Girl, 11, Allegedly Endured More than 700 Acts of Abuse, Was Punished for How She Ate Cereal: Prosecutors
Mar. 15, 2025Arabella McCormack.Photo:San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(722x354:724x356):format(webp)/arabella-mccormack-died-child-abuse_1258-b2b09544079b43dea8419c74fc90c09b.jpg)
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
Prosecutors allege in charges filed on Jan. 16 that Leticia McCormack, 49, and parents Stanley, 77, and Adella Tom, 72, “worked as a team” to carry out more than 700 acts of abuse on Arabella that led to herdeath from malnutrition in Aug. 2022.
Arabellaweighed just 48 lbs. when she died, prosecutors said.
11-year-old Arabella died of severe malnutrition in Aug. 2022.San Diego County Sheriff’s Department
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(316x289:318x291):format(webp)/arabella-mccormack-died-child-abuse_1259-0d935181859a4c5e8321d9e9c061567a.jpg)
All three suspects are each charged with murder, conspiracy to commit child torture, child abuse and torture. If convicted of all of the charges, they could face up to 46 years to life in prison.
Adella’s murder charge, along with the charges of conspiracy to commit child torture against all three defendants, were filed last week. It’s not clear if those defendants have entered pleas to the charges filed last week.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to the other charges, theUnion-Tribunereports. PEOPLE was not immediately able to reach lawyers for them.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The three defendants will return for a status hearing in court on Jan. 30, theUnion-Tribunereported.
The San Diego District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further comment.
The 11-year-old died shortly after being rushed to hospital.
Arabella had “severe levels of malnourishment” and was covered in bruises at the time of death, a police spokesperson told theUnion-Tribunein 2022. She was adopted along withthree girls“a couple of years” after moving in with Leticia in 2017, according to family and friends, per NBC San Diego.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
Other Posts
