NBC 7 investigative reporter Alexis Rivas has new and disturbing details from the grand jury testimony.
The criminal case is moving forward for three family members accused of murdering an adopted girl in August 2022 and torturing her sisters. A judge could pick a trial date as early as next month.
Prosecutors say adoptive mother Leticia McCormack, along with her parents Adella and Stanley Tom, beat 11-year-old Arabella and her two younger sisters with paddles, deprived them of food and water, isolated them in their rooms, denied them access to bathrooms and forced them to participate in rigorous exercises.
The trio pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges in the case:
- Murder
- Conspiracy to commit a crime
- Torture (3 Counts)
- Child Abuse (3 Counts)
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McCormack was a formerly ordained elder and youth ministry leader for the Rock Church. Her mother and father served as volunteers with the San Diego Police Department since 2015.
Brian McCormack, Leticia’s husband, took his own life outside the family’s Spring Valley home hours after Arabella died in 2022. Prosecutors say he would have faced charges if he were alive.
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Doctors say Arabella weighed 48 pounds when she died, which was less than her weight when she was five years old. Prosecutors say she was covered in bruises and had at least 15 separate bone fractures. Arabella's two younger sisters survived but were hospitalized for three weeks recovering from severe malnutrition. They are now in the care of a new foster family.
Abuse was well-documented in video recordings and text messages
A panel of jurors heard evidence over the course of eight days last October. Those proceedings are only coming to light now after prosecutors unsealed testimony transcripts.
The indictment says the crimes the McCormacks and Toms are accused of were laid out in numerous text messages between one another and through video recordings they made on their phones. Prosecutors say the adults coordinated the abuse, egging each other on to inflict more pain and suffering on the girls.
In this case, you’re probably going to be very frustrated with other parties because you are going to learn that there were several missed opportunities over the years to protect these children...from CPS, from law enforcement, and also … to an extent, some pediatricians.
Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro
Deputies testified that the girls were forced to lie still during the day and even while sleeping. Multiple cameras and motion sensors monitored them at all times. Some blared an alarm if they moved the smallest amount. Deputies said the children were then hit with a paddle, a belt or wooden paint stirrers when they were caught moving.
Investigators said it didn’t matter if the girls needed to urgently use the bathroom; their pleas were ignored, and they often soiled themselves. Testimony revealed they were forced to remain in dirty clothing until it dried.
In one exchange, prosecutors say Brian encouraged his wife Leticia not to let one of the girls use the bathroom and then let her sit in her own waste. The text message read, “She can just soak in that [expletive] and get sick. Bella will be done soon and we will only have two to worry about.”
Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro told grand jurors, “Suffice it to say these three young children were subjected to a life of horror, of torment, of abuse, and neglect.”
Abuse allegations made years before Arabella died
NBC 7 Investigates previously reported that social workers investigated multiple abuse complaints years before Arabella’s death, detailed in internal documents from the county.
Social workers documented complaints from concerned school employees at Highlands Elementary School who separately reported concerns about unusual rules and controlling behaviors of the McCormacks, who were still Arabella’s foster parents at the time.
Those rules reportedly included strictly limiting Arabella’s diet, water intake and only allowing bathroom breaks twice per day. Arabella’s kindergarten teacher testified that she also told social workers Arabella said her foster parents forced her to sleep on the floor.
Social worker investigators determined those allegations were unfounded after Arabella and her parents denied any abuse was going on. However, investigators never interviewed Arabella at school, without her parents around.
The newly unsealed grand jury testimony went into more detail about those allegations.
“In this case, you’re probably going to be very frustrated with other parties because you are going to learn that there were several missed opportunities over the years to protect these children,” Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro said. “From CPS, from law enforcement, and also … to an extent, some pediatricians.”
But Pro cautioned grand jurors that the criminal case was focused on the family, not on potential missteps by county employees.
And the lady from CPS said to me on the phone — after I told her everything, she said, ‘Well, it could be worse.’
Highland Elementary School Teacher's Aide
Arabella’s second-grade teacher and teacher’s aide testified how Leticia McCormack justified her strict rules for Arabella as a response to emotional outbursts from the child. They said it came as a surprise to them as they never witnessed that, describing Arabella as a bright and well-behaved student.
“I wasn't seeing those behaviors, I felt that it didn't make sense,” her second-grade teacher testified. “There [were] so many things that she asked of me to ration and regulate. It didn't seem natural for a child.”
Arabella’s kindergarten class aide told the grand jurors about a disturbing note from Arabella’s foster mom Leticia.
“In the envelope, it said, ‘Arabella is,’ and it was line items such as ‘a terrible child,’” she said. “‘She's a liar. You can't believe anything she says. She's a thief. She steals everything. Don't trust her.' It was just one thing after another of horrible things that you would never say about a 6-year-old."
The teacher’s aide said she contacted social workers after Arabella repeatedly showed up to school in the same dirty clothes on several occasions. She also reported that Arabella wasn’t allowed to eat fruit, accept rewards or participate in recess with other children.
“And the lady from CPS said to me on the phone — after I told her everything, she said, ‘Well, it could be worse,’” the teacher’s aide testified.
The second-grade teacher said she was never interviewed by social workers. The teacher’s aide said she was never contacted by investigators after she made her initial report.
The county has never agreed to an on-camera interview about this case, citing pending litigation, which include a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Arabella’s biological mother. It also declined to discuss its child abuse investigation policies and procedures separately.
NBC 7 Investigates reached out in the wake of this new testimony, and the agency declined to speak with us, instead again referring us to county policy documents. A county spokesperson shared this message: “The County joins the community in grieving Arabella’s death.”
Click here to read more details from the county's abuse investigations.
Arabella ran away from the McCormacks in 2020
The grand jury transcripts also revealed Arabella tried to run away from home but was ultimately returned by a San Diego County Sheriff’s deputy. A woman testified that she was driving through Spring Valley in late 2020 when she spotted Arabella.
She said the girl was walking along in the middle of the street, barefoot and carrying two bags. She said she quickly got Arabella into her car and asked her if she was OK.
“She was telling me that she ran away from her family but that no one would believe her because they were, like, pastors or something from a church, from the Rock Church, and that — that they didn't feed her,” the woman testified.
Arabella also told the woman her adoptive father was a border patrol agent. “She told me, ‘Don't call the police. Whatever you do, please don't call the police. I don't want to go back there. They'll take me back there.’"
But police were called. When a deputy arrived, the woman told him what Arabella told her.
But both she and the deputy testified that Arabella wasn’t as forthcoming after the deputy arrived. He said Arabella told him she wanted to go back to her biological mother but wouldn’t go into specifics about any child abuse at the hands of the McCormacks.
In the end, the deputy said he drove Arabella back to her home, returning her to Brian McCormack. His reaction to seeing Arabella seemed odd to the deputy.
“He seemed surprised or — or had some concern,” the deputy testified. “He didn't ask too many questions, I guess.”
The deputy then told the grand jury he didn’t write up a police report about the incident, saying that it didn’t seem necessary.
“At the time, with no injuries and she seemed fine, she wasn't still missing, I figured that there was no report needed,” the deputy said.
However, later during his testimony, he said he should have filed one.
“In this case, looking back, I believe a report for a runaway juvenile would have been appropriate,” the deputy testified.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Office declined to comment, citing the active criminal prosecution.
Grand jury testimony from one of Arabella’s surviving sisters also revealed that wasn’t the first time any of the children attempted to run away. She recounted a story that Leticia caught Arabella and her trying to leave the house, and just wished they had gone to a neighbor and asked for help. After the runaway attempt, she testified that they were spanked.
Friends of the McCormacks said they were surprised
Over the course of the proceedings, grand jurors were read lengthy statements from other investigators who spoke with friends of Leticia and Brian McCormack. That included several members of the Rock Church. This is what they told investigators about their experience with the family prior to the pandemic:
- They never saw any physical abuse of the girls
- They attended many events where they saw the children eat normally
- They were told repeatedly about behavioral problems from the children, especially Arabella, but never witnessed that behavior.
- At times they thought Arabella looked thin, but it didn’t trigger any concerns
However, after the pandemic began, they said their interactions with the family and the girls became very rare. And sightings of Arabella stopped almost entirely, especially in the six months leading up to her death.
Nonetheless, the Rock Church and one of its employees are named in a civil lawsuit on behalf of Arabella’s surviving sisters for numerous alleged failures to report child abuse. The lawsuit was filed by the Mesa Grande Band of Diegueno Indians which counts the sisters as members.
The suit claims Kevin Johnstone, who served as a child abuse investigator for the Rock Church and as a chaplain for San Diego Fire-Rescue, visited the McCormack home and saw the girls multiple times, including the week before Arabella died.
The lawsuit says the child’s abuse and neglect, “should have been apparent to him.” It also alleges that Johnstone failed in his duty as a mandated reporter and that the fire department is also “liable for Mr. Johnstone's failure to report.”
SDFD declined to comment due to pending litigation but told us he wasn’t a full-time city employee and only volunteered as a chaplain. In a phone call with NBC 7 Investigates, Johnstone also declined to comment.
Click here to read more details about the civil lawsuits.
