By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-16 13:51:25 | Updated at 2025-03-17 04:09:46
14 hours ago
A California homeless woman's dead body was found crushed and mangled inside of her van more than a month after the vehicle was impounded.
Her heartbroken family has taken legal action - suing the City of San Diego for more than $50 million.
Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was sleeping in the van parked in Clairemont when a drunk driver, Jordan Lopez, 25, slammed into her in November 2023.
But when the damaged van was towed from the scene, no one realized the victim was inside. She suffered and struggled tremendously until she died, the lawsuit claims.
Meanwhile, Cameroni De Adams' daughter Natalia Danielle Cameroni-Adams reported her missing to the San Diego Police Department. She started to worry after her mother did not answer happy birthday text messages.
A towing company employee made the horrifying discovery after noticing a vile smell coming from the van in December 2023.
She was found buried underneath her belongings in the Honda Odyssey minivan's middle seat with severe fractures to her ribs, spine and arm. Her autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma.
'The face was unrecognizable due to the condition of her body,' the medical examiner wrote, CBS 8 reported.
Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was sleeping in the van parked in Clairemont when a drunk driver, Jordan Lopez, 25, slammed into her in November 2023
Cameroni De Adams' family alleges that no officers bothered to check inside the van. Her injuries were 'severe but treatable,' and her death was a result of negligence, the filing claims.
'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,' the family's lawyer John Carpenter asserted to CBS8.
He sarcastically added: 'The last place you would think to look for a missing person was inside of a car.'
The family also claims they did not see the results of Cameroni De Adams' autopsy until about a year after it was preformed.
In November 2023, Lopez was arrested from the scene with a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit, according to CBS8. He reportedly told Officer Mathew Brace he had 'made an oopsie.'
After the crash, Brace claimed he unsuccessfully tried contacting the van's registered owner before having it and Lopez's car towed.
'Those two parked vehicles were removed via private tow trucks, from the street as they were filled with property, and I wanted to avoid further vandalism or thefts from inside,' Brace's report reads, according to CBS8.
Lopez has been charged in connection to Cameroni De Adams' death. He agreed to a plea deal and faces six years in prison and five years of probation. His sentencing is scheduled for March 19.
The victim was found buried underneath her belongings in the middle seat of her Honda Odyssey minivan (pictured at the impound lot) a month after it was impounded
The driver was first charged with vehicular manslaughter, but his attorney argued that the victim was likely alive after the crash and later succumbed to her injuries. His charge was dropped to DUI causing great bodily injury, CBS8 reported.
Carpenter said to the outlet: '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.'
