Photos show inside of Connecticut house where man says he was held captive for 20 years

Connecticut police have released more than 100 photos showing the inside of a home where a 32-year-old man said he started a fire in a desperate attempt to free himself from more than 20 years of captivity.

The man, whose name has not been disclosed, was emaciated and weighed only 69 pounds (31 kilograms) when he was rescued from the two-story house in Waterbury after starting the fire on Feb. 17. He said he was locked in a small room for most of every day and given limited food and water since he was about 11 years old. He is recovering under medical care at an undisclosed location.

The photos, obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request late Monday, show a cluttered home with fire damage on the second floor, where the man said he was held captive. Some of the photos show a door frame with a metal slide lock, matching a police description of a lock they said was on the outside of the door to the man's room.

Waterbury police said Tuesday that they could not provide information on what each photo shows.

One photo of a second-story room heavily damaged by fire shows burned walls and carpet with numerous items on the floor, including photos, boxes, bags, what appears to be a blanket and a baseball-like pennant with hearts that says “Kim.”

The man's stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, is charged with kidnapping, felony assault, cruelty to persons and other crimes. She and her lawyer have denied that she kept the man locked in a room and she has pleaded not guilty. Sullivan told police that the man was free to move about the house as he pleased, according to an arrest warrant. The man's father died last year.

Sullivan's attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, said in a statement to local media Tuesday that the release of the photos was “shocking, offensive and quite frankly, ethically questionable. It only serves to solidify public opinion against Ms. Sullivan.”

The man said he was locked in a room measuring about 8 feet by 9 feet (2.4 meters by 2.7 meters) and was only let out briefly in the morning to do chores. He said he was given up to two sandwiches and two small bottles of water a day and was constantly hungry.

The man told police he was removed from the Waterbury school system in the fourth grade for homeschooling in 2004 after school officials reported concerns about his well-being to the state Department of Children and Families. DCF officials visited the home at the time, but it's not clear if any action was taken. DCF officials recently said they found some records involving the man and are reviewing them, but have not released details.

State and local authorities have been looking into how this could have happened, and some are calling for stricter oversight of homeschooling.

Along with the photos, Waterbury police also released reports on their visits to the home in 2005. The reports are similar to police officials' recent statements that there were no causes for concern at the home. A police report said Sullivan's stepson “appeared to be healthy and happy" and the home appeared “normal and lived in.”

Police visited the home at the time for a welfare check after children who attended school with him before he was pulled out expressed concern about him and after the family made a harassment complaint against school officials for reporting them to state child welfare officials.

The man told police that Sullivan threatened longer lockdowns and more restrictions to his food if he ever told anyone about his treatment.

A search warrant released Monday night said the man told police that he set the fire using a lighter, hand sanitizer and paper in an effort to kill himself because he wanted freedom from the captivity.

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump's tariff blitz has sent shock waves throughout every aspect of the global economy, including the auto sector, where multi-billion-dollar plans to electrify in the United States are especially at risk.

Here's what consumers should know about the impact of tariffs on electric vehicles.

EVs accounted for about 8% of new car sales in the U.S. in 2024, according to Motorintelligence.com.

Some of those sales can be attributed to expanded tax credits for EV purchases, a Biden-era policy that spurred car buyer interest.

Tesla held a majority of U.S. EV market share in 2024, at 48%. But that share has declined in recent years, as brands including Ford (7.5%), Chevrolet (5.2%) and Hyundai (4.7%) began to offer a wider variety of electric models at better price points, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Electric vehicles remain more expensive than their gasoline-powered equivalents. New gas vehicles sold for $48,039 on average last month, Kelly Blue Book data says, while EVs sold for $55,273 on average.

Tariffs add on to the costs of an EV transition that was already volatile and uncertain, said Vanessa Miller, a litigation partner focused on automotive manufacturing at law firm Foley & Lardner.

Biden’s tax credits essentially required automakers to get more and more of their EV content from the U.S. or trade allies over the coming years in order for their vehicles to qualify. Automakers have worked to build an EV supply chain across the country and significant investment has gone toward these efforts.

EVs assembled here include Tesla models, the Ford F-150 Lightning and more. Tesla actually might be least vulnerable given how much of its vehicles come from the U.S.

Though the industry is growing, tariffs mean costs for automakers and their buyers will stay high and might go higher, as well as hike up the prices of the many parts of EVs still coming from China and elsewhere. From the critical minerals used in battery production to the vehicles themselves, China laps the U.S. industry.

Automakers were already pulling back on ambitious electrification plans amid shrinking federal support and are strapped for cash on what is the less lucrative side of their businesses.

Higher prices might push car buyers to the used car market, but they aren't likely to find much respite there.

If consumers don't buy as many vehicles, automakers will have to prioritize their investments and manufacturing. That means the cars that buyers want and that are most profitable. Automakers still lose thousands of dollars on each EV they make and sell, but they make money from big, popular gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs.

These manufacturers “have put a certain amount of investment into EVs, and it would probably be even more wasteful to completely walk away from them than it is to find the new level at which it makes sense to maintain production of them," said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at auto research site iSeeCars.com. That level “will assuredly be lower than what it was,” he added.

Making fewer EVs won’t help bring their cost down further anytime soon.

Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said in a statement the EV and battery sector is working to ensure that the American auto industry grows and that his group will work with the administration on productive trade policy.

“Tariffs on our longstanding trade partners, many of whom have committed billions in direct investment into U.S. factories, introduces uncertainty and risk into an industry that is creating jobs and bringing new economic opportunities to communities across the country,” Gore said.

Trump has already taken a hatchet to federal EV policy. He campaigned on a vow to end what he called former President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate.”

Biden’s EV policies did not require automakers to sell EVs or consumers to buy them, but they did incentivize manufacturers to increase their electric offerings in the coming years. Trump put an end to Biden’s target for 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2035 in his first days in office.

Also under Biden, Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy were to get increasingly tougher, but could be met by automakers selling a growing number of EVs alongside more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles. Trump's administrators are already reevaluating emissions standards.

He's also likely to seek to repeal the tax credits.

Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

File - Vehicles move along the 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV assembly line at the General Motors Orion Assembly on June 15, 2023, in Lake Orion, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

FILE - A motorist charges his electric vehicle at a Tesla Supercharger station in Detroit, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)