California parents and grandma set up child torture TEAM to abuse girl, 11, to death by beating her for putting too much cereal on spoon and looking around while eating, prosecutors say

• Arabella McCormack, 11, died in August 2022 after years of torment by family
• Brian McCormack shot himself dead on the day sheriffs arrived to arrest Leticia 
• New court documents accuse the trio of working ‘as a team to torment’ the child

The adoptive parents and grandparents of a California 11-year-old worked as a team 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 she did aged five.

She girl was covered in cuts, bruises and still-healing fractures. Her adoptive parents Leticia and Brian McCormack called 911, saying Arabella choked on chicken broth.

Paramedics say they found Arabella on the floor without a pulse, and a deputy on the scene reported the girl looked like ‘a corpse with skin stretched over it.’

She died less than 10 hours later at the hospital in August 2022. When sheriffs arrived at the house, Border Patrol agent Brian McCormack shot himself dead.

His wife and her parents, Stanley and Adella Tom, were arrested in October 2022, and all three have now been charged with murder. Brian McCormack was considered by prosecutors to be a part of the abuse, and would have been charged had he not killed himself.

Prosecutors this week filed an amended complaint against the trio, alleging that they worked as a team to abuse Arabella.

They allege that the three ‘worked as a team to create an environment of torment, pain, suffering, violence, and fear’ for Arabella and her two younger sisters, who were aged six and seven when Arabella died.

The three girls were placed into foster care when their mother Torriana Florey, suffering from bipolar episodes, became unable to care for them.

The girl’s first name is ‘Aarabella,’ according to her biological mother. The child’s name appears as ‘Arabella’ in county records.

The adoption by Leticia and Brian McCormack was formalized in 2019, and the abuse began straight away, prosecutors say.

Brian McCormack at one point dragged Arabella to the ground during an after-school program – in front of school staff – to try and see if she had candy in her pockets.

Arabella was pulled out of school, and all three girls were homeschooled.

The McCormacks were obsessive about their food, weight, and behavior.

Leticia McCormack, an elder at a California megachurch, allegedly told her father to give Arabella ‘no chances’ when she ate her cereal, that ‘her spoon should not be heaping’ and ‘should be almost level,’ according to the complaint filed by prosecutors, obtained by The San Diego Union Tribune.

Two days later the girl was forced to exercise while wearing plastic bags and wet clothes, according to the complaint.

Days later, Brian McCormack smacked her for ‘overloading’ her spoon and ‘looking around’ while eating,’ the complaint alleges.

The girls were forced to exercise excessively, sometimes by running up and down stairs.

They were refused permission to use the bathroom, and forced to urinate and defecate on themselves.

Brian McCormack encouraged his wife to let one of the girls sit in her own waste, saying: ‘She can soak in that (expletive) and get sick. Bella will be done soon and we will only have two to worry about.’

The three girls were hit with paddles and sticks, and left with broken bones.

The two surviving girls have suffered lasting ill health as a result of the starvation and abuse.

A civil suit has been filed on behalf of Arabella’s sisters, alleging that several agencies, organizations and workers failed to report possible abuse.

The suit says the surviving sisters suffered from a syndrome that presents after prolonged starvation.

The three adults will appear in court for a status hearing on January 30: all three face 46 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.