SAN DIEGO (KFMB) – The family of a homeless woman who was found dead in her van at an impound lot a month after the vehicle was hit by a drunken driver has filed a $50 million claim against the city of San Diego.
Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was in her parked van in November 2023 when a drunken driver hit her vehicle. Her body wasn’t discovered until a month later when a towing company employee noticed a foul smell coming from the van, which had been moved to an impound lot.
“The last place you would think to look for a missing person was inside of a car,” said the family’s attorney, John Carpenter.
De Adams’ family has filed a $50 million claim against the city of San Diego for failing to find her inside the van at the scene of the crash before towing it away.
An autopsy showed De Adams died from blunt force trauma injuries she sustained in the crash. Her family believes she was badly injured and needed medical treatment but was taken to the tow yard while trapped inside of her van and left for dead.
“Her death was proximately caused by leaving her alone, struggling with her injuries inside of her car, entombing her in her car, taking her car to the tow yard and leaving her there to die,” Carpenter said.
De Adams was homeless and had been sleeping in her van at the time of the collision. When she didn’t respond to birthday messages her family sent Nov. 13, her daughter filed a missing persons report with police.
“Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean that they don’t have a family that loves them. Things are difficult. It’s easy to overlook people that are homeless, but they do have loving families and they do matter. This story exemplifies that,” Carpenter said.
The drunken driver, 25-year-old Jordan Lopez, was arrested at the scene with a blood alcohol level of .26, more than three times the legal limit. Court records show he was initially charged with vehicular manslaughter but later agreed to a plea deal on a charge of driving under the influence causing bodily injury.
Lopez is set to be sentenced in court March 19. Under the terms of the plea deal, he faces a maximum of six years in prison.
The city did not respond to a request for comment and has also not responded to the family’s claim, meaning a lawsuit will likely be filed in the near future.
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