An 11-year-old girl from California faced egregious mistreatment, including being chastised for “overloading” her spoon with cereal, being compelled to exercise while clad in plastic bags and wet garments, and enduring various forms of cruelty, as per court documents accusing her adoptive mother and grandparents of murder, child abuse, and torture.
Arabella McCormack, who passed away in 2022, was shockingly emaciated, weighing less than she did at the age of 5, according to prosecutors cited by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In the most recent amendment to the complaint released this week, Arabella’s adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, grandfather Stanley Tom, and grandmother Adella Tom now all face charges of murder, child abuse, and torture. Initially, Adella Tom was not charged with murder during the family members’ initial arraignment in 2022.
Arabella’s adoptive father, Brian McCormack, a Border Patrol Agent, took his own life inside his truck just hours after deputies responded to a distress call at the family’s residence in Spring Valley, located approximately 10 miles east of San Diego.
As per the complaint, the three surviving family members are collectively charged with 691 overt acts of conspiracy to commit child torture.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the family’s home in August 2022 following a report of a distressed child. Paramedics discovered McCormack on the floor without a pulse, her body bearing bruises, cuts, and healing fractures. She succumbed to heart failure shortly after, weighing under 40 pounds and appearing like “a corpse with skin stretched over it,” according to officials. Arabella suffered severe malnutrition, abuse, and torture.
Prosecutors revealed on Tuesday that the adoptive child’s family collaborated “as a team to create an environment of torment, pain, suffering, violence, and fear” for McCormack and her two younger sisters, aged 6 and 7 at the time of her death.
The sisters were allegedly subjected to physical punishment with paddles and sticks, denied bathroom privileges, and forced to soil themselves. Brian McCormack purportedly encouraged his wife to let one of the girls sit in her own waste, remarking: “She can soak in that sh– and get sick. Bella will be done soon, and we will only have two to worry about.”
Leticia McCormack reportedly instructed her father in various instances to give Arabella “no chances” when eating cereal, insisting that “her spoon should not be heaping” and “should be almost level.”
The child was also compelled to engage in physical activity while wearing plastic bags and wet clothes, as alleged by prosecutors.
The three surviving adults are scheduled to appear in court on January 30, facing 46 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.
Additionally, a civil suit has been filed on behalf of McCormack’s sisters, asserting that several agencies, organizations, and workers neglected to report possible abuse. The suit details the enduring trauma and health issues suffered by the surviving sisters, including a syndrome resulting from prolonged starvation.