Two sisters in California were awarded $15.7 million dollars each after surviving an abuse adopted home where their 11-yar-old sister was starved to death. The massive and historic legal settlement acknowledged failures by the child welfare system that were intended to protect the three San Diego sisters.
Arabella McCormack died after suffering prolonged neglect and mistreatment. Her sister survived and is now at the center of a settlement tied to institutional oversight failures. Arabella died in 2022 at the home of her adoptive mother and father Leticia and Brian McCormack. The California adoptive parents called 911, saying the little girl had choked on chicken broth.
When found by San Diego first responders, Arabella McCormick was covered in cuts and bruises and had 13 bone fractures. The California girl was so emaciated that she weighed less at her death than she had when she was just five-years-old.
Arabella and her sisters were adopted by a San Diego couple after being removed from their biological parents. Investigators found that all three girls were subjected to years of horrific child abuse and neglect. An autopsy concluded that Arabella McCormack suffered from severe malnutrition and dehydration. Medical findings also indicated she had been denied adequate food, medical attention, and basic care over an extended period.
A church and local government fail to protect children in need.
What a tragedy! https://t.co/qQp7ACI7Gt
— bballer (@bballer) December 12, 2025
San Diego paramedics found Arabella McCormack unresponsive on the floor without a pulse. A deputy reported the little girl looked like “a corpse with skin stretched over it.” Arabella died less than 10 hours later at a local hospital. When deputies arrived at the house after her death, Brian McCormack had shot himself dead.
His wife Leticia and her parents, Stanley and Adella Tom, were also arrested and all were charged with murder. All three have pleaded not guilty. Brian was also by prosecutors to be a part of the abuse and would have been charged had he not killed himself.
On the surface, Leticia and Brian McCormick likely seemed like ideal adoptive parents. Brian was a Border Patrol agent and Letitia was an elder and ministry leadership coordinator at the Rock Church. One church member who worked with Letitia McCormack had been to the San Diego home and told the court the three California sisters looked “little ghosts.”
“Ms. McCormack told the prayer group that Arabella had ‘bad behaviors,’ that they couldn’t have people over, and that there was ‘spiritual warfare’ and ‘demonic activity’ with Arabella,” the church member told the court. Rock Church was one of the entities who reportedly had seen warning signs of potential abuse and did not alert authorities – and are among the institutions contributing to the $15.7 million per sister lawsuit settlement.
The adoptive parents and grandparents of a California 11-year-old worked together to torture and torment her until she died, prosecutors have claimed.
Arabella McCormack was found by paramedics at the San Diego county home in such an emaciated state that she weighed less than… pic.twitter.com/SlouBwYEMa
— News News News (@NewsNew97351204) January 19, 2024
The three girls were placed into foster care when their mother Torriana Florey, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was unable to care for them. The child abuse reportedly began shortly after the adoption of the three California sisters in 2019. Prosecutors maintain the McCormacks and Toms “worked as a team to create an environment of torment, pain, suffering, violence, and fear.”
California court documents describe a pattern of isolation, excessive punishment, and food deprivation affecting all three sisters. Following Arabella’s death, multiple investigations examined how the abuse was able to continue for so long despite warning signs. California court records show red flags did not result in life-saving intervention before Arabella’s condition became deadly.
The two surviving sisters later sued several entities that were involved in their adoption and child welfare process, alleging systemic negligence and failure to act on reported child abuse concerns caused the death of their sister. Although the settlement reached remains largely confidential, attorneys said the lawsuit reflects acknowledgment of institutional failures.
“This case demonstrates that adoption alone does not eliminate risk,” said one child advocacy expert familiar, according to a Daily Mail report. “Safeguards must extend beyond placement to ensure children remain protected.”
