Prosecutors seek death penalty for SoCal woman accused of fatally starving adopted daughter
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San Diego County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a woman accused of starving and torturing her adopted 11-year-old daughter to death.
Arabella McCormack died in August 2022 after San Diego County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call in the middle of the night for a child in distress at a home in Spring Valley, an unincorporated community in the eastern part of the county.
Arabella’s adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, and her parents, Adella and Stanley Tom, were arrested three months later and accused of torturing the young girl to death. Her adoptive father, Brian McCormack, killed himself when sheriff’s deputies confronted him.
On Tuesday, the San Diego County district attorney’s office announced its decision to pursue capital punishment against Leticia McCormack, who was an ordained elder and youth minister at a San Diego church. The Toms, meanwhile, face the possibility of life in prison without parole.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy, child abuse and torture.
The suit, filed Monday on behalf of Emmanuel’s 3-year-old sister, claims that the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services failed to properly investigate a 2024 report of abuse in the Haro household.
The grandparents are scheduled to stand trial together in February 2027, while McCormack is scheduled to stand trial in August 2027, according to the D.A.
California has not performed an execution since 2006, and Gov. Gavin Newsom placed a moratorium in 2019 on the killing of death row prisoners.
Nonetheless, prosecutors’ decision to seek the highest level of punishment reflects the extreme nature of Leticia’s alleged crimes.
When responding deputies rushed Arabella to the hospital in August 2022, she weighed just 48 pounds, was covered in bruises and had at least 15 fractured bones, according to reporting from local news station NBC7. She died within hours.
Her two younger siblings, then ages 6 and 7, were also taken for emergency medical treatment and spent three weeks in the hospital recovering from severe malnutrition.
In December, the surviving sisters received a $31.5-million settlement from the city and county of San Diego and other groups accused of failing to report Arabella’s abuse. The lawsuit alleged that county social workers failed to properly investigate reports of abuse, while teachers at Pacific Coast Academy failed to report Arabella’s poor health.
Her two younger siblings are now living with a new foster mother. McCormack and the Toms are due back in court for a status hearing on Nov. 17.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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