A Connecticut man has been arrested and accused of locking his 56-year-old sister in a "dungeon"-like bedroom and holding her captive for several years. Arthur Gauvin, 58, was arrested Thursday after police investigated the siblings' shared home in Seymour, Connecticut due to an anonymous call from someone concerned for the welfare of woman, whose name hasn't been released. The malnourished woman was found covered in urine and human feces inside a tiny bedroom "kept like a dungeon," according to Deputy Chief Paul Satkowski.
"Your eyes immediately watered. The smell…awful. We had to change uniforms after leaving because the stench was in them,” Officer Lisa Wexler told reporters during a press conference yesterday, describing the room. "I served on the New Haven police force for 22 years before retiring and coming here last July. I never saw anything like this in my years with New Haven. I was absolutely shocked." The only window in the bedroom had been painted black, nailed shut with boards and locked from the outside—there was a clasp on the door which prevented her from leaving.
The woman has now been taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital. Officials say she seemed to be "brainwashed," and not happy to be freed. "When the victim was brought Thursday night by ambulance to Yale-New Haven Hospital, some of the doctor and nurses on duty were mortified by her condition," Wexler added. "She was so frail, malnourished, dehydrated, dirty. Unbelievable."
A 33-year-old woman, who has been identified as Gauvin's daughter, lived in the house along with her 6-year-old daughter. The 33-year-old told cops that she had questioned her father about his treatment of his sister, but was "petrified" by his threats. Two other men, friends of the daughter, also rented room in the basement of the house.
Gauvin has been charged with first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree reckless endangerment, and cruelty to persons; he was released on $20K bail, but was immediately arrested again for threatening his daughter for cooperating with police, and given an addition charge of tampering with a witness.
As for why Gauvin allegedly kept his sister locked up, police believe it had to do with the ownership of the house: according to CTNews, "the female victim signed the house over to Gauvin approximately seven years ago. Gauvin then was responsible for taking care of the victim for nine years before she could receive any services from the State of Connecticut."
