The biological mother of a Connecticut man allegedly held captive for decades by his stepmother is opening up about why she gave up custody back in 1993 — as well as her intentions to be there to support him now.
“It’s hard to think about what he had to go through,” Tracy Vallerand told NBC Connecticut in her first on-camera interview. “Just knowing that he was right there.”
Vallerand’s son was rescued on Feb. 17 by firefighters responding to a blaze he intentionally set inside the Waterbury home where he was allegedly kept against his will for more than 20 years. He told authorities he used hand sanitizer, printer paper and a lighter to spark the flames in a bid to escape from Sullivan, who has since been charged with 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.
The man, now 32 years old, recalled for investigators how Sullivan pulled him out of school when he was just 11, and then confined him to an 8-foot by 9-foot room with no bathroom shortly thereafter. More often than not, he would spend up to 23 hours a day in there with little to none of some of the most basic human essentials. He said he was forced to live off two cups of water a day, while his daily food ration was two sandwiches, though that decreased over the years.
By the time he was rescued by first responders last month, the man measured 5-foot-9 and weighed just 68 pounds.
“I don’t hate people at all. This one, I hate,” Vallerand said of Sullivan.
Vallerand gave up custody of the victim when he was just 6 months old, leaving his father, Kraigg Sullivan to raise him with his new wife, Kimberly.
“Things didn’t work out between the two of us, and I was thinking that I was giving my son a better chance at a full life,” she told NBC Connecticut. “If I had known…what…I just can’t fathom it. I have no words.”
Vallerand explained that she was left broken when she lost custody of her first child, Heather, and her struggle to cope permeated most aspects of her life.
“One day I was at work,” she recalled. “I got called up that Heather was being taken to the hospital. DCF (the state Department of Children & Families) took her, said she had shaken baby syndrome.”
Heather’s father was arrested in connection with the incident and they lost custody of their daughter. Around the same time, Vallerand met Sullivan, who stood by her side while she struggled with her mental health, even visiting her at the hospital following a suicide attempt.
“When I knew him, he was a sweet guy. After we got married, we had our son,” she said, adding that she still continued to struggle afterward.
Vallerand said she tried finding her son once he turned 18, scouring social media and local school yearbooks for him.
“No sign of him,” Vallerand said.
Eventually she gave up, assuming that he graduated and moved away to start his life. But now that she knows the truth, she has vowed to attend each of Sullivan’s court hearings in support of her son. She also said they have not yet met, but she hopes that in time, he will be ready to begin a relationship with her.
“He’s in a very delicate stage right now,” Vallerand said, adding, “I’ll be surprised if he ever trusts anyone again.”
