arrested.

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