Law&Crime Sidebar - 11-Year-Old Girl Starved, Abused to Death: Police

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

Arabella McCormack, 11, weighed just 48 pounds when she was pronounced dead in 2022. According to San Diego prosecutors, Arabella’s adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and grandparents, Stanley and Adella Tom, committed hundreds of acts of abuse against the girl and her sisters, leading to Arabella’s eventual death. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber lays out the case against the family members with victim’s rights lawyer John Phillips.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lcsidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. When they arrived, they found the 11-year-old Arabella lying on the living room floor. She was pale, unresponsive, and had no pulse. At the time of her death, Arabella visibly was already severely emaciated. This 11-year-old girl died, weighing just 48 pounds, and after years of alleged torture and starvation at the hands of her adoptive family. Now, her adoptive mother and grandparents face criminal charges

and accusations of 700 acts of abuse. It is time to go into a deep dive into the details of this case. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. In August of 2022, this little girl, 11-year-old Arabella McCormack, died in a San Diego hospital after her adoptive parents called 911, claiming she had choked while eating. Paramedics arrived, and they find her lifeless body on the floor, described as a, quote, corpse with skin stretched over it. How horrifying is that?

She weighed just 48 pounds. And what followed was an investigation that revealed years of alleged torture, starvation, abuse, all at the very hand, supposedly of her adoptive family. It is a case where we are left asking ourselves, as we often do so many times, how did the system allegedly fail to protect her? And why did these people who swore to protect her allegedly fail? So Arabella's adoptive mother, along with her grandparents, they are all four. facing charges that accuse them of essentially torturing and starving her to death. Letitia McCormack, along with Letitia's parents, Stanley and Adela Tom, are now facing criminal charges.

They are connected to hundreds of alleged acts of abuse. And prosecutors say this resulted in Arabella's death from severe malnutrition back in August of 2022. The criminal complaint reviewed by multiple news outlets alleges that the trio worked as a team to carry out years of horrific abuse. And all three now face the possibility of the death penalty if they're convicted. They've all entered, not guilty, please. Now, these charges paint a very troubling picture of Arabella's final years.

Prosecutors alleged the family punished Arabella for seemingly innocuous things like the way she ate cereal, deprived her and two other children in the home of food and water, struck the children with a belt or paddle, prevented Arabella from using the bathroom and forced her to exercise while wearing wet. clothes and plastic bags. That alleged abuse, officials say, began back in February of 2019 and continued up until the day she died. All three defendants were indicted by a grand jury. They're charged with murder, conspiracy to commit child torture, child abuse torture.

Letitia's husband, Brian McCormack, who was a Border Patrol agent, would have faced charges as well, but he apparently took his own life in front of police near the family's home just hours after Arabelle's death. And this grand jury indictment came after the Trio's arrest back in 2022. When they stood before a judge that November asking for bail, the prosecutor laid out the details of Arabella's alleged abuse. And I'll give you a fair warning right now. It's difficult to hear.

When they arrived, they found the 11-year-old Arabella lying on the living room floor. She was pale, unresponsive, and had no pulse. At the time of her death, Arabella visibly was already severely emaciated. Her bones protruded from her skin. She had visible bruising lacerations to her body. After further investigation, it was learned she had 15 healing

bone fractures to her body. Now, it turns out Letitia McCormack was actually a former leader at the Rock Church in San Diego. That's a mega church that was apparently founded by NFL player Miles McPherson. The daughter Arabella, who was

who had a life taken, was had two sisters. and there's a lot of pain. I know some of you know her, Lisa McCormick, and we want to pray for everybody involved, all the people who knew her, our church,

I know when things happen like this, a lot of questions about how it could happen and why it would happen, and we have the same questions, and so we've got to go to the Lord for those, for comfort in that situation. Her leadership profile has since been removed from the church's website,

and the church told NBC, San Diego in 2022 that it had severed ties with her. And CBS News reports that while Letitia was never a pastor at Rock Church, she was, quote, ordained as an elder, which was a volunteer position with, quote, limited scope. The church told CBS that her ordination was previously suspended and the decision was made to revoke it. By the way, we were able to find Letitia McCormack on TruthFinder, the powerful background checker that we use. Now, TruthFinder didn't reveal any criminal history for her, but we were able to find locations that

she lived as well as information about her family members like Stanley and Adela Tom. And law and crime, we partner with TruthFinder. We use it to get details on people involved in our stories. But even if you don't work in true crime, it can be an excellent resource to give you some peace of mind. After all, it's one of the largest public record search services in the United States. And with a paid subscription service, you can get access to unlimited reports about almost anyone.

So right now, if you're interested, you can get 50% off of your first month of confidential background reports. Just go to truthfinder.com slash LC Sidebar. And according to CBS 8, while Brian McCormack was working with Border Patrol, Letitia was working with the San Diego Police Department as a crisis interventionist. Stanley and Adela Tom, they had also both reportedly worked with the San Diego Police Department as volunteers since 2015, according to NBC 7. The San Diego Police Department confirmed to the outlet that the grandparents served as volunteers, but didn't offer a statement. Now, during a court hearing in 2022, prosecutors revealed that Adela Tom,

Arabella's adoptive grandmother was the, quote, rule enforcer on behalf of her daughter. And the prosecution says Adela was sick during the last few weeks of Arabella's life and wasn't present for some of the final abuse that Arabella allegedly endured. Arabella's biological mother, Toriana Florey, has spoken out, expressing her grief, her anger over what happened. She told local affiliates CBS8, they should never, ever be allowed out of those bars, out of custody. If I could, I would have them in a two-by-two cell for the rest of their lives, a cage like they put my baby in. They appeared in court on Monday for a status conference where Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro said that she could seek the death penalty

because the DA's office believes the murder was committed during a tortuous event, but no official decision has been made as of yet. There is another twist to this case that we want to talk about because according to court documents, the McCormack's, were investigated for abuse before, not once, but twice. was reportedly a history of red flags here. As social workers investigated multiple reports of suspected child abuse dating back to 2018. Internal documents from the San Diego County's Child Welfare Services shows that school employees at Highlands Elementary School raise concerns about Arabella's treatment by her adoptive parents, Brian and Letitia. According to that first filing, which was from September of 2018, teachers reported some very disturbing things. They claimed the McCormack's were restricting Arabella's food and water intake,

for just one Dixie cup per day. Now, we don't know the exact dimensions of this cup, but if it was a Dixie bath cup, those are what, only three ounces? Also, according to this report, her parents limited her bathroom use to twice per day at school, barred her from using scissors or markers

and prevented her from earning classroom rewards like being a line leader. They also allegedly required daily behavior reports from her teachers. One school employee described the parents' behavior as, quote, being all about control. And this detail, in particular, this one is so heartbreaking.

It is reported that Arabella herself told a school employee that her stomach was hurting one day. Quote, the child then asked the employee, do you know the movie Annie? The employee stated yes. The child responded that she was not like Annie because when Annie was adopted, all her hurts were gone. However, she stated that she is still hurting.

Now, Arabella didn't elaborate on what she meant when she said that she was hurting, but what's really strange about this case is that despite the allegations from the teachers, despite the statement from the child herself, when the investigating social workers spoke with the child and the child's parents, they all denied what was happening. So how could a heartbreaking statement from a child not trigger immediate intervention from a school official? So how is this possible? Why were the allegations deemed,

unfounded, right? Well, according to the filing, this is what Arabella had to say when the social worker spoke to her. Quote, the child denied that she is ever not allowed to have dinner or if she's hungry and does not get enough food to eat. The child denied being physically disciplined. The child denied that anyone in the home fights or argues. PSW Freeman asked the child, is there anything that she is sad about? And the child said she gets mad if a friend is mean. The child did not report that anyone is being mean to her. PSW Freeman asked the child, if she gets sad at home. And the child said no. PSW Freeman asked the child if she ever has to go potty and is not allowed to use the bathroom. And the child said no. Both Letitia and Brian,

they also denied the allegations. Latisha reportedly told the worker that the school was informed of Arabella's stomach issues and that she was on a dietary plan to address what was going on. She also stated that Arabella had behavioral issues, which meant no scissors or playing with sharp objects, so an explanation for all this. And the father called the allegations bogus and in a similar fashion stated that they were checking in with the teachers to make sure Arabella was doing okay. So with all that being said, the investigating officer determined that claims of emotional abuse against Arabella were unfounded, closed the case. A little bit of an aside here, we believe that the officer was investigating emotional abuse under Penal Code

11165.3, the statute in California that defines emotional abuse as a situation in which any person willfully causes or permits any child to suffer or inflicts thereon unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering or having the care of custody of any child willfully causes or permits the person or health of the child to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered. And apparently, based on the interviews with Arabella and her adoptive parents, nothing was uncovered that met this standard. Now, here's the thing. Less than a month after that investigation was closed, a second report came in, again, from school employees. And This time, the allegations were far more physical.

And that report dated November of 2018. It's only what, three months after the first report. Witnesses describe an incident where Brian McCormack allegedly pinned down Arabella in an after school program, referred to as ESS or extended student services, searching her pockets while she was apparently screaming. According to that report, quote, on November 1st, 2018, Arabella disclosed her foster parents did not allow her to have candy and kept her from school on Halloween. The next day she went to ESS. The child had candy. Brian arrived and found out she had candy.

He aggressively picked the child off the ground and put her down on her side. The child was crying, screaming, and kicking. He pinned her down and tried to get into her pockets. This happened for two to three minutes. He was asked to leave by a third party because the other children were present. And apparently when asked to leave,

Brian allegedly dragged Arabella to his car, and she reportedly told school workers that her parents stripped her pants off off and poured cold water over her head as punishment. And once again, social worker investigated, interviewed Arabella in her home, but it ended up leading nowhere. This is what Arabella apparently told the social worker, according to the report, quote, The child stated that she went to ESS and she was sharing her candy with her friends and a kid

went and told the teacher that she had candy. The child stated that the teacher asked her and she lied because she did not want to get in trouble. The child stated that when her dad arrived to pick her up, the teacher told the dad what happened, and she walked away, and her dad told her to come back and empty her pockets. The child said the father picked her up under her arms, and she said that she was upset and he was yelling. The child denied that she felt afraid of the adoptive father. The child denied that she has been physically abused.

The child stated that she gets a lot of food to eat. The child stated that she never goes to bed hungry and has never said that she has not given food. The child stated that she feels safe in the home. So, in a similar fashion, to the first time around, this caseworker apparently closed this case as well, as unfounded. But in an interesting move, the McCormack's actually pulled Arabella out of public school to homeschool her following this alleged incident. And it's a decision that at this time did not seem to raise any alarm bells. Now, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Arabella's two sisters, identified as EM and AM, who were just six and seven at the time of their older sisters. death. And the lawsuit names not only Letitia McCormack and her parents, but also multiple

agencies, including San Diego Child Welfare Services, the School Pacific Coast Academy, and San Diego Rock Church. Specific individuals that worked at those agencies and allegedly had interaction with the children were also listed as defendants. And according to the suit, the younger children weren't in any better shape when police found them. AM and EM were also severely malnourished, neglected, and abused. Doctors described them as near death. Their bones could be seen through their skin. They had no fat on their bodies. AM's hands and feet were bright red and badly swollen.

They both appeared younger than their ages due to underdevelopment. They suffered from refeating syndrome. So this is a phenomenon identified following World War II when prisoners of war were provided with food after a prolonged period of starvation and subsequently died from cardiac failure and had to be nourished gradually. They were hospitalized and received treatment that saved their lives. lives. And as for Letitia and her parents, they are due back in court on April 16th. Now, I had the opportunity to speak to John Phillips about this. He's a victim's rights lawyer

and get his take on all the different facets of this story. All right, John, thanks so much for taking the time. It's good to see you. Your overall thoughts on this case and the idea that you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of alleged acts of abuse. What do you take away? It's awful. You know, the seven, I think they saw 700. different acts of abuse your prosecutors and police tend not to use the word torture very loosely and here it's it's literally a cause of action you know it it i have a 13 10 and 7 year old and this little girl was i think 48 pounds um at age 11 and and you know that screams malnutrition it screams abuse and it's just it's just an awful set of facts

How do you defend it? Yeah, that's a good question. You know, you also have the added issue that the dad, so to speak, you know, killed himself when when police started poking around. I don't think it's defensible, you know. Well, let me ask you just, do you think that'll come into evidence? Should that be used into evidence or is that going to be overly prejudicial? I know, I understand the argument, right?

You would introduce that to say he was consciousness. of guilt. He knew what he did. He knew what he was a part of, right? But I feel like that would be overly prejudicial to- I think it would be. It kind of depends on how they, how they allege and how they play the conspiracy angle, because he could be a co-conspirator. And there could be ways to, you know, whether you get it in or show that he's no longer, he's dead, you know, that, that might not raise to the, the fact that he's committed suicide probably will be well over the line. But it, you know, it's, you've just, it's almost one of those cases that begs for some level of mental health crisis or other issue. But you had so many different, you know, people for, from my count, that were kind of co-contributors to the abuse and neglect.

Do you think this is going to be a death penalty case? You think this is, we're talking capital punishment? I think when, when it comes to abuse of children, that that's that's that needs to happen i am not a a death penalty guy i you know you look at the stats of of the price of it and the fact that if we just we execute one person who was who was wrongfully convicted you know the state shouldn't have done that and why is the state in the death penalty business but when it's when it's you know harm to a child in this fashion you know i think even the non-death penalty people are like, okay, you know, let's send a message with this one

and, and, you know, it's, this is so extreme. One of the worst aspects of this case, and I went into detail about it before, was that there were warning signs. There were multiple interviews in the past, and the question becomes, you know, how come nothing happened? And one of the concerns would be is that Arabella was telling these individuals that everything was okay. But when you think about the reliability of those interviews with children,

particularly in that environment, in allegedly abusive environments. I mean, for example, one of the social workers interviewed Arabella, my understanding, at home, with her adoptive parents nearby. That seems like a big problem. It does. And most of what I do is civil litigation, and that was the big red flag for me is look at all the potential defendants from the standpoint of a civil suit.

You know, you're not going to charge, you know, some of these state agents in a criminal, in charge, but justice is spelled one way. It's defined many different ways. And certainly families want justice to improve. They want warning signs to be paid attention to, and they just weren't here. And, you know, robust civil litigation certainly is something that could occur. Well, let me ask you this, because there is that separate lawsuit that's happening. But I wanted to ask you about this, you know, the idea that the parents denied the allegations and said there was explanations for her dietary restrictions, her behavioral issues, they at one point took her out of public school, homeschooled her. Again, is there not an obligation to verify all this or to take a second look?

I think there is. And, you know, we're not talking. Like I read about a case last week and commented on a case. about the mother that just left her kids to be in that were pretty much abandoned to raise themselves and she'd just give them food as needed but this is this is not that this is a fairly prominent um you know intelligent family that that i think was in a leadership position in their church and and you know you have an obligation to to to put that decide and say, wait, this is, this is, this is wrong. There's, there's, there's issues here.

But, you know, I've also, my partner does family law. And I've also been on the other side where there, there was, you know, false reports or, or DCF kind of took it too far. And so there's, but, but when you're dealing with the health and welfare of children, particularly in adopted capacity, you know, you've got to pay attention to the warning signs. really really upsetting case from a lot of different angles we'll keep an eye on it see where it goes it really is and it's a good one to cover and again I'm going to echo what what what y'all have said in the past is the 1-800 for a child number you know we've we've got to if we see something like this we've got to say something whether it's your neighbor or or you know somebody that goes to

your church or whatever like we've got to take care of our kids it's a really good point I appreciate you mention that John yeah see something say something Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Good seeing you, John Phillips. My pleasure. All right, everybody. Thank you for joining us. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. And as always, come check us out and please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. all episodes of this long crime series. Add free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery

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