Biological Mom Is 'So Proud' Son Escaped After Alleged 20 Years in Captivity, Wants Stepmom to 'Rot in Hell'

The biological mother of a Connecticut man who escaped after allegedly being held captive by his stepmother for over 20 years is speaking out.

“I love him. He’s so strong, and I’m so proud of him for doing what he needed to do. I wish he did it sooner,” the man’s mother told NBC Connecticut.

The mother, who asked to not be named, said that she and her daughter spent years trying to locate the man in vain.

“I’ve always known he’s existed, and I’ve always loved him, and I’ve always been trying to find him. I’ve been looking for him for over a decade,” the daughter told NBC.

Now that her son is free from the home where he was allegedly being held, his mother is hoping those who knew about his captivity will be punished for their actions.

“All of them in that home … need to get … charged, and she needs to actually spend the rest of her life in solitary confinement and fed two cups of water a day,” the mother told NBC.

She also said that the her son’s stepmother Kimberly Sullivan, 56, deserves to “rot in hell.”

The mother told NBC she gave up her son when he was a toddler and had been looking for him ever since when her sister called with the news of his alleged escape last week.

“I’m heartbroken,” she told NBC. “I still just can’t fathom it. How can anybody treat somebody like that?”

Officers with the Waterbury Police Department arrested Sullivan last week on charges of assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment in the first degree.

She is accused of keeping her stepson locked in a room inside their Waterbury home for over 20 years.

Now 32, the young man made his escape after setting a fire in his bedroom using a lighter, some hand sanitizer and paper.

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According to an arrest warrant obtained by PEOPLE, the victim told detectives that his stepmother allegedly began locking him in the room for 22 hours a day or more after pulling him out of school at the age of 11.

The man, who has not been publicly identified, arrived at the hospital after the fire weighing just 68 lbs., and later alleged he had not showered in close to two years and had been subsisting on just two sandwiches and two cups of water per day for a decade, according to the warrant.

Through her attorney, Sullivan is maintaining her innocence.

“We would urge the public not to rush to judgment in this case, to please keep in mind that she is presumed innocent unless and until if ever, the state can prove otherwise at trial,” Ioannis Kaloidis said in a statement to PEOPLE. “These allegations are horrific and she intends to defend them vigorously. She is innocent. And we intend to follow this case through until she’s vindicated.”

Sullivan is currently out on $300,000 bail and is due back in court March 26.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.