Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray from.
Speaker 2: Radio. Okay, those of us who have worked in the
Speaker 2: news media come across bizarre stories, uh and the pairly
Speaker 2: normal bizarre stories. Some of them are easy to understand.
Speaker 2: I remember, you know, one of the oftentimes bizarre stories
Speaker 2: of tragic stories. Obviously, I remember covering the UH station
Speaker 2: nightclub fire down in Rhode Island. One hundred people burned
Speaker 2: to death. This small nightclub went up in flames, and
Speaker 2: people stampeded for the doors, and with the crush of people,
Speaker 2: people couldn't get out, and one hundred people died. Plane
Speaker 2: crashes all sorts of you know, stories that that just
Speaker 2: make no sense. I mean, clearly, the crash in earlier
Speaker 2: this year over the Potomac, the plane coming into Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. Colliding with the military's a helicopter. We won't
Speaker 2: know for sure, but it looks to me like the
Speaker 2: military helicopter was about one hundred or so feet higher
Speaker 2: than they should have been. But the story that I'm
Speaker 2: about to tell you, if you haven't heard it, is
Speaker 2: extremely bizarre, extremely bizarre. So let me try to keep
Speaker 2: it straight because there's a lot of details that frankly
Speaker 2: had not been filled in However, in Waterbury, Connecticut, there's
Speaker 2: a street. I guess it's called Blake Street. Side Street.
Speaker 2: I guess. I'm not sure if it's a main thoroughfare.
Speaker 2: The only thing I know about Waterbury, Connecticut was it
Speaker 2: was the home of the birthplace of Jimmy Pierce All
Speaker 2: Great Red Sox center Field, a number thirty seven in
Speaker 2: the nineteen fifties, played alongside played between Ted Williams and
Speaker 2: Jackie Jensen. So Waterbury, Connecticut, nice city in Connecticut, Connecticut,
Speaker 2: lovely state. I think it's called the makes Steak if
Speaker 2: I'm not mistake in the insurance state or whatever I miss.
Speaker 2: I get my state nicknames mixed up every once in
Speaker 2: a while. But it's a it's a it's a lovely area.
Speaker 2: It's it's a Northeastern state. It is it's considered probably
Speaker 2: one of the states with the highest educational levels of people.
Speaker 2: The home of Yale. Other great schools, Trinity College outside
Speaker 2: of Hartford, as well as Yale. US Coast Guard Academy
Speaker 2: is down down in Groton. Wesleyan is great schools. It's
Speaker 2: just it's a. It's a it's a wonderful, wonderful state.
Speaker 2: So the story goes that on February seventeenth, which obviously
Speaker 2: three days after Valentine's Day. It's a Monday, it's a holiday,
Speaker 2: and at that night, fire alarm comes in on a
Speaker 2: house on Blake Street. Get there. There's a woman fifty
Speaker 2: two years of age. She is out on the street.
Speaker 2: Her name is Kimberly Sullivan. She looks a lot older
Speaker 2: than fifty two years of age, but she's fifty two.
Speaker 2: And the fire apparatus is there trying to save the house,
Speaker 2: and she's holding looks like a pet dog, and she's
Speaker 2: telling the firefighters that her step son is inside the house.
Speaker 2: And I think she was concerned about some cats as well.
Speaker 2: But they were asking is there anyone any any adults? Yes,
Speaker 2: my step son. Well, the firefighters somehow, some way, we're
Speaker 2: able to rescue the steps on. He's thirty two years
Speaker 2: he's currently thirty two years old. But upon closer review
Speaker 2: they find out because the thirty two year old admits
Speaker 2: he set the fire, he'd been held captive in a
Speaker 2: single room for twenty years by his and his stepmother.
Speaker 2: According to a police warrant, the man had told police
Speaker 2: that he's been confined since he was eleven years old. Now,
Speaker 2: it would appear to me that he must have been
Speaker 2: born sometime, and I'm going to guess nineteen ninety three,
Speaker 2: I guess would be the way to kind of do
Speaker 2: the math. It depends upon what month. But let's say
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty, nineteen ninety three. So when he's eleven, it
Speaker 2: would have been two thousand and four, George Bush still
Speaker 2: would have been president, George Bush forty three in his
Speaker 2: first term. In his first term. And the story that
Speaker 2: this young man told who when he was saved from
Speaker 2: the fire, that he admitted he started, it's five point nine,
Speaker 2: but he weighs sixty eight pounds. That means that I
Speaker 2: guess his body fat content or his BMI. Yeah, his
Speaker 2: body mass index. You know, a healthy body mass index
Speaker 2: is probably really you know, an athlete is probably eighteen.
Speaker 2: If you're really an excellent shape, body mass index of
Speaker 2: twenty is good. This guy's body mass index was about eleven.
Speaker 2: I guess if your body mass index is thirteen, and
Speaker 2: you get your body mass index by dividing your height
Speaker 2: by your weist. This he was he looked, they said,
Speaker 2: like someone coming out of a concentration camp. The story
Speaker 2: that he told is bizarre, It's bizarre for a number
Speaker 2: of reasons. It's bizarre. It's bizarre that his neighbors. He
Speaker 2: lived in this one room, which was eight feet by
Speaker 2: nine feet, locked in the room by his stepmother. According
Speaker 2: to the media reports that I have read, she's now
Speaker 2: been arraigned on a number of char charges kid including
Speaker 2: kidnapping and child abuse. Now he's thirty two, so he's
Speaker 2: older than a child. Obviously, she was held on three
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars bail. She made bail. She made bail
Speaker 2: on Thursday the thirteenth. So now no one on the well,
Speaker 2: no one on the street knew that this guy was
Speaker 2: still living in the house. People who were longtime residents
Speaker 2: remember seeing him working in the yard with his father,
Speaker 2: like maybe ten years ago or fifteen years ago. The
Speaker 2: father just passed away. His biological mother apparently. And I
Speaker 2: do not know anything about this, whether or not she
Speaker 2: was a surrogate mother, or whether she was a woman
Speaker 2: who gave up a child for adoption, or a teenager
Speaker 2: who gave up a child for adoption. She was quoted
Speaker 2: and rob, I get some soundbites here. I want you
Speaker 2: to begin to play. She was quoted as saying that
Speaker 2: somehow her sister heard about this news story which has
Speaker 2: been percolating in Connecticut now for days, for weeks actually,
Speaker 2: and that was the first she had heard. She'd been
Speaker 2: looking for her son. I don't know the circumstances which
Speaker 2: caused her to lose contact with her son cut twenty.
Speaker 2: Please Rob, this is the mother, the biological mother of
Speaker 2: this young man.
Speaker 3: She could written, Hell, my sister actually called me while
Speaker 3: I was at work and she had stated that we found.
Speaker 2: We found them.
Speaker 4: So just St'm battlement.
Speaker 2: How can anybody treat somebody like that? So apparently when
Speaker 2: she refers to that this young man was held in
Speaker 2: activity for his entire life, but certainly for the last
Speaker 2: twenty years, living in a room, I guess he would
Speaker 2: come downstairs every morning and get two sandwiches, which was
Speaker 2: his food for the day, and two small cups of
Speaker 2: water and go back to the room. Now why he
Speaker 2: didn't try to make a run for it. The mother
Speaker 2: who was the stepmother who has been arrested and now
Speaker 2: is being held on bail. She doesn't look very well either.
Speaker 2: She looks like a tough fifty two, if you get
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, And she doesn't seem to be someone
Speaker 2: who would have been able to physically restrain him if
Speaker 2: he tried to make a run for it. This is
Speaker 2: such a bizarre story. I mean, that's the only way
Speaker 2: to describe this. Now. The Waterbury, Connecticut Police Chief Fernando Spagnola,
Speaker 2: talked about his condition at at a press conference a
Speaker 2: few days ago. This is cut number twenty six. Please
Speaker 2: rob twenty six.
Speaker 5: There's an adult that was five foot nine and sixty
Speaker 5: eight pounds. You know, there's some apparent orthopedic issues. You know,
Speaker 5: the room was very small. That room did have exterior
Speaker 5: locks on it, in a number of different styles of
Speaker 5: exterior locks, as was explained during an interview with the victim.
Speaker 5: Throughout the years, it appeared that the locks increased in
Speaker 5: security levels as time progressed. Information was very guarded on
Speaker 5: what was released. And you know, when he was able
Speaker 5: to see other members of the family and other members
Speaker 5: of the community.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and one of the TV stations down there was
Speaker 2: the NBC affiliate spoke with the former principle of his
Speaker 2: elementary school. This young man who was held in captivity
Speaker 2: apparently did begin a public school, but he would have
Speaker 2: been in the first grade, I guess, and somehow, some way.
Speaker 2: The parents at one point had made some complaint to
Speaker 2: the school. Some children in the school had talked to
Speaker 2: the principal down there and said, there's something wrong with
Speaker 2: this kid. Somehow, some way, there was a guess, a
Speaker 2: couple of home visits made to his home in the nineties.
Speaker 2: When people they have I guess they're called the Department
Speaker 2: of Children in Families. An article that will be in
Speaker 2: The Globe tomorrow morning, written by Travis Anderson and Claire
Speaker 2: Thornton of the Globe, staffs that are representative of the
Speaker 2: Department of Children and Families in Connecticut told The Globe
Speaker 2: Wednesday that the agency has been unable to locate any
Speaker 2: records pertending to the family, but that a search for
Speaker 2: any information is ongoing. The severe in duration of the
Speaker 2: alleged abuse and how it remained hidden has stunned the region,
Speaker 2: and recent court records provided Harrying new details of the
Speaker 2: man's alleged captivity. Authorities have not released his name to
Speaker 2: protect his privacy, but guess what. The school principle was
Speaker 2: found by the local television affiliate down there, the local
Speaker 2: NBC television affiliate, and I have misplaced the paper here
Speaker 2: for a second, Rob, But the teacher, the school principal
Speaker 2: did speak with local newspaper. I will find that sound
Speaker 2: bite his the SoundBite that he gave. Didn't you have
Speaker 2: that one there? Please play that one?
Speaker 6: Rob?
Speaker 2: His name is, his name is Thomas Panone.
Speaker 3: We knew it, we reported it. Not a damn thing
Speaker 3: was done. That's that's the tragedy of the whole thing.
Speaker 3: Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was
Speaker 3: five year so you knew something was wrong.
Speaker 2: It was grossly wrong.
Speaker 3: You don't disappear off the face of the earth at
Speaker 3: ten years old. Sorry, we couldn't do more, because you
Speaker 3: went through more than any of us ever will go
Speaker 3: thward our lives.
Speaker 2: Well, that's great. Sorry, we couldn't do more. Sorry, we
Speaker 2: couldn't do more. There's so many lessons to be learned here.
Speaker 2: I just want to open up the phone lines. If
Speaker 2: you know about the story and you want to add something,
Speaker 2: that's fine. If you have questions, I'll try to answer them.
Speaker 2: What does this say about our relationship with our neighbors?
Speaker 2: There were news stories I've seen with the neighbors said
Speaker 2: we had no idea this kid lived there. I mean,
Speaker 2: was there any interaction in that community. Fourth of July, Christmas, Halloween, whatever, Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: Did anybody ever go over to the house? I don't know.
Speaker 2: I've seen pictures of the house. Obviously it had a fire,
Speaker 2: it wasn't destroyed. It looked like a particularly great neighborhood,
Speaker 2: but it looked like a fairly normal house. Two five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six, one seven nine three, one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: If you know about the story, feel free to add
Speaker 2: anything that I've omitted. But how can this happen in America?
Speaker 2: How can it happen in the state of Connecticut, the
Speaker 2: state of Yale, and you know education and wow, this
Speaker 2: this boggles my mind. I know that this bad stuff
Speaker 2: that goes on, but for bad stuff to go on
Speaker 2: like this to a kid who just has the mistake
Speaker 2: of being born into a bad set of circumstances. All
Speaker 2: the money we paid for social services, where are his
Speaker 2: social services? Back on Night's Side right after the break.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Now, I'm sure some of you think, well, Dan's telling
Speaker 2: a story and they don't believe this, But this is
Speaker 2: a true story out of Connecticut, and it is out
Speaker 2: of Connecticut in the last the last few days. So
Speaker 2: again the victim discovered. On February seventeenth, Waterbury Police officers,
Speaker 2: along with the Waterbury Fire Department, responded to a report
Speaker 2: of an active fire at eight forty two in the evening.
Speaker 2: By the way, I miss aged his step mom. She's
Speaker 2: fifty six. She still looks like there'll be a tough
Speaker 2: fifty six, let me put it like that. So she's evacuated.
Speaker 2: The male occupant, who was in the house longer. This
Speaker 2: thirty two year old son, suffered smoking elation and exposure
Speaker 2: to the fire, had to be assisted from the house.
Speaker 2: As his understandable he'd been locked in a room. He
Speaker 2: further alleged he had been held captive by Sullivan since
Speaker 2: he was approximately eleven years old. Now, apparently his father,
Speaker 2: his biological father, died in twenty twenty four January, about
Speaker 2: a year ago. That's according to the Waterbury Police chief.
Speaker 2: You know there was a biological father. The father was
Speaker 2: wheelchair bound from some sort of medical condition. The victim's
Speaker 2: biological mother, who you heard from earlier in this half hour,
Speaker 2: apparently has not been involved in his life since he
Speaker 2: was about two years old. Now I'm gonna make a
Speaker 2: huge leap here that the biological mother and the father
Speaker 2: at some point had this child. Whether they were married
Speaker 2: or not doesn't really matter at this point, because whether
Speaker 2: the father took the child away or the mother didn't
Speaker 2: particularly care, it doesn't matter. The father ends up with
Speaker 2: the child when he's two, which again we're guestimating a
Speaker 2: sometime around nineteen ninety five. He then marries. I assume
Speaker 2: he marries the fifty six year old Kimberly Sullivan at
Speaker 2: this point, and that's how she becomes the step mother. Okay. Now,
Speaker 2: the the lawyer for Sullivan, the woman here who's the
Speaker 2: one who is charged with this abuse, has said, oh, no,
Speaker 2: she did. She did great, she took care of him
Speaker 2: and all of this. The police chief was quoted as saying,
Speaker 2: thirty three years in law enforcement, this is the worst
Speaker 2: treatment of humanity that I've ever witnessed. She's arraigned in court,
Speaker 2: had a bond of three hundred thousand dollars. She's now
Speaker 2: expected to be placed in the custom of the Connecicut
Speaker 2: Department of Correction while she awaits trial. Kimberly Sullivan refused
Speaker 2: to talk to police almost immediately, but does not have
Speaker 2: any prior criminal history. Yeah, she just stayed in the
Speaker 2: house with this kid for twenty years. Look, there's got
Speaker 2: to be some mental health issues involved here, maybe all around.
Speaker 2: But my question is, how is it that in a
Speaker 2: neighborhood and I don't know Waterbury, Connecticut, as I say,
Speaker 2: other than the birthplace of Red Sox in the field
Speaker 2: did Jimmy piersoll many years ago? But this me and child.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the mugshot of the mother. She's fifty six.
Speaker 2: She looks presentable. She looks a rough fifty six, but
Speaker 2: she's presentable. How did she survive? What did she do
Speaker 2: for a living? I mean this, I just can't wait
Speaker 2: till we get some of the details. Did she have
Speaker 2: a job? Who? I assume that she inherited the house
Speaker 2: from her husband when he died a year ago. Did
Speaker 2: he leave her instructions? Apparently this kid for twenty years,
Speaker 2: not only for the year in which the stepmother was
Speaker 2: the only adult in the house. The father, the biological father,
Speaker 2: had been there for this kids the entirety of this
Speaker 2: kid's life. Look, this kid apparently had seen hadn't seen
Speaker 2: a dentist, hadn't seen a doctor. Uh, how does this happen.
Speaker 2: How does this happen in a place like Connecticut, one
Speaker 2: of the you know, one of the more adviced states
Speaker 2: in America. Uh. Again, it's just unbelievable. Look, what I
Speaker 2: want to do is I want to give you a
Speaker 2: chance to if you, if if you've heard about this case,
Speaker 2: h feel free to offer your opinion.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: I think it's an It's an indictment obviously of this family,
Speaker 2: which was dysfunctional, but it's also an indictment of government. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's an indictment of government, and it's also I think
Speaker 2: an indictment of the people that live in that community.
Speaker 2: How could they not know that something was amiss. They
Speaker 2: probably did not know what was going on inside the
Speaker 2: home because this kid apparently hadn't been out in twenty years.
Speaker 2: So I get it. We don't care about our neighbors
Speaker 2: as much as we used to in this country, and
Speaker 2: even in a place like Connecticut. But what does it
Speaker 2: say about us as a society within no charitable organizations
Speaker 2: in that community, no churches, no temples, no synagogues, no
Speaker 2: outreach from anyone. I'm assuming that the house probably has
Speaker 2: it looks okay now, but I'm sure it's fallen into
Speaker 2: disrepair over the years. What does this say that this
Speaker 2: can happen and this young man now thirty two years old,
Speaker 2: he will never be right? Okay, I mean this kid
Speaker 2: will be This guy will be taking care of for
Speaker 2: the rest of his life by so society. But the
Speaker 2: time when society had the greatest obligation to him was
Speaker 2: as a child, as a student in a in an
Speaker 2: elementary school. That just stopped. Don't they have truant officers?
Speaker 2: Aren't these social workers? This is Connecticut. If you're in Connecticut,
Speaker 2: you know about the story, feel free. You wanted to
Speaker 2: defend your state. I'm not attacking the state. I'm just
Speaker 2: saying I think it's it. It says a lot about
Speaker 2: our society. If you lived on that street, how would
Speaker 2: you feel at this point? How would you feel knowing
Speaker 2: that this went on under your nose? You lived your life,
Speaker 2: You walked and drove past that house a thousand times,
Speaker 2: maybe five thousand times, and you never seem to notice
Speaker 2: and say what's going on there? Six seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Have we lost what we once had in this country
Speaker 2: as a society where we actually at least knew our neighbors,
Speaker 2: maybe even cared for our neighbors. We're coming back on
Speaker 2: Nightside right after the news. I hope to hear from
Speaker 2: as many of you as possible. And if you think
Speaker 2: that I am being overly critical, or if you think
Speaker 2: I'm being naive, feel free. This one hit me hard.
Speaker 2: I mean, this kid did nothing. The only mistake this
Speaker 2: kid made was being born into this situation. Coming back
Speaker 2: on night Side, It's.
Speaker 1: Night Side, Boston's news Radio, or.
Speaker 2: Let's go to the phones. I am I'm just this
Speaker 2: this story blows me away, and that this is this
Speaker 2: kid was born in Connecticut, who was born in a
Speaker 2: state that should have provided him with lots of opportunities,
Speaker 2: and I just I kind of understand it. I just
Speaker 2: can't understand. Let me go to Joe and Boston. Joe,
Speaker 2: appreciate you calling in. Had you heard about this story
Speaker 2: before tonight, Joe or is this your first exposure to her?
Speaker 7: No? No, I heard about it then a few days
Speaker 7: ago when it first actually happened. I was, I mean,
Speaker 7: I was stron I'd say, how can things like this
Speaker 7: happened in America today? And I mean, and there's two
Speaker 7: things to it.
Speaker 8: I was in what a very Connecticut about twenty years
Speaker 8: ago with a client from Boston. She went to a
Speaker 8: concert of shed over her to a concert down there. Yeah,
Speaker 8: and I look at the town and it looks very
Speaker 8: run down and everything. Since I'm not going to spend
Speaker 8: the three or four hours, I asked a police officer.
Speaker 8: You know, I tried to find a bathroom. There was
Speaker 8: only one hotel in town a holiday holiday in that's
Speaker 8: where the uh the group was staying. It was actually
Speaker 8: the Beach Boys.
Speaker 7: Okay, and this lady was a huge fan. I took
Speaker 7: her the night before to the performance center in Providence,
Speaker 7: and then she took me for the next night to
Speaker 7: go to what a Better Connecticut.
Speaker 8: My first time downe there, I asked a police you know,
Speaker 8: I'm going to take a nap. I'm want to snooze.
Speaker 8: Where should I you suggest? He goes, oh, you park
Speaker 8: of me. Here in the middle of town is like
Speaker 8: north west, south and east Main Street. He goes, you
Speaker 8: stay within the two blocks over here. That way is
Speaker 8: not saying because of this and that way you have
Speaker 8: that is like the city is like a rundown city.
Speaker 6: I mean that part of it.
Speaker 7: You know, I can probably understand because I drove a
Speaker 7: little bit around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and.
Speaker 7: Another thing that I saw last night, actually on inside
Speaker 7: edition was a sister or the kid or the gentleman.
Speaker 8: He's a gentleman now a lost sister that he has.
Speaker 8: She's they had, They shared the same biological mother. The
Speaker 8: sister grew up.
Speaker 7: She's fine, she's perfectly find she's older than him, and
Speaker 7: she knew about him and she's been looking for him,
Speaker 7: trying to reach out to him, and she didn't know,
Speaker 7: and she looked and looked and looked. And they share
Speaker 7: the same mother. But the mother gave her for adoption. Okay,
Speaker 7: so so so so did she.
Speaker 2: Also give the boy up for adoption? Because the woman.
Speaker 7: I was talking to my wife and I was talking
Speaker 7: to my wife, I guess she was one of those
Speaker 7: probably on a stable person. And then she had it
Speaker 7: with this guy, the kid, you know. And then because
Speaker 7: they don't share the same father, the guy is not
Speaker 7: a father or the girl, the girl is older, and
Speaker 7: she gave her for adoption. But she knew about her brother,
Speaker 7: and she saw him, you know, as a boy, and
Speaker 7: then she never saw it, never saw him again.
Speaker 2: So so she so so so so the the biological
Speaker 2: mother who who we heard from earlier, had at least
Speaker 2: two kids that she had and that she gave up
Speaker 2: for adoption.
Speaker 7: Yeah, the first one gave up for aduction, and I
Speaker 7: guess the second one, which you will be the kid
Speaker 7: left them for you know, left them with the father,
Speaker 7: you know, and the father at some point I was
Speaker 7: to marry somebody else. You know. The this is insane, Dan,
Speaker 7: And like you were saying earlier, I mean, what about neighborhoods, neighborly,
Speaker 7: I know my neighbors, I know the kids of my neighbors.
Speaker 7: If I gets for the kids of my neighbors for Christmas,
Speaker 7: if you don't see them, you know I have you know,
Speaker 7: how is uh, how is the little one doing how
Speaker 7: you know insanity in these day and age, Dan, I mean,
Speaker 7: I don't know. I just don't know.
Speaker 8: They probably, I mean it's probably some mental health issues
Speaker 8: they're involved or things like that.
Speaker 2: I'm sure. Well, I like the soundbod we had from
Speaker 2: the school principal who said, yeah, we knew about it,
Speaker 2: we reported it, but nothing was done. Everybody like said,
Speaker 2: what we did the best?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean we had in Massachusetts, as you know,
Speaker 8: we had so many issues with the prominent of children
Speaker 8: and family whatever they.
Speaker 7: Called them, you know. And yeah, I mean look at
Speaker 7: that little that little girl that was given to the
Speaker 7: father and they disappear. Yes, I mean it's it's so sad,
Speaker 7: so so sad.
Speaker 2: Well, it's always thanks. It's interesting you kind of painted
Speaker 2: the picture of Waterbury, Connecticut a lot of nice areas
Speaker 2: in Connecticut.
Speaker 8: Because I asked the police, I mean, why he goes, well,
Speaker 8: this is used to be an old mill town, and
Speaker 8: then while the industries left, it became a ghost out
Speaker 8: and down that way. I'm not going to mature races.
Speaker 8: You got these sparts on the other side.
Speaker 7: You got the other part in, you know. And I
Speaker 7: tried to go to a seventy eleven because every time
Speaker 7: I go to a you know, to a job faraway
Speaker 7: out of town, I just said, let me just play
Speaker 7: a mega box, make a million's bower ball, yes, in
Speaker 7: case you know you're hearing on somebody wanting on gonna.
Speaker 7: I went to seventy eleven and I pulled up and
Speaker 7: they were like seven away guys veggars out front, and
Speaker 7: I said, this is not a good environment for me to.
Speaker 2: Keep keep thy see next time.
Speaker 7: So are you skipped And at that point, that's when
Speaker 7: I went back and I asked a police officer that
Speaker 7: was working detail at the performance center there. He goes, No,
Speaker 7: you want to stay here close to the area because
Speaker 7: I told him, you know, I want to take a nap.
Speaker 7: Where's the safe to take a nap? And yeah, you
Speaker 7: want to say you want to stay close to the
Speaker 7: area here that you know that tells you about the town.
Speaker 6: You got it.
Speaker 2: You got it, Joe, Thank you much, you get you
Speaker 2: gave us some good information. I appreciate it, Joe. And
Speaker 2: again I wish, I wish there was a happy ending here.
Speaker 2: There's no happy ending to this story.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm going to keep an eye out. I mean,
Speaker 7: I'm sure that they're going to do movie other weeks
Speaker 7: and whatnot, you know, but I mean I'm interested in
Speaker 7: tree the outcome of this.
Speaker 8: Well, remember that there was a Yeah, there was a family.
Speaker 8: Yeah there was a family that came out about probably
Speaker 8: four five years ago.
Speaker 7: But there was like four or five kids that they
Speaker 7: were the parents had them, you know, and they lived
Speaker 7: like gypsies. I don't know if you remember that was I.
Speaker 2: Don't remember, but I promise you were. Well, we'll keep
Speaker 2: an eye on this story and see where it goes
Speaker 2: from until I got a screwed Thanks man, talk so
Speaker 2: much time? Thanks well, you bet your buddy be well.
Speaker 2: Let me go to Fred and Melrose. Fred, you're next
Speaker 2: on Nightside. Your thoughts on this absolutely bizarre story.
Speaker 9: Uh, I was kidnapped when I was two?
Speaker 2: Really?
Speaker 9: Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2: By whom? If I by whom?
Speaker 9: If I could ask, I'd rather not get into the details.
Speaker 9: Fair Enough, I was kidnapped. I was kidnapped when I
Speaker 9: was two for about five weeks. My father found me
Speaker 9: and got me back home. And I was stopped during
Speaker 9: that time too.
Speaker 2: And you know, let me ask you, Fred, Fred, do
Speaker 2: you have an actual memory of this or is this
Speaker 2: what you were told?
Speaker 9: I remember everything I remember from the day was born
Speaker 9: until today everything.
Speaker 2: How's that possible?
Speaker 9: I don't know, But I can tell you my earliest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean most my earliest memories were I probably
Speaker 2: was two, but then the next one when I was four. So,
Speaker 2: without getting into who you who? Was it a domestic
Speaker 2: kidnapping or were you kidnapped for someone kidnapping you as
Speaker 2: a child and looking for money and ransom?
Speaker 9: No, they weren't looking for money and ramps, and they
Speaker 9: were just looking for a kid and I happened.
Speaker 6: To be it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, well if you if you can't.
Speaker 9: There was anything said to the police at the time.
Speaker 9: This was during the plates.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, all right, well Fred again, yeah, Fred, I
Speaker 2: appreciate that. I appreciate it. I'm up on my break
Speaker 2: here and I just I can hear your coffin. Get
Speaker 2: a glass of water and feel better and thank god
Speaker 2: you survived. Have you had a after having gone through that.
Speaker 2: Has it impacted your life or were you able to
Speaker 2: have a pretty successful and normal life.
Speaker 9: I've had a pretty successful life, but good it took
Speaker 9: an impact on my life's definitely, no question about it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 9: but I've worked through it. Look, it's taken seventy years
Speaker 9: to do it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, Fred, you sound you sound great like you're okay,
Speaker 2: and call the show anytime. And again, get a glass
Speaker 2: of water. I gotta have a glass of water every
Speaker 2: once in a while too. Sounds like you had something
Speaker 2: in your throat. Thanks Fred, have a great night. We'll
Speaker 2: be back on night's I quick break here. We're talking
Speaker 2: about this bizarre case in Connecticut. I know I have
Speaker 2: Connecticut listeners, so please feel free. Look Connecticut is a
Speaker 2: highly advanced state. This is a this is a story
Speaker 2: that is disgraceful. It's disgraceful and it's more all the
Speaker 2: just a messed up family, folks. This is indicative of
Speaker 2: our society. And as Joe from Boston said, you know
Speaker 2: he knows the families in his neighborhood. Do you know
Speaker 2: the families in your neighborhood. I hope you do, and
Speaker 2: I hope that they know you because there have been
Speaker 2: some bizarre stories. Look, this is not the only bizarre story,
Speaker 2: but this is pretty bizarre that this kid was kept
Speaker 2: in a room for thirty years. There was the story
Speaker 2: here in Boston of the woman somewhere in South Boston.
Speaker 2: I think they found the remains of five fetuses or
Speaker 2: infant who infants who had died in her She kept
Speaker 2: them in shoe boxes. That was a story a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago. Coming back on Nightside, I know this
Speaker 2: is depressing. I apologize that it's depressing, but I think
Speaker 2: we need to talk about it. Coming back on nights Side.
Speaker 1: Now, back to Dan Way Live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if there's a lesson out of
Speaker 2: this story. I think there is I think that we
Speaker 2: have to in our communities, whatever, wherever you live, whether
Speaker 2: it's a rural community. I suspect people in rural communities
Speaker 2: probably know more about their neighbors who might live half
Speaker 2: a mile away than most of us know about our
Speaker 2: neighbors who are living up up the street or around
Speaker 2: the block. I just think it's crazy. Let's keep rolling here.
Speaker 2: Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Got some
Speaker 2: calls that got one line there and a couple of
Speaker 2: line at six one seven nine thirty. Alex is in Millis, Alex,
Speaker 2: this is a bizarre story.
Speaker 10: It sure is. Dan. I was gonna say, who.
Speaker 2: Was that in the background? Alex was that that was?
Speaker 2: That's my son?
Speaker 6: He was.
Speaker 10: He was egging me on, okay, you're on dead go ahead.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 10: So, uh, I guess my town's like I don't know,
Speaker 10: maybe seventy five hundred or eight thousand people, and uh,
Speaker 10: most people know each other. I would say that fifty
Speaker 10: seven percent of people don't know their neighbors because when
Speaker 10: we live out here, we're very close with two of
Speaker 10: the neighbors. I've helped him out and everything, And I say,
Speaker 10: why is that is it because people you know are
Speaker 10: too busy, or because you know of privacy and you
Speaker 10: know they have busy lifestyles. But I'm not sure why
Speaker 10: you know.
Speaker 2: And well, I think that's part of it. I think, Alex,
Speaker 2: that's part of it. I think that people are busy people. Look,
Speaker 2: I know a lot of people have now worked from home,
Speaker 2: but the fact of the matter is that they It
Speaker 2: used to be we lived in a society where dad
Speaker 2: went off to work at eight o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 2: he came home at five point thirty at night. We
Speaker 2: now have both mom and dad work and the kids
Speaker 2: are oftentimes with their babysitter. I'm not criticizing that, but
Speaker 2: you do have This kid got lost, he slipped through
Speaker 2: the cracks, and this is his life. He's now thirty two,
Speaker 2: he went to the fourth grade. What's he good? What's
Speaker 2: this guy kid gonna do with the rest of his life?
Speaker 2: His his by the way, his I'm sure that just
Speaker 2: as his body has atrophied and he has all sorts
Speaker 2: of they talked about orthopedic problems. I'm sure that he
Speaker 2: has no muscular shore. He weighs sixty eight pounds. I'm
Speaker 2: sure his mental facilities. What will he be able to do.
Speaker 2: He's going he's gonna live, you know, on some form
Speaker 2: of social security, disability or whatever whatever Connecticut's gonna do
Speaker 2: for him. But Connecticut failed him, the town fail the
Speaker 2: people who lived on that street. I think it's called
Speaker 2: Blake Street. It's it's almost like a horror film on
Speaker 2: Blake Street as opposed to horror film on horror on
Speaker 2: Elm Street. I wish that we heard from some psychiatrist
Speaker 2: tonight who could talk about it. But I don't know.
Speaker 2: Did this mother never go to the store? I mean,
Speaker 2: how did? You'd love to know all of this? This,
Speaker 2: This deserves a full blown police investigation and that this
Speaker 2: should be published and all privacy issues. You don't have
Speaker 2: to mention people's names, but we want I want to
Speaker 2: know everything. I want to know everything. How did this? This,
Speaker 2: this stepmother and this thirty two year old locked in
Speaker 2: his room, uh most of all of the day. How
Speaker 2: did they function? This kid didn't even have a bathroom
Speaker 2: in his room? Alex he apparently? I mean this, and
Speaker 2: where's social services? Where where's the social I pay tax
Speaker 2: money for social services for people who need social services,
Speaker 2: and I'm happy to do it. How did this kid
Speaker 2: get miss messed, missed.
Speaker 9: I don't know.
Speaker 10: This reminds me of the story that the couple that
Speaker 10: had all the kids and the young girl she escaped.
Speaker 10: H I kindly call their names the name of the
Speaker 10: But this happened.
Speaker 9: A while back.
Speaker 10: Do you know where which no idea, no idea. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 10: it sounds exactly like this. And and you know she
Speaker 10: they the parents are in prison now, of course.
Speaker 6: But they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was that was that a group that was
Speaker 2: like somewhere in Utah or.
Speaker 10: Something like that in Utah? I think so, yeah, they okay, yeah,
Speaker 10: the children's school homeschooled and didn't allow them to watch,
Speaker 10: to do nothing, not to interact, uh, you know, and
Speaker 10: they they were it was like they were treated like prisoners.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But again, I guess when when something like that
Speaker 2: happens in a state like Utah that I don't know
Speaker 2: a lot about. I can understand those are big states
Speaker 2: and somebody is is off somewhere. But in Connecticut, in Connecticut,
Speaker 2: I mean, Connecticut is one of the the the standard
Speaker 2: of living in Connecticut is always very high up there.
Speaker 2: When when I see these surveys about the uh, the
Speaker 2: wealthy estate on a per capita basis Connecticut. It's a
Speaker 2: state that has Greenwich and cost Cart They have all
Speaker 2: of these wonderful, wonderful towns. It's unbelievable, Alex. I gotta
Speaker 2: keep rolling and tell say hello to your son for us. Okay,
Speaker 2: how was that?
Speaker 10: He's out fourteen? He's uh, he's like having three three boys.
Speaker 2: Okay, I get you, I got you. Well keep them
Speaker 2: in line. Okay, thanks Alex, talk to you soon. Let
Speaker 2: me go to Glenn. Glenn, you're next nights. I go
Speaker 2: right ahead.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would say this kid not not that he
Speaker 6: fells through the cracks. He sells for a canyon. I mean, yeah.
Speaker 6: This is where this reminds me of that story in
Speaker 6: New Hampshire. Two quick things of Harmony Montgomery. She was
Speaker 6: missing for five years. YEP. I grew up in the sixties.
Speaker 6: I have Laronoya forgive me.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 6: When I was five minutes raight for first period, because
Speaker 6: I was in the bathroom, they sent a swat team
Speaker 6: looking for me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, a metaphorical swat team. I'm sure right, yeah, absolutely, no,
Speaker 2: I understand that.
Speaker 6: And the other thing I remember that winter of ninety
Speaker 6: four was rough. The winter of ninety six, the winter
Speaker 6: of twenty fifteen, not one person knocked on my door
Speaker 6: and said, hey, Glenn, it's going to snow them ow dded.
Speaker 6: You know, I've lived here forty years where I'm living.
Speaker 2: And it's just that that sounds familiar. I guess no one.
Speaker 6: I hate to say it. I'm not shocked, Yeah I am.
Speaker 2: I am that somehow something like this can happen in America.
Speaker 2: We have all these social programs everybody else for this
Speaker 2: Department of Human Services, Department of this, Department of that.
Speaker 2: And this kid was in school and like he disappears.
Speaker 2: Don't they have truant offices there? Don't they figure out
Speaker 2: where's this kid? Has he moved to Utah? Oh?
Speaker 6: Well, you know what they say about the Empathy Convention.
Speaker 6: No one cared enough to show up. I guess just
Speaker 6: the one area where this the one area. I agree
Speaker 6: with Joe from Lynn. I think we're more of an
Speaker 6: empathetic country than an empathetic.
Speaker 2: Country areas, certain areas. I mean, not everyone fits this category,
Speaker 2: but I'll tell you this, anyone who hears about this story,
Speaker 2: they should They should check on some neighbors. If you
Speaker 2: If I don't know, it just it appalls me it
Speaker 2: just appalls me. Hey, Glenn, I appreciate it. We'll talk
Speaker 2: to you tomorrow night, I'm sure.
Speaker 6: Okay, Yeah, I just came back from the winners. They're
Speaker 6: gonna see me on the twenty seventh.
Speaker 2: Good, well, we'll see you on the twenty seventh as well. Great.
Speaker 2: Did they have a good crowd tonight?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I had to sit at to borrow all
Speaker 6: the seats were taken.
Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent. How's the Okay, we'll talk later. Thanks for
Speaker 2: let me go to an in bath in Bradford in
Speaker 2: We only got a minute left. You've called really late,
Speaker 2: but I'd love to get you in. Go ahead, Hi,
Speaker 2: okay quickly.
Speaker 10: That's a very very sad story.
Speaker 4: I agree with you, like like you mentioned, why weren't
Speaker 4: they questioning where the child child is? And also, of
Speaker 4: course the news will come out later. Now here's a thought.
Speaker 4: When they do the senses, what they may check into
Speaker 4: the senses? How they answer that?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 4: How they answered where you work?
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, right, yeah, it'll work.
Speaker 4: And what about the child residing at a certain age?
Speaker 4: They indicate that on the payent work right?
Speaker 2: Oh right, But I'm sure these folks, if they got
Speaker 2: that census for him. It was never returned. But there
Speaker 2: was no one who was going up knocking on the
Speaker 2: door of the house because I bet they paid electric bills.
Speaker 2: I bet they paid gas bills, and that's all they
Speaker 2: had to do. That's the point of the that's the
Speaker 2: point of the story. And I got a run. I
Speaker 2: wish it called earlier, but I'm out of time for
Speaker 2: this ten o'clock hour, and I got the news coming
Speaker 2: down the track, so I gotta let you go. Thanks,
Speaker 2: call again bye. If you folks would like to talk
Speaker 2: about this light, these phones up. If not, we're going
Speaker 2: to change topics. My name's Dan Ray. This is night Side.
Speaker 2: We're coming up on the ten o'clock news right after
Speaker 2: this