For the first time on Wednesday, a Waterbury man's birth family faced the stepmother accused of holding him captive for 20 years.

After a brief but tense court hearing, prosecutors asked a judge to place Kimberly Sullivan on home confinement or constant GPS monitoring.

The shocking case has drawn international attention. Sullivan faced a crush of cameras from as far away as Germany as she arrived at Waterbury Superior Court.

Also greeting her? The victim's birth family, who hasn't seen the man since he was a baby.

"It's important that Kimberly knows that we see her, and what she's doing is wrong and disgusting," said Heather Tessman, the victim's half-sister.

Police charged Sullivan with locking her stepson in a 9 x 8-foot storage room for decades with barely any food, water or a toilet.

"After he urinated in a bottle, he would have to then funnel it into a tube he created with a series of straws and then guide those straws through a hole in the window to empty it," an arrest affidavit states. "He placed newspaper on the ground and squatted over it to relieve himself."

The victim told police he set fire to his own house to escape. When firefighters rescued him the 32-year-old man only weighed 68 pounds and had not bathed in more than a year, according to court papers.

"I wanted my freedom," the victim allegedly told investigators.

But Sullivan's attorney has claimed that the man is no victim at all and could have left whenever he wanted.

"The great thing about this system is we don't have to explain it," attorney Ioannis Kaloidis told reporters on Wednesday. "The state has made allegations and the state has to prove those allegations in court."

In court, Kaloidis told a judge that she plans to plead not guilty. The court postponed the plea hearing until Friday, when prosecutors will ask to add electronic surveillance or house arrest to her release.

Sullivan's two daughters also grew up in the Waterbury house but have not been charged. The victim's birth family thinks they should be.

"The two daughters also knew that he was there," said Tracy Vallerand, the victim's biological mother, who lost custody when he was 6 months old. "They didn't say anything. They're complicit."

Vallerand spoke to News 12 Connecticut on Tuesday, calling her ex-husband and Sullivan "monsters."

The birth family hopes to finally reunite with the victim.

"I can't even imagine how awful his entire life must have been. I just want him to grow and to be a person," Tessman said. "I think it's so awesome that he's got the whole world on his side. And I just hope that he can heal with dignity and privacy."