SAN DIEGO — The family of a 65-year-old woman, Monica Cameroni De Adams, who was discovered dead inside her vehicle at a city impound lot, has filed a $50 million claim against the City of San Diego.
De Adams, 65 and homeless, was sleeping in her parked van in Clairemont when a drunk driver struck her vehicle. Her body remained undiscovered for over a month, until a towing company employee detected a foul odor emanating from the van.
“The last place you would think to look for a missing person was inside of a car,” stated John Carpenter, the family’s attorney from Carpenter & Zuckerman.
According to Carpenter, De Adam’s body was found in December 2023 at a tow yard in Grantville, more than a month after the collision. “A worker at the tow yard reported a pungent smell coming from the car, and that turned out to be Monica,” Carpenter explained.
The claim alleges that the City of San Diego failed to locate De Adams inside the van at the accident scene before towing the vehicle. “The 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 stated.
The drunk driver, identified as Jordan Lopez, was apprehended at the scene with a blood alcohol level of .26, exceeding the legal limit by more than three times. Court records indicate that Lopez was initially charged with vehicular manslaughter, but later pleaded guilty to DUI causing great bodily injury as part of a plea agreement.
An autopsy determined that De Adams died from blunt force trauma injuries. She had been sleeping in her van at the time of the collision.
Carpenter added, “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, and this story exemplifies that.”
The City of San Diego did not respond to requests for comment regarding the claim.
Lopez is scheduled for sentencing next week, and under the terms of the plea deal, faces a maximum prison sentence of six years.
