What to Know
- Prosecutors say Aarabella McCormack died from child abuse
- Her adoptive mother and grandparents face criminal charges
- Aarabella’s biological mother accuses San Diego County of dropping the ball during foster care and adoption proceedings
A San Diego mother filed a $10 million wrongful death claim against the county last month, saying Child Welfare Services failed her 11-year-old biological daughter, Aarabella McCormack, who died in the hospital last August. Prosecutors say she was severely malnourished, weighing just 48 pounds at the time. They also say her body was covered in bruises and doctors found 15 still-healing bone fractures.
“She was the most open, loving, affectionate little girl,” Aarabella’s biological mother, Torriana Florey, told NBC 7, “and then she got with the McCormacks and it’s like her soul died. And it hurts — very much so.”
I’m not going to let it go. And I’m not going to stand down for my daughter. My daughter is going to have a voice.
Torriana Florey
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Family members and neighbors told NBC 7 Investigates Aarabella and her two younger sisters moved in with Brian and Leticia McCormack in 2017, and the county finalized the adoption in 2019. At the time, the couple held public and upstanding leadership roles in the community. Brian worked as a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent, and Leticia volunteered as an ordained youth ministry leader for The Rock Church in San Diego.
But prosecutors say what happened inside the McCormack home was anything but virtuous.
Prosecutors say Aarabella’s adoptive grandmother, adoptive grandfather and adoptive mother worked together to torture and physically abuse Aarabella and her two surviving sisters, ages 7 and 6. They say the children were hit with paddles and sticks, deprived of food and water, isolated in their rooms, denied access to bathrooms and forced to participate in rigorous exercises.
Florey said social workers didn’t properly vet the McCormacks, didn’t properly investigate suspected abuse reports and didn’t ensure Aarabella was receiving proper medical care.
“The county needs to be held responsible for the death of my daughter,” Florey told NBC 7. “I’m not going to let it go. And I’m not going to stand down for my daughter. My daughter is going to have a voice.”
The claim says the county took custody of Aarabella and her two younger sisters in 2016. Florey said she was in a tumultuous relationship at the time, and the county did not want the children exposed to domestic violence between the couple. She is adamant she was never accused of abusing her girls. Florey said she is in a much better place now, has gone through therapy and is fighting to regain custody of her two youngest daughters. For now, the girls have been placed with a foster family.
Aarabella’s adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and adoptive grandfather Stanley Tom both face three counts each of child abuse and torture, and one count of murder. Aarabella’s adoptive grandmother, Adella Tom, faces the same child abuse and torture charges but is not charged with murder. All have pleaded not guilty. Aarabella’s adoptive father, Brian McCormack, took his own life the same day Aarabella died. Prosecutors say he would also be facing criminal charges if he was still alive.
“I blamed myself for probably the first month and a half,” Florey said. “And I still blame myself for this much of it. But the county failed. I know I did everything I could, I know I was the best mother to those kids, and I know I still am by fighting.”
Florey didn’t want to talk about how she knows many of the accusations she’s leveling in the claim, citing fears it may jeopardize her child custody case. Her claim is a required first step under California law prior to filing a civil lawsuit.
It is unclear what, if anything, Child Welfare Services knew about the abuse. The county has repeatedly denied NBC 7 Investigates’ requests for records tied to the case, including Aarabella’s cause of death. It cites public records exemptions that protect information connected to active criminal investigations and sensitive information about the surviving siblings. NBC 7 Investigates reached out to county officials multiple times to give them an opportunity to respond to Florey's filing but never heard back.
The Rock Church erased Leticia’s image and bio from the leadership page on its website after deputies opened a homicide investigation into Aarabella’s death. After deputies arrested Leticia and her parents, the church told NBC 7 Investigates it revoked her ordained status and no longer maintains a relationship with Leticia.
On Monday, a judge granted Leticia’s mother, Adella Tom, bail at $100,000 on the condition she does not leave her friends’ home in San Bernardino County, wears a monitoring device, waives her Fourth Amendment right and refrains from contacting her surviving adoptive granddaughters or codefendants. The judge said she granted bail in part because of Tom’s age (70), her inability to drive and lack of a car, and her need for specialized medical care. Her public defender presented records in court detailing a recent back surgery and several reports of Tom in pain inside the jail.
Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro argued emphatically against granting bail to the grandmother. At a previous hearing, Pro referred to Tom as the “ringleader” of the child abuse and said the surviving girls are terrified of Tom getting out of jail because they fear she will try to find them.
As of the publishing of this article, Tom has not bonded out of jail.
