On an August afternoon in 2022, first responders entered a Spring Valley home and found 11-year-old Arabella McCormack lying on the floor, so severely emaciated that bones protruded beneath her skin. Court filings say her teeth were yellow and calcified, her body was covered in bruises and over a dozen fractures, and she weighed around forty-eight pounds - less than she had weighed at age five. She went into cardiac arrest and died shortly afterward. Her two younger sisters, discovered in similar condition, were hospitalized with re-feeding syndrome, a condition seen in the severely starved. Doctors managed to save them.
More than three years later, the public is only beginning to understand how many adults, organizations, and government agencies allegedly crossed paths with the family and failed to intervene. On December 2, 2025, a San Diego Superior Court judge approved tentative settlements totaling $21.5 million for Arabella’s surviving sisters. According to reports, the City of San Diego will pay $10 million, Rock Church will pay $3 million, and the charter homeschool program Pacific Coast Academy will pay $8.5 million. A separate settlement with San Diego County has not yet been finalized.
The McCormacks themselves will not contribute financially. Arabella’s adoptive father, Border Patrol agent Brian McCormack, shot and killed himself in his truck the same day Arabella collapsed. Her adoptive mother, former Rock Church elder Leticia McCormack, and her parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, remain incarcerated on charges of murder, torture and child abuse, with special-circumstance allegations that could expose them to life without parole or the death penalty.
But according to a sweeping new civil complaint, the McCormacks were not the only ones responsible. The lawsuit alleges that Arabella’s death was the culmination of years of missed warnings, ignored referrals, suppressed alarms, and failures by nearly every mandated-reporter system assigned to protect her. The document spans hundreds of paragraphs and implicates San Diego County social workers, SDPD volunteers, Rock Church staff, Pacific Coast Academy teachers, visitation monitors, therapists, hospital personnel, CASA volunteers and nonprofit agencies - each accused of observing or being told of abuse indicators and failing to act.
Arabella’s path into the McCormack home began roughly a decade earlier. She was declared a dependent of the court in 2013. In 2019, under a Tribal Customary Adoption agreement with the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians, she was adopted by Brian and Leticia McCormack. According to the complaint, her biological mother, Torriana Florey, retained parental rights and is now legally permitted to pursue survival and wrongful-death claims.
From that point forward, the lawsuit argues, the safeguards designed to protect an Indigenous child “failed at every level.” The complaint accuses County social workers of repeatedly violating the Indian Child Welfare Act by ignoring qualified relatives, misrepresenting the availability of Tribal placements, and promoting the McCormacks as suitable adoptive parents despite documented concerns and the couple’s alleged inexperience with children.
Leticia and Brian McCormack’s deep involvement with Rock Church and public-safety institutions added another layer of alleged systemic failure. Leticia served as a Rock Church elder and ministry leader and volunteered as a “crisis intervention specialist” with SDPD. Her parents volunteered with the police department as well. Brian worked as a Border Patrol agent. The lawsuit stresses that these individuals - and the network around them - were mandated reporters.
Yet according to the complaint, these same circles of authority helped create a blind spot that protected the McCormacks from scrutiny. A Rock Church volunteer allegedly described the girls as “little ghosts” after a holiday visit in 2021 but made no mandated report. Members of a church prayer group reportedly saw Arabella via Zoom and noted she looked pale, frail and starved, yet no one alerted authorities. The suit alleges that Leticia told prayer partners she could not allow visitors in the home due to Arabella’s “demonic activity” and “acting up,” statements that the complaint portrays as efforts to isolate the children and shield the household from outside observation.
The lawsuit also singles out Fire Department minister and Rock Church “Child Abuse Investigator” Kevin Johnstone, alleging he visited the McCormack home several times - including a week before Arabella’s death - and saw children who were severely underweight and exhibiting clear signs of physical decline. Despite his professional role and specialized training, he allegedly never reported suspected abuse.
One of the most disturbing allegations focuses on San Diego Police Officer Lawanda Fisher, who was reportedly close to Leticia McCormack through their volunteer work. According to the complaint, Fisher visited the home in full police regalia, observed the children’s condition, and noticed symptoms of starvation that would have been obvious “even to someone lacking her education, experience and training.” Instead of filing a report, the suit alleges Fisher actively participated by providing Leticia with wooden paddles to discipline the children. When one paddle broke, Fisher allegedly supplied two more.
The complaint paints a harrowing picture of life inside the McCormack household. It alleges that Arabella and her sisters were subjected to extreme food and water restriction, corporal punishment, forced exercise, and total control over their bodily functions. The children were reportedly given only two meals a day with restricted portions and told when they could drink water. Arabella was allegedly punished for drinking outside prescribed times and forced to sleep on the floor without sheets.
From that point forward, the lawsuit argues, the safeguards designed to protect an Indigenous child “failed at every level.” The complaint accuses County social workers of repeatedly violating the Indian Child Welfare Act by ignoring qualified relatives, misrepresenting the availability of Tribal placements, and promoting the McCormacks as suitable adoptive parents despite documented concerns and the couple’s alleged inexperience with children.
Leticia and Brian McCormack’s deep involvement with Rock Church and public-safety institutions added another layer of alleged systemic failure. Leticia served as a Rock Church elder and ministry leader and volunteered as a “crisis intervention specialist” with SDPD. Her parents volunteered with the police department as well. Brian worked as a Border Patrol agent. The lawsuit stresses that these individuals - and the network around them - were mandated reporters.
Yet according to the complaint, these same circles of authority helped create a blind spot that protected the McCormacks from scrutiny. A Rock Church volunteer allegedly described the girls as “little ghosts” after a holiday visit in 2021 but made no mandated report. Members of a church prayer group reportedly saw Arabella via Zoom and noted she looked pale, frail and starved, yet no one alerted authorities. The suit alleges that Leticia told prayer partners she could not allow visitors in the home due to Arabella’s “demonic activity” and “acting up,” statements that the complaint portrays as efforts to isolate the children and shield the household from outside observation.
The lawsuit also singles out Fire Department minister and Rock Church “Child Abuse Investigator” Kevin Johnstone, alleging he visited the McCormack home several times - including a week before Arabella’s death - and saw children who were severely underweight and exhibiting clear signs of physical decline. Despite his professional role and specialized training, he allegedly never reported suspected abuse.
One of the most disturbing allegations focuses on San Diego Police Officer Lawanda Fisher, who was reportedly close to Leticia McCormack through their volunteer work. According to the complaint, Fisher visited the home in full police regalia, observed the children’s condition, and noticed symptoms of starvation that would have been obvious “even to someone lacking her education, experience and training.” Instead of filing a report, the suit alleges Fisher actively participated by providing Leticia with wooden paddles to discipline the children. When one paddle broke, Fisher allegedly supplied two more.
The complaint paints a harrowing picture of life inside the McCormack household. It alleges that Arabella and her sisters were subjected to extreme food and water restriction, corporal punishment, forced exercise, and total control over their bodily functions. The children were reportedly given only two meals a day with restricted portions and told when they could drink water. Arabella was allegedly punished for drinking outside prescribed times and forced to sleep on the floor without sheets.
Teachers and doctors documented chronic hunger, rapid weight loss, ketotic hypoglycemia, constipation requiring multiple enemas and behavioral signs of starvation. At least one sibling was noted in medical records as frequently asking for food and showing food-hoarding behavior. Yet according to the complaint, many of the professionals who witnessed these symptoms or read them in medical charts never filed mandated reports.
In 2017 and 2018, emergency-room visits documented severe constipation, malnutrition and stomach pain, but social workers allegedly accepted Leticia’s explanations without verifying them. A CASA volunteer reportedly visited the home many times and observed the children’s visible deterioration yet failed to make a report. Visitation monitors allegedly watched the children scarf food rapidly, vomit from overeating, and express fear of their adoptive parents - all classic red flags for starvation - yet, the lawsuit states, they neither cross-reported nor alerted authorities.
Pacific Coast Academy teachers and administrators allegedly noted the children’s gaunt appearance, odd dietary restrictions and constant hunger. Even after the school sent multiple referrals to child protective services, the complaint says social workers repeatedly closed investigations as “unfounded.”
According to the lawsuit, social workers from San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency committed a cascade of failures: not conducting required face-to-face visits, not interviewing Arabella privately, not contacting Tribal representatives as required by ICWA, not verifying medical explanations, and not performing emergency-response checks within mandated timelines - even after referrals flagged immediate danger. In one instance, the McCormacks allegedly disappeared after learning about an investigation, a major red flag that the complaint says was ignored.
By late 2018 and 2019, medical records showed Arabella dropping from the 63rd percentile in growth to extreme malnourishment. The complaint states that if mandated reporters - including doctors, therapists, school staff and County workers - had followed mandatory duties, the abuse would have been uncovered years earlier. Instead, the lawsuit argues, the system repeatedly sided with the McCormacks’ narratives, failed to verify claims, and allowed the children to remain under Leticia and Brian’s control as the abuse escalated.
When Arabella collapsed in August 2022, paramedics found her so deteriorated that they initially believed she had been dead for days. Doctors determined the level of starvation was so severe that her body could no longer sustain basic organ function. The complaint states she had thirteen healing rib fractures, marks consistent with inflicted injury, and weighed less than she did in kindergarten.
The civil suit argues that Arabella’s death “was not an unforeseeable horror hidden behind closed doors,” but the logical end of a years-long, multi-agency breakdown in San Diego’s child-welfare system. The settlements now being approved represent an extraordinary public concession that something went catastrophically wrong.
Rock Church issued a brief statement expressing sadness and stating it revoked Leticia’s ordination. Pacific Coast Academy and the City of San Diego have not publicly described internal reforms. The County’s anticipated settlement is expected to be significant given its central role in Arabella’s placement and oversight.
Meanwhile, the criminal case remains pending, delayed repeatedly as defense attorneys prepare for a potential death-penalty trial. Prosecutors have argued that justice deferred is justice denied for Arabella’s siblings, who survived against staggering odds.
A striking parallel remains: a child repeatedly described as a “little ghost” died weighing less than she did in kindergarten, while dozens of adults tasked with protecting her allegedly did nothing. As San Diego continues to confront this tragedy, these settlements represent not closure, but acknowledgment -financial if not verbal - that Arabella McCormack should still be alive today.
In 2017 and 2018, emergency-room visits documented severe constipation, malnutrition and stomach pain, but social workers allegedly accepted Leticia’s explanations without verifying them. A CASA volunteer reportedly visited the home many times and observed the children’s visible deterioration yet failed to make a report. Visitation monitors allegedly watched the children scarf food rapidly, vomit from overeating, and express fear of their adoptive parents - all classic red flags for starvation - yet, the lawsuit states, they neither cross-reported nor alerted authorities.
Pacific Coast Academy teachers and administrators allegedly noted the children’s gaunt appearance, odd dietary restrictions and constant hunger. Even after the school sent multiple referrals to child protective services, the complaint says social workers repeatedly closed investigations as “unfounded.”
According to the lawsuit, social workers from San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency committed a cascade of failures: not conducting required face-to-face visits, not interviewing Arabella privately, not contacting Tribal representatives as required by ICWA, not verifying medical explanations, and not performing emergency-response checks within mandated timelines - even after referrals flagged immediate danger. In one instance, the McCormacks allegedly disappeared after learning about an investigation, a major red flag that the complaint says was ignored.
By late 2018 and 2019, medical records showed Arabella dropping from the 63rd percentile in growth to extreme malnourishment. The complaint states that if mandated reporters - including doctors, therapists, school staff and County workers - had followed mandatory duties, the abuse would have been uncovered years earlier. Instead, the lawsuit argues, the system repeatedly sided with the McCormacks’ narratives, failed to verify claims, and allowed the children to remain under Leticia and Brian’s control as the abuse escalated.
When Arabella collapsed in August 2022, paramedics found her so deteriorated that they initially believed she had been dead for days. Doctors determined the level of starvation was so severe that her body could no longer sustain basic organ function. The complaint states she had thirteen healing rib fractures, marks consistent with inflicted injury, and weighed less than she did in kindergarten.
The civil suit argues that Arabella’s death “was not an unforeseeable horror hidden behind closed doors,” but the logical end of a years-long, multi-agency breakdown in San Diego’s child-welfare system. The settlements now being approved represent an extraordinary public concession that something went catastrophically wrong.
Rock Church issued a brief statement expressing sadness and stating it revoked Leticia’s ordination. Pacific Coast Academy and the City of San Diego have not publicly described internal reforms. The County’s anticipated settlement is expected to be significant given its central role in Arabella’s placement and oversight.
Meanwhile, the criminal case remains pending, delayed repeatedly as defense attorneys prepare for a potential death-penalty trial. Prosecutors have argued that justice deferred is justice denied for Arabella’s siblings, who survived against staggering odds.
A striking parallel remains: a child repeatedly described as a “little ghost” died weighing less than she did in kindergarten, while dozens of adults tasked with protecting her allegedly did nothing. As San Diego continues to confront this tragedy, these settlements represent not closure, but acknowledgment -financial if not verbal - that Arabella McCormack should still be alive today.
Originally published December 3, 2025.
