“That Wouldn’t Happen in the Home of a Minister”- The Story of Aarabella McCormack

“That Wouldn’t Happen in the Home of a Minister”- The Story of Aarabella McCormack

“This is Arabella,” said the girls’ biological mother, who had lost custody of the children in 2017. “This is my least favorite picture of her because of how skinny she is in this photo. I held it up so they could see—so Leticia and her mother could stare at what they did.”

The story I have for you today is about four adults who teamed up against three little girls whom they had previously gone to great lengths to adopt. These adults were so horrific to the girls that one of them would end up dying, while the other two were reportedly only days away from death.

This is the story of Arabella McCormack.

Arabella McCormack was born on July 21, 2011, to her biological mother, Toriana Flor, and her biological father, Chelsea Sbrano, in San Diego County, California. Arabella was said to be a loving and affectionate little girl who adored princesses, Minnie Mouse, the movie Frozen, and, of course, her younger sisters.

A married couple named Leticia and Brian McCormack became foster parents to Arabella and her two younger sisters in 2017. About a year and a half later, in 2019, the couple adopted all three girls.

Leticia and Brian, who were both in their mid-forties, lived in Spring Valley, California. Leticia worked at Rock Church in San Diego as a ministry leadership coordinator, a position she had held since 2013. Brian had worked as a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent for the previous nineteen years.

Leticia’s parents, Stanley and Adella Tom, also lived with the couple in their large Southern California home. Stanley and Adella had previously volunteered with the San Diego Police Department as members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol program. Volunteers in that program would normally check on homes while their owners were away or visit elderly residents in the area.

Arabella and her sisters had been removed from Toriana and Chelsea’s home in 2013 because their parents’ relationship was tumultuous, regularly exposing the girls to domestic violence. After the girls were removed, Toriana and Chelsea were still allowed weekly visits. However, once the adoption was finalized, those visits ended, and they no longer saw their daughters.

When the biological parents had been permitted to visit, they met their daughters at the Rock Church campus in Point Loma, San Diego, where Leticia worked.

The girls’ biological father, Chelsea, is Indigenous American. According to the account presented in this case, the McCormacks’ adoption of the three girls was in direct violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law intended to prevent the unnecessary removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities.

In the early hours of August 30, 2022, at around 2:00 a.m., the McCormacks called 911. They reported that Arabella was not breathing and claimed that she had choked on chicken broth.

First responders arrived at the family’s home in the 3300 block of Lakeview Avenue and found Arabella lying on the floor without a pulse. A deputy at the scene reported that the little girl looked like a corpse, with skin stretched tightly over her bones.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but her heart failed. Arabella was declared dead less than ten hours after she arrived, on August 30, 2022.

Bruises and lacerations were found all over Arabella’s body, and her bones were protruding beneath her skin. She weighed only 48 pounds at the time of her death. The average weight for an eleven-year-old girl is approximately 70 to 100 pounds. That is a devastating difference.

Arabella also had a swollen hand and had suffered fifteen separate bone fractures, most of which were still healing. Some of those fractures were believed to be as recent as ten days old.

Arabella had been beaten, starved, and abused to death.

Her younger sisters had allegedly endured the same treatment. When they were taken to the hospital, both were reportedly on the verge of death. They were severely malnourished and covered in bruises.

At the hospital, the two girls were placed in intensive care because they were suffering from refeeding syndrome, a potentially dangerous electrolyte imbalance that can occur when nutrition is reintroduced after severe malnutrition. They spent approximately three weeks in the hospital before they were well enough to be placed together in a new foster home.

When investigators returned to Arabella’s home to question the adults, they found Brian, her adoptive father, sitting in his pickup truck in the driveway. As police officers approached his vehicle, Brian took out his service weapon, placed it to his head, and pulled the trigger. In my opinion, he was a coward who could not face the consequences of his terrible actions.

Authorities arrested the other three adults who lived in the home in connection with Arabella’s death and the mistreatment of her sisters. Police apprehended Arabella’s adoptive mother, Leticia, and the girls’ adoptive grandparents, 75-year-old Stanley Tom and 70-year-old Adella Tom.

Leticia and her father, Stanley, were charged with murder, child abuse, torture, and conspiracy to commit child torture. Adella received the same charges except for murder. Leticia was also charged with torture and willful cruelty relating to her two surviving daughters, who were six and seven years old at the time.

Adella did not face a murder charge because she had reportedly fallen ill during the final weeks of Arabella’s life and had not been around the little girl during that period.

All three suspects pleaded not guilty. During their bail hearing, Leticia’s defense attorney asked that her bail be set at $1 million, while Adella’s attorney requested bail of only $100,000. They argued that their clients had no prior criminal history and posed no threat to society.

The judge rejected those requests and ordered that they be held without bail. The judge believed they did pose a threat to the public, especially to Arabella’s two surviving sisters.

Child welfare services had been contacted numerous times before Arabella’s death, but, as you probably guessed, nothing meaningful was done.

In 2018, a year before the adoption of Arabella and her sisters was finalized, someone at Arabella’s school contacted child welfare services to report suspected abuse. Arabella was only seven years old at the time.

During the investigation, two employees at Highlands Elementary School raised concerns about unusual rules and controlling behavior imposed by the McCormacks. They said the couple regularly restricted Arabella’s food and water, allowing her only one Dixie cup of water per day.

They also wanted Arabella to be permitted to use the bathroom only twice during the school day. At home, she reportedly was not allowed to use it at all.

The couple asked teachers not to let Arabella use scissors, claiming they were afraid she might harm herself, although no one at the school had witnessed behavior remotely suggesting that risk. Brian and Leticia also did not want their adopted daughter to use markers, and they did not want her to receive any kind of reward at school, even something as simple as being chosen as the line leader.

The pair also demanded daily reports about Arabella’s behavior.

One school employee said Arabella told her that she slept on the floor with only a pillow—no blankets, no sheets, just a hard floor. Arabella added that it was okay because it “didn’t hurt much.”

At another point, Arabella spoke with a school employee about the movie Annie. She said she was not like Annie because, when Annie was adopted, all her pain went away, but Arabella was still hurting.

That is incredibly sad. This statement was also reported to child welfare services, yet Arabella remained in the home.

Investigators later believed that the abuse of all three sisters may have begun as early as February 2018 and continued until the day Arabella died.

After Arabella’s school first contacted child welfare services in 2018, a social worker made two unannounced visits to the McCormacks’ home. No one answered the door. Instead of continuing to investigate, the social worker called Leticia and arranged a scheduled visit by phone.

That meeting did not take place until roughly a month after the original complaint. During the meeting, Leticia, Brian, and Arabella all denied that abuse was occurring in the home. The social worker apparently accepted their statements without arranging to interview Arabella privately, away from the adults. The case was then closed as unfounded.

Arabella’s assigned caseworker did visit her at school, but he did not ask about all the concerns that had been reported. He asked only about her sleeping arrangements. Arabella told him she slept on the floor because she had been disrespectful.

When Leticia spoke with social workers, she claimed that she had restricted Arabella’s food because the girl had medical and stomach problems. However, the social worker never contacted Arabella’s doctor or any other medical professional to verify that explanation.

The fact that Leticia and Brian did not even want Arabella to receive a harmless reward at school, such as being the line leader, should have been an immediate red flag. Why would parents not want their child to be rewarded for doing something good? No caring parent would object to that. Only a terrible parent would.

Less than a month after the first abuse investigation was closed, someone at Arabella’s school called social services again.

It was reported that Brian had arrived to collect seven-year-old Arabella from an after-school program, pinned her down, and searched her pockets to see whether she had any candy. Arabella screamed in terror. When school staff told Brian to leave, he dragged the little girl to the car.

Arabella later told school employees that, after she arrived home, her parents removed her pants and poured cold water over her head.

A social worker again attempted an unannounced visit to the McCormacks’ home. Once again, nobody answered the door, even though vehicles were visible in the driveway. The social worker then arranged another scheduled meeting, which took place about a week later.

During that visit, Arabella was interviewed in the living room while her parents stood in the kitchen, close enough to hear everything she said. Unsurprisingly, the frightened little girl told the social worker that everything was fine.

Leticia told the investigator that Arabella was not allowed to eat sugar because it made it difficult for her to calm down. She also mentioned dental problems and repeated the claim that Arabella had experienced stomach issues. She then said Arabella had ADHD, PTSD, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

Leticia claimed she had poured cold water over Arabella’s head only because she had heard it would help calm the girl while she was “raging.” The caseworker once again ruled the report unfounded.

After the school reported the McCormacks for a second time, Brian and Leticia told the caseworker that they planned to withdraw Arabella from school and homeschool her. Because she was still a foster child at the time, that should not have been allowed, but, for some reason, it was.

Arabella’s biological parents had also reported suspected abuse to child welfare officials more than thirty times before her death. Their allegations against the McCormacks were either denied, dismissed, or ignored.

During visits with their daughters, Chelsea and Toriana reportedly noticed signs of abuse soon after the girls were placed in the McCormacks’ home. In addition to contacting social services, they reported their concerns to Rock Church, where Leticia worked. The church allegedly did not take the reports seriously, saying that abuse “wouldn’t happen in the home of an ordained minister and a Border Patrol agent.”

Leticia was also said to have brought the girls to work almost every day. Someone had to have noticed something. Thousands of people attended that church.

Recent photographs seen by Toriana showed the three girls looking emaciated, with bruises and scabs covering their bodies. Toriana said she also noticed broken teeth and what appeared to be signs of broken bones.

Chelsea later said that, during visits, he sometimes tried to hug his daughters, but they recoiled as though they were in pain. He also said the girls were constantly hungry, so he brought extra food to the visits.

Toriana observed the same reaction. The girls pulled away as though being touched hurt them. When Toriana asked Arabella why she was in pain, Arabella reportedly said, “Mama Leticia told me I can’t say.”

Toriana confronted Leticia, who dismissed Arabella’s statement and claimed that the child was simply being dramatic.

During the authorities’ investigation, they recovered text messages, videos, photographs, and witness statements that allegedly showed the girls’ adoptive parents and grandparents working together to starve all three children.

Several times on the day Arabella died, Brian communicated with Leticia by text message. He said Arabella was starving to death and that he believed she was going to die. Yet he did nothing. He simply told Leticia, whom he also knew would do nothing.

In another message, Brian referred to one of the girls sitting in her own waste. He allegedly wrote, “She can soak in that [expletive] and get sick. Bella will be done soon, and we will only have two to worry about.”

They knew she was going to die.

In addition to the other horrific treatment, Arabella and her sisters were allegedly struck with sticks and paddles and isolated in rooms inside the McCormacks’ home. Arabella could be punished for the smallest things, including the way she ate her cereal. Instead of taking a heaping spoonful, the cereal always had to be level with the spoon or slightly below it.

Arabella had reportedly received no medical treatment during the four years preceding her death.

Authorities alleged that Leticia, Brian, Stanley, and Adella worked together to carry out more than 700 acts of abuse that ultimately led to Arabella’s death. Leticia was believed to be the ringleader, while Brian and the grandparents allegedly helped starve the girls and strike them with sticks and paddles.

Police also recovered text messages that Adella sent to Brian in the days leading up to Arabella’s death, even though Adella herself was sick in bed. In one instance, five days before Arabella died, Adella learned that the little girl was lying in bed with a bloody nose. She reportedly texted Leticia and said Arabella should be left there to bleed because she only wanted attention.

Investigators also found an audio recording of Adella and Stanley forcing Arabella to exercise. Arabella can be heard crying while Adella mocks her and says she will not receive any food until she finishes the exercises.

In the weeks before her death, Arabella was allegedly forced to exercise while wearing wet clothes and trash bags. On at least one occasion, Adella reportedly punched her in the face.

After being denied bail twice, Adella was granted bail in March 2023. A judge approved her release because of her age and medical condition. She was permitted to remain in San Bernardino County under ankle-monitor supervision until trial.

A lawsuit was also filed against San Diego County, San Diego Rock Church, Pacific Coast Academy, and Leticia. The guardian of the estates of Arabella and her two sisters filed the lawsuit.

In the complaint, the girls’ attorney described repeated failures by numerous mandated reporters who were responsible for notifying law enforcement about suspected abuse or mistreatment.

The lawsuit alleged that one of Leticia’s coworkers had visited the home and seen the girls. The coworker later referred to them as “little ghosts” because they were so thin and pale.

At one point, Leticia allegedly told members of her prayer group that Arabella behaved badly, and because of that behavior, they could no longer invite people to the house. She also claimed that “spiritual warfare” and “demonic activity” surrounded Arabella. Yet, as I said earlier, not one church member reported this behavior or the girls’ condition.

Members of Rock Church were not the only people allegedly aware of the girls’ desperate situation inside the McCormacks’ home.

Rock Church’s child-abuse investigator—who was also a San Diego firefighter and a minister at the church—was named in the lawsuit. He allegedly visited the girls on several occasions, with the final visit occurring only one week before Arabella’s death.

At Arabella’s weight, how could he have seen her and done nothing? By that point, all three girls would have been severely emaciated, underdeveloped, and suffering from prolonged starvation. They had reportedly been isolated, denied medical care, abused, and tortured. Yet a firefighter, minister, and child-abuse investigator did nothing. If a person in all those roles would not intervene, who would?

Leticia, Stanley, and Adella had all volunteered with the San Diego Police Department. Leticia had also worked alongside an officer who visited the family’s home. That officer allegedly witnessed Brian and Leticia frequently preventing the girls from eating. When the children were allowed to eat, they were forced to chew as slowly as possible.

But that was not all.

According to the lawsuit, the same police officer gave the adoptive parents a wooden paddle to use on the girls. When the first paddle broke, he allegedly provided them with two more. He should face consequences, not merely a lawsuit. It is beyond words.

The lawsuit further alleged that the girls were enrolled in Pacific Coast Academy’s homeschooling program, where teachers saw them at least once every twenty days. Those two teachers also reported nothing, even though they were mandated reporters.

Arabella’s biological mother has said that she is now trying to bring her two surviving daughters home.

Thank you for listening to Arabella’s story today.

These four monsters must have adopted the three girls only for the government payments they received each month. Otherwise, why were they so vicious toward them? So many people—including possibly hundreds at the church—saw the girls looking the way they did and failed to act.

Ultimately, Child Protective Services should have stepped in and fixed the situation. That agency placed Arabella and her sisters in the McCormacks’ home and allowed the adoption to proceed even after multiple reports had already been filed.