WATERBURY, Connecticut — The unthinkable abuse a Connecticut man allegedly suffered at the hands of his stepmother lasted more than 20 years — despite police, his school and child services being warned even before he was locked away from society.

The alleged victim, now 32, weighed just 68 pounds when he was rescued last month from a fire at his Waterbury home. He told cops he intentionally set the blaze in a desperate bid to free himself from his life of hellish torment.

For decades, his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, forced him to spend day and night locked in a 9-by-8-foot storage space on the second floor of the family’s ramshackle house, he told cops.

Kimberly Sullivan in court for a bond hearing on March 13, 2025 after getting arrested for allegedly abusing her stepson for 20 years. Pool photo

Sullivan’s 32-year-old stepson was rescued after a fire at his Waterbury, Conn. home last month. Douglas Healey for New York Post

He was routinely deprived of food and water, and forced to at times to eat out of garbage cans and even drink from the toilet just to survive, according to court documents.

Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said the family first landed on investigators’ radar in 2005 when his school reported concerns to the Department of Children and Families (DCF), which twice visited the home.

The victim later told detectives these visits — around the time he was 11 — prompted Sullivan, who now faces charges of assault and kidnapping, to yank him out of school for good.

Tom Pannone, his principal at Barnard Elementary School two decades ago, told NBC Connecticut he always knew something was “grossly wrong” after staffers first spotted the worryingly thin child stealing food and eating out of the garbage.

Sullivan getting arrested on March 12, 2025. Waterbury Police Department via AP

Sullivan was charged with assault and kidnapping. Waterbury Police Department via AP

“Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was 5 years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said.

“We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing.”

In a statement Thursday, DCF expressed sorrow for the “unspeakable conditions” the now-adult victim endured, and praised him for showing “incredible strength and resilience,” but said they had no record of receiving any reports on his behalf.

Tom Pannone, the victim’s principal at Barnard Elementary School two decades ago, said he knew at the time something was wrong at the boy’s home. NBC Connecticut

“The [DCF] has looked extensively at our current and historical databases and, to date, have been unable to locate any records pertaining to this family nor any records connected to the names of others who have indicated they made reports to our Department,” the statement read in part.

DCF pointed out that per Connecticut state law, unsubstantiated abuse and neglect reports are expunged after five years if no further complaints are filed.

“We will continue our search and ask anyone with additional information to contact the Waterbury Police Department,” the department wrote.

The conditions inside the Waterbury house. Douglas Healey

At a press conference Thursday, Waterbury’s top cop, Spagnolo, called the details of the case “shuddering,” and said in his 33 years in law enforcement, the house of horrors was “the worst treatment of humanity that I’ve ever witnessed.”

Prosecutors likened the stepson’s treatment to Holocaust victims, describing the alarmingly emaciated man, who spent much of his life in a state of near starvation, as, “without exaggeration, akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp.”

His 56-year-old stepmother, Sullivan, was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons, and first-degree reckless endangerment, maintains her innocence, per her lawyer. She was sprung Thursday afternoon after posting $300,000 bond.

Neighbors caught fleeting occasional glances of the stepson, including their daughter, now 25, who exchanged waves with him through his bedroom window as she swung on her backyard swing set a decade ago or more, her father Zeffery Guarnera told The Post.

“He waved at her and she waved at him and she didn’t think nothing of it but we haven’t seen him since,” he said, estimating the “little boy” she spied in the window that day — who was more likely actually in his late teens or early 20s at the time — was “probably around the same age” as his daughter.

After the stepson’s biological father died last year, he told investigators his captivity grew even more restrictive, and that he was locked in his room between 22-24 hours per day. He said threats of even longer lockdowns or withholding food prevented him from telling anyone how he was forced to live.

The basement at the Waterbury house. Douglas Healey

The victim was only 68 pounds when he was rescued from the hosue. Douglas Healey for New York Post

He told detectives he passed the endless hours in solitary confinement counting cars outside, or listening to local radio stations WZBG — “Soft Rock 97.3,” WATR — which used to broadcast UConn basketball games and WNPR.

He cut his own hair, hadn’t bathed for years and said he had never been to the dentist. He said sometimes his rotten teeth would shatter when he bit into the meager portions of food he was allotted, which typically consisted of a sandwich or two per day.

He disposed of his waste using newspapers and bottles, rigging up a funnel and a series of straws to channel his urine through a hole in the window.

The stepson said although his now-deceased father and two half-sisters didn’t actively help keep him confined, they knew full well of his plight. Hardly anyone ever came to the home, but when they did, he was threatened into keeping quiet.

“I have been kept a secret my entire life,” he told investigators.