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

The household of a stateless pistillate who suffered fatal injuries successful a clang by a drunk operator arsenic she slept successful her van is suing the metropolis of San Diego aft her assemblage was near undiscovered successful an impound batch for implicit a month.

Monica Cameroni De Adams, 65, was sleeping successful her parked van erstwhile 25-year-old Jordan Lopez plowed into the conveyance successful the aboriginal hours of November 5, 2023. The damaged conveyance was aboriginal towed — with De Adams’ assemblage inside.

Her household is convinced she was live for a clip and desperately needed aesculapian attraction — not to beryllium towed successful her van to an impound lot.

It wasn’t until weeks aboriginal that a towing institution worker noticed a foul odor coming from the van, and De Adams’ severely decomposed assemblage was discovered.

“The past spot you would deliberation to look for a missing idiosyncratic was wrong of a car,” her family’s attorney, John Carpenter told KMFB, seemingly sarcastically.

De Adams’ household has present filed a $50 cardinal assertion against the metropolis for failing to find her wrong the van astatine the country of the clang earlier towing it away.

According to KMFB, an autopsy study showed De Adams died from blunt unit trauma injuries sustained successful the crash.

Her household believes she was severely injured and needed aesculapian assistance pursuing the crash, but was simply hauled to the tow gait instead.

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

“Her decease was proximately caused by leaving her alone, struggling with her injuries wrong of her car, entombing her successful her car, taking her car to the tow gait and leaving her determination to die,” Carpenter said, KMFB reported.

De Adams’ disappearance was archetypal flagged aft she did not respond to day messages her household sent connected November 13, 2023, starring her girl to record a missing persons study with police.

“Just due to the fact that idiosyncratic is stateless doesn’t mean that they don’t person a household that loves them. Things are difficult. It’s casual to place radical who are homeless, but they bash person loving families and they bash matter. This communicative exemplifies that,” Carpenter said.

“It’s incredibly hard for [the family] to cognize that their parent passed this way,” she added successful a connection to McClatchy News. “And to find retired that their parent died successful a car that was locked distant similar a portion of garbage near determination to dice by our government, by the metropolis of San Diego.”

The Independent has reached retired to San Diego officials for remark connected the lawsuit.

Lopez, was arrested astatine the country of the clang with a humor intoxicant level of much than 3 times the ineligible limit. According to tribunal records obtained by KMFB, helium was charged with vehicular manslaughter. He aboriginal agreed to a plea woody connected a complaint of driving nether the power causing bodily injury.

He is owed to beryllium sentenced connected March 19, and faces up to six years successful prison.