The Waterbury woman accused of holding her stepson captive for decades faced a judge for the first time since October.

Thursday marks one year since her arrest in this case.

The state brought new charges against Sullivan Thursday. The charges mirror the ones she already faced — assault in the first degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, and cruelty to persons. But there are now two counts of kidnapping in the first degree, which is different from the one count of kidnapping in the second degree that she faced initially.

New paperwork of substitute information filed by Waterbury Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Donald Therkildsen indicates the change.

“In between the dates of Summer 2004, and February 17, 2025, at or near 2 Blake Street, Waterbury, Connecticut, the said Kimberly Sullivan, did, abduct another person and restrain the person abducted with intent accomplish and advance the commission of a felony,” the document reads.

In Connecticut, kidnapping in the first degree has potential for a higher penalty than kidnapping in the second degree, if convicted.

Sullivan’s defense attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, says these revisions do not change the plan of proceedings going forward.

“It’s similar to what’s been already alleged. I don’t really think it changes too much on our end,” he said.

Sullivan is accused by her stepson of holding him captive in their home for more than twenty years. Her stepson, who goes by the name of ‘S’, set fire to his home on Blake Street last February at age 32, telling first responders he did so to be free from his stepmother. S alleges she held him captive in the home for decades with little food and water and with no formal education.

Kaloidis has vehemently denied the allegations this entire year.

“This wasn’t true then, and it’s not true now,” said Kaloidis.

He says the past year has been challenging for Sullivan.

“As you can imagine, anytime your face is plastered all over the news, and you become public enemy number one, it’s hard to live a normal life,” Kaloidis said.

Sullivan appeared very briefly Thursday, where both sides to agreed to view all of S’s medical records as part of the discovery phase.

“The suponea has arrived, we’re asking they be unsealed,” said Therkildsen.

 “It’s really what the state is alleging. We really want to see what evidence they have and what evidence they produce at trial. I don’t know what’s in there, we’ll know it when we see it,” said Kaloidis.

After a year of pretrial proceedings, the judge is waiving Sullivan’s need to appear next time.

“The lawyers will be discussing potential offers and from there we’ll set the final date,” the judge said.

Sullivan’s defense has been adamant that they would not accept a plea deal unless the case was thrown out, meaning they intend for this to be heard at trial.

That next court date is April 30.

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Hundreds of people signed up to speak out about two controversial bills dealing with vaccines in Connecticut.

Opponents are concerned that the bills will lead to government overreach, while supporters say the bills simply ensure that people who want to get vaccinated still have access.

“I don’t want to be told what to do. It’s my body, my choice,” said Joe Murphy of Meriden.

From people gathered outside the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford to those inside, many voiced their opposition to proposals related to vaccines.

“We just want transparency in government. We want them to listen to what we’re here to say,” said Katerina Bouzakis of Wolcott.

Hundreds of people signed up to speak about the vaccine legislation. Democrats say the plans help make sure people can get the vaccines they want.

“It was very clear from the conversation that we’re having a lot of people who are here have misinformation about what the bill does,” said Sen. Saud Anwar (D–South Windsor).

Under these two bills, state recommendations for immunization would be based on a broader group of experts, not just a CDC advisory group that was overhauled by the Trump Administration and has recently been making changes to vaccines.

Lawmakers say the state proposals would help with insurance coverage, and any updates would still have to go through a regulatory process.

“Passing this law will allow us to maintain our current access and purchasing power,” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, Public Health Commissioner. “I want to be very clear that this bill in no way institutes any new vaccine mandates for children or adults.”

Opponents also worry about how the bills might impact a fight to restore religious exemptions for school vaccinations. And they also pushed back on the decision to cut off the hearing.

“Democracy does not end at 12:15 a.m. this morning. It continues on,” said Sen. Heather Somers (R – Groton).  “I think that this is an absolute gross overreach of the majority party that doesn’t want your voices to be heard.”

Republicans say they will continue to listen to comments even after the official hearing ends.

Democrats argue that, compared to other places in the country, 14 hours is a long time for a public hearing on this issue, and that previously, when it came up here, about 40% of the speakers were from out of state.