Family sues after woman is found dead in towed van in impound lot a month after crash by drunk driver

The family of a homeless woman who suffered fatal injuries in a crash by a drunk driver as she slept in her van is suing the city of San Diego after her body was left undiscovered in an impound lot for over a month.

Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was sleeping in her parked van when 25-year-old Jordan Lopez plowed into the vehicle in the early hours of November 5, 2023. The damaged vehicle was later towed — with De Adams’ body inside.

Her family is convinced she was alive for a time and desperately needed medical attention — not to be towed in her van to an impound lot.

It wasn’t until weeks later that a towing company employee noticed a foul smell coming from the van, and De Adams’ badly decomposed body was discovered.

“The last place you would think to look for a missing person was inside of a car,” her family’s attorney, John Carpenter told KMFB, apparently sarcastically.

De Adams’ family has now filed a $50 million claim against the city for failing to find her inside the van at the scene of the crash before towing it away.

According to KMFB, an autopsy report showed De Adams died from blunt force trauma injuries sustained in the crash.

Her family believes she was badly injured and needed medical help following the crash, but was simply hauled to the tow yard instead.

The injuries, the claim states, were “severe but survivable.”

“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, KMFB reported.

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De Adams’ disappearance was first flagged after she did not respond to birthday messages her family sent on November 13, 2023, leading her daughter to file 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 who are homeless, but they do have loving families and they do matter. This story exemplifies that,” Carpenter said.

“It’s incredibly difficult for [the family] to know that their mother passed this way,” she added in a statement to McClatchy News. “And to find out that their mother died in a car that was locked away like a piece of garbage left there to die by our government, by the city of San Diego.”

The Independent has reached out to San Diego officials for comment on the lawsuit.

Lopez, was arrested at the scene of the crash with a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit. According to court records obtained by KMFB, he was charged with vehicular manslaughter. He later agreed to a plea deal on a charge of driving under the influence causing bodily injury.

He is due to be sentenced on March 19, and faces up to six years in prison.